34" Ultrawide 2560 x 1080 Good or Bad -Drunk Purchase
Discussion
I've been considering replacing my dual 24" monitors with a single 34" ultrawide but with 3440 x 1440 resolution.
I had been keeping an eye on the Philips 346B1C and was googling late on Friday night when I thought I had spotted a deal for £352. The only snag I could see was that it was coming from Rechelt.com in Germany. Given the price I thought it was worth a punt. In my defence it had previously been this price in the UK last month. I decided to place an order after a few large gins.
Fast forward to Sunday morning when I am smuggly reviewing my bargain and I spot that it wasn't a 346B1C but the lower spec 342B1C. I had paid with PayPal and on Sunday morning immediately emailed Reichelt to cancel the order but I have a horrible feeling that the monitor is going to turn up!
I will be looking to use it as a single work monitor for excel, word outlook etc and very occasional sim racing. I am guessing that it won't be great for side by side documents? I always knew that one 34" would be slightly narrower than 2 x 24" but at 3440 x 1440 I was certain that it wouldn't be an issue and hopefully an improvement.
I would imagine that it might be a pain and probably expensive to return. Just how bad will it be or will it seem like an improvement? My current monitors are approx. 10 year old Samsungs.
I had been keeping an eye on the Philips 346B1C and was googling late on Friday night when I thought I had spotted a deal for £352. The only snag I could see was that it was coming from Rechelt.com in Germany. Given the price I thought it was worth a punt. In my defence it had previously been this price in the UK last month. I decided to place an order after a few large gins.
Fast forward to Sunday morning when I am smuggly reviewing my bargain and I spot that it wasn't a 346B1C but the lower spec 342B1C. I had paid with PayPal and on Sunday morning immediately emailed Reichelt to cancel the order but I have a horrible feeling that the monitor is going to turn up!
I will be looking to use it as a single work monitor for excel, word outlook etc and very occasional sim racing. I am guessing that it won't be great for side by side documents? I always knew that one 34" would be slightly narrower than 2 x 24" but at 3440 x 1440 I was certain that it wouldn't be an issue and hopefully an improvement.
I would imagine that it might be a pain and probably expensive to return. Just how bad will it be or will it seem like an improvement? My current monitors are approx. 10 year old Samsungs.
Have you had the order and/or despatch confirmation?
If not, cancel it, and then the seller hasn't lost out in posting it - probably won't have even bothered packing it until Monday.
Germany has similar consumer laws to the UK - so follow their cancellation/revocation policy - which as you've already emailed, should cover it.
BTW, I stuck with multiple monitors, as I sometimes need to run 2 computers for 2 different clients - and can't be bothered switching everything around - plus I can use one of the monitors for portrait document work.
My mind also seems to see 1 large ultra-widescreen monitor as not as tall as 2 normal-widescreen monitors. It's not, it just looks that way.
If not, cancel it, and then the seller hasn't lost out in posting it - probably won't have even bothered packing it until Monday.
Germany has similar consumer laws to the UK - so follow their cancellation/revocation policy - which as you've already emailed, should cover it.
BTW, I stuck with multiple monitors, as I sometimes need to run 2 computers for 2 different clients - and can't be bothered switching everything around - plus I can use one of the monitors for portrait document work.
My mind also seems to see 1 large ultra-widescreen monitor as not as tall as 2 normal-widescreen monitors. It's not, it just looks that way.
Thank you for the info on German consumer law. I did email their "revocation" email address before 9am on Saturday morning so I am hoping that their departments speak to one another as I really want to inconvenience them as little as possible. I also responded to the confirmation email so fingers crossed.
Yes, that was my fear that it will look a bit crap.
Yes, that was my fear that it will look a bit crap.
I have a 34" 3440 x 1440p ultrawide monitor at home and two 24" monitors at work. I bought the ultrawide monitor for gaming and it's been great having it whilst I've been forced to work at home compared to the single 28" monitor I previously had at home.
However for working on multiple documents in a paperless environment I prefer the two 24" monitors I have at work. Even with Window's "snap to" feature it's just not as nice to use as separate monitors.
However for working on multiple documents in a paperless environment I prefer the two 24" monitors I have at work. Even with Window's "snap to" feature it's just not as nice to use as separate monitors.
AlexC1981 said:
I have a 34" 3440 x 1440p ultrawide monitor at home and two 24" monitors at work. I bought the ultrawide monitor for gaming and it's been great having it whilst I've been forced to work at home compared to the single 28" monitor I previously had at home.
However for working on multiple documents in a paperless environment I prefer the two 24" monitors I have at work. Even with Window's "snap to" feature it's just not as nice to use as separate monitors.
