WFH Monitor Upgrade: from 27 Inch to. ?

jrowls on 21/04/2022 - 22:17
Last edited 22/04/2022 - 12:21 by 1 other user

G'day all

I'm currently running an M1 MacBook Air and a 27 inch LG 27MP59HT-P on a monitor riser. it's a decent setup but I'd like to declutter, give a bit more space for paper work, and get the laptop and the monitor riser out of my equation.

T that end, I want to:

1. Get a monitor arm to mount to my desk,
2. Get a larger monitor, and
3. Run it all off my laptop +USB C, with the lid closed and put away.

I find there's just not quite enough real estate for my work (docs/excel, web browser/pdf research, qgis) with the 27 inch monitor and the Mac screen. I don't have a good setup for the laptop to sit next to my monitor - it's too low - and the screen is too short to be useful in reality for what I'm doing.

What size/shape/price of monitor do y'all think I need to head to to make this a reality? I've seen some 32 inch curved USB C bois out there for ~$500. Can you recommend me some models? Do you have a similar use case and have a better solution? Maybe built in webcam would be a hit?

Hook me up with some ideas.

cheers

P.S. Don't need it for gaming or anything graphics-y so I can cop a worse screen.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 21/04/2022 - 22:41

  +2

  if you are reading a lot of documents, you might just want to get another monitor in addition to your current one and mount it vertically to make better use of the available space

  • 

    jrowls on 21/04/2022 - 22:44

    yeah i did think about that but i am not a big fan of it aesthetically and also would just like to minimise the power cord situation - another monitor and charging brick sounds painful, not to mention having to have either a double monitor arm or two monitor arms. it's a good idea if i already had a sparey.

• 

  Axelstrife on 21/04/2022 - 22:52

  +2

  49" Super Ultrawide which is the equivalent two 27" screens side by side minus the bezes in the middle.

  Cheapest is about 1k though

  • 

    jrowls on 21/04/2022 - 22:57

    that's huuuuuuuuuuuuge! bigger than my tv lmao

    i was more wondering whether like… 34" would cut it? haha. i don't think i'm looking to spend 1k on a monitor unfortunately.

    • 

      Axelstrife on 21/04/2022 - 23:02

      But it looks awesome doesn't it? haha you could fit all "(docs/excel, web browser/pdf research, qgis)" side by side

      http://www.displaywars.com/27-inch-16x9-vs-32-inch-16x9

      Use this website, the Green is 32" the blue in 27" give you a better idea of how much bigger something is than your current 27"

• 

  Hybroid on 21/04/2022 - 23:06

  +1

  I use dual VX3276 IPS for work home office. 32" 1440p is sweet spot for productivity and you can fit 2 documents cleanly on each monitor. Outlook + Teams on one permanently and other one has your Word/Excel/PDF/Microstation/Revit CAD etc.

  Don't personally like curved monitors and 32" is far too small for them anyway. 49" widescreen then sure, starts to make sense.

• 

  djkelly69 on 21/04/2022 - 23:14

  +2

  I honestly think 2x22" or 2x24" FHD on monitor arms is about the best value work-style setup (and probably why you see this in a lot of new office fitouts). I have 2x27" at home and find it too big.

  I assume you should be able to find some which can daisy-chain via USB-C so you can put the laptop away.

• 

  Agret on 22/04/2022 - 03:18

  Get some desk clamp monitor arms to attach to the back of the desk and run 2x 24" screens. Having them mounted to the arms will free up all your table space for paperwork. Grab a wireless keyboard / mouse kit and you have freedom to throw them anywhere on your desk without the cables interfering.

  I have bought these 2 things to setup a few people with WFH setups running multi screen setups, this HUB I can confirm works with multiple screens on both PC & Mac and is quite affordable compared to other brands.

  https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08QZHM7XQ
  https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08BBXMPWZ

  The extension cable is because the one on the HUB is a little restrictive so it gives you more freedom on how you place it on the desk, i've read that some extension cables don't support display output but I can vouch for this one that all of the ports on the hub function fine using it.

