Dual monitor setup, with one UltraWide monitor.

[Over]

I'm currently using a dual monitor setup. One 24" 1080p, which is my main monitor and do fullscreen gaming and is in front of me. And a 22" monitor, a little bit to my right side, where I browse the internet and do other activities, while gaming, for example.

 

I'm very tempted to buy an ultrawide monitor, with high resolution and HDR, for gaming and videos, but would like to keep a secondary monitor, to do stuff while gaming in fullscreen.

 

I'm just afraid that with the center monitor taking a lot more width, the right monitor would have to be further to my right and it might become uncomfortable to use that way. Or maybe the differences in screen sizes may be off putting?

 

So I would like to know if there are any other people here that are using a similar setup and what has been your experience with it. You're enjoying it with no problems? Any regrets? Negative experiences? 

[Guest]

 

I use a 38" UW and a 24in 16:10 monitor to the left.

It's very comfortable to look at. I prefer reading long pages off of it vs. on the UW.

[Stahlmann]

I've had a 34" ultrawide and a 24" 16:9 monitor for a few years and never had issues about this setup. But i moved away from ultrawide because in games there are still very bad implementations for 21:9. I found myself looking up if a game properly supports 21:9 before buying it. 16:9 will still be the standard for a many years and ultrawide is a niche thing for people who like tinkering to make it work.

 

TLDR: Can recommend ultrawide for productivity, cannot recommend it for gaming.

[kelvinhall05]

9 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

I use a 38" UW and a 24in 16:10 monitor to the left.

It's very comfortable to look at. I prefer reading long pages off of it vs. on the UW

Absolute fucking madman using an Optimus Maximus...

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Absolute fucking madman using an Optimus Maximus...

It sits on the shelf these days. Older photo.

I've escaped to Topre land since then.

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, Den-Fi said:

It sits on the shelf these days. Older photo.

I've escaped to Topre land since then.

Phew. Cherry ML is trash lol.

[Guest]

Just now, kelvinhall05 said:

Phew. Cherry ML is trash lol.

Yes, you've ranted as much at me before.

The convenience was worth it when I needed it though.

But enough thread hijackery lol.

[Over]

10 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

 

I use a 38" UW and a 24in 16:10 monitor to the left.

It's very comfortable to look at. I prefer reading long pages off of it vs. on the UW.

 

I can see how that vertical position of your secondary monitor compensates for your main monitor extra width. That would solve everything for me, except maybe watching youtube videos in that secondary monitor. Btw, what is that UW monitor?

 

3 minutes ago, Stahlmann98 said:

I've had a 34" ultrawide and a 24" 16:9 monitor for a few years and never had issues about this setup. But i moved away from ultrawide because in games there are still very bad implementations for 21:9. I found myself looking up if a game properly supports 21:9 before buying it. 16:9 will still be the standard for a many years and ultrawide is a niche thing for people who like tinkering to make it work.

 

TLDR: Can recommend ultrawide for productivity, cannot recommend it for gaming.

 

I've thought about that, but I was assuming that if a game doesn't support uw resolution, I could always play it in 16:9, with black borders. When I watch movies with black borders, I usually don't mind. I don't know if the borders are on the sides and being much larger, will be distracting. SPecially because I'm thinking about going for an IPS monitor, wihch might not have the deepest blacks... Hum...

[Stahlmann]

8 minutes ago, Over said:

I've thought about that, but I was assuming that if a game doesn't support uw resolution, I could always play it in 16:9, with black borders. When I watch movies with black borders, I usually don't mind. I don't know if the borders are on the sides and being much larger, will be distracting. SPecially because I'm thinking about going for an IPS monitor, wihch might not have the deepest blacks... Hum...

For me it was very distracting, as you won't have black borders when not using an OLED display. It's more dark grey-isch, especially if you're planning to use an IPS display. But i couldn't justify paying the extra for an ultrawide when some games have to be played at 16:9 and not use the screen real estate i paid for.

 

On the other hand some games worked with 21:9 in ingame scenes and then on cutscenes where the 16:9 monitor would have black bars on the top and bottom, you will have black bars on all 4 sides with a 21:9 monitor. (This happens in Red Dead, Final Fantasy for example)

 

Games like Witcher 3 and Assasins Creed Odyssey also work with 21:9 when running around in the world but switch to 16:9 every time you enter into the dialogue scenes.

 

You can fix some games with mods or editing the .exe files directly using Hex-Editors, but others can not be fixed.

 

I moved away from ultrawide because of that and i've gone back to using two 16:9 monitors again. And it's a relief to not have to think about 21:9 support again. For cinematic games i still have an OLED TV, to which no monitor can compete in terms of immersion. Just my opinion on ultrawide. I don't think it will ever hit mainstream like 16:9 did.

[Donut417]

30 minutes ago, Over said:

So I would like to know if there are any other people here that are using a similar setup and what has been your experience with it. You're enjoying it with no problems? Any regrets? Negative experiences? 

I have a 24" 21:9 monitor and a 23" 16:9 monitor. The ultra wide is my main that I do all my gaming and web browsing and such. I use the 16:9 monitor for videos such as Youtube. It works great. My only regret is I should have bought a bigger Ultra wide, LOL. 

 

On a side note, Youtube doesn't support anything outside 16:9, so that means you will have black bars on the sides of videos when full screen. So Netflix content actually can full screen on an ultra wide and look good. 

[Stahlmann]

Just now, Donut417 said:

On a side note, Youtube doesn't support anything outside 16:9, so that means you will have black bars on the sides of videos when full screen. So Netflix content actually can full screen on an ultra wide and look good. 

Not true. Some videos by Hardware Cannucks are rendered in 21:9 and they displayed correctly on my 21:9 screen without black bars.

