Is a 43" 4K Monitor too Much?

[busdriver 258]

Folks,

I need to replace my monitor, and would like to go 4K. It seems most of the monitors out there tap out beyond 27" at 144hz. I did find an Asus 43" that certainly looks awesome for flight sim/gaming, but I'm worried it may be too much monitor for web browsing, Microsoft Office, etc. Has anyone used a monitor this big for other task beside flight sim? It will sit on my desk, with me about 2.5 feet away.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[micstatic 4,319]

I literally did this.  Switched to a samsung Q60R 43".  You want to make sure you get one that supports chroma 4:4:4.  Although truth be told I've found that running at RGB in NCP is superior.  But the general idea is that running PC's on tv's without this will not be as sharp and will not be good for day to day non game use.  I also work daily on mine.  so that was important.  I would also look for something that supports HDR and something that can have a supported resolution of 30hz.  In P3D and MSFS I get better results locking my refresh rate to 30hz even if that creates a slight mouse lag.  When I'm working I'll simply just toggle it back to 60.  Mine also sits 2 feet from my face.  At that size 4k becomes important.  It's nice to have the instruments so clear in the VC and also nice not having to zoom in ever to read them.  So in short I highly recommend.  I wouldn't go bigger than that.  But that's my opinion.  

[threexgreen 3,139]

I have a 43'' TV that I used for flight simming before I went full VR. I sat about a metre/3 feet away and it worked nicely for flight simming, giving me a lot of immersion because of the big screen. It works for normal PC use if you resize the windows on the screen accordingly. Anything above 43'' is overkill in my opinion, just way too big to be sitting close in front of. In fact, to me 43'' seems to be the ideal size for this type of use. It's also a matter of getting used to a bigger screen for me. 4K is definitely important if you sit close.

[seasley 17]

I use a 43" 4k TV for flight simming and a second one hooked up to my work computer for productivity task.  By sitting close to the TV and running 100% scaling, it's like having four 1920 x 1080 monitors stacked in a grid.  I can go ultra wide if I'm working with spreadsheets or fully vertical if I'm working on code. 

I almost never maximize single windows for word processing or web browsing - too much head turning from side to side to read and look at user-interface elements.  Constantly going from the bottom of the monitor to read the last line and then the top to find a toolbar button does get tiring. Having a 4k running at 100% scaling is about being able to multi-task and see multiple windows simultaneously, with each one showing an entire screenful of information.

There are are lots of freeware utilities to help you use the screen space effectively - they enhance the Windows UI to allow you to snap windows to fill the left and right, or top and bottom, or just a corner. You can also divide the desktop into just about any division you want. Being able to shift windows around and come up with different layouts makes me so much more effective.

I'd concur that anything much bigger is too hard to go from side to side and top to bottom on a desk without strain. I tried a 47" at first and returned it to get a 43".  One thing to make sure is that the LCD panel doesn't show the screen door effect when you sit that close.  Six feet away you'd never notice, but from 3' feet in, you want to make sure you can't see gaps between individual pixels.  

Scott

[micstatic 4,319]

I do 125 percent scaling 

[sloppysmusic 242]

I've been using a Sony 55 inch 4k screen as an all purpose monitor for over 5 years now. An early model 60hz no hdr and its been superb. I also use it for photography (Adobe lightroom) and video editing (Vegas pro) as it has excellent color rendition despite not being calibrated. I could afford to replace it with an hdr model with higher refresh rate but it's just been too reliable to replace. I use a Samsung 43 inch 4k as a secondary monitor. If I was buying new now I'd get 3x 43 or 3x 50 and use as a single monitor wide-screen for all purposes. As long as you have a big enough desk to place it far enough back then you should not have any issues. 

Edited August 31, 2020 by sloppysmusic
Typo!

[busdriver 258]

Thanks guys. I'm still debating over dual 27" 4K, vs a single 43" 4K. My concern with the bigger monitor is that it may be too much screen for productivity use.

 

 

[sloppysmusic 242]

41 minutes ago, busdriver said:

Thanks guys. I'm still debating over dual 27" 4K, vs a single 43" 4K. My concern with the bigger monitor is that it may be too much screen for productivity use.

 

 

You can change the dpi of text, icons and applications within windows. With the larger screen you can do everything you could on a smaller screen as well as more if you want. My initial reason for going large screen (I used a 46 inch HD TV first) was that my close range vision nose dived 5 years ago. It was either wear reading glasses and sit close to the screen or no glasses further away with a larger screen. The HDTV has the problem of being 'only' 1080p so the text looked big and blurry. 

I got myself the 55 inch 4k sony as a TV first for the lounge. I plugged my pc into it so a friend of mine could play a pc game and we could all watch instead of crowding round a monitor in my study. After my friends went home I only had one thought. I'm snagging that TV for a monitor right now! 

The elephant in the room is your pc. Running windows at 4k should be fine but if you want to run a flight sim at 4k you will need a beefy setup or the frame rate will be too low. You could get a 4k with good up scaling and run the sim in 2k or even 1080p and will still look pretty good. 

[busdriver 258]

Thanks. I am running a 2080ti, and a 9900KS, so I think my system is beefy enough. My biggest concern is using the monitor for productivity when not using for flight sim.

It's also getting hard to find a 43" 4k screen, as they all seem to be showing long lead times on Amazon.

[sloppysmusic 242]

Just now, busdriver said:

It's also getting hard to find a 43" 4k screen, as they all seem to be showing long lead times on Amazon

I don't know if you have a BJs near you but every time I go into mine I have to walk past 20 or so samsung 43 inchers for around $260 approx each. One day I will get that triple setup! 

Yes your system is fine however you go. Mine is slower but with more cores so I can run multiple sim apps without affecting main view frame rate. 

Of course if you can find a screen locally you can just try it out and return if necessary. 

When you say productivity do you mean text or gfx based(photo / video)? I use my 2 4k screens (43/55) with no problems. The center is 55 and I use for photo /video /sim /gaming and the 43 inch side monitor for emails and text work. A 43 as a center monitor would appear small to me now but not if I had side screens as well. 

You can also of course divide your main screen up into multiple work spaces if it has too much 'real estate' for simple tasks. In a few moments you can have 4 x 1080p windows tiled giving you the look of 4 x smaller monitors taped together but seamlessly. 

[busdriver 258]

Text, such as email, web browsing, MSFT Office, etc...

[sloppysmusic 242]

1 minute ago, busdriver said:

Text, such as email, web browsing, MSFT Office, etc...

I cannot see any possible issue you could have with the 4k screen that can't be solved with a few quick configuration changes. You can run at a lower resolution for your productivity apps if you need and /or raise the dpi to 200 or even 300 if you want it very large. 4k/2k/1080p are all available to you.

[threexgreen 3,139]

20 hours ago, busdriver said:

Thanks guys. I'm still debating over dual 27" 4K, vs a single 43" 4K. My concern with the bigger monitor is that it may be too much screen for productivity use.

I was on my laptop when I typed my first reply. Now I'm sitting 2.5 to 3 feet away from my 43'' TV browsing Avsim and other websites and it's very comfortable. The only thing I adjust is my office chair to be a little bit higher so I'm facing the center of the screen. YMMV of course, but it works nicely for me. If you end up going for a 43'' TV or monitor I suggest you keep the 'getting-used-to-factor' in mind. It can be overwhelming in terms of size coming from a smaller monitor, but I got used to it quickly.