Reading Text on 4K

All day reading text on 4K. I found that 48" - 50" to be a sweet spot for text on 4K. When I had a 40" 4K, I'd get a lot of eyestrain from squinting so much.

EDIT: Should have made clear that I use no scaling on my 49" 4K.
 
Last edited:
Comedy answer: "No, nobody has ever read text at 4K. Ever."

Real answer: Sure. Up to about 40" or so I'd use some sort of display scaling. I'm posting on a 5K display right now.
 
If you bother to read reviews of 32" 4ks and 25" 1440p you will notice that 4k text is readable ~37". the main issue with 40" 4k is not text size, which is very close to 27" 1440p, but actually how far from screen you sit on a 40" screen. a PPI that is readable on a smartphone will not be readable on a larger display. ~110PPI is about as small as i would go for displays bigger than 34"
 
I do.

I actually have been reading text, unscaled, on a 32" 4k monitor. I have no idea why I started doing this, but I think it's down to the sheer laziness and the fact that DPI scaling isn't flawless.
 
I don't like anything bigger than 32" 4K for use as a monitor because it defeats the whole purpose of having a 4K monitor, that is to not be able to see the pixels. Big 40"+ screens are excellent for a TV that you sit farther from but not as a monitor. The PPI on a 40" 4K is only 110 PPI, 27" is 163 PPI and 32" is 137 PPI . You need at least 130 PPI to not be able to see the pixels at normal viewing distance. Once you've used a Retina screen or get used to smartphones/tablets, It's so hard to use anything with a PPI lower than 130 IMO. Yes everything is small on high density displays, but that is what OS scaling and text zoom is for, use it!. Check out a program called No Squint Plus. I run 150% scaling on Windows and 115% text zoom on my HP Spectre 32" 4K and it looks very good. Only reason I have a 32" is because It's the only glossy 4K available, I would rather have 27" or 28" so it looks like I'm reading paper instead of a screen. Still much better than my 27" 1440p (109 ppi) and worlds better than my old 27" 1080p (81 ppi). I sit pretty close (2 ft for reading & gaming and 3ft for watching movies)

My brother uses a 32" 720P Vizio TV as a monitor, I don't know how he stands to use it after using my 32" 4K, only 50 ppi and it looks really bad and straining to the eyes. Not to mention desktop real estate.
 
Last edited:
27" 4k, no scaling.

I use my 15" macbook pro at it's native resolution of 2880x1800 without scaling as well.
 
MagnaMagicBtu said:
I don't like anything bigger than 32" 4K for use as a monitor because it defeats the whole purpose of having a 4K monitor, that is to not be able to see the pixels. Big 40"+ screens are excellent for a TV that you sit farther from but not as a monitor. The PPI on a 40" 4K is only 110 PPI, 27" is 163 PPI and 32" is 137 PPI . You need at least 130 PPI to not be able to see the pixels at normal viewing distance. Once you've used a Retina screen or get used to smartphones/tablets, It's so hard to use anything with a PPI lower than 130 IMO. Yes everything is small on high density displays, but that is what OS scaling and text zoom is for, use it!. Check out a program called No Squint Plus. I run 150% scaling on Windows and 115% text zoom on my HP Spectre 32" 4K and it looks very good. Only reason I have a 32" is because It's the only glossy 4K available, I would rather have 27" or 28" so it looks like I'm reading paper instead of a screen. Still much better than my 27" 1440p (109 ppi) and worlds better than my old 27" 1080p (81 ppi). I sit pretty close (2 ft for reading & gaming and 3ft for watching movies)

My brother uses a 32" 720P Vizio TV as a monitor, I don't know how he stands to use it after using my 32" 4K, only 50 ppi and it looks really bad and straining to the eyes. Not to mention desktop real estate.
Click to expand...
I can't stand scaling, it defeats the whole purpose of having a 4k monitor, that is to have as much screen real estate with as few bezels as possible. I've got a 28" 4k screen but had to use windows display scaling to the point that I wasn't really gaining any more usable space over my 28" 1440p. Moving to a 40" 4k screen made all the difference, no scaling required for readable text.
 
capt_cope said:
I can't stand scaling, it defeats the whole purpose of having a 4k monitor, that is to have as much screen real estate with as few bezels as possible.
Click to expand...

That may be the case for you, but I want text to look nicer and be easier to read and scaling does t he job nicely.
 
capt_cope said:
I can't stand scaling, it defeats the whole purpose of having a 4k monitor, that is to have as much screen real estate with as few bezels as possible. I've got a 28" 4k screen but had to use windows display scaling to the point that I wasn't really gaining any more usable space over my 28" 1440p. Moving to a 40" 4k screen made all the difference, no scaling required for readable text.
Click to expand...

The amount of screen estate on a 27" 1440p is plenty, more than enough for my needs. Considering how I used 720p laptops and a 1080p monitor in the past 1440p is already a huge jump in screen space. I've been able to notice the pixels on almost every monitor and It's starting to bother me because you don't notice the dots when reading smartphones and I want my monitor to look like that. 5K would be even closer to smartphone PPI but 5K is too demanding. I think anything higher than 1080p on a phone is overkill IMO as It's already 400 ppi (The density of printed paper), anything higher is a waste of resources.
 
Went out to BestBuy and bought a 27" LG 27UD69P to try this out. I like to keep my head about 24" from the screen. I will be returning this monitor. The text at 100% scaling is just a bit too small. I know I can bump up the scaling a bit...125% actually looks pretty damn good to me...but as I said, this was a test.

I will say that at 100% all text is clear and legible and would be fine for limited use...but if you are going to stare at the screen for hours on end...that is a different story. I measured the height of the UPPER CASE text on a desktop icon, and at 100% scaling on a 27" screen...the text was 2mm tall.

Sitting 18" away helps a good deal, but I need something that bridges comfort and performance, and for me - 27" is a bit too small. Going to try a 31" and hope for the best. I had previously tried a 40" Philips...that went back due to high price and bad image retention and color issues.
 
urapnes said:
Went out to BestBuy and bought a 27" LG 27UD69P to try this out. I like to keep my head about 24" from the screen. I will be returning this monitor. The text at 100% scaling is just a bit too small. I know I can bump up the scaling a bit...125% actually looks pretty damn good to me...but as I said, this was a test.

I will say that at 100% all text is clear and legible and would be fine for limited use...but if you are going to stare at the screen for hours on end...that is a different story. I measured the height of the UPPER CASE text on a desktop icon, and at 100% scaling on a 27" screen...the text was 2mm tall.

Sitting 18" away helps a good deal, but I need something that bridges comfort and performance, and for me - 27" is a bit too small. Going to try a 31" and hope for the best. I had previously tried a 40" Philips...that went back due to high price and bad image retention and color issues.
Click to expand...
Don't judge all 40" 4k TVs based on that Philips. I tried one right before I snagged this samsung KU7500, and the philips was complete crap in comparison.
 
What do you do that you need the desktop space of 4K resolution at 100% scaling? Why not just buy a second monitor if you need that much? To me 4K benefit on the desktop is in text rendering and that means using scaling.
 
If I didn't scale text on a 4K I would be all squinty eyed when I went in for work.
Then again I never owned a 4K monitor have no intention to since 1440P from 4K isn't much a difference while using smaller monitors 24-27"
 
Comixbooks said:
If I didn't scale text on a 4K I would be all squinty eyed when I went in for work.
Then again I never owned a 4K monitor have no intention to since 1440P from 4K isn't much a difference while using smaller monitors 24-27"
Click to expand...
It's actually a pretty noticeable difference at 27 inches.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top