Time to Upgrade Your Monitor • Hacker News Board

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#681

Post by ShinyObject » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:42 AM UTC

This is actually a rather bad time to buy a high-end monitor because if you get one right now it will likely be outdated by the end of the year.

If you want a monitor that can do all of the cool things at once (2160p, hdr, 120Hz+, freesync) without using hacks like dual cables or realtime lossy compression, then you need both a video card and a monitor that support hdmi 2.1 or displayport 2.0.

Currently there are very few monitors that support the newer hdmi/dp standard, and there are no video cards that do. However both of the new consoles scheduled to be released later this year (xbox series x, ps5) will support hdmi 2.1. This also implies that upcoming discrete gpus will support this as well.

This means if you want a monitor that can do everything, right now there are only a tiny number of screens, and no video cards. Barring any delays, the situation should be very different in a few months.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#682

Post by nippoo » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:46 AM UTC

the_af wrote: post #76

The technical details are all right (or seem right to me, anyway), but this is too opinionated for my liking. No, you do not need a 4K monitor for software development. Some people might like them, some won't. [edit/clarification: someone rightfully pointed out that nobody will actively dislike a 4K monitor. I was unclear here: I meant "some people won't need them" more than "dislike them"] This sounds like when Jeff…

Another conclusion I disagree with is the author's insistence on only using integer scaling multipliers. The article talks about subpixel rendering and then mostly ignores that for the rest of the article, instead assuming pixels are all small black squares (which it isn't - "pixel density" isn't a particularly meaningful term when you're dealing with clarity on modern screens). IIRC, macOS renders text on a higher-resolution internal framebuffer and scales down, anyway; in practice I don't notice any difference in clarity on my MacBook screen whether running at an integer or non-integer scale of the native resolution.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#683

Post by JohnBooty » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:50 AM UTC

nkurz wrote: post #384

nkurz wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So how should HN users know when to use them? It's not authoritative, and I don't know dang's feelings on the matter, but it's probably worth noting that long ago the founder of the site clearly stated that it was acceptable to use downvoting to express disagreement: pg: I think it's ok to use the up and down arrows to express agreement. Obviously the uparrows aren't only for applauding politeness, so it seems reas…

For completeness, here's the primary moderator 'dang' very explicitly confirming that downvoting for disagreement is still allowed at least as of 2 years ago: dang: Downvoting for disagreement has always been ok on HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17666145

That's an awful policy.

I don't care about the imaginary internet points, but it doesn't take many downvotes to bury/kill/whatever a post. If a few early responders "downvote disagree" then nobody will ever see it.

It's almost as if they thought, "How can we best encourage groupthink?" and this was the answer.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#684

Post by PascLeRasc » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:50 AM UTC

thomaslord wrote: post #239

the_af wrote: post #76

The technical details are all right (or seem right to me, anyway), but this is too opinionated for my liking. No, you do not need a 4K monitor for software development. Some people might like them, some won't. [edit/clarification: someone rightfully pointed out that nobody will actively dislike a 4K monitor. I was unclear here: I meant "some people won't need them" more than "dislike them"] This sounds like when Jeff…

Hello! Person who actively dislikes 4k here. In my experience: 1. No matter what operating system you're on, you'll eventually run into an application that doesn't render in high dpi mode. Depending on the OS that can mean it renders tiny, or that the whole things is super ugly and pixelated (WAY worse than on a native 1080p display) 2. If the 4k screen is on your laptop, good luck ever having a decent experience plu…

You know, I was in complete agreement with the article and I was considering a 1440p monitor or something until I saw your comment and reflected on it. The most productive periods/jobs I can remember were on i3wm with a Goodwill 900p/19" monitor and a 20" iMac 10 years old at the time. But it's because I had access to good tools then like Neovim/Atom respectively. My work now requires an RDP Notepad.exe session so there's no monitor that will help me there. I guess software tools are way more important.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#685

Post by musicale » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:51 AM UTC

> Not anymore, after Apple started applying non-integer scaling by default on Macbooks

That is the first thing I fix on an Apple laptop - change it to 4x HiDPI scaling!! I was very annoyed when they changed the default.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#686

Post by mulmen » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:51 AM UTC

mumblemumble wrote: post #635

mulmen wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently upgraded to a 43” 4k monitor and use it the way you describe. I’m not sure I am happy with it. The real estate is nice but it might be too much. UI elements end up very far away. I rarely need all that space. I either need a bigger (deeper) desk to sit back farther or just a smaller monitor physically with the same resolution.

The 4K monitor at my office is a fair bit smaller than that, and I haven't used it since the COVID-19 epidemic sent me packing home. Since then I've just been using my laptop's built-in screen. To be honest, I think I may stick to it. At first, the huge monitor was fun, and initial change to having less screen real estate was definitely a drag. But, now that I'm accustomed to it again, I'm finding that "I can fit les…

A major pain (literally) point for me with laptop screens is posture. My neck aches after a day of looking mostly down. I suppose an external keyboard and mouse would help but I would have to get a stand and blah blah.

Also for my particular workload real estate is very handy. I totally agree with there being some virtue to constraints but several times a day I really need the space.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#687

Post by mulmen » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:53 AM UTC

Godel_unicode wrote: post #671

mulmen wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently upgraded to a 43” 4k monitor and use it the way you describe. I’m not sure I am happy with it. The real estate is nice but it might be too much. UI elements end up very far away. I rarely need all that space. I either need a bigger (deeper) desk to sit back farther or just a smaller monitor physically with the same resolution.

If you're on Windows, consider the fancyzones power toy. Break up your screens into an arbitrary set of maximizable zones. Highly recommend if the normal 4 corners isn't enough for you. https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/tree/master/src/modul...

I'm on MacOS. I basically never maximize anything. I just resize the floating windows and put them where they make sense at the time. The dream would be doing this with the keyboard using something like i3. I have been tinkering with that on weekends but M-F I focus on paying work.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#688

Post by musicale » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:54 AM UTC

I used non-antialiased bitmap fonts on a low-resolution display for terminal windows for the past 3 months, and it was great. Now I've switched back to 5K and it's fine, but there really was nothing wrong with bitmap fonts.

I also tried a vintage "mechanical" switch keyboard and mouse, just for fun. I think modern macOS doesn't work quite as well with a mouse because of the weird, narrow, disappearing scrollbars (though a mouse scroll wheel or scroll ball can help with that.)

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#689

Post by upofadown » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 12:57 AM UTC

I just got used to looking at dot matrix fonts. So my fonts are completely crisp even at low resolutions. In the end it is just patterns of dots.

Currently doing 6x10 fonts on a 21 inch 1920x1080 monitor. A higher rez monitor would actually end up being a nuisance.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#690

Post by aqme28 » Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 1:01 AM UTC

I wish it spoke more about framerate. I find the refresh rate affects eyestrain for me a lot, so I got a higher framerate display.

The difference between 1440p and 4k is barely noticeable I find. I'd rather have 1440p and high refresh over 4k and 60hz.