One big monitor v 2 monitors?

[Juniper]

Hmm, I have a 40" 4K screen and I run it with no scaling. I use the built in windows shortcuts to move windows around (Win+Arrow Keys), meaning that for productivity I essentially have 4 1080p screens to work on.

I do sit fairly close to the screen though, which helps

Swings and roundabouts. My eyes are getting old and somewhat knackered, so whilst E: D doesn't look quite as beautiful as 4K, it's good enough, and it's a compromise I was happy to make to be able to work again without straining to read everything. I just couldn't get on with the 4K screen for general use.

 

[Viking84]

Swings and roundabouts. My eyes are getting old and somewhat knackered, so whilst E: D doesn't look quite as beautiful as 4K, it's good enough, and it's a compromise I was happy to make to be able to work again without straining to read everything. I just couldn't get on with the 4K screen for general use.

True true, to each his own My eyes are (thankfully) still in good working order. That said, one drawback to 4K gaming is that it requires a fairly serious gaming system to run optimally. I have an i7 6700k, and GTX 1080 graphics + 32GB of fairly fast RAM, and I still see a few frame rate drops in stations and on planetary surfaces. With anything less than that setup you are better off with a 1080p screen I reckon - fluidity over detail

 

[Crank Larson]

Until you need to do 30 jumps in a row or need to search for mats on the internet or things on eddb.io.

I don't even notice how many jumps I've done - just keep jumping until I've reached my destination. It's not unusual to be sidetracked en-route if I find an interesting system, either. And I've found most of my materials on planet surfaces. If you do need access to external tools, there are ways to do this without leaving VR (I rarely do this, as I don't often need to use third party sites - not while playing at any rate).

Though I do tend to limit my VR sessions to an hour or two before having a short break.

 

[VonBlade]

Anyone saying that 1 great monitor beats two good ones has never used their computer for programming or writing or editing or or or or.

Two monitors make life infinitely easier.

 

[Crank Larson]

Anyone saying that 1 great monitor beats two good ones has never used their computer for programming or writing or editing or or or or.

Two monitors make life infinitely easier.

Agreed. But I think we're talking about playing Elite.

 

[Viking84]

Anyone saying that 1 great monitor beats two good ones has never used their computer for programming or writing or editing or or or or.

Two monitors make life infinitely easier.

Not if you use the win+arrow keys feature in Windows. A big 4K monitor effectively becomes 4 1080p monitors with no bezels in between for productivity work. Win+left/right to decide which half of the screen to use, then win+up/down to split the window in half again.

For Elite this is handy as my browser fills the bottom left quadrant of the screen, meaning I can keep an eye on the approach time in Elite while on a long supercruise journey and post varying degrees of drivel in the forums at the same time

 

[Noctover]

1 big monitor or 3 monitors, 2 not so great.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

I played on a single huge screen (2.5m wide) for the first couple of years and enjoyed that.

2.5M wide screen - thats wthe width of my desk, my desk has a computer a printer a vr headstand and a 65" screen on it and space to put paper trays and picture frames on it. So that must have been a really awesome experience. o7

Don't suppose I could see a picture of the set up?

 

[Crank Larson]

2.5M wide screen - thats wthe width of my desk, my desk has a computer a printer a vr headstand and a 65" screen on it and space to put paper trays and picture frames on it. So that must have been a really awesome experience. o7

Don't suppose I could see a picture of the set up?

Well, it would just be a picture of a wall. It's a 1080p projector. I sat on the sofa a couple of metres away, and had the HOTAS on a table in front of me. Now the projector has gone back to its usual use for films, and the Rift is connected to the PC from another room. The room with the projector is around 5m by 3m, and the screen is projected to the 3m wall.

EDIT: I can get a picture if you like, but no point until this evening when it will look better! I do have black-out blinds/curtains, but I tend not to use it much during the day.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

VR.

I'll get my coat...


Though on a more serious note, I played on a single huge screen (2.5m wide) for the first couple of years and enjoyed that. I could have played it on my multi-monitor setup, but I preferred the big screen (and the 7.1 sound, of course - that makes a huge difference too).

Anyone saying that 1 great monitor beats two good ones has never used their computer for programming or writing or editing or or or or.

Two monitors make life infinitely easier.

I've had 1, 2 & 3 monitor setups, its only recently where with the large screens with 4k resolution it becomes comparable. But a single huge screen has the advantage of not having bezels to get in the way. My old set up was 3x 22" samsungs with 1680*1050 resolution = 5040*1050= 5.3 mega pixels of working area split up into three approximately A3 sized 1.76MP areas. Even with multiple say 1080 screens, I'd only ever have 6.21 mp of desktop area split in three 2.07MP. Now I have 8.3MP of desktop area, I can put a document such as a parts list or a code listing in one of the edges of the screen at 2160 pixels high nearly three foot high. and read it all without having to scroll up or down and still have more available desktop space for other windows than I had in the entirety of my triple screen set up.

TL;DR - HUGE oversize like 55/60/65" 4k screen is to triple head monitors what triple head monitors are to single small screens.

 

[GraXXoR]

Threesomes are fun.
If you're on a budget, you can buy them up one by one. Once you've got three, it's party-time.
IMO Once you hit about 28/30 inches, MOAR MONITORS is always better.

3 x 28" 4k = 84" @ 48:9 ratio. You barely notice the bezels after a few minutes.

Bottom monitors run EDDiscovery, EDEngineer, EDDB etc.
Have since replaced the bottom central 10" monitors with 2 iPads and moved one of the 10" off to the right for EDdiscovery.
The two smartphones either side (one landscape, one portrait) you can see are running Roccat Power Grid.

 

[Zebaoth]

If you're in the market to buy a new monitor and own a decent current gen gpu take a look at 144Hz monitors.
4k doesn't give you nearly as much, seeing stuff happening at 144Hz is a whole nother dimension to gaming.
You have to see it on an actual monitor with a fitting source signal, I'd take this over 4k any day.

My next monitor will definitely be a 144Hz one.

 

[Crank Larson]

HUGE oversize like 55/60/65" 4k screen is to triple head monitors what triple head monitors are to single small screens.

I agree. Though I'd also take a huge 1080p over a 3 monitor set-up. I have both. A huge screen sucks you in, and as it's so large your mind tends to disregard anything outside it (a bit like VR, though not quite as much). I still play the Xbox One on the big screen.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

If anything I'm cutting my own toes by recommending the large 4k screen as I'm about to advertise my old triple samsung 22" & ergotron LX stand set up, were I shrude I'd recommend triple screens and oh btw I can give you a set up for £300 delivered [up]

 

[CMDR Pugwash]

OK. Going for a 32"/34" Ultrawide, with my current 26" for a second. Question is are the curved displays worth the price?

Edit - It is going to be powered by Surface Book at the mo. I'll be buying a desktop early next year.

 

[Pville_Piper]

SurfaceBook specs please...

 

[Genus]

Which is best for ED?

I have 4.

Because I can't have 7.

 

[JonSnowman]

I just switched from 3x32", 1080p, 144hz monitors to a single 38" 75hz monitor.

Honestly its a toss up. New one looks much, much better...but the immersion with the 3 monitors was un-beatable.

 

[TieKnee]

go vr then the screen doesn't really matter!!!

 

[Pumabear8]

2, you can open up eddb on the other screen. plus, if you ever got another one you could get a fov boost

This is something I did in the past, but to become more energy efficient, I use an 8.4 inch tablet to display that kind of information now, it sits to the right and just behind my keyboard for comfortable viewing., my dream is a couple of tablets to display and access the ships left and right panels, but as I say, just a dream.