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hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,866
1,296
From reviews of the 43" LCD monitor, many users seem to have moved from two 30-ish monitors to one big 43". I am considering whether to get 2x30-ish 4K/5K or one big 43". I guess having two 43" side by side may be a bit crazy considering the desk space needed. Anybody used one 40-43" monitor and then decided to move back to two smaller displays? What are the cons of having one 40-43" monitor instead of two smaller ones?
 

theluggage

macrumors 604
Jul 29, 2011
7,859
8,173
I am considering whether to get 2x30-ish 4K/5K or one big 43".

...in the absence of any replies from people who have made that particular switch...

As a fan of dual screen set-ups, it can change the way in which you use the space. I find "window management" a bit easier with two displays - e.g. its really easy to full-screen one window on each display, or sweep occasionally used windows onto the other display. So if, e.g. you're coding, you can have your IDE full-screened on one display, and your website/app/whatever, documentation etc. on the other. Or, for video work, your timeline on one screen, the full-screen video preview on the other. Or MacOS on one screen, Windows in a VM on the other. Or (if you're that way inclined) work on one screen, TV playing on the other. You can set up MacOS to have a different set of virtual desktops for each screen.

With a huge, single display, you may find yourself trying to tile windows to keep everything you need visible (there are tools to help, such as BetterSnapTool, or MacOS's built in split screen mode).

OTOH, consider that you probably won't use dual screens with your nose pointing at the join: more likely, one will be your primary screen, directly in front of you, the other will be secondary, to one side of it. If you get two 43" screens, you might need binoculars to read text on the far side of the secondary screen.

Note that MacOS is quite happy with different sized/resolution screens - a vast mismatch makes it slightly odd when dragging windows from one screen to the other, and (in multiple-spaces mode) you can't leave windows straddling the screens, but that's about it. I'm mainly using a (lovely) 5k iMac for the main screen and a cheap-ish Dell 4k 28" for the secondary.

It depends on your workflow and why you want such a huge screen area: if you want to edit huge swathes of text or massive spreadsheets - or maybe you do everything in a single application with its own screen tiling - then a single, large display might be better. If you're interworking with several applications and lots of files, dual-screens might be better.

Question is, what are you using at the moment?
 

djnigelchung

macrumors member
Jun 20, 2015
96
47
Silicon Valley
I have dual 27" (2560x1140) at work and a single 43" 4K screen (attached to my 2016 15" MBP) at home. Both are pretty solid,
Like a poster before me said, on the dual screens its easier to manage each open item.
However overall I prefer the 43" in with Mac OS with the swiping feature. I have a couple virtual desktops open at once that help be as productive as possible.
One thing for sure, you can never have enough real estate. I like having everything open and visible.
Hope that helps
 
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