Anyone use a 34" monitor for heavy text?

[romanof]

Has anyone seen or used one of the big 34” curved monitors on a Mac - say a new TB equipped Mini? I ask specifically, in a non-gaming use. I do a lot of writing, and like being a programmer, lots of desktop is very helpful. Scrivener, a dictionary, browser, several reference lists and so forth are usually open, and fill even a 27” screen. 34” would be a major enhancement (I think) and less clunky than my configuration of iMac and 27” TB monitor at the side.

But… Almost all reviews and comments I have found are from users doing video, audio or gaming, not text. The few references that I have found seem to be critical of displaying text, and that if one is used to staring at a 5k monitor in their work with its beautiful text resolution, then using one of the superwides is going to seem as if transported back to the 90’s and VGA, with dot-matrix printer looking characters.

Anybody seen or know?
Thanks

 

[bobTheBenevolent]

I used to dream of a larger monitor than my 4K Dell 27" I am typing on a 34" ViewSonic (3440 x 1440) right now, though, and I really feel the need to put on sunglasses. This monitor I will return to seller. the native resolution is a bit too small and the next larger is whopping big and takes up all the extra real estate. I hope someone out there can help us.

Is it just me, or is there a real shortage of monitors that is driving up prices?

 

[MacGizmo]

The few references that I have found seem to be critical of displaying text, and that if one is used to staring at a 5k monitor in their work with its beautiful text resolution, then using one of the superwides is going to seem as if transported back to the 90’s and VGA, with dot-matrix printer looking characters.

They're correct. Anything larger than Apple/LG's 5k 27" screen is going to look like garbage in comparison if it doesn't support the same resolution as Apple's iMac, which is 5120 x 2880. So if the actual screen is larger than 27" it needs to have a proportionally larger resolution or the quality is absolutely going to be lower.

Putting a 3440 x 1440 resolution on a 34" screen is about as good as comparing an LCD TV to a rear projection TV. Every screen I've seen (including the 4K screens) look awful in comparison to the iMac/LG Ultrafine panels. I can actually see the pixels on the text if the font is bold enough. The only exception I've come across is... yeah, there is no exception.

 

[xraydoc]

Ultrawide monitor resolutions are still “standard” 1:1 pixel mapped resolutions, not Apple’s “retina” 4:1 mapped resolutions.

That said, I use a 34” 3440x1440 curved ultrawide display, and personally I love it. Pixel DPI-wise, it’s the same as a 27” 1440p display, so not a “retina” display, but I can line up 3 or 4 windows left to right and show an impressive amount of text. It also runs at 120Hz and is pretty darn impressive for games on my PC.

Whether a standard display is sufficient or you require a retina display is entirely up to you.

But as far as I know, there’s only one ultrawide on the market that would count as a “retina” display, and that’s the LG 5K2K 34BK95U-W monitor which is requires Thunderbolt 3. It is not curved, I don’t think, if that matters to you.

 

[onepoint]

Agreed for the most part with everything above. I use a 34" ultrawide 3440x1440 LG with my MBP 13, via USB-C. If I use the laptop's internal display for any period of time, going back to the ultrawide is a noticeable step backward in sharpness.

 

[frou]

Normal density monitors were fine for text heavy use, until 10.14+ where Apple removed sub-pixel font rendering from macOS, which pushed them over the edge into text looking bad.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

I am curious for those that think the resolution is too small for a screen of that size - Especially when it seems that people compare them to the laptop experience - Do you sit with those large screens as close as you do with a laptop?

Is it just me, or is there a real shortage of monitors that is driving up prices?

Yeah, the COVID crisis has made people work from home, so there's been a rush on monitors in shops.