2019 Best Work Monitors for Triple Monitor Setup

Seeking some advice for upgrading my displays... I like a 3x monitor setup, this gives me a primary display and two helper displays.

Uses:
Lots of document and code review.
Lots of RDP sessions, often nested.
Some non-pro level photo and video editing.
Lots of code review. Maximizing code display in a usable format is key here, along with usually a web browser or two with various documentation is very common.
Host OS will be Windows, so DPI support is what it is, better than just about any Linux distro, but still not perfect for super high dpi displays.

My current setup:
Center: 30" Dell U3011 2560x1600
Sides: 2x 24" Dell U2412 1920x1200

Things I like about my current setup:

• 3x 16:10 is awesome. I hate 16:9 with a passion. All textual content, code, documents, web pages, etc are formatted for vertical scrolling, why would I chop off 10% of my vertical space for no reason?
• The 30" 2560x1600 is a great display visually and imho about the perfect pixel density, 4k relies too heavily on software scaling and dpi settings and inevitable creates text for ants too often especially when using any sort of legacy software.
• I like the primary with two side displays setup, often I want more windows, not a superwide window
• All IPS displays with decent color representation fairly close across all 3 monitors, not perfect, but better than some I've seen
• Sides can be easily rotated to vertical, but I don't generally care for this, I've tried it and I'm not sure what it is, but nothing seems to fit right and it never lasts.

Things I don't like about my current setup:

• The bezels are way too big for this day and age
• The monitor size mismatch between the centers and sides is annoying
• The 30 does take up a lot of real estate, I dont know if I would be happy with 3x 30". Although I may consider it. I would think a 16:10 QXGA 27-28" would be PERFECT, but alas they don't exist.
• 1920x1200 suits nicely to the 24s, but is clearly inferior to the QXGA primary display for displaying large amounts of content
• My 30 is definitely aging, it's the 3011 model, it has weak displayport support, random hardware hiccups with half monitor not displaying correctly which requires display restart, etc

Requirements:

• Budget desired: $1500. Max budget $2500
• No 16:9 or ultrawide displays
• Prefer 3x of the same display
• No TN or otherwise garbage panels

I'm a bit open to trying something new. The newest Dell 30 QXGA (U3017) get's pretty weak reviews, is very expensive still, and generally appears underwhelming, but not sure what else to look at. What are other people running that do my kind of work? Am I being too much of a curmudgeon hating on 16:9?

Perhaps a 38”
3840x1600 display.
Yes it’s an ultrawide, but it’s a 16x10 type feel ultrawide with the 1600 pixel height.

It’s the same height as your 30” Dell, and pixel height but obviously much wider. You could put the dying Dell on the side for a secondary screen with congruency of pixel height in portrait mode and see if that’s too wide?

I’ve used all kinds of display setups and three portrait don’t work well for productivity but I like a 30” with at least one vertical monitor for those times when taking a longer screen print is needed. At my workplace IT people can have up to three monitors and nearly everyone keeps one 24” vertical for that reason. (E-mail, Skype, screenshots)

This might’ve been my favorite work set up and it was fun for gaming too.



Next I tried 3, 32 inch 1440P monitors but that was frankly too wide for productivity and I found myself only using the center monitor




Now I have a 34 inch ultra wide at 3440x1440, but I personally find text a wee bit too small. The Dell 30 inch size text was perfect to me, so since the 38 inch ultra wide is the same text ppi I think that might be the ticket. I’ll likely pick up a 38” monitor next time I swap out. I guess I thought once you go to three monitors you never wanna go back to single but if your single is a nice enough display with enough resolution you don’t really miss the other flanking monitors in my opinion.

That's the 3x U3014 on top? That's in the running.

The 38" idea is interesting, I'm trying to picture what that would look like in practice either as a single or as a simpler dual monitor solution:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-38u...c-monitor-black-white/5672800.p?skuId=5672800

tazeat said:

That's the 3x U3014 on top? That's in the running.

The 38" idea is interesting, I'm trying to picture what that would look like in practice either as a single or as a simpler dual monitor solution:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-38u...c-monitor-black-white/5672800.p?skuId=5672800

Click to expand...

The top is a PLP setup of a Dell 3014 flanked by two 1200x1600 Dell 2007fp in portrait.

There is a 38” Acer with HDR that has 75Hz native refresh. (Not just 75Hz with Freesync only limitation like most of them)

It’s listed as the HDR model.

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-XR382CQK-bmijqphuzx-UltraWide-FreeSync/dp/B075LQLJ52/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1546653066&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=37.5”+acer+monitor&dpPl=1&dpID=416ZSJxyjOL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1