Today’s Question: You recommended a BenQ monitor [https://bhpho.to/3s9zB79] with resolution of 1920×1200 in spite of the fact that there are monitors with greater resolution. Could you comment on the tradeoffs?
Tim’s Quick Answer: I personally prefer a monitor that isn’t especially large, since I tend to sit relatively close to the display. I also prefer using a moderate resolution so that interface elements on the display are not tiny.
More Detail: There are a variety of monitor displays available now that support 4K resolution, which are approximately 4,000 pixels across. Even higher resolutions are possible as well.
While a monitor with a very high resolution can produce a beautiful display, that isn’t always conducive to working on a computer. At very high resolution, for example, interface elements including graphics and text can be quite small. Some people are comfortable with such a display, but many (including me) are not.
Because I sit relatively close to my monitor display, I prefer a 24-inch display. Keep in mind that part of the reason I’m probably more comfortable with this is that when I’m not at home I am looking at a 13-inch laptop display. A relatively small display only exacerbates the issue of interface elements being very small when displayed at a high resolution.
Of course, if you prefer a higher-resolution display, there are many great options available. I do recommend evaluating such a display in person first to get a sense of the impact of the high resolution. I also recommend that if you prefer a display with a 4K resolution you will probably want to opt for a display size of around 27 to 32 inches.
So, while I favor a display that is a little on the smaller side with a moderate resolution, such as the BenQ SW240 (https://bhpho.to/3s9zB79) I had previously recommended, that doesn’t make this an ideal fit for all photographers.
If you prefer a larger display that supports a high 4K resolution, I suggest looking at these models as potential options to consider:
27-inch BenQ PD2700U: https://bhpho.to/3viwps1
32-inch BenQ PD3200U: https://bhpho.to/3HqdYnt