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Which Monitor(s) Should I Get?

3 years ago817 words

Despite my ignorance of hardware, thanks to suggestions from people here I was able to decide on which PC to get... weeks ago. Months? I've still yet to set it up, and I'm wondering whether to replace my monitor(s) after all but don't know which one(s) to get!

How long has it been now since my new PC arrived? Weeks, at least, maybe even months. Other people would be excited and eager, they'd have it all up and running on the day it arrived... but I keep putting off setting it up because I know I'll have to transfer files and set up accounts on the new one and everything, and even though all that likely won't take that long once I've started, it's starting that's the hardest part, and... bleh. I don't remember having this issue with past PCs! I'll just blame depression or something, like with so much else. I wonder what it's like to have mental energy most of the time!!

I've at least taken it out of the box and plugged it in, but I've yet to turn it on for the first time because I still need to connect a monitor. I've been using two monitors with my current PC for a while: one's got a resolution of 2560x1080, the other's 1920x1080. I was planning to just keep these rather than buying new ones, since the PC itself cost enough!

While transferring stuff over, I was planning to have both PCs running at once, and to use my smaller, secondary monitor for the new PC until I'd finished setting up so I could keep using my 'main' one for the familiar PC. But it looks like the smaller (and older, I think) monitor's connected using ∞ what this website tells me is a DVI plug? ∞ While the only ports on this new PC are the less-outdated types. There's also a HDMI port on the back of the monitor, but I assume I'd need to get a different cable anyway...

I've been wondering for a while whether I should have got a new monitor (or two) with the new PC anyway, so I'm writing this to ask once again for any suggestions from those of you who have much more interest in and knowledge about this sort of stuff!

What resolutions are people typically using these days? I vaguely know that 4k monitors are a thing, but are they the norm, or a luxury limited to elite gamer types who spend most of their income on BUFFING UP their rainbow-lit GAMING RIG to maximise framerates for FASTER FRAGGING in high-speed battle royale FPSeses or whatever it is they care about? Do people even still use the term 'fragging'?? Did they ever??? Clearly I know so much about the world of gaming despite trying to make a living from contributing to it!!!

I find it valuable to have the space to open multiple windows at once, especially with programs like Unity where you often have to switch between a bunch of different ones. So I like having two monitors - one wider - for that. But I also feel that at least one of them should reflect the most common resolution players are likely to use so then I can get an idea of how what I'm making will run for them.

And I'm already using all my desk space with these two! (I don't know their physical size or how to check that; it's not like I have a tape measure lying around.)

I'm not overly concerned about frame rates. I'd say I don't care about things looking super sharp and fluid either, but I suspect a big part of that is just because I don't know what it's like to have something like that. My parents have a TV in the living room which is likely quite modern, and I was surprised when watching something on that recently how higher the framerate seemed compared to anything I'm used to. Maybe I'm just missing out on a lot out of ignorance; very likely!

So yes. What monitors do you use? Any that you'd suggest? I already paid over £2000 for the PC so I don't want to spend hundreds more on new monitors, but I probably also shouldn't just get the cheapest one(s) I can find either... as I almost did when trying to just decide for myself earlier but thought I should probably write this instead.

(I know I could just use the newer monitor to set up the new PC since that does have a compatible plug, but since the other one's probably quite old at this point I might as well replace at least one of them anyway... Plus I do wonder if I'm just missing out on a lot of recent hardware development most people are making use of!)