Nope...4K isn't really the same thing as UHD. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/174221-no-tv-makers-4k-and-uhd-are-not-the-same-thing
The point is that you're going to have to deal with the terms now. They've been used as interchangeable terms before the devices even hit the market. Fighting it is just feeble. Just look back at the 4G era. People marketing hspa+ as 4G causing the market to have create redundant terms like 4G LTE etc.
I'm actually starting to think that curved ultrawide monitors are probably the next big thing. It seems like they give you the same benefits as a dual monitor setup, even including the monitors being slightly tilted into each other, but without the annoying screen bezels. I just don't want to spend $1,000+ on a monitor.
Been playing with the new Monoprice monitor for a bit. 30" feels a lot bigger but the aspect ratio has a lot to do with it. The change from a 24" 16:10 to a 27" 16:9 wasn't that drastic. I'd love to get that BenQ side by side with this one. There's just no way of knowing what resolution I'd prefer without seeing both of them. Anyway the Monoprice seems fine. The color calibration out of the box was horrible. I've improved it a lot with recommended setting but I'm not sure how accurate it is. It has the typical IPS glow which is annoying.
I really like the size, resolution, and aspect ratio of 30" 1600p monitors. NEC, Dell, and HP still make them for professionals, but they're super expensive. Apple also used to make them a few years ago. Monoprice and grey market Korean stuff is always an option though. IPS glow is annoying. It ranges from mild and barely noticeable to totally obnoxious on some TVs and monitors. Cheap TVs seem to have it the worst. VA panels are better than IPS panels in that regard. They don't glow and look good in dark scenes.
The IPS glow/shimmer seems more noticeable on the large screen. One of my 24"s is a VA panel and it does blacks a lot better than any of the IPS, but it's colors are also not as good.
There are tradeoffs with any panel type it seems VA - deepest blacks, closest to CRT in appearance, decent but not great color, has problems with lag/ghosting on some panels IPS/PLS - great vibrant looking color, but some panels have horrible glow and look terrible in dark scenes, some panels are laggy TN - fast, cheap, terrible color, terrible viewing angles
It was $550 and I plan on returning it. I felt like the color was off compared to my other IPS and the view angles are really bad. In fact I would never guess this was an IPS monitor. It looks pretty decent strait on but turn even a little and the colors wash out like a TN panel. This is it next to my Dell. The image looks bad because it got compressed but you can still see what I mean. So my next try might be the 32" BenQ. I guess every 32" IPS monitor uses the same panel. HP, ACER, Samsung and BenQ all use BenQ made panels and they all had the same flicker issues. BenQ fixed the new panels so I may take a shot at theirs or maybe even the HP Envy 32 which is only $450. It's cheaper but also bigger because it has crappy speakers on it's sides. Also no VESA or stand adjustments. Not sure if it's worth the reduced price. http://www.amazon.com/HP-32-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor-Quad-HD/dp/B00NNQGHXC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434468642&sr=8-1&keywords=32%22+monitor
so you're ok with the larger screen at that res? when I got my Samsung 32", it was very noticeable from my 27". but since I mainly just browse web and watch videos, it's not a huge deal for me.
I don't know. I think I'd like that res for a desktop but I'm not sure about gaming. If I don't go 32" I'll have to go back down to 27. What did you think? Pixels too big? Screen too big?
Your monitor buying experience so far has been pretty dire. This is all leading me to believe that the Dell Ultrasharp U2412M is still a really good all around monitor and maybe I should just stick to the ones I'm using until curved ultrawide monitors get cheaper. I've had no problems with these monitors. They have good color and viewing angles, both came with no stuck pixels, and they don't have significant problems with glow or backlight bleed. The stands are sturdy and have cable management and all the adjustments you would need. I just wish they were a little bigger and higher resolution. That monoprice monitor looks like crap next to it. I would swear that's a TN panel going by how washed out it looks. Unless that BenQ ends up being amazing, maybe I'll just stay put for now.
Well there are a lot of good monitors coming out but of course they're all really expensive. I think my next bet is the HP Envy 32" or BenQ 32". Despite being the same panel the HP has PWM dimming which some people say is really bad for your eyes. I have no idea if it's true but you can run the test below and see PWM in action on your U2412M. At max brightness it looks like a thick line but drop the brightness to like 30 and LED strobe slows down and you can see multiple lines. I can move the browser between my U2412M and the Monoprice and see the difference. The Monoprice doesn't use PWM. Of course I'm not sure if I even need to be concerned about it. http://www.testufo.com/#test=blurtrail&foreground=FFFFFF&background=000000&thickness=1&height=480&ppf=16&separation=1000
PWM dimming can be bad on some monitors, but I think most of them use it these days. Is that 30 inch monitor CCFL rather than LED?
No it's definitely LED so I'm not sure how it got around the flicker. I decided to go with the BenQ BL3200PT over the HP mostly because it boast a flicker free monitor. Here is their flicker free sales pitch. http://www.benq.com/microsite/eye-care-monitors/ff.html
Chapetr 3: bfun buys the BenQ BL3200PT Got the BenQ last night. Out of the box I'd have to say this is probably the highest quality monitor I've ever had. I'm not saying it's amazing but it's very good. The stand is excellent and the wired remote for the controls is very nice. Picture quality out of the box was pretty good. After calibration it was even better. I'd say it's 95% of the color accuracy of my IPS but the contrast is so much better that it's easily the better picture. I had two concerns when I got this monitor. I was worried the resolution would be too low and the screen too big. After using it those concerns still exist. I'm having trouble finding the right viewing distance. If the monitor is too close I can see pixels in the text. When i push it away it gets harder to read. So I'm not sure how I feel about that. Gaming was interesting. I went back through the TFT reviews and realized that the lag might have been worse than I thought it would be. It's definitely worse than my IPS. For the first 30 minutes of TitanFall I thought I saw ghosting but I wasn't sure. I played it more later that night and didn't notice it again. I need to do more testing. GTAV which is a slow FPS had no issues and looked fine. Civ Beyond Earth had never looked better. So I'm still on the fence with this one. So far my favorite size and resolution was the 30" 2560x1600. That just seemed perfect. Unfortunately from what I've read all 30" panels kind of suck so I'll probably avoid looking there any more. I felt the 27 was a bit too small and now the 32" a bit too big. I'll just take some time to think it over.
Any flickering? Do you think you'll return it? Pictures? I'm curious what it looks like and a lot of the pictures I've seen don't give a good sense of the size of it. IPS based g-sync monitors are right around the corner. I have some Amazon gift card money burning a hole in my pocket that I want to spend on a bigger monitor, but I might just wait for those. There is an Acer one out currently, but I'll hold out for a real brand. The Asus ROG Swift PG279Q which is a 27" 144hz 1440p IPS with g-sync looks perfect, assuming it doesn't have the quality control issues of the first gen ROG Swift.
Any chance for a pic at roughly 18, 24, and 36" viewing distance? What distance did you think you were too close and seeing pixels? I'm OCD, bordering on insanity, about desks. I would get a monitor that suited the placement/viewing distance of the desk over anything else.