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Why most large monitors are still at HD resolutions?

H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
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Hello, I am considering to buy a large screen monitor. I am a programmer and CAD designer. In the past, I used a HP w2448hc 24" monitor. The letter size at a resolution of 1920x1200 was about right for me.

I visited several company websites and noticed that at 27" and even over 30", most monitors are at 1920x1080 HD resolutions? How come? I think the letter size look too big in these over 30" monitors.
 
Is it because most people use the monitors to watch HD TV, movies or play games?
 
My MBP 2010 does not support 4k monitor and Apple has not released a new rMBP..
 
I don't know if this 100% true. I vaguely recall seeing a post of a user who was able to get a 4k display working, albeit at 30 Hz. You may want to do some research.
 
hajime said:
I visited several company websites and noticed that at 27" and even over 30", most monitors are at 1920x1080 HD resolutions? How come? I think the letter size look too big in these over 30" monitors.
Click to expand...

A 1920x1080 display can use cheap, mass-produced screens made for TV sets.

Plenty of 1920x1200 and 2560x1440 displays out there (try the Dell Ultrasharp range - they're generally pretty good) but you'll need to pay a bit more.
 
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Most people buy based on size then cost. Don't look at details.
I've done it.
I recently bought 2 2560x1440 27" monitors for CAD & programming. Can't remember brand. Very nice, about $400 each if I recall.
But my new 27" iMac is the best!
If make $ using monitors, then size & resolution & image quality should be higher criteria than cost.
 
theluggage beat me to it by saying many monitors are 1080p because they can use cheaper (because of high manufacturing volume) TV screens. Many customers like cheap. However, higher resolution screens are becoming more common. Some are a bit odd, such as 24" 2560x1440, which is a bit small to read at full res, but not high enough pixel density for good scaling. But you should be able to find a screen size & resolution to meet your needs, although it might not be cheap.
 
Flynnstone said:
Most people buy based on size then cost. Don't look at details.
I've done it.
I recently bought 2 2560x1440 27" monitors for CAD & programming. Can't remember brand. Very nice, about $400 each if I recall.
Click to expand...
But that is the right resolution for 27".
 
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hajime said:
Maybe some people think that larger size means higher resolution.
Click to expand...
Lots do. Just like most people think higher resolution means smaller pixels!
A 27" 2560 X 1440 resolution has the same pixels per inch as a 24" 1920 X 1200.
You got to know what your talking about or do your homework.
Also consider contrast ratio (not all monitors use the same measuring scale), colour gamut, uniformity, connectivity and how it looks.
Check out the BenQ monitors as well. They have some really good ranges (as well as cheaper ranges). The SW2700PT is a good monitor for the money.
 
Much like the windows PC's, most of the large monitor volume is driven by enterprise buyers buying large fleet monitors for their employees' ergo needs. These buyers do not care about the latest specs and are instead trying to minimize costs for their P&L line. Retail customers are an afterthought.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Lots do. Just like most people think higher resolution means smaller pixels!
A 27" 2560 X 1440 resolution has the same pixels per inch as a 24" 1920 X 1200.
You got to know what your talking about or do your homework.
Click to expand...
actually a 1920 by 1200 on 24" is around 94 ppi, 2560 by 1440 is over 108 ppi. my favorite monitor size, 30" at 2560 by 1600, 100 ppi. with my old eyes, higher than 100, I find myself leaning in, not much below that, I see the pixels, winking back at me.
 
hajime said:
I visited several company websites and noticed that at 27" and even over 30", most monitors are at 1920x1080 HD
Click to expand...
The Dell UltraSharp U3415W is running at 3440 x 1440 at 60Hz
HP DreamColor Z27x is 2,560 by 1,400
The NEC 30" Color Accurate Desktop Monitor has a resolution of 2560x1600

All that I found seem higher then the 1920x1080 resolution you reference. What monitors are you looking at, and perhaps I misunderstood you
 
amazon
newegg

some of those are crap monitors. Some of those are expensive monitors.

But they are all 2560x1440.
If you want 2560x1600, you can search for those as well.
 
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