Best monitor size for portrait orientation + advice regarding Dell monitors

[cpugeek21]

I'm actually looking around for a new monitor, and after doing some research, I have a couple of questions.

1) is there a "best" size for portrait mode? For instance, a point where it just becomes too long and strains your neck or other disadvantages?

2) is there a big difference between 16:9 and 16:10? 

Reason for question 2, is because I only have the budget for one. And the 3 monitors I'm looking at are as follows.

Dell u2415 (24" which has a 16:10 ratio)

Dell u2417h (24" as well; touted to be the best fhd monitor you can get at this price point)

Dell u2717d (27" and qhd, but also much more expensive)

Anyone who has a bit of experience with monitors and can advise me? I'm looking to get a monitor, mainly for productivity. Don't have too much cash to splash on multiple monitors so I'm looking to slowly add one at a time. It's most likely going to be a secondary monitor; i should be going for an ultrawide or 4k primary landscape monitor in the future.

Thanks!

[wcm.alex]

I would stick with a 16:9 ratio monitor because I dont like black bars on sides of my screen but filled, but whatever you prefer. Linus made a video about: 

 

[cpugeek21]

4 hours ago, AWolfGamingYT said:

I would stick with a 16:9 ratio monitor because I dont like black bars on sides of my screen but filled, but whatever you prefer. Linus made a video about: 

 

I see, that's interesting because from what I've read around, people choose 16:10 for portrait because you don't have to do horizontal scrolling. So on 16:10, shouldn't it fill up the space without any black bars?

 

On that note, if I do use a 16:9 monitor for web browsing for instance, would I have to constantly deal with horizontal scrolling?

[wcm.alex]

22 hours ago, cpugeek21 said:

I see, that's interesting because from what I've read around, people choose 16:10 for portrait because you don't have to do horizontal scrolling. So on 16:10, shouldn't it fill up the space without any black bars?

 

On that note, if I do use a 16:9 monitor for web browsing for instance, would I have to constantly deal with horizontal scrolling?

Ahh, I understand what youre saying, but I do suggest watching Linus's video on explaining the differences of 16:9 & 16:10. I remember him saying that it is better for gaming because the HUD's are bigger n stuff. But you're right, you don't have to do horizontal scrolling because it fills the entire screen that the default size is for any screen/monitor. If you are getting a 16:10 for work and all, I do suggest it. But if you would go for gaming along with it, I wouldn't get a 16:10, I would get a 27"-32" Curved Monitor that is 16:9. I don't know what you like or prefer for gaming, but, I, from my personal opinion, would stick with a wide 16:9. And I also think that it depends also on what the *RES* of the monitor is. Because my monitor which is a 27" Samsung Curved Monitor, I really dont have to deal with Horizontal Scrolling, but, if you zoom in, then you have to do Horizontal Scrolling. That's on a 16:9, 16:10 would be a different story.

[cpugeek21]

Anyone knows what's the difference between these 2 Dell monitors? I can't see much of a difference. There's currently a sale that's going on tomorrow, and I'm looking to pick up a monitor. Is it worth the extra $80 to $100 for the U2419H instead of the U2417H?

 

Thanks!

[kirashi]

46 minutes ago, cpugeek21 said:

Anyone knows what's the difference between these 2 Dell monitors? I can't see much of a difference. There's currently a sale that's going on tomorrow, and I'm looking to pick up a monitor. Is it worth the extra $80 to $100 for the U2419H instead of the U2417H?

 

Thanks!

As much as I'm a Dell guy, I unfortunately can't really say, since Dell neglects to list ANY technical specs for the U2419H model on their website beyond the marketing brief. However, based on the images and similarities in resolution, inputs, and panel / color space, I'd say that the U2419H is the model for 2019, and the U2417H is the older model for 2017, or something like that.

 

At least, that's what I speculate, because unlike Apple, Dell doesn't just call every version of their product releases the "New UltraSharp 24" or "New XPS 15" - that's just dumb and confusing for everyone.

