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At work our monitors are being turned to widescreen, so people are starting to create documents to suit, not appreciating that not everyone has widescreen!
I am working a mixture from home and office and currently have an old square monitor at home. Work have said they will order me a widescreen monitor to bring home.
My office at home is the spare bedroom, so half of me thinks why not just by a monitor with speakers in it so when people come to stay (or I want to) we can just use it as a TV?
Is this a daft idea, and if not how cheap can you go cost wise? I'm guessing that Smart Monitor's dont really exist and I am better using my ageing Chrome cast, but then do they have USB ports + HDMI ports?
Thanks
Have a look at a Samsung Smart Monitor?
you can just use a tv if you want, and have HDMI into it.
If you are using it to work on get a proper PC monitor. If it’s HDMI you can plug all sorts of tv stuff into it as long as the HDMI is the right standard (can’t remember off hand what it needs to be but all the ones I checked were fine).
A proper monitor will have all the adjustments you need to work comfortably, physical adjustments, screen adjustments etc.
If you can fit it in go for a 27” 1440p model, 4k if you can afford it (maybe a 32” in 4k?) as you’ll fit more on a screen. The ultra wide monitors are awesome but are quite large.
Lots of monitors have speakers in so that shouldn’t be an issue.
I'm not sure what the problem is. "Widescreen" is just a marketing term, your 4:3 monitor could equally be "tallscreen."
I'm not entirely sure why "monitors" still exist any more either when you could just buy a telly. Probably marketing again.
I’m not entirely sure why “monitors” still exist any more either when you could just buy a telly. Probably marketing again.
How many tellys have displayport, 1440p, G-Sync or even an adjustable stand?
Monitors lead the way, TV's get stuffed with "smart" crap and features most folk don't need and follow. In fact, your quote would make more sense the other way round. How many folk need a TV, why not just buy a monitor?
If you can fit it in go for a 27” 1440p model, 4k if you can afford it (maybe a 32” in 4k?) as you’ll fit more on a screen. The ultra wide monitors are awesome but are quite large
Although my main monitor is a 27" 1440p I'm not sure I'd go 1440 if I wanted it for TV use as well - depending on the source that's going to be either 4k or 1080, so on a 1440 you can't view 4k and 1080 is going to be upscaled (never tried it but don't imagine it would look great)
Also monitors are very good at displaying what they're told. A TV will do silly things like cut the edges off, which is why consoles have that screen calibration step to determine how much of the screen you can actually see.
If you wanted the best of both worlds, get a reasonable monitor with multiple inputs and plug in a Firestick or something that lets you hit the streaming services. I'm actively looking at monitor and Roku Soundbase pair, as the soundbase is both a sound bar and a streaming device with all the apps on.
I've used a Samsung 40" 4K TV as my monitor for years. Works fine, put in the inputs in PC mode so it does no processing, only trivial annoyance is that you have to use the remote (or feel for the tiny buttons on the back) to turn it on and off. It won't go to sleep like a normal PC monitor does.
rtings.com reviews include testing/scoring for PC monitor use.
people are starting to create documents to suit, not appreciating that not everyone has widescreen!
bit behind the times? Not sure when the last time was I used a 4:3 monitor professionally. though maybe you work in a specialist area where 16:9 is an inconvenience.
don’t bother with a monitor with speakers in, just get a sound bar or some active speakers or attach an amp and speakers. I’m not sure about audio pass-thru on monitors from HDMI inputs like fire sticks and so on.
As was said, TVs are packed with extraneous ‘smart’ features that are not needed for accurate viewing of computer output.
Monitors don’t readily come in 55”+ sizes which makes for suboptimal HD viewing in regular-sized rooms.
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