[bertwert]

Now, I'm sure this question has been asked countless times... but I'm in the market for a monitor, and pretty clueless.

Now at first I wasn't really looking beyond boring old 24" FHD monitors, as to my price range, but I found an interesting 27" 4K that I could stretch for... as it connects over USB-C as display port, while also providing power delivery and extra inputs (including more USB and ethernet), it basically acting as a docking station. Meaning I don't need to splurge for a hub and extra power supply as I was intending to...

Seems to check all the boxes, including good colour coverage (and IPS, but since getting a laptop with an IPS display, it goes without saying that it's a big requirement). But I just want to check I'm not missing something crucial...

Here's what I'm looking at right now: LCD monitor with USB-C Dock 272P7VUBNB/27 | Philips

[stevebrot]

But I just want to check I'm not missing something crucial...

Probably your largest concern might, ironically, be the high resolution. 4K monitors are great for streaming and games, but suck for work due to the miniaturization of your content. The side-effects may include:

• Disappearing detail
• Exaggeration of DOF
• Difficulty managing noise
• Difficulty doing appropriate sharpening
• Difficulty detecting processing artifact.

Viewing at greater than 100% is not much help for the same reasons it is not much help with 1080 HD. One can compensate by moving the display closer, but with the edges of the big monitor being more in the area of peripheral vision. You may also be able to configure your operating system to a lower ppi setting when doing editing.

That said, multiple users on this site are using 4K monitors so don't let me be the naysayer. My suggestion is that you might want to try before you buy, if that is possible at your location.


Steve

[Paul the Sunman]

I just bought the highly regarded BenQ SW270C. It's 2K rather than 4K, but I think that's better for photography. You might like to look at this very detailed review. It also is USB-C, provides power to my mac, and has its own USB output slots (which I use for disks), SD card slot, and audio jack.

I've only had it for a day, and my calibrater is still in shipment, but definitely worth a look.

[bertwert]

Probably your largest concern might, ironically, be the high resolution. 4K monitors are great for streaming and games, but suck for work due to the miniaturization of your content. The side-effects may include:

• Disappearing detail
• Exaggeration of DOF
• Difficulty managing noise
• Difficulty doing appropriate sharpening
• Difficulty detecting processing artifact.

Viewing at greater than 100% is not much help for the same reasons it is not much help with 1080 HD. One can compensate by moving the display closer, but with the edges of the big monitor being more in the area of peripheral vision. You may also be able to configure your operating system to a lower ppi setting when doing editing.

That said, multiple users on this site are using 4K monitors so don't let me be the naysayer. My suggestion is that you might want to try before you buy, if that is possible at your location.


Steve

Valid points for sure Steve.

I was going off the basis that my current laptop 14" FHD laptop screen causes me no problems, and a 27" 4K display has pretty much the same DPI.

I'm now also envisioning the possibilities of using a monitor in portrait mode with side by side windows for lab writing in school... But that's a complete aside.

[bertwert]

I just bought the highly regarded BenQ SW270C. It's 2K rather than 4K, but I think that's better for photography. You might like to look at this very detailed review. It also is USB-C, provides power to my mac, and has its own USB output slots (which I use for disks), SD card slot, and audio jack.

I've only had it for a day, and my calibrater is still in shipment, but definitely worth a look.

Nice suggestion... Except for the fact I'm looking at something 1/3 the price...

[Paul the Sunman]

Nice suggestion... Except for the fact I'm looking at something 1/3 the price...

Fair point.

... though I did get it for $317 less than the official price.

[JPT]

This is a timely discussion for me. I'm about to spend about USD 200-300 on a monitor for mainly work but also some amateur photo editing.

The one I am currently looking at is the low end of the Asus ProArt line. They are not 10-bit, but seem to have good color accuracy. I've not looked at the higher-end models.
ProArt?Monitors?Displays / Desktops?ASUS Global

I don't have a large work space so I'm limited to 24" models. The one I'm considering for myself is the PA248QV.

You might have a bit more space on your desk, so the PA278QV is another option with a 27" 2560×1440 IPS screen. That seems to be a nice compromise between reasonable resolution and still making use of the screen size.

I thought this review was quite helpful from a photographer's perspective.
https://photographylife.com/reviews/asus-proart-pa278qv

If anyone has any opinions or experience of these monitors, it would be very helpful for me too.

[gatorguy]

I've been using this one
amazon.com: ViewSonic VP2768-4K PRO Professional 27 Inch 4K Monitor with 100% sRGB Rec709 14-bit 3D LUT Color Calibration for Photography and Graphic Design, Black: Computers & Accessories?tag=pentaxforums-20&
27" 4k 14bit

I too went back and forth on whether 4k was going to be an assist or hindrance with a lot of reviewers saying 4k on anything smaller than 32" was overkill. That's not been my experience. It's been a very good monitor for photo processing.

[leekil]

Exaggeration of DOF

How does that occur?

[bertwert]

I too went back and forth on whether 4k was going to be an assist or hindrance with a lot of reviewers saying 4k on anything smaller than 32" was overkill. That's not been my experience. It's been a very good monitor for photo processing.

That's good to hear - do you scale at all, or use it at 100%?

[mattt]

I have had both Asus ProArt and BenQ noted above. Both are excellent with wide gamut and good colour rendering. The features built in are deciding factors for me too (SD card reader and extra USB ports are helpful to my workflow).

[stevebrot]

How does that occur?

Decreased magnification. Consider my avatar photo. Compare it to the image below and tell me which has the greater DOF...

Now double the distance to your monitor and tell me it has the same DOF as when you were closer. Increasing pixel density per degree of arc, say with a 4K display, has a similar effect for an image of fixed pixel dimensions (what we work with).


Steve

[leekil]

With your larger image, it doesn't appreciably change, as far as I can tell, when I move farther back. In this case, I know what the DOF is, and can still see the OOF part when I move back.

But I'm not sure what you are getting at with the 4K display; you are saying it will make the DOF appear to be less, due to the higher resolution?

[Medex]

I just bought the highly regarded BenQ SW270C. It's 2K rather than 4K, but I think that's better for photography. You might like to look at this very detailed review. It also is USB-C, provides power to my mac, and has its own USB output slots (which I use for disks), SD card slot, and audio jack.

I've only had it for a day, and my calibrater is still in shipment, but definitely worth a look.

BenQ SW270C is good monitor, I use it (alongside Dell UP2716D). MUST be calibrated because factory calibration gives too much green cast.
I like hood, uniformity, puk v2. Contrast is about 840:1. It seems this monitor uses uniformity compensation (UC) by default (can't be switched off compared to Dell, that gives contrast 1150:1 without UC and about 750:1 with UC).
Color space coverage of BenQ is about 99,5% for sRGB, about 98% for AdobeRGB (missing some very deep blue colors, but same is with Dell UP2716D).
Very solid stand.

[Bleeblee]

I just bought this one to attach to my macbook. LG 32inch Full HD IPS Monitor with AMD FreeSync It was $199 cdn and even came with the hdmi cable. I'm sure it's not a pro monitor but it's 32" and once I tweaked the colours they look the same as on my macbook. Here's the link to London Drugs where I got it https://www.londondrugs.com/lg-32inch-full-hd-ips-monitor-with-amd-freesync-.../L1120075.html. I am just hoping this will be a bit easier on my old eyes. Good luck!