Monitor stands and 4K TV's

[mivanov]

What monitor stands do you use? Most I've found use a clamp and I am not sure my normal desk can hold the weight of 3-6 monitors on a single clamp.(LCD's are heavier than leds, so 6 KG for the stand + 6x6.5kg = 45 kg ~ around 100 lbs with a single clamp).

Also, so far the only reasonably priced stands I've found are from Germany and are for 3 monitors(will find the link and post it someone is interested). I'd appreciate it if someone could recommend normally priced monitor stands(for 4-6+ monitors) that don't cost a fortune to ship to Europe(or better yet are shipped from the EU, since most are from America and I'd have to pay VAT and stuff).

The other thing I've been wondering about is using a 40'' 4K instead of 4 FHD's, has anyone tried that? It's a bit pricier but you won't need a custom stand for it. What's stopping me is that most 4K TV's don't have a Display port and so far I haven't heard of DP to HDMI 2.0 convertor. Also it seems the ergonomics would be worse since you can't adjust the angles to make into an ellipse.

[SamirD]

I've thought about this too.  Especially when you look at the prices for desktop 4k monitors.

A cable adapter does exist for hdmi 4k since the older hdmi 1.4 spec supports 4k.  A curved 4k might solve the issue of forming an ellipse.

[keshley]

I used a 39" 4k TV for a while. It was OK, but it wasn't a full 60Hz, so wasn't great. I gamed at 1080 on it at 120Hz though

I've always preferred two monitors from an efficiency point of view. My workstation at home has a single Cinema 4k monitor, and that's great for most work; unless I'm running something that I need to see a lot of columns/rows, I can have a lot of open windows for reference.

When I worked from home, I used 2-3 monitors, regardless of resolution.

[keshley]

Also, I know studies have been done that show two monitors are more efficient than one (in terms of getting work done).

[SamirD]

Also, I know studies have been done that show two monitors are more efficient than one (in terms of getting work done).

I'm curious how this study was done.  I've always used one high-res monitor, but I use it just like two monitors, basically dividing it vertically.

[keshley]

I haven't done much reading on it myself, other than cursory. My workflow requires having several windows open, so for me personally, more monitors is better (or at least, more usable screen space).

http://usabilitynews.org/are-two-monitors-better-than-one/

[SamirD]

I haven't done much reading on it myself, other than cursory. My workflow requires having several windows open, so for me personally, more monitors is better (or at least, more usable screen space).

http://usabilitynews.org/are-two-monitors-better-than-one/

My workflow is the same.  Before tabbed browsers, I had lots and lots of those open.

I also frequently need to look at two pieces of information side-by-side, so that's where a large screen setup really shines for me.

[keshley]

I haven't done much reading on it myself, other than cursory. My workflow requires having several windows open, so for me personally, more monitors is better (or at least, more usable screen space).

http://usabilitynews.org/are-two-monitors-better-than-one/

My workflow is the same.  Before tabbed browsers, I had lots and lots of those open.

I also frequently need to look at two pieces of information side-by-side, so that's where a large screen setup really shines for me.

That works for me most of the time, but I find one monitor insufficient when I have to remote into a system to parse logs, run SQL queries, and have a spreadsheet open to correlate all the data. And talk to other people over IM about it all at the same time. I can do it on one large high res monitor, but its just easier with two.

[SamirD]

I haven't done much reading on it myself, other than cursory. My workflow requires having several windows open, so for me personally, more monitors is better (or at least, more usable screen space).

http://usabilitynews.org/are-two-monitors-better-than-one/

My workflow is the same.  Before tabbed browsers, I had lots and lots of those open.

I also frequently need to look at two pieces of information side-by-side, so that's where a large screen setup really shines for me.

That works for me most of the time, but I find one monitor insufficient when I have to remote into a system to parse logs, run SQL queries, and have a spreadsheet open to correlate all the data. And talk to other people over IM about it all at the same time. I can do it on one large high res monitor, but its just easier with two.

Interesting.  I guess I'm doing something similar in MKE with my second monitor setup.  It's actually connected to another computer which rdps to others but is on a kvm so I can switch the kb and trackball back and forth between my main system while observing the second monitor.

[mivanov]

I think there are 3(4) caveats when using a 4K instead(not counting the fact it's not curved, cause expensive).

?0th? - Durability - some articles have made me doubt that 4K Tv's can take the abuse of being used for as much hours as a monitor.

1st - Picture quality - readability of text, lack of blurriness and sharpness(either one is bad), not tiring one's eyes.

2nd - Ports, most are HDMI 2, but in fact most VGA's only have DP1.2(which has enough bandwidth) and HDMI1.4(doesn't).

3rd - Window positions, with multiple monitors - we rarely place a window on more than one monitor. Hence it's like we are tilling, cause we can maximize too.(and I doubt many ppl keep more than 2 open windows per monitor) But in fact most of us are using a stacking window manager - ie. All Windows window managers(no idea how they are called), kwin, etc. 

And they suck for one monitor.

Hence I think - a 4K requires using a tilling manager as to be able to maintain multiple non-overlapping windows - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager

[SamirD]

I think you bring up some good points.

I think durability is a concern with almost any display.  And there's always better build quality on some vs others.

If the display is being run at native, I don't think clarity would be an issue, although maybe the picture may need adjustment to be less fatiguing.

Resolution could definitely be an issue, depending on the video card.  But that would be the case with any 4k display, not just a tv being used as a monitor.

I actually use more than one window at a time on almost any display I use, even with multiples, if the resolution is high enough--likely on a 4k display for sure.