New monitor for my wife

[digitalwanderer]

My wife almost impulse bought a new monitor at Costco the other day, but I talked her out of it since I (rightly) felt it cost too much for what it offered. It was just a curved 24" FHD with hdmi and dvi inputs and I felt we could do better for $170. She's running an older PC, Phenom 8350 and an R9 290, but she only uses it for work, browsing, and watching stuff. She's far sighted so has been having trouble with text close up and I had to explain to her how a 4K monitor wouldn't help with text size. We already have her fonts set to oversized on her PC, but there's only so big you can make it before it messes with windows and such so you can't read some of it.

She's currently on an old 23.5" LED with a shaky and unadjustable stand. I know 27" is sort of bad for 1080 and should be 1440, but in her case I think a 27" 1080 is perfect. She won't notice the lack of pixel density and everything should be bigger and easier to read. I jumped on the web when we got home and started hunting as I recall seeing a lot of good monitor deals lately.

Found this SANSUI 27" 100Hz IPS (ES-27X3) at Amazon and I sort of like it. Gots HDMI/DP/USB-C inputs, IPS, freesync, and HDR10. Toss in a cheap monitor arm and I figure it's a nice upgrade.

Then I realized I had no clue about HDR at all. Never dealt with it, suddenly wondered if all GPUs output it and had a sinking feeling they don't. Did a little googling and found out they don't all support it, and her 290 doesn't. I can grab a refurbished GT 1030 off of Newegg for $50 and it supports HDR, but I hate the thought of buying a 2GB card just in general. Is HDR worth it? Does the monitor look like a decent deal and I can always use the HDR when she gets an HDR capable GPU? This isn't for gaming, just work/web/entertainment.

Sorry for the pesky post, but it's been on my mind for a few days now ever since she was looking at that monitor in Costco. Is 27" too big for 1080? If so I think it'll be just about right.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

My wife almost impulse bought a new monitor at Costco the other day, but I talked her out of it since I (rightly) felt it cost too much for what it offered. It was just a curved 24" FHD with hdmi and dvi inputs and I felt we could do better for $170. She's running an older PC, Phenom 8350 and an R9 290, but she only uses it for work, browsing, and watching stuff. She's far sighted so has been having trouble with text close up and I had to explain to her how a 4K monitor wouldn't help with text size. We already have her fonts set to oversized on her PC, but there's only so big you can make it before it messes with windows and such so you can't read some of it.

She's currently on an old 23.5" LED with a shaky and unadjustable stand. I know 27" is sort of bad for 1080 and should be 1440, but in her case I think a 27" 1080 is perfect. She won't notice the lack of pixel density and everything should be bigger and easier to read. I jumped on the web when we got home and started hunting as I recall seeing a lot of good monitor deals lately.

Found this SANSUI 27" 100Hz IPS (ES-27X3) at Amazon and I sort of like it. Gots HDMI/DP/USB-C inputs, IPS, freesync, and HDR10. Toss in a cheap monitor arm and I figure it's a nice upgrade.

Then I realized I had no clue about HDR at all. Never dealt with it, suddenly wondered if all GPUs output it and had a sinking feeling they don't. Did a little googling and found out they don't all support it, and her 290 doesn't. I can grab a refurbished GT 1030 off of Newegg for $50 and it supports HDR, but I hate the thought of buying a 2GB card just in general. Is HDR worth it? Does the monitor look like a decent deal and I can always use the HDR when she gets an HDR capable GPU? This isn't for gaming, just work/web/entertainment.

Sorry for the pesky post, but it's been on my mind for a few days now ever since she was looking at that monitor in Costco. Is 27" too big for 1080? If so I think it'll be just about right.

First if you're going cheap monitor then don't get an HDR monitor. Cheap HDR monitors aren't worth the money spent on them.

If you want an HDR monitor spend the money and get a good one.

If presbyopia is starting to set in (ability to focus on near things degrading) then going for a larger display would be a good idea. For example, I'd hate to be trying to use a 27" monitor (regardless of resolution) right now. Something close to 40" would be ideal as presbyopia is progressive with age so it'd be good for a while (assuming a decent quality display that'll last a while).

Of course, that's also a lot of desk space and you won't find anything ultra cheap. Something in the 30's would at least be better than a 27", however. Acer has a 31.5" 1080p display on Amazon (160 USD) which I would lean towards more than the 27" Sansui.

A little more would get you a 1440p 32" display (I see an AOC one for 199 USD). She may or may not be able to use it just fine at native resolution now and in the future it'd still be useable either with display scaling or moving down to 1080p.

