Today’s Question: You’ve mentioned that you recommend getting a high-resolution 4K display, but that you don’t set the display to maximum resolution. Why buy a high-resolution display if you’re not going to use that high resolution?
Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend opting for a display with a high resolution (such as 4K or 5K) to provide excellent display quality, but prefer to set the display at a lower resolution so that interface elements are larger and text is more legible.
More Detail: It might seem odd to purchase a high-resolution display and then not take advantage of that high resolution. However, in my view setting a high-resolution display to a resolution less than the maximum it supports provides what I consider to be the best balance.
High-resolution displays have more pixels, which translates to smaller pixels compared to a display of the same size but lower resolution. Those small pixels enable the display to present finer resolution, which translates to improved image quality.
The downside of a high-resolution display is that when used at the maximum resolution setting software interface elements can be very small, which can be problematic. This can also lead to a situation where text is too small to be able to read if the software in question doesn’t provide good scaling options.
By choosing a display that has a high resolution such as 4K (approximately 4,000 pixels across) or 5K (about 5,000 pixels across), you’ll get the advantage of finer detail and higher image quality. By setting that display to a lower resolution setting, you’ll get the benefit of interface elements and text that are at a better size.
The key benefit of this approach can best be seen by comparing two displays next to each other. For example, if one display features 1920×1080 resolution, and the other supports 4K (typically around 3840×2160 pixels), when both are set to 1920×1080 resolution the 4K display will look sharper with better image quality.
If you’re comfortable with the display size when set to the full resolution your display is capable of, that’s perfectly fine. But if like me you prefer to set the display to a lower resolution, there is still an advantage to choosing a display with a higher resolution than you’ll be setting that display to.
