Hi all,
I'm trying to pick apart the 27" Monitor ranges and options to fine the right sweetspot as it's time to upgrade (my old Dell U2711 no longer runs properly at full 1440p, but only 1080p and looks rubbish!).
In the past picking a monitor has always seemed simple - but with choice and tech explosion in recent years I'm left bewildered with pro's/con's. Even the Dell range is bewildering - let alone adding in other brands! I'm pretty happy at 27" - it seems a good size for a desktop and I like the native icon/text size of the 1440p resolution and dislike 1080p on this screen size. I'm really looking to find the best picture quality I can get - not because I really need it but because it's a really nice thing to have when spending a lot of time on a computer every day! Here is what I have so far considered:
U2715H - standard 1440p 27" IPS - would set me back $475-525. I am hoping it would be a good improvement over my U2711 - the most reecnt dell I have seen is my dad's U2414, which seems somewhat crisper and has more pop than the U2711 - the image seems much less washed out too (probably due to less IPS glow!?).
UP2716d - a wide-gammut premium 1440p panel - I dont do much photo/video editing, I spend an awful lot of time on my pc but mostly for surfing/watching youtube/streaming/playing some games - nothing that requires a wide-gammut - my question here is, would it give me better colour and therefore better every day picture quality? or the opposite by randomly over-saturating colours in places? It would actually come relatively cheaply - at $500 - it seems to be better value, particularly as it also has a relatively faster response time. I'm just really uncertain if the wide-gammut is actually a good or bad idea!
U2717d - replaces the U2715H - I love its slim bezels. Apparently though its a bit slower in response time (not a huge factor admittedly - though I do game, it is more commonly strategy style, as I mostly use the xbox for driving/fps games, except on the odd occasion. The UP2716d theoretically should be a better panel and is cheaper - the U2717d costs $590-630 - on the upper-end for a standard though nice monitor. I rather be "current" though - assuming it actually is better than the U2715H for picture quality, but is the price worth it?
UP2715K - the 5K monster! - I've read rave reviews about the beauty of the pictures on these. Does anyone have any first hand experience? My GPU should work (it has 2 x DP 1.2 outputs) though I realise I wont get a high frame rate for gaming on full res without significantly upgrading it - but it's more about the every day useability and experience for me. You might say that my uses dont need it - and you would be right, but if the picture is that good it will make my time spent on the computer that bit more enjoyable every day, so why not! With 5K I like the fact that its directly scalable from 1440p, so can get the same icon and text size by scaling to 200% in win 7 - and still have the the huge pixel density to make everything else look wonderful! But am I actually just going to just cause myself problems - both with the GPU for gaming, and more importantly will I have random annoying episodes where I simply cant read website text because they appear too small due to scaling not working!? Also, will normal content e.g. youtube or bbc iplayer generally all look terrible due to the massive downscaling to watch it? - at $865-890 the price has come down hugely on this screen since last year and brings it temptingly my way for a long-term investment....
Why is there no 4k Monitor on the list you ask? Simply - without lots of 4k content I dont see the point - its a resolution where I would still definitely have to scale text/icons, but the scaling ratios are wrong for me and therefore would look worse - on 27" I dont like the 1080p native text/icon size (which would be the best one to scale to if using a 4k monitor). Also, I have a 4k TV if I really want to watch 4k content - so the only benefit would be for some games. I tend to use an xbox for fps/driving games and a blu-ray player/amazon fire HD stick for movies, rather than the PC simply as they are both plugged into a good quality 1080p projector which punches out a massive image with surround sound - so I'm not about to start using my computer as a Movie player!
Also, should I be looking at other screens? Something about Samsung Quantum Dots for picture quality or higher refresh rate Asus or Acer screens perhaps? I simply dont know the ranges of other brands, nor what picture qualities I can expect - and most reviews tend to go on for pages about figures and callibration... rather than simply describing how good the pictures are! Picture Quality for me is key.
