Widescreen Monitor vs Dual Monitors

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buster

buster

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I've always had two monitors at work and at home. I work from home several days a week and use my laptop and a Lenovo 21" monitor as dual monitors. I'm debating on getting a 30"+ widescreen monitor instead of using two monitors. I usually have several applications open at one time, and use one on each screen. With a widescreen I could do the same, and have only one monitor.

So far I'm leaning towards a few LG's. Any particular brand recommendations no more than $500?

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-34WK650-W-ultrawide-monitor
 
Do you ever present anything over the web? If so, having two monitors is an advantage as you can share the screen of one monitor while having other applications open on the other monitor and only you can see them.

I am really happy with this one. It is my primary work monitor. For less than $500 you could get two of them:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NZTKOQI

It's a 16:10, which I find more useful than the typical 16:9.
 
Thanks QP. No I don't share or present anything. I want to see what it would be like using one widescreen vs two with all my applications open.
 
From what I have read some of those ultra wide monitors have to have a graphics system that supports the odd ball resolution.

Two good monitors is cheaper than those ultra wide things most of the time.
 
I bought 2x Ben-Q monitors off Amazon that do full 1080 and are 23.8" along with the desktop support stand.
Been really happy with them at work attached to my Surface Book Pro via the docking station.

They have built in speakers and were $119 CDN Each. Great colour and contrast, sharp picture. They do HDMI / VGA.

I like having 2 monitors so when I'm on a Webex on one monitor I can be doing something else on another monitor.



photo1.jpg
 
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The disadvantage of widescreen is that the resolution is often not double a standard monitor. So if you want two windows up, each with full HD resolution, you may not be happy. It would take 3840x1080 to provide 2 full windows of HD on a single monitor.
 
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Consider 4k, its like 4 1080p screens in one. Very handy for two big windows side by side.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
I bought 2x Ben-Q monitors off Amazon that do full 1080 and are 23.8" along with the desktop support stand.
Been really happy with them at work attached to my Surface Book Pro via the docking station.

They have built in speakers and were $119 CDN Each. Great colour and contrast, sharp picture. They do HDMI / VGA.

I like having 2 monitors so when I'm on a Webex on one monitor I can be doing something else on another monitor.



This is basically my setup now at work and home.

I could still keep a Webex up in one window and keep other applications open next to it right?

As far as resolution goes, I could go 4k but I think even HD would be totally fine. I'm not sure what the implication would be. The aspect ratio changes but it's still HD. Just goes to 21:9.
 
I have two 24 inch monitors and my laptop. Samsung and an Asus. Prefer the Samsung (work provided the Asus). I typically leave email on my laptop and most other windows on the other two.

I prefer LG and Samsung for monitors.
 
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Originally Posted by buster
Originally Posted by StevieC
I bought 2x Ben-Q monitors off Amazon that do full 1080 and are 23.8" along with the desktop support stand.
Been really happy with them at work attached to my Surface Book Pro via the docking station.

They have built in speakers and were $119 CDN Each. Great colour and contrast, sharp picture. They do HDMI / VGA.

I like having 2 monitors so when I'm on a Webex on one monitor I can be doing something else on another monitor.



This is basically my setup now at work and home.

I could still keep a Webex up in one window and keep other applications open next to it right?

As far as resolution goes, I could go 4k but I think even HD would be totally fine. I'm not sure what the implication would be. The aspect ratio changes but it's still HD. Just goes to 21:9.


Correct... I went for the 1080 resolution only because it was cheap and did what I needed it to do at the office. I use the Surface screen for my music streaming on the internet so I can quickly mute it if someone walks in my office or I have to be on the phone (It's really too small for anything else). The two screens on the stand I use for applications. I have done Webex in one while I had a spreadsheet open in the other. Works quite well and I can choose what screen the other parties see when hosting the Webex which is great for having notes open on one screen to discuss and the other screen running the Webex which is what they all see. IMO, Microsoft did this extremely well.
 
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Cheapest way to go is to use a 40-43" 4K monitor. I use a Samsung TV and it works great (currently around $350) with a Macbook pro, and the 4K res is compatible with everything except serious gaming (30 Hz HDMI refresh is too slow). There is no reason to use anything less than 4K these days. If you need multiple monitors beyond the laptop alone just get a 2nd one (assuming your graphics card supports two)
 
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I used to have two monitors. Went to a proper (ie full resolution, not a 1080 variant) 27" and haven't looked back at home and work.

If I need more, I can add a second in a pinch. Don't need it all the time... if I wanted a second, I'd likely have one in portrait mode, the other in landscape, which can be handy for viewing documents and sometimes outlook.

But make sure you get the real full resolution, not the compromised ones... when I bought mine, it was WQHD 2560x1440 which I find ideal. Now there's 4K, 5k, etc which may be better, I don't know. But I did have a noticeable favorable difference going from a 24" 1080 to this one...

Have a viewsonic at work, Samsung at home. Can't really tell the difference. 27 is about the cusp where they get obnoxiously large.
 
Thanks JHZ. Good to know. I think 27" would be a good size.

I just watched this video, which is over 2 years old. At the time of this review, there were no 4k widescreen.
 
There is no reason to spend the money on 4K stuff unless you want it or do video and photo editing or some other design stuff. Spread sheets, word documents and webex run just fine on old monitors plus they use up less system resources if your computer or laptop is using onboard graphics.

My work setup is three monitors running off a 32bit Windows 7 system via a docking station. One monitor is an old 19 inch 4:3 vga lcd I run outlook on my left. A 21 inch dell 4:3 lcd running off dvi on the right that I usually put excel spread sheets on or webex when I am on a call. The center one is a 23 inch 16:9 led lit lcd that usually has internet explorer or whatever plc program I have open at the time. I would probably use my laptop screen also but the system just doesn't support four monitors at once. The sad thing is that old fluorescent lit monitors look better than the laptop screen for the most part.

I wish I could do one of those widescreen setups but I kinda like the break between the screens to separate stuff.
 
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I wish I could do one of those widescreen setups but I kinda like the break between the screens to separate stuff.


That's the issue too. I do like having a break between the screens, but I like the way you can manage multiple screens on one monitor as well.
 
Just got a 34" LG 34UB88-P last week at work. It's a 21:9 display. I had 2-24" monitors before and they had more surface area, but with it divided it wastes space. I can size windows to how big I need them so it feels bigger.

All I have to say is... It's beautiful...

[Linked Image]
 
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