Thanks, that is interesting and one if my concerns. I think a bit part of it I would just like a new shiny toy!However for working on multiple documents in a paperless environment I prefer the two 24" monitors I have at work. Even with Window's "snap to" feature it's just not as nice to use as separate monitors.
Got a pair of 1920x1200 Dell ultrasharps at home, and a pair of 1920x1080 Dell office spec screens gathering dust on my desk at work - echoing the comments above, having two physical screens makes snapping app windows to one or the other half of the desktop just as easy as maximising the window on a single screen setup, and doing stuff like snapping to the left or right hand half of the screen (so 1/4 of the desktop width) is also stupidly simple.
Also, having two screens provides a useful level of redundancy - if one screen (or cable - with two inquisitive cats at home, dangling cables around the back of a PC tower blowing out a steady stream of nice warm air is just too tempting for them to say no, and I've now had to install cable trunking to minimise the amount of unprotected cabling...) goes faulty, I can still get by with the one remaining screen until a replacement turns up. If I had all my display eggs in a single ultrawidescreen display, I'd be far more concerned about one thing going wrong and leaving me with no display at all.
I get that for gaming and some specific productivity apps, having even a thin bezel line running down the middle of the overall display width might not be ideal, but for most productivity work this isn't an issue.
TBH, if I was going to go for a single screen solution, I'd prefer to get a 4K screen with the same physical width as the ultrawide screen, which would then give me both the horizontal desktop real estate that the UW screen offered, whilst also then providing additional vertical space.
Also, having two screens provides a useful level of redundancy - if one screen (or cable - with two inquisitive cats at home, dangling cables around the back of a PC tower blowing out a steady stream of nice warm air is just too tempting for them to say no, and I've now had to install cable trunking to minimise the amount of unprotected cabling...) goes faulty, I can still get by with the one remaining screen until a replacement turns up. If I had all my display eggs in a single ultrawidescreen display, I'd be far more concerned about one thing going wrong and leaving me with no display at all.
I get that for gaming and some specific productivity apps, having even a thin bezel line running down the middle of the overall display width might not be ideal, but for most productivity work this isn't an issue.
TBH, if I was going to go for a single screen solution, I'd prefer to get a 4K screen with the same physical width as the ultrawide screen, which would then give me both the horizontal desktop real estate that the UW screen offered, whilst also then providing additional vertical space.
Good news, the monitor hasn't arrived and after my Paypal initially showing the payment debiting, it disappeared and my credit card has not been debited. It had also shown the payment pending for a couple of days. Lesson learned!
I take onboard the comments re. going from dual to single screen for work. When working I do find that I tend to use the righthand side of the left monitor and the left-hand side of the right monitor, shying away from the outside edges. This was another reason that I thought a 34" ultrawide may suit.
I am still on the lookout for a suitable monitor but it will need to be a bargain.
I take onboard the comments re. going from dual to single screen for work. When working I do find that I tend to use the righthand side of the left monitor and the left-hand side of the right monitor, shying away from the outside edges. This was another reason that I thought a 34" ultrawide may suit.
I am still on the lookout for a suitable monitor but it will need to be a bargain.
No repercussions from the cancelled transaction thankfully.
I subsequently purchased a Phillips 34" curved ultrawide 346P1CRH. Way more expensive than I planned but I am very pleased with it.
With regards to losing the dual monitor set up for work it has taken a bit of getting used to but I am now very comfortable with it. I initially missed the ability to park an application on one screen or another but I now find that I can easily work 3 windows side by side. Previously the bezels between the dual monitors was always in the middle of the ideal work space. The only thing I am missing is when on webex where previously I could have the video content on one screen maximized and the presentation on the other maximized. We are due to move from W7 and webex to W10 and Teams soon so that may give more options but not a huge issue anyway.
I subsequently purchased a Phillips 34" curved ultrawide 346P1CRH. Way more expensive than I planned but I am very pleased with it.
With regards to losing the dual monitor set up for work it has taken a bit of getting used to but I am now very comfortable with it. I initially missed the ability to park an application on one screen or another but I now find that I can easily work 3 windows side by side. Previously the bezels between the dual monitors was always in the middle of the ideal work space. The only thing I am missing is when on webex where previously I could have the video content on one screen maximized and the presentation on the other maximized. We are due to move from W7 and webex to W10 and Teams soon so that may give more options but not a huge issue anyway.
Take a look at FancyZones to set up snap points across the monitor:
https://www.howtogeek.com/439749/free-download-mic...
https://www.howtogeek.com/439749/free-download-mic...
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff