Hi,
I guess I’m posting this question here because I wanted to ask a group of designers, or a group of people who maybe use their computers in a way that is similar to me.
I need to buy a new set of monitors for my new Mac. I currently have a set of 27" Samsungs which have been fine for the last 5 years. There are a lot of curved monitors on the market. I find them intriguing…but I’m not sure why I am intrigued , or if I should be?
Do any of you have curved monitors and if so what do you think of them?
Also, a lot of monitors on the market are labeled as “gaming monitors”. What does that mean and what is the difference?
I used to have a curved monitor for gaming with a high refresh rate, and while they are very nice (if you get a high end one), for working I prefer having a dual monitor setup. This is mainly because it’s much easier for programs to ‘snap’ into position on multi=monitor setups.
I use one window for toolbars and pallets + browser and one for the active app. So I may have Photoshop in one screen and all of my Photoshop toolbars and TV/Youtube in another.
On a curved monitor you have to manually place all of your floating windows and borders, and while it’s not much extra effort it can be annoying.
The value of curved monitors is higher for gaming when you can get a really wide FOV.
In terms of ‘gaming monitors’ thats usually to do with the refresh rate of the screen, that’s not much of an issue when working in design.
For working in design you want a monitor with better colour accuracy, especially when working with material that may be printed. In my last studio we used either Lacie or Eizo monitors with colour calibration. Here is an example of a new Eizo: http://www.eizoglobal.com/products/coloredge/cg318-4k/index.html
The downside is that the Pro colour monitors are very expensive, on par with a fully decked out production PC. A dual setup with these bad boys would set me back £8279.94.
While I haven’t used a curved monitor myself, I’m now wishing that I’d considered them for my most recent monitor purchases. Here’s why:
For many years, going back to when flat panel displays first appeared, it’s been my preference to have two monitors. Until recently, these have always been on their own stands, placed on a desk, and angled slightly so that when I look at one, my eyes are very near a line normal to the plane of the display emanating from center of the display.
Now, however, I’m in the middle of downsizing my office from a big U shaped desk setup to one that occupies the “desk” of a Murphy Bed/Desk combination. I most recently purchased two identical monitors and attached them with fixed wall mounts to the underside of the bed platform which, when configured as a desk, looks like this:
The problem I’m finding is that if I position myself to use one monitor, the other one looks distored as I’m using it.
While I’m not in any way certain that curved monitors would help in this situation, I with that I’d considered them when deciding which monitors to purchase for my new setup.
I have not used a curved monitor (or even a flat very wide aspect-ratio monitor), so no opinion from met yet. @sjdorst Steven, might you be able to modify the mountings of your two flat monitors to tilt them toward each other 10 or 20 degrees, forming a very shallow vee between them? If you have the under-furniture volume to accommodate a curved monitor then tilting two flat monitors ought to fit as well. I use two monitors at work (for software engineering, not design) and I keep them tilted slightly toward each other such that my eye-line is more-or-less perpendicular to both while sitting still.
@TDahl
I did a fairly intensive search for pan only wall mounts to no avail. (I don’t need tilt as I was able to plan my installation to put the monitors at the correct height.) And pan/tilt mounts - even for very small adjustability, added too much depth to the resulting installation for me to be comfortable trying them. The basic problem being very restricted space between the desktop and the bed bottom (where the monitors are mounted) when configured as a bed.
I’m living with things as they are right now. It’s actually not that bad. Should I decide I want to do it better, I’ll likely try shimming one side of the fixed mounts in order to accomplish a fixed pan on one or both monitors.
Indeed, a custom thin-cut wedge (or other kind of shim) may help adapt a fixed-position mounting unit. Hardware stores sell pre-cut wedges for shimming furniture and other things. Over the years I’ve bought a few packs of wood shims that are each about 2" wide by 12" long, max 1/4" thick or so on one end. Gluing a few of those together (stacked and/or side-by-side) might be an option. There are also shorter plastic wedges that I’ve bought and used. (My typical use is shimming outdoor rain-barrels to level them on an uneven walkway.)
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think that, should I try to change things, I’ll shim at the point the wall mount attaches to the monitor! I should be able to do it with a stack of washers and slightly longer screws. Bonus: No need to remove mattress to get to the mounting hardware!
