Dual screens or Ultrawide?

dymetrie

dymetrie

dymetrie

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Hello monitor experts of OCUK!

I've recently resurrected my desktop PC (including some juicy upgrades and a move to Win11), and next on the list is my monitor set up.

The desktop was brought back to life as I wanted to streamline my desk space and switch from a laptop+monitor for working and a second monitor for not working whilst working :p

So I've ditched the work laptop and am now working and not working on a mismatched dual screen (21.5" Samsung & 24" Philips) set up plugged into my desktop.

I have, however got my eye on a couple of ultrawide screens and quite fancy switching out my dual screens for one of those. They're both 34" 3440x1440, one flat and one curved.

I know that an ultrawide has slightly more screen real estate, and will place the screen directly in front of me, rather than the split between the dual screens being in the middle, but will there be any obvious drawbacks (other than completely blowing my colleagues mind if I accidentally share the whole screen rather than a window in a Teams call :D)?

I don't really game much, but I like to now and then, and have an RX550 to drive the display. Mostly the setup is used for work (Outlook, Edge, Teams) and not work (Edge, TV/films).

So the question is, which is the better choice, dual 1080p or single ultrawide? And if ultrawide then flat or curved?
 
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Personal taste but for desktop use I prefer a curve for anything 27" and above. I had 2x 27" 1440p monitors, 1 curved and one flat and was always changing the angle of the flat monitor depending on if what I was focusing on was to the left or right of the screen.

Full screen gaming or video didn't matter much because I was mostly looking at the centre.

Now I have 2x 34" curved ultrawides, very happy.
 
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When I used multiple monitors it had to be triple screen. Get the ultrawide and install FancyZone, part of PowerToys, and create a custom layout which suits your work flow. This is mine.

GdSSrqm.jpg


For Teams resize the window before you share. What a lot of participants don't realise is you can zoom in to the shared content, like you would on a web browser, hold CTRL and +/= or scroll the mouse well.
 
Slam said:
Personal taste but for desktop use I prefer a curve for anything 27" and above. I had 2x 27" 1440p monitors, 1 curved and one flat and was always changing the angle of the monitor depend on if what I was focusing on was to the left or right of the screen.

Full screen gaming or video didn't matter much because I was mostly looking at the centre.

Now I have 2x 34" curved ultrawides, very happy.
Click to expand...

My old setup was dual curved 24" monitors (now stolen by my wife) which were lovely! Not sure I can fit two 34" on the desk I have, though :(

But good call on reasoning for curved :D

Mujja said:
When I used multiple monitors it had to be triple screen. Get the ultrawide and install FancyZone, part of PowerToys, and create a custom layout which suits your work flow. This is mine.

GdSSrqm.jpg


For Teams resize the window before you share. What a lot of participants don't realise is you can zoom in to the shared content, like you would on a web browser, hold CTRL and +/= or scroll the mouse well.
Click to expand...

I did some reading up on FancyZones last night (while explaining snap layouts to a Mac user :rolleyes:) and think I can make some good use of that on an ultrawide!
 
I prefer ultrawide, and at that size I like the curve. I used to use a 27" 4k and a portrait 1080x2560 and it was okay but I missed the ultrawide.

I replaced that setup with a 34" 3440x1440 as my main screen and never looked back. Got the 4k in portrait now. I borrowed a neighbours LG UltraGear to see if I liked the curve... I've ended up just keeping it :cry: the curve feels almost necessary now.
 
I have a 34" Ultrawide and it works well for me. May go to a 38" OLED when they're available, but apart from that, I'm pretty content.

I have dual 24" monitors at work and it's just not as flexible. Would be horrible for games as well - either just use one screen, or split over the two, with bezels right in the center?! Ugh, no thank you!

If I was to use multiple monitors, I'd still want one big center display, with secondary monitors off to the side.
 
I was using a laptop + 24" UHD (4K) monitor at work. When I replaced my aging Acer 34" Predator on my gaming system I thought I'd try that at work instead. I much prefer the 34" wide screen only which has Outlook + Teams side by side most of the time.
 
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I like having one of my dual screens to be an actual TV, with a tuner and TV hdmi input, as well as a PC monitor, so I can switch it to F1 or something to watch while on the PC if I don't need two PC screens at that time. So for me I doubt I'll ever go from a two screen setup to one ultrawide as I would lose that convenience.
 
I’m going from triple 1080 to curved super ultra wide 1440 x 5120 as soon as I sort my desk out.

Ive been using 3 flat screens or a good decade or so. I think they’ve finally started to give me eye strain.
 
Bubo said:
I like having one of my dual screens to be an actual TV, with a tuner and TV hdmi input, as well as a PC monitor, so I can switch it to F1 or something to watch while on the PC if I don't need two PC screens at that time. So for me I doubt I'll ever go from a two screen setup to one ultrawide as I would lose that convenience.
Click to expand...

the samsung g9 super ultra wide (same as 2 27” 1440s) do two inputs and splits the screen.
 
Bubo said:
I like having one of my dual screens to be an actual TV, with a tuner and TV hdmi input, as well as a PC monitor, so I can switch it to F1 or something to watch while on the PC if I don't need two PC screens at that time. So for me I doubt I'll ever go from a two screen setup to one ultrawide as I would lose that convenience.
Click to expand...

I have a 26" TV next to my 34" ultrawide. I don't consider it (the 26) a monitor - it's a TV and that's all I use it for - so I didn't mention it, but technically I have two screens as well. That's not an argument against having an ultrawide, though it does start to become a question of how much desk space you have!
 
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34" inch UW for my desktop via DP then for work the laptop is a 2nd screen and connects via HDMI.

I have to make sure I share the right screen for colleagues as the aspect ratio on the UW is strange when people viewing are using a 16:9 screen.
 
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