A simple 4K question - monitor size and text size

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JargonGR

Limp Gawd
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Dec 16, 2006
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Well trying to buy me a 4K monitor these days seems like a huge trouble.

I was ready to buy the new 43" Philips but it seems that it has issues so I am seriously considering the new Asus ProArt PA329Q that has just become available.

My main worry is how small is the text is going to be in Windows and other programs such as Office, Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Ilustrator, Bridge) Autocad and 3D Studio Max. I am also on web authoring using Wordpress. I also read a lot of documents and web sites.

For owners of 32" 4K screens do you NEED to use scaling for a comfortable experience or is the text size readable without it. I am coming from a 30" 2560 X 1600 monitor and I did not have to use any scaling at all till today.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
I made the switch from 30" monitors to 48" Samsung JU6700/JS9000 4k displays. The standard text size is roughly the same for this move. I have tried a 40" Samsung JU6700 4k TV (my wife is using a pair of these) and we had to increase the font scaling in order to comfortably read on it as the PPI (pixel pitch) is higher on the 40" 4k vs the 30" 2560x1600. I have not tried a 32" 4k display, but as a comparison to what you are currently using - if you want the text to be near the size it is you will have to use font scaling. You would be going from 4M to 8M pixels with just a slight increase in physical display space.

If you have good eye sight and smaller text isn't an issue, take a look at some of the 4k 40-48" TVs. There are some drawbacks (as with everything) but they are gorgeous and have multiple functions. I watch Netflix with 4k content directly through the included Netflix smart app for the TV. The biggest challenge is that most 4k TVs that are good for using with a PC will do so only via HDMI 2.0 (I hesitate to say all, but I have not hear of any that have DP). This means Nvidia 950 or higher video card. Do some more looking here on the forums - search for Samsung JU6500/6700/etc and you will find a lot of info!

Good luck.

-DC
 
The thing is that I need a monitor and not a TV. I have 3 TVs and a 130" high 2.39:1 Stewart Filmscreen with anamorphic lenses for movies in a dedicated Home Cinema room and this will get its upgrade to a 4K projector in the future too.

I want the monitor strictly for work so color accuracy (100% sRGB) and minimal eyestrain is what I am after for 8+ hours of work when needed. That is why I am considering the Asus but text size is a major issue now for me. I was hoping that the Philips + an Ergotron Arm would be nice but first user reviews are mixed.

What you say is unfortunately true but getting confirmation from users is always better. I am 40 years old and although I don't wear glasses my eyesight is not what it used to be when reading small text at close distances (farsightedness). Now an 60-70cm distance is not exactly close so I don't expect to be a problem but still a 100% reduction in size from what I am used is too much. So my guess is that if I get a 32" I will have to move to Windows 10 and use scaling. This is also planned along with a new PC that I am building within the next 6 months.

So how is scaling at 125% in Windows 10?
 
I use scaling 125% on my 48" 4k TV because I prefer minimalism. Everything is tiny and I need to zoom in if I'm going to read anything on the net. If you're that careful about eyestrain I doubt that you'll have a good time trying to read text on a 30" 4k monitor with only 125% scaling.

I'm probably going to come out as dumb, but I know absolutely nothing about color accuracy. Is that 100% a must? Samsung JS9000 has a 97.1% sRGB accuracy. Now is that close or too far from 100% color accuracy is something I have no clue about. But, it's 48" and the bigger the screen = more work space.
 
Hmm I wonder how people work on those 32" Professional monitors with text if it is indeed that small.

Nevertheless, yes sRGB accuracy is important when sending designs for printing and hardware calibration options too. Besides sRGB there is Adobe RGB which is a higher color gamut supported but the more expensive professional monitors but I really don't mind this. Adobe RGB requires a seriously controlled workflow and is only really important for photographers that focus on certain themes with intense greens and reds. Not an issue for me.

With that said 100% sRGB accuracy would be nice but 97.1 is not bad. The bad thing is that 48" is really big for desk use to be honest. A 40" screen would be ideal but there is no such option out there. On the flip side, a 48" Samsung will continue to be useful as a TV even after I stop using it as a monitor and could serve as a stopgap solution until some good DP 1.3 monitors come out. But using a TV also means that I need to upgrade my Asus GTX780 and can't do everything at once. (I do not game at all).

The more I read the more confused I get. LOL


*EDIT*

Another issue with Samsung TVs is that series 8 & 9 they are curved! I do not think this would work very well for design work and Autocad floorplans that I am working with.
 
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You need to look at pixel density. A tool like this one will calculate it for you: DPI Calculator / PPI Calculator
If you aren't scaling the text, then text size scales with pixel density.
Unfortunately most displays have moved from 96-100 PPI to 110 PPI or higher as standard now.
30" 2560x1600 is ~100 PPI.
A 43" 3840x2160 display is ~100 PPI so text should be approximately the same size as your previous display - though you would probably be sitting farther from it, so text may appear to be a bit smaller. 48" may work out to be better even though it's lower density.
A 32" 3840x2160 display is ~140 PPI so text will be about 40% smaller than your current display. These monitors are designed to be used with scaling.

The problem with the 27/32" UHD monitors is that non-integer scaling has a lot of problems.
With 2x scaling, text then becomes too large on these displays, and your workspace shrinks to only 1920x1080.
And even 2x scaling is not free of problems, it's just a lot better than non-integer scaling.
For scaling to work well on this size of monitor we really need 7680x4320 displays so that we can use 3x scaling for a 2560x1440 workspace.
You'll still have to deal with scaling issues in old applications, but text and images will look considerably better and you'll still have a decent workspace.

JargonGR said:
Hmm I wonder how people work on those 32" Professional monitors with text if it is indeed that small.
Click to expand...
They either use scaling, use Macs where the number of legacy applications is significantly lower, or only use that monitor for their image/video work.
 
I don't really use any legacy applications so that is one thing I can cross out. All Office, Adobe and Autodesk apps I use are latest versions and I will switch to Windows 10 if needed since its free. I am also slowly building a new PC on the side since the one I am using can not be stopped not even for a single day.

Now I wish there was a good 43" 4K monitor out without any issues so I could order one and be done with it but the Philips 43" has QC issues and the Dell lacks HDMI 2.0 and I can not find information about sRGB color coverage.

I will wait a 1-2 more weeks to see how the Philips and the Dell turn out but other than those I don't see many other options besides using scaling and the new Asus PA329Q. 40% Smaller text is quite a lot but could live with 125% scaling. After all when reading documents and or web sites I can always zoom in.

Hopefully, in about a year there will be more 40-43" 4K monitors out that and some without problems.

I will also attempt to fix my HP 30" to use as a secondary display on my second PC.
 
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