Need new monitor advice

Pileot · March 23, 2022

I am looking into a couple new monitors for me and the GF and looking for advice.

In order of priority:
Price. We are going to need at least two new monitors (one for me, one for my partner) and as much as I'd like to buy multiple thousand dollar displays, the budget troll says "no". I get what Im asking for isn't going to be cheap, I just want to get what bang for my buck I can.
Color accuracy. I occasionally do photo work and if the panel has bad color rendition or can't be calibrated very well its gonna be rough times.
Size/Form Factor. I don't want to go "shorter" than the 28" displays I am using (about 35cm screen height). That means for 21:9 I'd need around 38.5" or 32:9 I'd need around 55" (which would be insanely expensive).
Brightness. 300 cd/m2 or better is preferred.
Resolution/Refresh Rate. For my rig I'd prefer 4k and a minimum of 60hz. The girlfriend likes higher frame rates so 1440p (or maybe and at least 120hz would be preferred

My monitors are on wall mounted arms (vesa 100 I believe?) so the quality / range of the stand doesn't matter too much.
I have independant speakers so the monitor itself doesn't need to support sound output.
I don't typically use on screen USB ports or KVM, PIP, or other such goodies, add in "features" like that don't matter as much as things like price, color accuracy, etc.
I've also never had compatible hardware to use G-Sync or FreeSync so if the screen lacks these features its not something I am going to miss. Currently using a 3070 (looking to upgrade maybe when 40 series comes out) but berfore that I had a GTX760 and my 4k screen is the same vintage, G-Sync has never been an option for me.
Oh, and I never really noticed much difference with "HDR" screens, tho I realize many (maybe most?) "HDR" screens aren't actually HDR so maybe its just a case of I've never really experienced true HDR?

We've considered ordering online but everyone basically puts the same specs on paper and when you LOOK at the monitors there is a vast difference in colors and black levels. We live in the country so going to the store to pick something up isn't impossible, its not exactly convenient if we buy something and have to return it (the nearest BestBuy is like an hour and a half away, Memory Express is around 5 hours away). I can't exactly bring a color calibrator to the store and adjust every display unit to see how accurate each screen is and advertising from OEMs is often "optimistic" compared to real life results. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you guys can offer.

Thanks!

e22big · March 23, 2022

I think we will need a spesific budget to work with. But if you just want a general advice, you can calibrate most monitor to a maximum accuracy (especially in SRGB), for your need any cheap 4k IPS panel should do (something along the line of LG 27UL600 or whatever their current model should be good)

For your other monitor, you can go 1080p 144hz, 24 inch if your budget are tight but 27 inch shouldn't be too expensive. In fact, if you have something left over, the most bang for the buck option is 1440p 144hz (or higher.) There are many cheap and good quality option out there (HP OMEN use to have one really good display with the complete lack of HDR being the only compromise but you're right in that HDR at this price range would be useless anyway)