Having second thoughts on this 27" 4K I got (Dell U2718Q)

[kwerk]

I had a really old 24" Samsung so I got this Dell for productivity, I thought I would be able to fit more on the screen and have clearer text. Problem is I run Linux Mint and at 4k the text is incredibly small and the only option for scaling is HIDPI (200%) which basically puts it back to 1080p just with sharper text! I wanted more like 125-150%. And some apps won't even scale like VirtualBox 5.2. Honestly it offers nothing over my old 24".

Tried it at 2560x1440 but everything was a bit fuzzy and it didn't look good at all.

I was planning on getting 2 of them for dual screen because they have very nice adjustable bases and 'InfinityEdge', but got 1 to try out first.

Would I be better off with a 38" curved (Dell U3818DW) at 3840x1600? I'm not too keen on the curved screen although I've never tried one in person. And they are bloody expensive obviously.

 

[kwerk]

Just had a look, it seems that Gtk based environment have very poor scaling support, with no fractional scaling.
Qt based environment have much better scaling support, KDE for example. It may be worth having a look into a different desktop environment.

It does look like Linux HiDPI scaling is an even bigger mess than Windows, though!

Like you I would have walked into this mess had I bought a 27" 4K IPS panel...which I do plan to down the like to go aside my 27" Dell TN.

Yes I couldn't find a solution for GTKother than a combination of hidpi and fiddling with font sizes and don't really have the time to muck about with it.

I just saw I can get two new U2717D monitors (look exactly the same but 2560x1440) for $590 US (expat) delivered which seems like a heck of a deal so I think I'll get those instead and return this one.