Many thanks in advance for your comments and discussion
I'm trying to pick apart the 27" Monitor ranges and options to fine the right sweetspot as it's time to upgrade (my old Dell U2711 no longer runs properly at full 1440p, but only 1080p and looks rubbish!).
In the past picking a monitor has always seemed simple - but with choice and tech explosion in recent years I'm left bewildered with pro's/con's. Even the Dell range is bewildering - let alone adding in other brands! I'm pretty happy at 27" - it seems a good size for a desktop and I like the native icon/text size of the 1440p resolution and dislike 1080p on this screen size. I'm really looking to find the best picture quality I can get - not because I really need it but because it's a really nice thing to have when spending a lot of time on a computer every day! Here is what I have so far considered:
U2715H - standard 1440p 27" IPS - would set me back $475-525. I am hoping it would be a good improvement over my U2711 - the most reecnt dell I have seen is my dad's U2414, which seems somewhat crisper and has more pop than the U2711 - the image seems much less washed out too (probably due to less IPS glow!?).
UP2716d - a wide-gammut premium 1440p panel - I dont do much photo/video editing, I spend an awful lot of time on my pc but mostly for surfing/watching youtube/streaming/playing some games - nothing that requires a wide-gammut - my question here is, would it give me better colour and therefore better every day picture quality? or the opposite by randomly over-saturating colours in places? It would actually come relatively cheaply - at $500 - it seems to be better value, particularly as it also has a relatively faster response time. I'm just really uncertain if the wide-gammut is actually a good or bad idea!
U2717d - replaces the U2715H - I love its slim bezels. Apparently though its a bit slower in response time (not a huge factor admittedly - though I do game, it is more commonly strategy style, as I mostly use the xbox for driving/fps games, except on the odd occasion. The UP2716d theoretically should be a better panel and is cheaper - the U2717d costs $590-630 - on the upper-end for a standard though nice monitor. I rather be "current" though - assuming it actually is better than the U2715H for picture quality, but is the price worth it?
UP2715K - the 5K monster! - I've read rave reviews about the beauty of the pictures on these. Does anyone have any first hand experience? My GPU should work (it has 2 x DP 1.2 outputs) though I realise I wont get a high frame rate for gaming on full res without significantly upgrading it - but it's more about the every day useability and experience for me. You might say that my uses dont need it - and you would be right, but if the picture is that good it will make my time spent on the computer that bit more enjoyable every day, so why not! With 5K I like the fact that its directly scalable from 1440p, so can get the same icon and text size by scaling to 200% in win 7 - and still have the the huge pixel density to make everything else look wonderful! But am I actually just going to just cause myself problems - both with the GPU for gaming, and more importantly will I have random annoying episodes where I simply cant read website text because they appear too small due to scaling not working!? Also, will normal content e.g. youtube or bbc iplayer generally all look terrible due to the massive downscaling to watch it? - at $865-890 the price has come down hugely on this screen since last year and brings it temptingly my way for a long-term investment....
Why is there no 4k Monitor on the list you ask? Simply - without lots of 4k content I dont see the point - its a resolution where I would still definitely have to scale text/icons, but the scaling ratios are wrong for me and therefore would look worse - on 27" I dont like the 1080p native text/icon size (which would be the best one to scale to if using a 4k monitor). Also, I have a 4k TV if I really want to watch 4k content - so the only benefit would be for some games. I tend to use an xbox for fps/driving games and a blu-ray player/amazon fire HD stick for movies, rather than the PC simply as they are both plugged into a good quality 1080p projector which punches out a massive image with surround sound - so I'm not about to start using my computer as a Movie player!
Also, should I be looking at other screens? Something about Samsung Quantum Dots for picture quality or higher refresh rate Asus or Acer screens perhaps? I simply dont know the ranges of other brands, nor what picture qualities I can expect - and most reviews tend to go on for pages about figures and callibration... rather than simply describing how good the pictures are! Picture Quality for me is key.
Many thanks in advance for your comments and discussion