I have two monitors, one of them ultrawide.
The UW is great. I am getting a second one. It is just more screen real estate and makes it easier to work off of, especially if you type and have research open at the same time.
Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
11–20 of 68 posts
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#12I have a Dell 34" UltraWide curved and I love it. I upgraded from two monitors to a single UltraWide and not having a bezel is amazing, and the slight curve helps because my eyes don't need to refocus as I move from one corner to the other when looking at it. It has reduced my eye strain tremendously.
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#13I use an a 38" Acer 3840x1600 ultrawide.
For 2D windowed applications, it works exactly as you'd expect. Be sure to have tiling support in your window manager for the best experience -- I typically have two windows opened side-by-side, and the Windows 10 window manager makes this tiling easy to do.
Support for ultrawide resolutions in full-screen applications like games can be hit or miss, but it generally works, and you can always fall back into standard widescreen or fullscreen resolutions with letterboxing if it doesn't.
One downside I've noticed is that due to the curved screen, glare from bright light sources (e.g., the sun) that reflects off the screen is somewhat out of focus with whatever is being displayed, which is fatiguing to look at. I don't know if this is a problem with this display in particular, or curved displays in general, but something to look out for.
Overall, I'm satisfied with my ultrawide, and will continue to use a single large display over multiple smaller displays in the future.
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#14I cannot go back to 27” - ultrawide is game-changing for me.
Basically, it comes down to working on 3 interfaces seamlessly, versus two with a single screen. Think REFERENCE, ACTION, SOURCE/DESTINATION.
Couple that with using Spectacles (for Mac) to move windows in position with the keyboard, and Mouseless App to master keyboard shortcuts, and you’re flying.
I considered ditching my ultrawide to buy the new iMac 5K 27”, but it was more geared to 2 interfaces, not 3, so I couldn’t. Even though I prefer the hardware over my MacBook Air 11” 2015 - maxed out.
I love my LG 34UC80-B 34-Inch 21:9 Curved UltraWide. The Sceptre C305W-2560UN 30-inch 21:9 Super Curved Ultrawide is a great budget option.
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#15I have a 49" with a native Res of 5120x1440 and can't use it with my MacBook Pro on MacOS.
Works fine in Windows but can't go past 4096x1440@70hz in MacOS...
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#16I've tried them but far prefer running triple-head setups (since the days of Xfree and CRTs). Triple-head is pretty easy these days and gives you one central monitor plus one either side to chuck windows onto. Current set-up is 3xDell U2715H for a total of (2560*3)x1440 (and 10 workspaces).
If you are going wide, consider vertical resolution/vertical size as well (to minimise swivelling side to side).
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#17I am considering upgrading to a 4k moniter or a less-than-4k resolution ultra wide screen. Can anyone with experience in both tell me which you found to be better?
I did this. (32" 4K -> 38" curved 3840x1600)
The pixel density of the curved ultrawide is annoyingly worse than the 4K. Otherwise it's better, more usable, but the low pixel density makes me want to go back.
I'd really like a similar form factor with 5K horizontal resolution.
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#18I doesn't work for me, but that's probably very application-specific.
I'm not a dev nor a graphic/video artist, my work is motly editing office docs. Why it didn't work for me:
1- OSes are rather bad at handling large monitors. You can't just dumbly Maximize anymore, which is what I always do. Windows positions don't get memorized so your screen is a permanent mess.
2- I need the doc I'm working on, sources, and social/comms/entertainment. That's an ideal setup for 3 monitors and a good stand
3- it's hella expensive.
4- it maps better to how my brain works ?
I want back to 3 medium, cheap monitors, and I'm happier.
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#19I doesn't work for me, but that's probably very application-specific. I'm not a dev nor a graphic/video artist, my work is motly editing office docs. Why it didn't work for me: 1- OSes are rather bad at handling large monitors. You can't just dumbly Maximize anymore, which is what I always do. Windows positions don't get memorized so your screen is a permanent mess. 2- I need the doc I'm working on, sources, and soci…
There is software to resolve issue 1 with keyboard or mouse/trackpad shortcuts for nearly all OSes.
Re: Ask HN: Ultrawide monitors, what's your experience been like?
#20Copying my answer from "Ultrawide or 4k?" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21451124
> I picked 34" Ultrawide. It works just fine for everything. Easy to read, almost two "regular" monitors worth of screen space. Gaming on 3440x1440 is hard to max out (but easier than 4k), but you barely notice the difference between 3440x1440 and 2560x1080 in most games.
> I actually quite like the aspect ratio - it means I can have 2 windows in normal proportions (IDE for example) and another one on the side (terminal for example)
> 1 thing to note; I thought 34" Ultrawide will be bigger screen than it turned out to be.