Help Me Pick a LARGE Monitor Please

[Culverin]

I do buildings engineering CAD work
I spend my work day doing creating virtual 3D models, blueprints and drilling down through menu and dialog boxes, etc.
It would be a huge benefit to have a large panel with lots of pixels to maximize screen real estate

 

I’m looking for a large format monitor for the office that I will pay for myself so I can’t get too crazy with getting “the best”.

- 40”-ish size range,

- 4K
- Matte finish
- VESA Mountable

3 models seem to fit my budget price range.
-    Acer ET430K wmiiqppx ($799 CAD)
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/3w7v6h/acer-et430k-wmiiqppx-430-3840x2160-60hz-monitor-umme0aa001

 

-    LG 43UD79-B ($836 CAD)
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/cJfhP6/lg-43ud79-b-425-3840x2160-60hz-monitor-43ud79-b

 

-    Dell P4317Q ($729 CAD, open box)
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/3zfmP6/dell-p4317q-425-60hz-monitor-p4317q

All seem to have somewhat mixed reviews, but none seem to review terribly.
https://us.hardware.info/reviews/7768/6-ultra-hd-40-inch+-monitors-review-monstrous-monitors

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/lg/43ud79-b

According to the comments on Newegg, some units of the Acer ET430K seeming to have a known black screen issue (QC lemons?)

 

 

My concerns are
- They are all slightly older models (didn’t see anything announced at this size/ price range at CES)
- Screen tearing? Display lag?  These are monitors, so I should be in the clear? 
- As my primary work panel, I’m most concerned about eyestrain.

 

p.s.
According to my research the Asus GTX1060 3gb can output dual 4k panels.
So I think I’m in the clear here too for a 2nd panel

Hoping you guys can double check me before I pull the trigger
or maybe offer me your thoughts or alternatives I’ve missed.

Thanks! 
 

[Basiliotornado]

Why not get a TV?

[Firewrath9]

https://www.amazon.ca/Toshiba-43LF621C19-43-inch-Ultra-Smart/dp/B07HCXBB2Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1547084402&sr=1-2&keywords=4k+tv&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A3236500011

 

just get a small TV. I'd actually reccommend a 32" screen, for productive work. a 40 inch TV is almost 3 monitors, and if sitting at a desk, be to big to see all of it, and bad PPI.

[Inelastic]

I agree you should look into a tv instead. What do you currently use, size and resolution? A 43-inch tv at 4k will be similar PPI to a 21-inch 1080p monitor so it'll be like having 4 21-inch monitors at 1080p resolution. If you're used to that PPI, then it'll all translate the same; with the size of your icons, text, and programs. If you're used to something more like a 24-inch 1080p monitor, then with a 43-inch 4k panel everything will look smaller unless you use that Windows scaling feature.

 

Personally, I went from two 24-inch 1080p monitors to a 49-inch 4k tv which is kind of like having 4x 24-inch 1080p monitors without the bezels. I use it for research so I'll have several programs open at once and just spread them out so I can look at them all without having to alt tab. As far as screen tearing goes, I think that's more dependent on the software side of things. Input lag is always larger, but most tvs nowadays have game/pc modes which reduce it low enough to be perfectly fine for work. For eyestrain, it depends on how you use it. I don't try to view the entire screen at once, but only focus in on the stuff I'm working on so eyestrain isn't anymore than with what I had before since the text and everything is about the same size as it was before. I also turned down the brightness since tvs tend to be brighter.

[Culverin]

19 hours ago, Basiliotornado said:

Why not get a TV?

From my understanding,

- A monitor should have better color accuracy

- Better anti-glare (this is a biggie for me), some TVs are just hella shiny and reflective.  That would drive me nuts.
- Faster grey-to-grey, lower latency without going into game-mode throwing off colors?
Like in general, it's more accurate and less wonky/eyestraining?

 

At home, I'm using 2x 24" 1200p
At work, I'm using 2x 27" 1080p
 

But I work on full-sized blueprints,
Usually 42"x30".  My thinking was if I just go with a big monitor, I can ditch the paper and just go full digital.

