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I want a new monitor for my WFH set-up as I'm currently working off the laptop screen.
It's for usual spreadsheet jockey work, very few vids and nothing overly taxing for machine or monitor. HD is fine, don't think I need UHD.
Any things I should be looking for or brands I should be avoiding? A quick search on Amazon suggests I can spend anything from £80 to £500.
One thing to look out for is whether it has a VESA mounting bracket on the back, if you want to use one of those fancy stands. Mine doesn't, and that's quite annoying!
Keep an eye on HotUKDeals. They are often listed on there. They are are bit down on 1080p screens but it works for me and it's a lot cheaper.
Personally I'd say decent brand mid 20s inch 1080 for a little over £100 is fine for general office stuff.
Its hard to go wrong for that kind of work, though I'd stick to the known brands (Dell, Acer, Samsung, LG, Iiyama etc). The things you'll pay for are colour accuracy, high refresh rate, high resolution which are really not very relevant for you.
I use a 32" ultrawide which is great if you want windows side by side. I'd get a nice stand as well as the ones they come with usually have very limited adjustment. I'm using one of these for my main screen which frees up a load of desk space and lets me put it a lot higher than most stands allow. 2nd screen is on a fancy hydraulic arm but to be honest it's not worth the expense unless you really want to move it around a lot.
I bought another screen on facebook marketplace to match the one I had already. Didn't need anything fancy. Picked up a 24" Dell screen for about £30 I think. Sits nicely on a screen mount with another. VESA mount is fairly important
Also on a Dell Ultrawide, mine has a USB hub built in and if you use more than one PC (doubt it for your use case) there is at least one with a USB switch.
Ultrawide is definitely good for almost multi monitor, I don't really feel the need for a dual setup (especially with one centred and another neck breakingly far round).
Take a look at office refurb stuff on eBay if you want to save a few quid.
I spent about £400 on a dell IPS monitor about 8/9 years ago for photography work. Found another identical one about 6 months ago for £30 on eBay and there were plenty of others for around that price.
Personally I would go for 1440 so more than 1080. Clearer picture means less eye strain
I got given a curved 34” LG thing. Seems nice, has a built in hub so acts as a docking station so single usb-c cable to laptop and everything else plugs into monitor. Speakers are good enough for streaming radio etc.
I'd go for something like this.. 32", IPS panel and 1440p
I have the 1080p version and it's a good size budjet monitor.
The problem I find with ultra wide vs 2 screens is that with 2 screens you can split each one, and have 4 windows tiled, whereas with an ultra wide, it will only split 2, so having more than 2 windows tiled is a faff. Not sure if I’m missing a trick somehow
Windows key plus arrows. Splits left right, up down etc. Can arrange how you like
Not sure if I’m missing a trick somehow
Power tools fancy screen. You can set up areas and push windows to them. You can also have different splits for different task. The zones can be tiled with a borders or over lap. I have a 4k 42" TV set up like this and it works well (works out as ~ the same DPI as 1440 on I think 27" or 32" I can't remember but calculated it when buying)
I really need to look at Power Toys, I could get a lot of mileage out of that.
Wow forgotten all about Power Toys had been editing the registry and using image magick to add file explorer context menu image resizing (to scale to specific sizes for the web).
Personally I like 27" 1440p IPS monitors (I have Dell & Acer models but there's plenty of good choices available these days). I do have a couple of 4k monitors to but had to go up to 32" for those and it starts getting spendy - worth it for something things but not as beneficial for me as going from 1080 to 1440 was.
I've not tried ultra-wides, I can see their benefits for somethings but I'm happy enough with separate monitors and they suit my work environment better. I work with 2 PCs both at home and in the office and due to space restrictions have the monitors stacked vertically for each PC, 4k 32" bottom and 1080 27" top at home and 1440 27" bottom and 1080 27" top at work (where I also have room for a laptop screen off to the side, I don't at home)