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Selecting monitors for a three monitor setup
I'm in the market for a 3 monitor setup. I've got a huge desk and about $2k to spend. Ideally, I'd like three matching monitors, but here's the catch. I want the middle "main" monitor to be my gaming monitor (120-144hz) while the side monitors can be 60hz. It'd be awesome if there was a brand that sold the same form factor (same base, bezel, etc).
Thoughts?
What you could do is get an ultrawide for your center monitor, and then 2 1080p or 1440p monitors for the "outside"? That's my current setup and I like it at least!
Ditto-ish. However, I have 2 ultawide monitors in the middle, and they are a bit mismatched in terms of design since I bought them all at different times:
https://i.imgur.com/5qhtKuQ.jpg
I still love my setup despite that though.
@superphly if you want all similar looking monitors with different specs, you're probably going to have to go with one of big brands like ASUS (TUF Gaming), Samsung (Odyssey), or LG (Ultragear). They typically have more options, and at least somewhat consistent design between models.
I have basically this. I have a 32" 1440p monitor as my centre, and two 22" 1080p as the sides.
Now, importantly: /u/superphly , you want to make sure the effective pixel size is the same across your monitors. Ideally. It helps a lot in having consistent, expectable sizing when windows move across boundaries. There are online calculators available for this. But something important is to check the actual diagonal size of the visible monitor area, as this often differs slightly. For example my monitors have slightly less than 22" on the side monitors, so I ended up with more or less exactly the same pixel size among the ones I got.
It sounds like a minor thing, but once you're used to it then using monitors with differing pixel sizes becomes really annoying. š
It's been a while since I've been shopping for monitors, but 120Hz monitors aren't terribly expensive these days, so you can consider getting that on all three monitors. I did a quick search and found 4K 120Hz monitors with GSYNC/FreeSync and TN panels starting at around $600, which would leave you with $200 for mounting hardware.
Good point. Thanks for the comment, that's actually really positive news. I figured 120/144hz were like 3x as expensive as 60hz. If there's not that much of a difference, then yeah, that makes sense.
120 and 144hz is fairly normal these days, though ābusiness monitorsā are often still stuck at 60hz but don't differ that much in price. I wouldn't go for TN panels if one of these monitors is going to be your gaming monitor, you either want VA or IPS for that, where IPS is more popular due to less smearing. OLED isn't really an option yet, certainly not if you also are going to do a lot of productivity stuff with lots of static content. Burn in is still an issue longer term (so it depends on how long you want to use your monitor) and the pixel arrangement is different, so text rendering isn't optimal as operating systems have not been adjusted yet.
Just want to add to this in case OP considers IPS, you might read a lot about "IPS bleed" and see images of how bad it looks, but keep in mind that it looks much worse on pictures than with your eyes. I have an LG IPS monitor and barely notice bleed, but if I take a picture of my monitor with my phone it looks absolutely dreadful.
I used to have a TN monitor but I'll probably never get anything but IPS going forward (or OLED when/if it becomes affordable for PC monitors).
Have you considered having a 42" screen on 4k? That works the same as 4 1080 monitors at the same time. With 2k you could find a really nice one
Since a few people have already recommended just one big monitor, let me add on that you should install something like Microsoft PowerToys, specifically for the FancyZones utility. I use this to easily manage multiple windows on one big desktop and it has become a necessary install whenever I setup a new machine.
I know that this doesnāt add anything to your question, but I have a question of my own ā in what way do you find three monitors to enhance your usage? Honest question as Iām struggling to see the value.
I personally dislike huge monitors as it feels like I have to look all over the place for what Iām looking for ā and I canāt realistically look at more than 2 or 3 things at a time anyhow, so I just canāt imagine how having to swivel my head around to find things would help. I personally use virtual desktops and keyboard shortcuts and I can swap whatās on my active monitor to exactly what I want to see faster than I could turn my head, so Iām perfectly happy with one primary monitor and the internal laptop display as a supplementary display for reference docs, chat programs, etc. that donāt need my full attention.
I still don't do multi-screen setups (because I'm very cheap), but something as simple as being able to have notes up and referencable without having to shuffle through windows is invaluable for just about every workflow.
A combination of programming, communications, music, financial charts, and tons of terminals open.
I do everything on two monitors, and keep my third as an extra Discord/Spotify/miscellaneous monitor, honestly I could use 2 and be happy but I had an extra monitor lying around so why not. I even have a work Mac from my job as a 4th monitor!
Not OP but I use three monitors in my home setup.
