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Many questions, apologies!
I've been idly looking at 21:9 curved monitors. With a newly cleared space for a home office, the purchase is now imminent.
1) Do most of them allow full/most functionality without installing software? I'm not allowed to install anything on my work laptop unless its from their own software centre, I've previously had issues even updating a laptop dock firmware with the manufacturers utility!
2) Lenovo excepted, I assume most can be wall mounted with a £10 Vesa mount? I've made a fold down murphy bed/desk thing (copied a Lori wallbed design) so I'm hoping a wall Vesa mount will be man enough to support the monitor when the bed is lowered (which won't happen very often)
3) [s]I've just noticed Amazon have 33% off some monitors for Xbox members, can I literally get a introductory £1 Xbox PC Game Pass and then qualify for 33% off? I'm not a gamer but I assume you don't actually need an Xbox?[/s] Strike that, just found the T&Cs and its actually 33% off the game pass, not the monitor 🙁
1) should be fine, you might will have to mess around with display settings, so assuming it's not so locked down to that extent...in that case you'll have to get your IT dept to remote in and do it for you.
Do you mean when folded away it will hang horizontally?
I’m sure there’s something about larger screens having to remain upright / vertical.
Yes I can change the display settings fine, its just software they don't like.
@phil5556 - thanks for the nudge, I'll be sure to check that. I could possibly use a normal stand and move the monitor as I've not cut the desk top yet so could always make it a little deeper.
Yes I can change the display settings fine, its just software they don’t like.
I don't see why you would need additional software, it's just a monitor so you can configure it in windows/linux the same way as any other monitor.
Thats good, I wasn't sure if they required software for split screen style working
Windows can sometimes get a bit confused when changing display settings/monitors, and may require the standard IT 'turn it off and turn it on again'.
Have you thought about running two separate monitors? For reasons I can’t quite put my finger on I much prefer two screens rather than one UWD. I know they can show the same amount of stuff but there is just something about having two physical screens I prefer.
They are less cumbersome also and can be easier to find the desktop space for.
I use two 24" monitors at the moment but they are over a metre wide. I prefer having one central and one to the side to avoid looking left and right all the time but desk space is limited so I don't really have that option any more.
Plus our own laptop and my wife's work laptop don't want to play ball with dual monitors (and laptop lid closed) so the thinking is a 21:9 would be a nice simple plug and play option.
Yes it’s fine for general use and easy to tile windows side by side.
Also I don’t know if you can check this but might be worth seeing if the computer you are using can output the resolution you need for that monitor. Work computers are often locked down a lot and might be ok with standard resolutions but might throw a fit at a super wide resolution.
I use two 24″ monitors at the moment but they are over a metre wide. I prefer having one central and one to the side to avoid looking left and right all the time but desk space is limited so I don’t really have that option any more.
Have you thought about having them stacked vertically? I have two PCs and two 27" monitors for each but not enough desk space to have them all horizontal. I figured I'd try them vertically (but concerned it might cause eye strain) but it's been fine, took a couple of weeks to feel natural though.
If sticking with a single monitor I'd double-check the dock you're using supports it's native resolution, should be OK but I know some Dell docks have limitations (although they're even more limited with resolutions when supporting two external monitors which is why I'm stuck with 1080p 🙁 ).
It appears the laying flat concerns is for large flat screen tellys (and especially plasma's) as the screen is not designed to support its own weight hanging from the frame. Seems aimed at transporting them really. Hopefully a smaller curved monitor will be ok as the curve itself would prevent the screen from sagging.
I just checked the laptop specs and it seems the max width is 2560px so that narrows my monitor choices down to 2560x1080. I've been trying to compare what that actually means in terms of screen space, can't find a visual calculator that will show you what a set window size and text size looks like on 24" 16:9 1920x1080 versus 34" 21:9 2560x1080 but ignoring resolution...
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I found a calculator that gives the PPI pixel density, my current monitor is 91PPI and the 21:9 would be slightly worse at 81PPI. It seems around 95PPI is recommended. So using possibly flawed logic, the PPI of the 21:9 is 12% lower and therefore the green square above would effectively be 12% smaller for comparison purposes, I think my workings are correct as the image is now the same height at 1080 for both monitors...
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So I'm losing quality and more than the expected amount of screen space (as my windows/text will now be 12% bigger I think. Have I got that right? I was expecting to loose about 1/4 of the width but get that back in resolution (smaller window sizes) but it seems that I'm losing more like a 1/3rd and enlarging window sizes!
I'm surprised I couldn't find a calculator to visualise this, lots for the simple screen size but none that took into account the resolution, anyone know of one?
I don't think I could do both monitors vertically but I did have a spell with one vertical and one horizontal when I spent a lot of time using a terminal text based thing, that worked well. I think I've shelved the idea as per my post above, also I did find a troubleshooting thing regarding the HP via a dock that needed a BIOS adjustment to enable high resultion via a dock, and I'm locked out of the BIOS (I can however change what I like using the Windows display settings)
Just for clarity - I was talking about them both in landscape orientation but mounted one above the other (in case you thought I meant having them in portrait orientation but still mounted horizontally next to each other?)
ah OK yes I see what you mean.
I have two 24's at work and a curved 32 at home. Much prefer the curved 32, as find I'm swinging my neck more to use the two 24's.
2560*1440
Occasionally do sim racing and the resolution seems good enough.
I've got a curved LG 34" gaming monitor on my desk at home. It's running 2560x1080 on my work W10 laptop and looks fine.
It doesn't actually have PBP functionality but the 'snap-to' feature of Windows gets around this for all my applications.
Do you ever have to share your screen for work via Teams etc? I know you can share individual programs on teams rather than a full screen but I know from my daily experience I'm jumping between different programs whenever I'm presenting on screen, and I usually keep one screen private for various reasons.
If you're sharing one absolutely massive screen, will that look ridiculous to anyone viewing on a normal sized monitor or does it just shrink it down to their size?
I just share the window containing the application I want to share. I never share my whole screen for the reason you state
I bought a Samsung UR59C 32" 4K curved screen for the home office, no matter what I do the text is a bit blurry, I've decided that's the curve but it might just be a poor panel - probably why it was pretty cheap when I bought it.
It's also a proprietary mount, not VESA.
There's nothing about it that I could recommend.