Computer Upgrade - Monitors

New Toy!

For the past few years (literally), I've been playing with the idea of getting a new monitor.  My set up was a 24 inch 16:9 monitor and a 19 inch 4:3 monitor - I've had these monitors since college.  They've served me well, however I've been thinking about upgrades...

2014

Monitor upgrades are one of those essential research pieces (much like headphones).  We stare at these things upwards of 10 hours a day so it's good to invest in something that's worth it...  We also don't upgrade these things as often as other components (I believe I'm on my 3rd computer upgrade but with the same monitor set up).

If I were being traditional (spoiler, I wasn't) I would probably buy two monitors of the same brand and pair them side by side.  This way I wouldn't have to deal with weird contrast ratios between monitors and I'd have a uniform set up.  I found my problem with this set up was the amount of space on my desk.  The riser you see up top won't carry 2x 27 inch monitors.  I could try and get 2x 23 inch monitors, but why upgrade if you can't increase your resolution some?  I didn't want to grab some 4k monitors either because windows still haven't figured out how to scale things properly.

I ended up going with a 34 inch ultrawide monitor (Dell U3417w) and my life has changed.  This thing is amazing and I am going to have a hard time going back to standard dual monitor set up.

For starters, the amount of resolution allows me to do something like this (Don't judge my lack of coding skills):

I can have roughly three side by side web pages (or 2/3's code 1/3 web page) on one monitor.  And for all of you spreadsheet nerds out there, you can have ~53 columns of data viewable at once - no bezel to interrupt your flow.  If that doesn't make you giddy, I don't know what will.  I hear having this extra space also makes editing videos and such a better experience, but I don't have any practical knowledge in that area.

For gaming, having the extra peripheral vision makes a big difference...  You won't notice not having the height (because who looks up or down in video games anyway?) and you don't have to break the bank to buy a video card that is beefy enough to power the resolution.

There's also something to be said to going back to having one main monitor on the desk rather than focus on the left or right monitor (ignore the monitor you can sorta see on the left.  I'm testing some things there!)

 There are a few downsides to these monitors though - there are still some backlight bleed issues.  It doesn't bother me, but some of the corners can have a light tint to it.  You won't notice it unless you're looking at a pure black screen but some people don't like the idea of it...  Also, 21:9 content is still not mainstream (and probably never will be).  This means videos on youtube or netflix end up with black bars on the left or right since they're set up for 1920x1080 (which then can lead to annoyance with backlight bleed).

I don't mind the downsides to this monitor though.  If you're in the market for a new monitor, head down to a Fry's or something and give it a look.  I actually like this so much I may one day mount a second monitor above this one for even more visual space!  This monitor typically sells for ~600-800, however you can probably find some deals if you're patient (I ended up getting mine for about 525)