[cpugeek21]

18 minutes ago, kirashi said:

As much as I'm a Dell guy, I unfortunately can't really say, since Dell neglects to list ANY technical specs for the U2419H model on their website beyond the marketing brief. However, based on the images and similarities in resolution, inputs, and panel / color space, I'd say that the U2419H is the model for 2019, and the U2417H is the older model for 2017, or something like that.

 

At least, that's what I speculate, because unlike Apple, Dell doesn't just call every version of their product releases the "New UltraSharp 24" or "New XPS 15" - that's just dumb and confusing for everyone.

Yeah that's what I thought too...so do you think it would be worth it to get the 2017 model over the 19 model for roughly $100 less? If it helps, I'm planning to use this more as a portrait secondary monitor for coding and productivity, it's most probably not going to be my primary monitor.

[kirashi]

5 minutes ago, cpugeek21 said:

Yeah that's what I thought too...so do you think it would be worth it to get the 2017 model over the 19 model for roughly $100 less? If it helps, I'm planning to use this more as a portrait secondary monitor for coding and productivity, it's most probably not going to be my primary monitor.

Get the (assumed) older one then for sure, if it's the cheaper of the 2 - Dell and HP's business displays are absolutely stunning regardless of age (as long as they're working) and will be just fine for coding and productivity. The only reason I'd be concerned with age or specifics about the panel quality is if you needed something for photography or creative content where color accuracy is of utmost importance.

[cpugeek21]

So i'm planning to pick up either one but I can't make up my mind.

On the one hand, I'm interested in using it for productivity in portrait mode, and also landscape for movies and gaming.

It seems like the higher resolution of U2415 (1920 x 1200) would be better for productivity, but it's more expensive, not as new and it seems like there might be some black bars when watching 1920 x 1080p movies for instance.

On the other hand, U2417H (1920 x 1080) is newer, but i heard that i might need to do horizontal scrolling when browsing webpages because the screen is not wide enough to display all the content. I don't fancy scroling side to aide when viewing a webpage, tbh.

If it matters, i'm probably not going to use this as my main monitor long term, but more of a monitor at the side to do coding (which means it's gonna be in portrait more of the time).

Any advice? Thanks!

[cpugeek21]

So i'm planning to pick up either one but I can't make up my mind. 

I'm interested in using it for productivity in portrait mode, and also landscape for movies and gaming.

I cannot really see much difference between the 2. Seems like what the U2415 has going for it is the higher resolution (1920 X 1200) as compared to the U2417H (1920 X 1080).

Anyone can educate me on what's the difference? The U2415 is only around $30 more expensive so that's not a problem but what I heard is that the pixels make a difference when it comes to productivity tasks, and that it works better for web browsing as well. Apparently, on the U2417H I might have to do horizontal scrolling, which is going to be a pain and I don't want to deal with it.

I watched some videos and it seems like the screen size of the U2415 is bigger than that of U2417H? I don't know if that is true.

Also, how does the screen look? I think U2417H has a matte screen, which I don't mind since I'm going to be looking at it for long hours. How about the U2415?

Sorry for so many questions, really hope someone can help.

If it matters, i'm probably not going to use this as my main monitor long term, but more of a monitor at the side to do coding (which means it's gonna be in portrait more of the time).

Any advice? Thanks!

[cpugeek21]

19 hours ago, kirashi said:

Get the (assumed) older one then for sure, if it's the cheaper of the 2 - Dell and HP's business displays are absolutely stunning regardless of age (as long as they're working) and will be just fine for coding and productivity. The only reason I'd be concerned with age or specifics about the panel quality is if you needed something for photography or creative content where color accuracy is of utmost importance.

Hey, sry for intruding on this thread for a different question, but I think you would be quite qualified considering that you said you've used quite a few Dell monitors over the years. I've posted in a separate thread but I couldn't get an answer. So I'll just post my question here, hope you can help. I'm now considering between u2415 Vs u2417h. What do you think?