Basically if she's started to suffer from presbyopia then a 30"+ display is going to last her a lot longer than a 27" display will.

Displays are perhaps the most important part of using a PC, so might as well get one that is good quality that will last and will be comfortable to look at for multiple years (10+ is what I always plan for with displays).

Regards,
SB

 

[Davros]

A new monitor for your wife - to be honest Digi I dont think thats such a great trade

 

[orangpelupa]

@Silent_Buddha suggestions are spot-on, i think.

oh and the advantage of using huge (40" or larger) 4K monitor is that you are not forced to use the full area of the screen. you can treat it as multi-monitor (basically multiple apps windowed) or full screen with large texts or full screen with small texts. whichever fits the need the best.

so you and your wife can have more freedom playing around with the scaling setting to get the best one.

 

[digitalwanderer]

First if you're going cheap monitor then don't get an HDR monitor. Cheap HDR monitors aren't worth the money spent on them.

If you want an HDR monitor spend the money and get a good one.

If presbyopia is starting to set in (ability to focus on near things degrading) then going for a larger display would be a good idea. For example, I'd hate to be trying to use a 27" monitor (regardless of resolution) right now. Something close to 40" would be ideal as presbyopia is progressive with age so it'd be good for a while (assuming a decent quality display that'll last a while).

Of course, that's also a lot of desk space and you won't find anything ultra cheap. Something in the 30's would at least be better than a 27", however. Acer has a 31.5" 1080p display on Amazon (160 USD) which I would lean towards more than the 27" Sansui.

A little more would get you a 1440p 32" display (I see an AOC one for 199 USD). She may or may not be able to use it just fine at native resolution now and in the future it'd still be useable either with display scaling or moving down to 1080p.

Basically if she's started to suffer from presbyopia then a 30"+ display is going to last her a lot longer than a 27" display will.

Displays are perhaps the most important part of using a PC, so might as well get one that is good quality that will last and will be comfortable to look at for multiple years (10+ is what I always plan for with displays).

Regards,
SB

Thanks for the advice. I agree with everything but the size. I think 32" is way too big for her to be comfortable with, got a 32" tv laying around and just looking at the size of it and considering it freaked me out.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Thanks for the advice. I agree with everything but the size. I think 32" is way too big for her to be comfortable with, got a 32" tv laying around and just looking at the size of it and considering it freaked me out.

Wouldn't hurt to have her try the TV and see what she thinks. You and/or she might be surprised at how much more comfortable it makes it to use a PC.

Regards,
SB

 

[WhiningKhan]

A new monitor for your wife - to be honest Digi I dont think thats such a great trade

My wisecrack reaction to the title was along the lines of "Man looking for wife monitor. How about a kid controller while we're at it? And what would he need for himself - extension maybe?"

For hopefully less offensive input, we have 3 24" curved Samsung FHDs in use which were 129€-179€ (bought one at a time 2019-2021 IIRC) which are fine IMO if cheap with low refresh rate is ok. Boys have more expensive Samsung Odysseus as main displays, having the same curvature for secondary displays gives you a nice surround view for desktop...

 

[digitalwanderer]

I currently have a 24" and hers is a 23.5", wouldn't be much of an improvement.

I plan to make cardboard mock-ups of a 27" and 32" so we can see how they'll fit her desk/lifestyle.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I currently have a 24" and hers is a 23.5", wouldn't be much of an improvement.

I plan to make cardboard mock-ups of a 27" and 32" so we can see how they'll fit her desk/lifestyle.

In addition to that you really should hook something up to the TV (HDMI? Laptop?) and see what she thinks of how easy it is to see and especially how easy it is to read things without having to increase text size or display scaling.

Keep in mind that if her eyes have started to harden due to aging then that inability to focus on near things is only going to get worse as time goes by. I hate it, but it's just something I have to live with. A larger display makes it significantly more comfortable to read things on my PC.

My wife used to think it was excessive and just me wanting to play games on a big screen. But I've got her using a 49" display for work now and she just won't give it up.

Regards,
SB

 

[digitalwanderer]

At Costco yesterday my wife saw a monitor she liked on clearance and we got it. 27" MSI Optix G273 IPS FHD for $130 and freesync works with it. She's very happy.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

She's very happy.

That's all that matters. As the saying goes, a happy wife equals a happy life.

Regards,
SB

 

[Davros]

Just a thought, wouldnt you have been better off waiting for black friday?