Monitors: 2 X 24s or 1 X Superwide 4k?

[Kiwi79]

Hi my current home office setup is 2 x 24 not 4k just HD.

Wondering if anyone has made the switch from this sort of setup to 1 x superwide 34inch 4k or bigger? Any downsides to be aware of (do pages try to snap to full width for example as one of the nice things about 2 x separates is the ability to have 1 app on each?)

Also what is the latest connection method is it Displayport?

[ZesPak]

It depends, usually two screens will give you more value for money and flexibility.

You will need displayport to drive bigger screens.

What I like about the ultrawide is that if I use full screen remote desktop, I feel like I still got the real estate of two full screens, which isn't always possible with regular RDP.

[Brother D]

I have same set up. Really tempted with this
https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/gami...

[Baron Greenback]

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/lg/34gn850-...

The 34inch LG I am wanting, but not in stock otherwise posted from USA or amazon from germany!

[sgrimshaw]

I have the LG34UM88C and I love it.

https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-34UM88C

I use mine as a single 34" UW, but it can do all sorts of fancy stuff if you want.

On the link above, go down the page until you get to Screen Split and PIP ... there's a short video about it.

[Kiwi79]

Brother D said:

I have same set up. Really tempted with this
https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/gami...

Perhaps a bit big for my needs but pretty impressive!

[untakenname]

I went from two 24" monitors to one 34" superwide (21:9) and wouldn't go back now I've got used to it.
Productivity is better with one screen and also although the actual real estate may be slightly less it feels more than enough, I tried an even wider monitor but it was too wide and was hard to focus at the extremities of the screen.

This is the one I've got, it also charges and displays my laptop as well all via the one thunderbolt connector which is a bonus.
https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/curv...

[itsnotarace]

Personal preference but I prefer two screens to one massive one. It also helps that you can easily snap windows to each screen in turn rather than having to keep shuffling and resizing windows to fit side by side / above and below on the single big one

[Baron Greenback]

Thunderbolt and USB C worth if you want to add laptop or other sources for dual screen use!

Sites I follow to tech advice and reviews
https://www.displayninja.com/buying-guide/
https://www.rtings.com/
https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

[Newc]

I man-maths'd myself earlier in the year with this. I've run 2 x 24 portrait for a long time, but had an engagement where I was on the client's site a lot and their 24s were much newer than the ones I had at home. They had unequal bezels - thick at the bottom, almost nothing at the top, so you could put the two thin bezels together for almost no break.

Obviously then time for a home upgrade to match. Dell website, show me your 24's, they look fine, ready to buy, oh what's that Timmy, they do 27's too ? Let's take a look. Well aren't they pretty. Though comparing the net increase in screen it's not so much, I wonder if they do anything a bit bigger ?

So now I have a single 43" monitor. And it's great. Having been a two-screen evangelist for years I've realised it's the vertical size I crave most and the 2x was just the only way to achieve that. The 43 does all that and gets rid of the break line in the middle which no matter how you work around it with email to the right, excel to the left, is an annoyance.

So it's a vote for the 1 x superwide from here.

[Blippy]

Another vote for a single, huge screen here. I don't have a superwide yet but we use them in various applications at work. At home, even a 2k 32" screen just feels more natural to use without the big bezel down the middle of two separate monitors. Back when I ran multiple monitors I went to triple-head at one point just to have a centred image.

Latest versions of Windows and MacOS allow you to snap to quadrants as well as splitting the screen in half, and some of the better superwides allow you to display two separate inputs side-by-side, essentially like the equivalent multi-monitor setup.

[Kiwi79]

Thanks for the input guys, I normally have 3 monitors at work (24s) but just no way 3 on arms will fit on my home desk and it doesn't look like I'll be back in the office anytime soon.

For those who are on superwide, does the lack of snap to edge get annoying and have you had any issues when sharing screen for zooms etc. I do calls with customers involving screensharing and I don't really fancy sharing the entire widescreen especially as I would typically setup Monitor 1) outlook; Monitor 2 ) PPT I'm sharing Monitor 3) Slack or presenter view of PPT. Can this be achieved on widescreen?

[RizzoTheRat]

itsnotarace said:

Personal preference but I prefer two screens to one massive one. It also helps that you can easily snap windows to each screen in turn rather than having to keep shuffling and resizing windows to fit side by side / above and below on the single big one

Win-Right and Win-Left were a revelation to me, but if you want to have more than 2 windows then 2 monitors seem easier. I can see the point of an ultra widescreen for some spreadsheets I have, but the screens we were offered at work were smaller than having 2 normal ones so most of us stuck with the normal ones

[ZesPak]

Tbh I've been running 2x Ultrawide 34" for over a year now It's the only way this thread is going.

Basically gives me 4 nice areas to put stuff on. Revelation during online meetings.

[mikef]

I've gone from 2x 24" 4K to 1x 38" superwide plus 1x 24" 4K

I like the superwide because I can give say 2/3 of the screen to an IDE like XCode or IDEA and 1/3 to something I may be reading - for me that's better than cramping the IDE on one screen and having unneeded space on the other screen

I've kept the second monitor because I prefer to run work-only stuff on one Mac and personal stuff on a different one, plus it's great for video editing with FCP on the widescreen and preview on the 4K screen

Edited by mikef on Tuesday 21st July 07:02

[BobSaunders]

34inch LG 4k here.

Great for MS Teams, multiple documents (spreadsheets, word, powerpoint, email etc. youtube, pistonheads, at the same time.

Not so great... sharing a desktop via MsTeams. Basically it looks like a reversed telescope on occasion.

[Andeh1]

Why not go super wide AND keep a 24"next to it?

[mikef]

Andeh1 said:

Why not go super wide AND keep a 24"next to it?

Wot I said earlier. Another option would be to turn the 24”ers around into portrait mode and run all 3, assuming they have stands that will do that (and you have the desk space)

[tomsugden]

Andeh1 said:

Why not go super wide AND keep a 24"next to it?

I had 3x24 inch monitors, one being touchscreen. I bought an Asus 49 inch curved monitor. I now have two in portrait that I use for email and reading documents, and 3 landscape. Works really well.

[Baron Greenback]

Just pressed the button on https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lg-34gn850-34-3440x... glad I didn't go for the samsung G9 as there is a recall atm!