 

So i'm planning to pick up either one but I can't make up my mind. 

I'm interested in using it for productivity in portrait mode, and also landscape for movies and gaming.

I cannot really see much difference between the 2. Seems like what the U2415 has going for it is the higher resolution (1920 X 1200) as compared to the U2417H (1920 X 1080).

Anyone can educate me on what's the difference? The U2415 is only around $30 more expensive so that's not a problem but what I heard is that the pixels make a difference when it comes to productivity tasks, and that it works better for web browsing as well. Apparently, on the U2417H I might have to do horizontal scrolling, which is going to be a pain and I don't want to deal with it.

I watched some videos and it seems like the screen size of the U2415 is bigger than that of U2417H? I don't know if that is true.

Also, how does the screen look? I think U2417H has a matte screen, which I don't mind since I'm going to be looking at it for long hours. How about the U2415?

Sorry for so many questions, really hope someone can help.

If it matters, i'm probably not going to use this as my main monitor long term, but more of a monitor at the side to do coding (which means it's gonna be in portrait more of the time).

Any advice? Thanks!

[kirashi]

5 hours ago, cpugeek21 said:

--SNIP--

I'm interested in using it for productivity in portrait mode, and also landscape for movies and gaming. I cannot really see much difference between the 2.

 

Seems like what the U2415 has going for it is the higher resolution (1920 X 1200) as compared to the U2417H (1920 X 1080).
Anyone can educate me on what's the difference? The U2415 is only around $30 more expensive so that's not a problem but what I heard is that the pixels make a difference when it comes to productivity tasks, and that it works better for web browsing as well. Apparently, on the U2417H I might have to do horizontal scrolling, which is going to be a pain and I don't want to deal with it.

I watched some videos and it seems like the screen size of the U2415 is bigger than that of U2417H? I don't know if that is true.
Also, how does the screen look? I think U2417H has a matte screen, which I don't mind since I'm going to be looking at it for long hours. How about the U2415?

Both of those monitors are great for productivity, with the only main difference being that one has more vertical pixels. Having an extra 120px of height doesn't make a huge difference short term, but does give you a wee bit more space vertically for toolbars in your programs, such as Photoshop or PyCharm, or another IDE application, if you're doing development.

 

Both have the exact same horizontal resolution, so I'm not sure why you bring up horizontal scrolling for one model in specific - unless you're working with large (poorly formatted) excel spreadsheets, the chances of having to horizontally scroll are slim to none. Although if you plan on this, then I'd save up a bit more money for a 2560x1440 resolution monitor, just to be safe.

 

Both monitors are the same 24 inches, but I get that watching videos or looking at pictures can make that deceiving. Bear in mind that they don't use the same outer casing, so one may seem smaller / larger in a video due to the body or bezels used in construction. Also, they'll both be a matte finish, as most desktop monitors are.

 

One key difference though is that the U2417H uses an IPS panel, meaning the color accuracy & range is better out of the box. You can totally buy a color calibration device to tweak the U2415 display, but since it doesn't use an IPS panel it's not going to be as good a choice if you were working on content creation.

 

Hope this helps your purchasing decision!  Although I personally believe that 2560x1440 is the sweet spot, I'd stick with 1920x1200 for 24" monitors and only go up if you were looking at a 27" - 32" display. Otherwise things get too tiny on the screen.

[cpugeek21]

7 minutes ago, kirashi said:

Both of those monitors are great for productivity, with the only main difference being that one has more vertical pixels. Having an extra 120px of height doesn't make a huge difference short term, but does give you a wee bit more space vertically for toolbars in your programs, such as Photoshop or PyCharm, or another IDE application, if you're doing development.