  It has USB-PD passthrough so you can connect everything to your device with a single cable but I find the charging can be a bit hit or miss sometimes won't work so it's best to just plug in the USB-C hub into one port and your charging cable into the other.

• 

  geekcohen on 22/04/2022 - 06:08

  +2

  To declutter, definitely get a monitor arm. I did it a number of years ago and it is great. I have 3 x 27 inch monitors on monitor arms and it frees up so much desk space. I still have a messy desk, but just creates more room for other things.

• 

  FoxJump on 22/04/2022 - 07:19

  What matters is pixels not monitor size.

  You need more pixels!
  Also, said pixels need to be a size you're comfortable reading.

  I use a 27" 4k at 100% scale and got plenty of room

  • 

    zoltanc on 22/04/2022 - 08:28

    This. I use a 1440p 32” and find it plenty for my needs too. This is about the same pixel density as a 24” 1080p monitor, but larger screen (so more pixels).

    You could get a huge monitor like a 55” TV, but if it is 1080p it is a waste… a bit like the 27MP59HT-P at 1080p.

    Note that getting a 27” 4K monitor gives you more pixels, but you will need to scale it so you won’t fit as much on it unless the text is small.

    It come down to how sharp and hot large you want your text to be.

    • 

      jrowls on 22/04/2022 - 10:02

      Mate I didn’t even realise my display was such low resolution haha. Thank you!

      I’m not sure that 27” would be enough no matter the pixels to split three windows and have enough real estate… as you say you’d need to scale it a lot. Docs/pdf would be fine but not sure I could use qgis scaled at all.

  • 

    jrowls on 22/04/2022 - 10:00

    Ah mate! I didn’t even think about the pixel side of the equation.

    I note that a user below mentioned issues with mac and 4K? Any knowledge on that?

    Otherwise what you said sounds good.

    • 

      FoxJump on 22/04/2022 - 12:53

      +1

      Idk. I'm on windoze. All good here at 4k.
      Also consider panel tech

      I have used a 27" 4k VA panel and a 27" 4k IPS panel.

      I can read text at native resolution on the IPS one, but in the VA one I need to scale to 125% to make it easy to read.

• 

  MrSparkle on 22/04/2022 - 09:17

  +1

  A couple of years back, I set my dear old mum up with a Phillips 32" 4k with USB-C for use with her Macbook Air. Great screen on it's own but the "single cable" solution for USB-C being power plus USB hub in monitor was absolutely perfect for her. The specific model I got I think has been superseded now but I'd be surprised if there isn't a newer version or multiple newer versions available. From memory was around the $600 mark and well worth it.

  Also for me, especially for WFH usage, the 4k res is far more usable over 1440p because of the additional vertical real estate. So much better for all the typical Office suite type apps and even moreso for big spreadsheets or Visio diagrams etc. Each to their own of course but I can never go back from 4k now!

• 

  BargainBenno on 22/04/2022 - 09:37

  +1

  Running a macOS machine the optimal resolution for clarity is 1440p. macOS will work with a 4K monitor but it’s not as clear. 5k is also optimal for macOS being 4X the 1440p And the same as a 5k iMac. I tried a 27 inch 4k dell minor at home with my Mac book but then went for a 1440p.

  • 

    zoltanc on 22/04/2022 - 10:54

    +1

    1440p more clear than 4K? Something funny going on here.

    Did you mean if you are using screen mirroring? Even then, it would depend on the Mac as they all have different resolutions.

• 

  Italkdigital on 22/04/2022 - 12:19

  +1

  I went 4k 32inch from 4k 27inch but I still want bigger lolz

• 

  jrowls on 24/04/2022 - 12:37

  Update:

  Got a Dell S2722QC 4k USB-C boi

  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-27-4K-UHD-USB-C-Monitor-S27…

  Not sure if it's an actual bargain or whatever but I'm happy w the price @ $369 delivered.

  A month wait on delivery unfortunately.