Workstation monitor?

[Adcadet]

My old cheapy 28" LCD died. I need a second monitor. I use a USB switch and multiple monitor inputs (HDMI and DVI) to juggle two PCs into two monitors, one Windows 7, the other Linux (currently Linux Mint). I'd like a monitor in the 27-30" range. Most of the time I do office work on it, some video editing and some photo editing. Nothing I would consider high-end where I would need particularly accurate color reproduction, but decent colors would be nice. I don't game but that would be a nice option. Anyone have a favorite? Could I got to a 4K monitor with this sort of setup (no clue if Linux does 4k or not)?

 

[Handruin]

My old cheapy 28" LCD died. I need a second monitor. I use a USB switch and multiple monitor inputs (HDMI and DVI) to juggle two PCs into two monitors, one Windows 7, the other Linux (currently Linux Mint). I'd like a monitor in the 27-30" range. Most of the time I do office work on it, some video editing and some photo editing. Nothing I would consider high-end where I would need particularly accurate color reproduction, but decent colors would be nice. I don't game but that would be a nice option. Anyone have a favorite? Could I got to a 4K monitor with this sort of setup (no clue if Linux does 4k or not)?

What's your budget range do you have and what video card do you have (for determining 4K feasibility)? That'll be the biggest influence on what monitor panel type and resolution (4K or not) gets decided.

 

[Mercutio]

Every time I look in to it, Dell seems to be the only affordable/appealing option as far as name brands go, with the HP, Apple and Viewsonic products all being in the "Oh wait, you're serious. Let me laugh harder." range of pricing.

I have a weirdo Korean off-brand 27" monitor I got from Fry's about 15 months ago. It's IPS. It's 2560x1600. I only paid about $350 for it. I'm not doing prosumer photo editing and I think it looks fine, but then I'm also OK with using a 32" 1080P TV for the same work.

 

[ddrueding]

Every time I am about to buy a monitor I check the options and come to the same conclusion as Merc, Dell is the no-brainer optimum choice 90% of the time. Stick with their P or U lines and get the size you can afford. I've been happy with their various Ultrasharp (32, 30, 27, 24) and the Pro 24.

 

[Adcadet]

GTX460 on my Windows machine, integrated Intel graphics from an Ivy Bridge chip on the Linux machine.

 

[timwhit]

I bought one of the Korean IPS 2560x1440 monitors from MicroCenter a couple years ago. I've been happy with it. I don't think MicroCenter stocks them anymore, but you can find them on eBay and probably Amazon as well.

 

[Handruin]

I'm intrigued by this LG 34UM95 display. It's a bizarre size by I like some of the pros it offers.
http://m.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-34UM95

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnrxNfxRK_4

 

[ddrueding]

Nice review, very interesting monitor. I don't think I'm regretting my Dell 32" purchase, but that would have made me think pretty hard. Running it as two "screens" in a bezel-less config would make awesome sense for office work, but as he mentioned, for that price you can do lots of awesome things.

I'm pretty sure I'm still glad I went with an industry standard 4k screen; there is 4k content out there and it looks amazing.

 

[Chewy509]

GTX460 on my Windows machine, integrated Intel graphics from an Ivy Bridge chip on the Linux machine.

Ivy Bridge will do 4K on HDMI/DP provided you have the UEFI support and a very up to date Intel Driver and X.Org version, and the HDMI/DP ports are of the required versions. (Some cheaper motherboards skimped on the actual hardware for HDMI, limiting overall bandwidth on the wire to less than what's required for 4K@60Hz).

IIRC full 4K support was added with the Kepler GPUs on the nVidia side of the fence, so unsure exactly which GPU the GTX460 has (Fermi or Kepler) From the nVidia 319.23 release notes:

Added support for HDMI 4K resolutions. Using a 4K resolution with an HDMI display requires a Kepler or later GPU.

With AMD, it's AMD Radeon HD 7000 series and newer, provided you have a DP1.2 port on the card...

 

[Handruin]

Ivy Bridge will do 4K on HDMI/DP provided you have the UEFI support and a very up to date Intel Driver and X.Org version, and the HDMI/DP ports are of the required versions. (Some cheaper motherboards skimped on the actual hardware for HDMI, limiting overall bandwidth on the wire to less than what's required for 4K@60Hz).

IIRC full 4K support was added with the Kepler GPUs on the nVidia side of the fence, so unsure exactly which GPU the GTX460 has (Fermi or Kepler) From the nVidia 319.23 release notes:


With AMD, it's AMD Radeon HD 7000 series and newer, provided you have a DP1.2 port on the card...

The GTX 460 is based on Fermi, so I guess no 4K support.