 

Both have the exact same horizontal resolution, so I'm not sure why you bring up horizontal scrolling for one model in specific - unless you're working with large (poorly formatted) excel spreadsheets, the chances of having to horizontally scroll are slim to none. Although if you plan on this, then I'd save up a bit more money for a 2560x1440 resolution monitor, just to be safe.

 

Both monitors are the same 24 inches, but I get that watching videos or looking at pictures can make that deceiving. Bear in mind that they don't use the same outer casing, so one may seem smaller / larger in a video due to the body or bezels used in construction. Also, they'll both be a matte finish, as most desktop monitors are.

 

One key difference though is that the U2417H uses an IPS panel, meaning the color accuracy & range is better out of the box. You can totally buy a color calibration device to tweak the U2415 display, but since it doesn't use an IPS panel it's not going to be as good a choice if you were working on content creation.

 

Hope this helps your purchasing decision!  Although I personally believe that 2560x1440 is the sweet spot, I'd stick with 1920x1200 for 24" monitors and only go up if you were looking at a 27" - 32" display. Otherwise things get too tiny on the screen.

From your last line, seems like you would recommend the u2415 over the u2417h for the extra real-estate? Again, thanks so much for the detailed reply, really appreciate it!

 

Also, it's not that watching videos makes it deceiving though. Just look at this video. 

 

 

 

Bezels aside, the extra 120 pixels really seem to make quite a big difference.

[cpugeek21]

2 hours ago, kirashi said:

Both of those monitors are great for productivity, with the only main difference being that one has more vertical pixels. Having an extra 120px of height doesn't make a huge difference short term, but does give you a wee bit more space vertically for toolbars in your programs, such as Photoshop or PyCharm, or another IDE application, if you're doing development.

 

Both have the exact same horizontal resolution, so I'm not sure why you bring up horizontal scrolling for one model in specific - unless you're working with large (poorly formatted) excel spreadsheets, the chances of having to horizontally scroll are slim to none. Although if you plan on this, then I'd save up a bit more money for a 2560x1440 resolution monitor, just to be safe.

 

Both monitors are the same 24 inches, but I get that watching videos or looking at pictures can make that deceiving. Bear in mind that they don't use the same outer casing, so one may seem smaller / larger in a video due to the body or bezels used in construction. Also, they'll both be a matte finish, as most desktop monitors are.

 

One key difference though is that the U2417H uses an IPS panel, meaning the color accuracy & range is better out of the box. You can totally buy a color calibration device to tweak the U2415 display, but since it doesn't use an IPS panel it's not going to be as good a choice if you were working on content creation.

 

Hope this helps your purchasing decision!  Although I personally believe that 2560x1440 is the sweet spot, I'd stick with 1920x1200 for 24" monitors and only go up if you were looking at a 27" - 32" display. Otherwise things get too tiny on the screen.

Also, reading back your comment, I realised that I might not have explained it clearly enough. The horizontal scrolling can be an issue when I am in portrait mode, is that correct? Because there are lesser pixels (1080 vs 1200).

[kirashi]

10 hours ago, cpugeek21 said:

Also, reading back your comment, I realised that I might not have explained it clearly enough. The horizontal scrolling can be an issue when I am in portrait mode, is that correct? Because there are lesser pixels (1080 vs 1200).

Oh, sorry if I missed that! Yeah, if you plan to use it in portrait mode, definitely go for the 1920x1200 resolution display. I currently use an ASUS PB278Q 27" 2560x1440 monitor as my main display along with an ASUS PA238QR ProArt 23.8" 1920x1080 display as a secondary. The matching PA238QR is at work right now - decided I could sacrifice matching displays for more resolution.

 

Brother is using an ASUS PA248Q ProArt 24.1" 1920x1200 display which I'd love to steal occasionally for when I rotate my secondary display to portrait for code review... So yeah, get the 1920x1200 resolution monitor if this is something you know you'll be doing often enough, as it will reduce horizontal scrolling in portrait mode.

[WkdPaul]

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