Question To Curve or Not to Curve?

[GTaudiophile]

I am ready to finally replace my ancient but trusty DELL U2412M. My questions?

1. Stick with DELL UltraSharp? Is there something better these days? For years, DELL was always the de-facto brand but maybe LG/Samsung/Asus are better now? Better is defined as quality and performance per Dollar.
2. Go with 2x 27" (DELL U2719D/U2721DE) or 1x Curved (DELL U3421WE)?
3. Go with 1x 27" Alienware (AW2721D) or 1x Curved Alienware (AW3420DW)? (I could of course use my U2412M with the AW2721D.)

My setup at work (not home office) is 2x 27" so I am use to this configuration.

My main purposes are:

1. Office work, Office suite, web browsing, etc. (75%)
2. Adobe Suite, Premier Pro, InDesign, Photoshop (20%)
3. I WANT to get back into "gaming" after a good 5+ year absence with MS Flight Simulator (5%)

What would you all recommend? What do you all feel are the pros/cons of 2x flat screens versus 1x curved? I have zero experience with curved.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[bigboxes]

I have the Dell U3417W widescreen. It took some getting used to the "wall of light". The curved screen really immerses you. If you are heavy into the creative suites, you may not like the distortion. I got used to it. I do most everything in half screens. That is, I use two browser windows and have different tabs on each. It's like going from a widescreen with little vertical real estate to two monitors that have lots of vertical space. It makes reading so much easier than constantly scrolling.

I do the same when I'm working in Photoshop or Word and open them at half a screen. It makes everything more manageable. I'm on the fence on upgrading to the cruved Alienware monitor (AW3420DW). I really want 120Hz. I'm not sure I NEED 120Hz. At least not the cost when my 60Hz works so well for my needs. I rarely game, but if I did this more often then I could justify the cost of the 120Hz.

 

[biostud]

See sig

I’ve run 27” 1440p, 34” 1440p and 49” 1440p, but never a dual screen setup. So if 49” is out of the question, then in some cases I would suspect that 34“ might feel limited if you are used to run dual 1440p, on the other hand a single screen can be more flexible and is better for gaming.

34” curved you get used to quickly, the steep 1000R curve of my 49” is more geared towards gaming than workflow.

 

[aleader]

I have a 32" IPS 1440p 75Hz LG flat screen ATM. I love the picture and it was quite cheap at $220 USD (Costco), but my son is moving out right away and long story short, I have an opportunity to replace my screen. I use it exclusively for gaming, mostly flight sims (DCS, IL2), but also strategy games, Squad, and Dirt Rally 2. I was looking at this one:

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00112654

Or this:

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00113791

I don't know though if I want an Ultrawide as it really shrinks vertically from what I have now (16.7 vs 14.3"). Seems too skinny. I have a 3070/5600X. High refresh rates really don't matter that much to me, nor do I care about 4K or GSync. Thoughts? Is the curve worth the upgrade?

EDIT: I just realized that the non-ultrawide above is the same vertical height as the ultrawide. Is that normal for curved monitors? I don't want either of them now.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I never had curved myself, but I can see it being nice once you go to a certain physical size. My current setup is 2x 28" 4k monitors on top of each other, and even 28" feels kinda big where the edges feel "far". If I went any bigger I think curved would be useful.

When you think about it though, a typical side by side multi monitor setup you usually set them at an angle, so a single large curved screen does make sense.

In the end though, remember resolution is the most important factor for productivity. Ex: a 28" 4k is going to be better than a 32" ultrawide that has less resolution. For multimedia it matters less.

 

[aleader]

I never had curved myself, but I can see it being nice once you go to a certain physical size. My current setup is 2x 28" 4k monitors on top of each other, and even 28" feels kinda big where the edges feel "far". If I went any bigger I think curved would be useful.

When you think about it though, a typical side by side multi monitor setup you usually set them at an angle, so a single large curved screen does make sense.

In the end though, remember resolution is the most important factor for productivity. Ex: a 28" 4k is going to be better than a 32" ultrawide that has less resolution. For multimedia it matters less.

As I said, I only care about gaming. I did some comparisons and a 34" ultrawide is only 31" wide by 14.3" tall. That's basically my 32" but shorter. If I could find one that has around the same dimensions but curved, I'd go for that, but they don't seem to exist. I'll have to check one out in person and see what it's like. I just don't want to replace a perfectly good monitor and then not be happy with the new one.

 

[repoman0]

I wasn’t a fan of my 32” curved 1440p panel during the brief time I owned it before sending it back. It was supposed to replace a 32” flat 1440p so I was able to compare side by side. The lack of straight lines unless viewed at a particular vertical angle drove me nuts and the panel itself seemed compromised (lot of backlight bleed despite being a VA).

I gave up and bought the 48” LG OLED and despite its massive size, wouldn’t choose a curved version even if it was available.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Aside from a very select few use cases, cured is just a marketing device on a LCD/LED/OLED/mini-LED/micro-LED display device. The only time I would say it is useful is when combined with a panel type that has horrible off axis view angles and sitting extremely close to the monitor (i.e. you exceed the viewing angles supported by the panel at the edges of the display when sitting at your viewing distance because you are too close to it).

