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Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

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Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#841

Post by nl »

mulmen wrote: post #816
CaptainMarvel wrote: post #809

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was able to use a 5120x1440 resolution on my MacBook Pro using SwitchResX. No idea why Mac OS doesn’t let you select that resolution.

What kind of MacBook do you have exactly ? Year, size, graphics hardware and OS. Reports I read stated that while you can select it with SwitchResX it was scaled. I never tried installing it myself because I’m not a fan of modifying the system on a Mac, especially one I don’t own. From my poking around I think the horizontal resolution is the problem. The system scans possible resolutions to see what works. Apple jus…

You probably have to update the monitor info DB on MacOS. See https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/233854

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#842

Post by jnxx »

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…

> No matter what operating system you're on, you'll eventually run into an application that doesn't render in high dpi mode.

I am using using Emacs and tmux under Linux, in the Gnome desktop. Gnome has HDPI scaling. For me, that works fine with a 4K 43 inch display. The thing you need to watch out for is to get a graphics card with proper open source (FOSS) driver support. Some cards are crap and don't come with FOSS drivers. You can get them to run but it is a PITA on every kernel update. Don't do that to yourself, get a decent card.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#843

Post by CaptainMarvel »

spideymans wrote: post #627
salex89 wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree! Went from a mediocre 2x1440p to high quality 2 x 4K, then back to a pair of equal quality 2x1440p. I would also add, when it comes to 4K and, for example, MacBooks, things fall apart quickly in my opinion. Cables, adapters/dongles/docking stations just must match up for everything to work in proper 60fps, and it gets worse if you have two external displays. As for my home set up, also stayed at 25"…

>I would also add, when it comes to 4K and, for example, MacBooks, things fall apart quickly in my opinion. Cables, adapters/dongles/docking stations just must match up for everything to work in proper 60fps, and it gets worse if you have two external displays. I agree it's a bit of a mess, but USB-C monitors solve all those issues. I just plug my MacBook in with USB-C, and instantly my 4K (60 Hz) display is connecte…

It doesn’t solve all of the issues. The USB-C port can support DisplayPort 1.2 or 1.4 bandwidths and you have to make sure it matches up for some high-resolution monitors to work.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#845

Post by ranaexmachina »

I just wish there were more 5K displays out there. A few months ago I bought and returned a 4K display because I'm so used to 1440p so that I lost some real estate with 4K at 2x scaling.

At the moment I have to upscale the fonts on most websites (e.g. 130 % on HN). Fonts look very nice (although not as nice as on the 4K display) but most UI elements are very small. Fortunately that isn't a real problem since my workflow is keyboard-driven anyway, so I rarely have to click on any buttons.

In the end it's still better than the 27" 1080p display I have in my office where you could see every damn pixel. I really don't miss working there.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#846

Post by art0rz »

renjimen wrote: post #598
ogre_codes wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. No matter what operating system you're on, you'll eventually run into an application that doesn't render in high dpi mode You lost me right here on line 1. If there are apps on MacOS that can't handle high dpi mode, I haven't run into them as a developer (or doing photo editing, video editing, plus whatever other hobbies I do). Also, I don't have any trouble with plugging my highDPI MacBook into a crappy 1080p d…

> You lost me right here on line 1. I'm on Windows and can confirm 1. is an issue. Windows lets users scale UIs to be readable at high DPI on small screens. Doesn't work on all UIs (e.g. QGIS). So maybe not all OS's, but two important ones. > You could say the same for any arbitrary DPI; 96dpi isn't "Required", we got by fine with 72dpi. It's all about ergonomics as far as I'm concerned. I think the point the parent…

> I'm on Windows and can confirm 1. is an issue. Windows lets users scale UIs to be readable at high DPI on small screens. Doesn't work on all UIs (e.g. QGIS). So maybe not all OS's, but two important ones.

Haven't seen any scaling issues on Windows in years. Last time was Inkscape but they fixed that.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#847

Post by xenihn »

okasaki wrote: post #395
gorgoiler wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which display in particular are you recommending, and what is the latency like?

I use Samsung 4k TV's (55in and 43in) at work and home and the experience is absolutely fantastic. In game mode the latency is reported to be 11ms and there's no difference visible to me compared to 60hz computer monitors.

Do you have the specific model numbers? I'm buying a new monitor soon, and considering using a 4K TV. Would be great to check out the ones you're using!

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#848

Post by needle0 »

The "Antialiased text in low PPI is better with hinting" argument is unknowingly underlain by Eurocentric assumptions. Asian characters such as Chinese or Japanese have always looked significantly better on the macOS style of text rendering compared to Windows' ClearType, so much that there exists an app called MacType, created by an Asian developer, to force Windows into using Mac-style rendering.

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#849

Post by clarry »

glouwbug wrote: post #637
markrages wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coronavirus has robbed me of one of my favorite productivity hacks, which is coding on old Thinkpad with 4:3 ratio display, at a coffeeshop or library with Internet turned off. No distractions, no multitasking, just pure focus on a problem. I miss it.

My friend, when I moved into my new apartment I went without WiFi for 2 years and did nothing but code on my T43. In that time I managed to rewrite (a variant of) Age of Empires 2.

> (a variant of) Age of Empires 2.

What's this?

Re: Time to Upgrade Your Monitor

#850

Post by xenihn »

jwr wrote: post #329
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…

Having used CRT monitors, 1920x1080 displays, 4K displays and 5K displays, as well as various Retina Macbooks over many years, mostly for coding, here's my opinion: The only good solution today is the iMac 5K. Yes, 5K makes all the difference — it lets me comfortably fit three columns of code instead of two in my full-screen Emacs, and that's a huge improvement. 4K monitors are usable, but annoying, the scaling is ju…

Do you know of any standalone monitor that is close to the iMac 5K?
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