[Donut417]

4 minutes ago, Stahlmann98 said:

Not true. Some videos by Hardware Cannucks are rendered in 21:9 and they displayed correctly on my 21:9 screen without black bars.

Awesome. But seems like most creators dont support it. So.......Because I haven't seen any videos that are 21:9 on Youtube ever. Only on Netflix. 

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Over said:

 

I can see how that vertical position of your secondary monitor compensates for your main monitor extra width. That would solve everything for me, except maybe watching youtube videos in that secondary monitor. Btw, what is that UW monitor?

 

An older LG 38WK95C-W https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-38WK95C-W-ultrawide-monitor

Not a very good gaming monitor, but I hardly game.

 

You'd be surprised had much you watch videos on the vertical monitor.

I usually throw up long for videos while I go other things. Like GN or HWUB news videos.

You still have the benefit of being able to glance over at it should something require your attention.

Or if I'm binging a TV show and working at the same time, I use the vert.

 

Example:

[Stahlmann]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Awesome. But seems like most creators dont support it. So.......Because I haven't seen any videos that are 21:9 on Youtube ever. Only on Netflix. 

Most creators render their videos in 16:9. Other creators add black bars and still render the videos in 16:9, so ultrawide users will have 4-sided black bars. If someone does it the right way and renders cinematic content at 21:9 like hardware cannucks did in the past, it works. Then the 21:9 users won't have any black bars and the 16:9 users will have them at the top and bottom. Currently trying to think about what video this was...

 

Edit: I think amazon prime video doesn't support 21:9 either.

[Over]

45 minutes ago, Stahlmann98 said:

For me it was very distracting, as you won't have black borders when not using an OLED display. It's more dark grey-isch, especially if you're planning to use an IPS display. But i couldn't justify paying the extra for an ultrawide when some games have to be played at 16:9 and not use the screen real estate i paid for.

 

On the other hand some games worked with 21:9 in ingame scenes and then on cutscenes where the 16:9 monitor would have black bars on the top and bottom, you will have black bars on all 4 sides with a 21:9 monitor. (This happens in Red Dead, Final Fantasy for example)

 

Games like Witcher 3 and Assasins Creed Odyssey also work with 21:9 when running around in the world but switch to 16:9 every time you enter into the dialogue scenes.

 

You can fix some games with mods or editing the .exe files directly using Hex-Editors, but others can not be fixed.

 

I moved away from ultrawide because of that and i've gone back to using two 16:9 monitors again. And it's a relief to not have to think about 21:9 support again. For cinematic games i still have an OLED TV, to which no monitor can compete in terms of immersion. Just my opinion on ultrawide. I don't think it will ever hit mainstream like 16:9 did.

 

I think you convinced me not to go for UW, yet. Maybe one day, with OLED panels. My TV is a LG B6 OLED and it's great. Something like that, but smaller (<32" or <38" ultrawide) would be the ideal.

 

But I still want to upgrade from my old BenQ 24" XL2411. 

 

44 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

I have a 24" 21:9 monitor and a 23" 16:9 monitor. The ultra wide is my main that I do all my gaming and web browsing and such. I use the 16:9 monitor for videos such as Youtube. It works great. My only regret is I should have bought a bigger Ultra wide, LOL. 

 

On a side note, Youtube doesn't support anything outside 16:9, so that means you will have black bars on the sides of videos when full screen. So Netflix content actually can full screen on an ultra wide and look good. 

 

Great to hear. Although I was thinking about going for a bigger monitor, and those black bars might become more annoying, the bigger they are.

 

 

35 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

An older LG 38WK95C-W https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-38WK95C-W-ultrawide-monitor

Not a very good gaming monitor, but I hardly game.

 

You'd be surprised had much you watch videos on the vertical monitor.

I usually throw up long for videos while I go other things. Like GN or HWUB news videos.

You still have the benefit of being able to glance over at it should something require your attention.

Or if I'm binging a TV show and working at the same time, I use the vert.

 

Example:

 

Your vertical monitor is 16:10, so that means you have some extra width in that position. That helps a little bit. But like Stahlmann98 above, you're not recommending the UW for gaming. Did you mean UW in general, or did you mean your monitor model in particular? 

[Guest]

Just now, Over said:

Your vertical monitor is 16:10, so that means you have some extra width in that position. That helps a little bit. But like Stahlmann98 above, you're not recommending the UW for gaming. Did you mean UW in general, or did you mean your monitor model in particular? 

Yes, 16:10 was perfect for many reasons lol. So sad it died.

 

I meant my particular monitor, but also that I don't game much.

I mainly play GTA V, so it doesn't need to be 144hz, but the 75 it's limited to is quite a noticeable difference to my 27" 144Hz Asus monitor.

I had been considering the 38GL950G-B, but don't know if I game enough to justify it. Many more options at 34", but I can't go backwards now lol.

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, Den-Fi said:

many reasons lol. So sad it died.

Ummmm. *Holds up 2020 MacBook Pro*. Not quite dead. 

[Guest]

Just now, Donut417 said:

Ummmm. *Holds up 2020 MacBook Pro*. Not quite dead. 

Very specifically talking about new monitors you can go out and purchase.

[Donut417]

Just now, Den-Fi said:

Very specifically talking about new monitors you can go out and purchase.

I’m fairly sure I have seen monitors you can purchase with that aspect ratio. They are few and far between but they do exist. 

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

I’m fairly sure I have seen monitors you can purchase with that aspect ratio. They are few and far between but they do exist. 

 

Sure you can "find" one. You can find many things that are considered dead standards.

My point is that the standard is dead. Edge cases and small caveats do not apply to what I said.