New Monitor - Advice Please

[WB627]

My faithful Samsung SyncMaster 931BF has given up the ghost and I need to replace it.

In the nearly 12 years that have passed since I bought it, much has changed in the monitor world. What I have manged to do, is identify that I want a 27/28 inch IPS screen, what I am struggling with is what resolution should I be looking for?

I am a keen photographer with a 30mp full frame DSLR and do a bit of photo editing with various bits of software including an old version of Photoshop. The advice I get from Google is as much resolution as possible ie 4K , but is this really necessary or even desirable. I know from having a Dell Laptop with a high resolution screen, that the more pixels in the screen the smaller the type face and icons and I know that this can be "fixed" in the settings by using the scaling function, but doesn't that defeat the object of the exercise?

Although the PC I use is old, it was specked at the time to render 3D animations and my graphics card, an NVIDIA Quadro K2000 is not as old and will work to 4k 3840x2160 resolution.

Any suggestions or advice will be most appreciated.

WB627

[Saab Dastard]

I recently bought a BenQ PD3200U 32" LED IPS 4K Design Monitor for work purposes, and it is simply stunning. They do a similar one in 27" form - I would recommend it, although it is pricey (about £420). I have no problem using Win 10 on mine, plus the video software - no scaling required, even at 3840x2160. It also has great adjustment - height, tilt, swivel.

SD

[Jhieminga]

Indeed, scaling completely defeats the purpose of getting a high resolution monitor. Avoid using scaling, instead you can increase the size of icons and type face a bit within your Windows settings if needed. It may not work seamlessly across all bits of software, but at least your photos will look good. Scaling can mess up how everything is displayed. If you're getting a relatively large size screen (and I would say that 27 inch is in that range), it may not be as big an issue.

[Loose rivets]

I'm on an HP 24 fw. In truth, I'm on my fourth. Fat legs on writing was one thing and this quite nice (cheap) monitor was getting a lot of criticism. This one was a marked improvement, though I think it's got another problem. I can change it as many times as I want, but sod's says, I'll probably get more duff text. Get a better one?

I have a very large ViewSonic in the garage. 4k. It's in a box awaiting the next trip to the local dump.

Proximity switches. Pah. Finally got the tiny strip PCB board out from behind the LED's and inspected the other side. Nowt to be seen. I followed the ribbon to the metal box and took it off the back of the screen. It was easy, it was taped on. I searched for dry joints for a while, and re-soldered quite a few. They would not have passed my inspection from new. It's a screen with minimalistic things to put patterns on its surface. Tinsel.

I phoned a friend. "It's just not worth me spending time on them. Three years and they can be scrap."

I thought if I could bypass/short something I might find a way of kickstarting it off with a fixit wire and then leave it in standby via the PC. I know I'll have one last go before it's scrapped. Can't stop myself. I fixed my son's Chevvy Blazer panel. 150 dry joints and 50 to unsolder to split the boards before working. Got the confidence by seeing a bloke in Denmark posting on it, but can't find a thing on this monitor. Not even new boards at any price.

I thought back to my days as a telly-mender and a 19" black and white, with Spot Wobble. Tell the kids of today.

[Ancient Observer]

When I bought my desktop from one of the non-high street folk, (Chillblast), they strongly recommended an AOC scree. Never heard of them. 22".
I am very happy with it. Lots of spec options on their website.

[cats_five]

As you are into photography I imagine colour accuracy might be on your 'desirable' list. You can spend a small fortune on an Eizo, for example. I found the following, scroll past the price of the first monitor before you have a heart attack, but it has some useful information at the end and one sub-£100 monitor is mentioned, the BenQ GW2270H.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/best-monitor-for-photo-editing

Also consider two identical monitors, if you have both HDMI and DVI outputs. I've been using two monitors for years and it makes many things so much easier. Windows 10 handles them without any problems.

Another useful looking link: https://www.creativebloq.com/buying-guides/best-monitors-for-photo-editing

Joining a photography forum and asking there would undoubtedly yield some 'interesting' answers! One such is https://luminous-landscape.com/. Also some PC forums have photography sub-forums: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/

Finally for the large images your camera will create, sounds like 16GB RAM or more is called for. Images from my 'new' 24mp DSLR (not full-frame!) are noticeably slower to import than from the previous 16mp camera.

[Saab Dastard]

cats_five, thanks for the techradar article - I'm pleased to see that 3 of the 6 chosen monitors are from Benq, one of them being the monitor I bought!

SD

[Asturias56]

"consider two identical monitors, if you have both HDMI and DVI outputs. I've been using two monitors for years and it makes many things so much easier. Windows 10 handles them without any problems."

Absolutely - it makes a great difference - I use twp old HP{ LP 2065's thta give a great picture

By the way Windows back to at least XP handles dual screen without any problem at all - this is at least 8 years old.............

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/560x174/screens_13ff25589f70d6939e7cfc5fafca0611c3850370.gif

[WB627]

Thank you all for the replies.

I have been using a dual monitor set up for many years and I have a colormunki to calibrate them for photo work. The PC is old, but was specked for my son to render 3D animations; i7 processor, 12gb RAM and a high end Nvidia graphics card, which I have since upgraded and handles the rather old version of Photoshop without any problem and will do 4K with 2x DP 1x HDMI outputs.

My Epson R3000 printer has also died and needs replacing, so I've got to compromise somewhere. So I have been considering a Philips 276E8VJSB which is apparently, the cheapest 4K monitor available. What I am umming and aaring about is do I really need 4K? Or would the money be better spent on a better brand monitor with a lower resolution and possibly not even an IPS screen?

cats five, thank you for the links, lots of good stuff in there especially the overclockers.

[WB627]

A bit more research from reading through cats five's links and a bit of Googling, confirmed what I suspected in that a 4K monitor was not what was really needed. Eventually got to looking at the BenQ PD2700Q 27 Inch 1440p QHD Monitor for Graphic Design and then looked for reviews for it which produced this ……

https://camerajabber.com/benq-pd2700q-27-inch-qhd-review/

And the realisation this ticked all the right boxes for me. I am not a professional photographer and although I have a camera capable of 4K video, I never do video and I dont do gaming, so 4K resolution was not necessary.

So thank you to everyone that has contributed to this discussion, it has all been very helpful.

WB627

[WB627]

The BenQ has arrived and I am not disappointed. Perfect choice for me. It might even be big enough with its screen splitting options, to do away with a second monitor.