For work this means I can park Outlook in the sides, Calendar in one end and the inbox in another. They're not always on top so I can still use the sides for other stuff as needed (a reference like documentation, a VM or remote desktop, Teams calls that do not require my full attention, etc). It's way faster to switch contexts by turning your head than alt tabbing, at least for me. Center screen always has my primary focus.
For home it varies. Usually I keep a messaging app on one side. Lately I've kept discord on one end and WA on another. It's also great for media, you can open/watch multiple things at once.
I also find it less intrusive and less likely to pull me out of a flow. A teams message that pops up on my side monitor can be triaged by turning my head a few degrees instead of leaving whatever program I'm working in. I find that to be less distracting than trying to come back to my workflow.
It's like driving down the street and looking at the shops on the sides vs pulling into a parking lot to look at every shop.
Not OP, but here's my setup.
Currently my left monitor has Discord and Steam Chat. Right monitor has Beeper. Middle (top) monitor has my browser open (where I'm typing this). Middle (bottom) has a YouTube video playing. But I vary what's open on each monitor depending on what I'm doing. E.g. When I'm working, I love being able to have multiple browser windows and reference documents open and viewable at the same time.
I much prefer that setup, and just moving my eyes around to see different windows on different monitors, over using hotkeys to switch between stacked windows on a single monitor. But ultimately I think it just comes down to personal preference, and what someone is more comfortable and more productive with. To each their own.
offtopic
does Beeper work well? I heard about it a couple of months ago, but it didn't look fully fleshed out yet. I think one of their recruiters reached out to me for a job prospect or something?
It's a bit rough around the edges, doesn't support a ton of services yet, and still has a bunch of bugs (e.g. It didn't connect to all my Slack channels properly). However, the devs are incredible, and very very responsive. As soon as I explained the Slack issue to them and provided them with the info they needed to investigate it, they got to working on it almost immediately, and had the problem sorted out by the next day.
I primarily use it for iMessage on PC though, since I have an iPad and iPhone, but I'm not a Mac person. So that alone makes it worthwhile for me.
interesting. I feel like I would love to use it, but I can't imagine a good use case for it. The only messaging apps I have are Signal, Messenger, and Discord, and each have their own client/window basically lol. Thanks for the feedback!!
NP. I wish I didn't have a use case for it... but all my friends and family use different bloody communication programs! So I'm hoping Beeper can eventually consolidate them all into one interface for me. :P
The nice thing about having an Android phone in a sea of iPhone users is that everyone defaults to messaging me on Messenger/Instagram, except for my one privacy oriented friend who requires me to use Signal. Nothing to juggle makes life a lot easier!
My family and extended-family are all non-techies, and thoroughly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, so trying to convince any of them to use anything other than iMessage and Facetime to communicate with me would be pretty much impossible at this point. :(
This is pretty much it (for me). Center monitor for main stuff, but side monitors for other stuff which I can just turn my head to glance at occasionally. Chat windows, sports, auxiliary apps (e.g. OBS while gaming). It's a convenience (however small) not to have to switch around among apps or windows, and just turn your head and turn back.
I'll admit, not everyone has the money to "just" buy two more monitors, but when you upgrade to get a better monitor, usually, you can still use your old one.
This is how I built up to getting multiple monitors.
A long time ago, I found a really old dying monitor and fixed that up as my second screen. I used that old monitor till it was practically undead.
When that was completely unusable, I bought a new monitor and the current main monitor got delegated to being a second monitor.
It then became a cycle. The older monitor would eventually die and I'd buy a new monitor, and the current main one becomes the second monitor again.
So I basically only buy one monitor each time.
I have two monitors. But sometimes I wish I had three. I draw a lot for work so I usually have a lot of references up on my side monitor. And sometimes I have A LOT of references and documents I want open.
It's easier to turn your head to glance at the reference than to constantly tab through windows to find the right one.
I also have a small portion of the second screen dedicated to a group chat being open. Sometimes there's a video playing if I'm watching a show while drawing.
But if I need the space for documents and references, they take over the entire screen.
Just a sidenote here - I find that swivelling my head around multiple monitors or a single 42+" panel is much better ergonomically than staring at one narrow field of view. YMMV, but it's been a huge help for me in preventing eyestrain, headaches, and shoulder pain.
Depends on who you are and what you use your computer for. I do front end development, so I typically have one monitor for code, one for browser and inspector/console, and one for designs in working out of. When Iām not using the third monitor for designs itās my calendar, terminal and chat window.
Itās much faster for me slightly turn my chair and head then it is to flip through windows. Generally Iām going back and forth between adjacent monitors.
I could potentially add a 4th or 5th smaller display to my setup, but those start to run into the limit of physical real estate. This seems crazy right? These extra monitors pretty much have one thing on them (like my terminal or calendar) that I occasionally glance at.