 

[Culverin]

Saw this on a 1-star Amazon review
 

Quote

Dell's website has a review for this item that states the below with a high number of 56 votes.

"Modern business monitor without modern features

This monitor has glorious resolution made totally useless because the backlight uses PWM Pulse Width Modulation to adjust the backlight brightness. This leads to eye fatigue and, in some cases, severe headaches. One would be hard pressed to find other monitors in Dell's lineup with this outdated technology since it has almost entirely been removed from all modern monitors. As a business monitor, it is expected to have "Comfort View" aka "low blue light" mode to reduce eye stress during a long day of use. Fix these problems and you will sell more of these than you could make."

Dell should stop using older technology that causes eye fatigue. We demand better products and the right to now what's being used in the items we purchase. Shame on you Dell and any other company who tries to short change the consumer.

 

I'm not familiar with PWM, I didn't see it listed in the specs...

Is that what Acer's "Anti-Blue Technology, Flicker-less Technology" covers?

2nd guessing on the display quality of the Dell

 

Also doesn't support HDCP on any port....

[SolarNova]

32 minutes ago, Culverin said:

From my understanding,

- A monitor should have better color accuracy

- Better anti-glare (this is a biggie for me), some TVs are just hella shiny and reflective.  That would drive me nuts.
- Faster grey-to-grey, lower latency without going into game-mode throwing off colors?
Like in general, it's more accurate and less wonky/eyestraining?

 

At home, I'm using 2x 24" 1200p
At work, I'm using 2x 27" 1080p
 

But I work on full-sized blueprints,
Usually 42"x30".  My thinking was if I just go with a big monitor, I can ditch the paper and just go full digital.

 

All monitors at that size, that i know of, actualy use LCD panels originaly intended for TV's, and are infact used in TV's also.

So the panel specifications will be identical, not only between the monitor version and the Tv version, but also between different monitor manufactuers, as the manufactuers will be using the same panel supplier.

 

As for color accuracy, its less to do with Tv vs Monitor, and more to do with panel type. You want to look for IPS for accuracy, and infact when it comes to QA between Monitors and TV's .. TV's have the better QA, they tend to have far less BLB for example than monitors, and thats all down to manufacturing QA, which seems to better for TV's , likely due to their intended use vs monitors. Nobody wants to be watching a dark movie only to notice horrible BLB, where as on monitors it can be deemed acceptable as its primarily goign to be use for work and games, rather than movies.

[Check]

On 1/10/2019 at 10:15 PM, Culverin said:

From my understanding,

- Better anti-glare (this is a biggie for me), some TVs are just hella shiny and reflective.  That would drive me nuts.

 

I agree, glossy sucks.

I've bought a 60" TV a few years ago. It is a glossy one. I hate it. I can only reasonably watch TV when it is rather dark outside. Otherwise, there's lot's of reflection. With daylight, you can't really enjoy any movie. I have to create a darkened room to put it in, if I want to view TV before night fall. But it is a good medicine to stop watching much TV.

 

You say 'some TV's are reflective.' Actually, I can not find _any_ 43"..50" TV which is matte. They are _all_ glossy and reflective. Therefore, a TV is out of the question to be used as monitor. Lately, I was in a Mediamarkt which has a few hundred different TV's. They _all_ were glossy; every single one was reflective; be it $150 or $15.000.

There are (luckily) some matte monitors of that size, although be it very scarce. (At least, so says the search filter in the pricewatch on tweakers.net.) I'm still in the process of find a 43"..50" monitor which has the highest matte factor but also has modern input connections. Sometimes it says things like 'Haze 2%' or 'H3', but it also says H3 = hardness 3; I'm not sure exactly what all that means. I think I need 'Haze 25%', but can't find those. A problem is that manufacturers don't put up _any_ real world pictures of their monitors. Wikipedia has nothing on haze factor and such, and if H3 is about the haze factor or hardness or if that's the same.