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Just tried using a 4k monitor in my setup, did not like it

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mouser:
When it comes to a monitor, higher resolution is better, right?

Not for me.  Tried using a 27 inch 4k monitor (3840x2160) for my main monitor today, and was very disapointed.
This was replacing a 27 inch monitor running at 2560x1440 that I was very happy with at 2560x1440 -- lots of real estate on the screen, but text large enough that I could read it.

At 3840x2160, the normal text size in windows is too small to read.  So the solution would require changing desktop scaling in windows -- which would be ok except in a multimonitor setup that can cause issues when you have one monitor with higher scaling than another.

The high resolution also seemed to strain the abilities of full screen apps.
And the brightness of the new ($500) monitor left much to be desired; far inferior to my 2560x1440 one.

And lastly, trying to set the resolution of this 4k monitor back down to my previous 2560x1440 resulted in a very blurry display, so that isn't an option.

I'm returning it -- just thought I'd post a word of caution to anyone considering the move to a 4k monitor -- unless you have a really serious reason to need 4k, and you've sat down in front of one to confirm you like what you see, I would reconsider whether you really want one.

If you only have a single monitor, or plan to run multiple monitors ALL at 4k, and have the spare horsepower, and have the money to get very high quality 4k bright monitors, then 4k may still be for you.

AzureToad:
Do you think this cautionary tale applies to ALL 4k monitors, or the particular make & model you tested?
Do you have additional specs such as what graphic card you're using? What are the make and model of your monitor you're returning?

mouser:
A higher grade monitor could solve the brightness issue, but most of my problems are based on simply the fact of using such high resolution, and are not monitor specific.
The bottom line is that even for someone like me, who loves high-resolution and small fonts, there is a limit beyond which it's not only diminishing returns but counter productive.
For me that looks like 2560x1440 resolution on a 27 inch monitor.
Anything higher than that makes my life worse.

The specific model I tried was a DELL U2718Q (my graphics card is an nvidia gtx 660).

wraith808:
A higher grade monitor could solve the brightness issue, but most of my problems are based on simply the fact of using such high resolution, and are not monitor specific.
The bottom line is that even for someone like me, who loves high-resolution and small fonts, there is a limit beyond which it's not only diminishing returns but counter productive.
For me that looks like 2560x1440 resolution on a 27 inch monitor.
Anything higher than that makes my life worse.

The specific model I tried was a DELL U2718Q (my graphics card is an nvidia gtx 660).


-mouser (December 11, 2017, 10:44 AM)
--- End quote ---

It could possibly be your graphics card, i.e. it doesn't  have the power to run that resolution.  You might be able to overclock your 660 for better performance.  In short, I don't think it's anything intrinsically wrong with the monitor nor going 4k.  4k is just demanding hardware-wise.

IainB:
Things were just fine under DOS, but then Microsoft introduced Windows and that was when it all began to turn to custard.

...Where's me specs?...

(@mouser: thanks for posting. Is interesting.)

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