Please, just remember why curved even came into existence in the first place. It started in some larger TV's that were fighting against high end projection system screens as their competition. On projection systems, there is an inherent problem in the technology, the light is coming from a single point, and then being spread out onto a surface some distance away from that point. When the light is spread out onto a surface on which the distance between the surface and the single point of origin of the light changes in length, the light will have problems being focused onto that surface across its entire size. This is because there is only one focal distance per projector (in normal setups, some extremely high end systems have multiple lamps and lenses which can then support multiple focal lengths). This is actually the same problem that CRT TVs had, and why the screen was actually rounded in shape since it is trying to focus an electron beam on the phospors that are coating the inner surface of the glass screen.

So, what is the logical solution to the focal point problem? You produce a screen that will be as close to equidistant across its entire surface to the light source. The perfect shape of such a surface is the inside surface of a sphere (as by definition, its surface is exactly the same distance to the center point of the sphere). However, it costs a lot to make a spherical screen, but not nearly as much to make a curved arch, which still greatly mitigates the problems by bringing more of the screen surface closer to same distance away from the projector.

Thus the curved screen was born for fixing a real world problem. The TV marketing guys saw it and all the marketing being done by the projection system sellers on touting the technology as providing a superior display (which it does on a "projection system"), and said, "We need to have that too! We need to have curved displays to combat the curved displays of our competitors", when they didn't understand that the reason for the curved display from the "competitor" was to fix a problem inherent only in their competitor's design, but in their design, all it does is create more problems by making an extremely limited viewing angles and seating location for viewing the device when before you had a much wider viewing area. And thus the curved TV and monitor was born....

 

[mv2devnull]

I have curved (Acer Predator, 34", 3440x1440), but the curve is only 3800R or something like that. Almost not curved. Does it make a difference from one or two 27" 2560x1440? Not much. The point is that "curved" is not same as "curved", if one is 1000R and other is 3800R.

[edit] The U3421WE and AW3420DW are apparently both 1900R.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Yes, and for every degree of curve of the display you have, you are removing 2 degrees of seating area that can view the full screen compared to a flat screen on a LCD/LED/OLED/mini-LED/microLED screen. This might be fine on a computer monitor where there is only one viewer, but on a display that is meant to be shown to multiple people, it is simply limiting the locations where they can be and still view the whole picture.

 

[biostud]

#10

For gaming on an ultrawide, curvature makes sense. You sit very close to the screen, and is most likely the only one watching the screen. Without the curve an UW screen can be perceived as convex when sitting close.

for me

16:9 flat
21:9 slight curve 18-1900R
32:9 steep curve 1000R

 

[JWMiddleton]

I've been using an Acer 27" IPS 60hz 1440P monitor for at least 3 years. I wanted higher refresh rate and blue light shield as my eyes really bother me at times. So, I looked for at options and ended up getting an Acer Nitro 32" 1440P 165 Hz Curved monitor. Most 32" monitors I looked at were curved and I wasn't sure I'd like it and wondered if 32 inches was too big. Turns out I love it! I bought it from Costco since it would be easy to return if I had issues with it.

For years my setup was the 27" and a 24". I am happy now with the 32" alone. Mine is not 4k, so I have just as many pixels on it was with the 27", but thing are easier to see. With a 4k, I'd have to enlarge the fonts to the point that I'd be getting just about as much on screen. Plus, as I found with the 27", enlarging fonts doesn't work on many apps and webpages.

John

 

[aleader]

Well, Newegg had a deal the other day which made the Gigabyte 34WQC $575 CAD w/tax and shipping ($442 USD, about $90 cheaper than anywhere else I could get it), so it's on it's way. I wasn't getting one at all, but the deal must have been the universe telling me something...that I'm an impulse buyer . I'll figure out once and for all whether or not I like it I guess. I would have bought from Costco, but the cheapest one they have is a Samsung with a 100MHz refresh (vs 144) and slower response time for almost double the price. Everything else seems identical. I can always return it within 30 days if I really hate it...

 

[Muadib]

I suggest that you find a store that has one on display. I thought I wanted one, and went to microcenter to buy it. I was shocked to learn that they had one on display, and they had a game loaded on it. I absolutely hated it, and walked out empty handed. I'm waiting for the 48" LG C1 now.

 

[aleader]

I suggest that you find a store that has one on display. I thought I wanted one, and went to microcenter to buy it. I was shocked to learn that they had one on display, and they had a game loaded on it. I absolutely hated it, and walked out empty handed. I'm waiting for the 48" LG C1 now.

Too late now as it's in the mail. I may as well try it out and see if I like it. If not, back it goes. 48" would be way too big for where I sit in my home-built cockpit. Even the 32" is a bit much at times. I have it mounted on a swivel arm. I already have a 65" OLED TV. I tried to use it for gaming, but it was just way too much hassle with my Cougar MFDs (on an 11.6" screen) and my HOTAS/Head Tracking. My next move will be to VR if they can ever actually improve the performance in DCS.