Finding an ultrawide monitor that would allow you to switch painlessly between personal and work devices is surprisingly difficult. Even more so when we want to solve more than one problem at a time.
For some time now I have been trying to make my work desk look like a stall or a dying computer repair shop. The once ubiquitous mountain of PCs and random electronics now resides in boxes that I deal with when I have time (almost never).
For some time now, I have been trying to show a minimum sense of aesthetics when it comes to my desk. It’s probably old – but four monitors, a tangle of cables and a docking station that looks like it’s on three drips just look bad.
One monitor…
Therefore, I would like to have one large monitor, with KVM function and a built-in hub. Optimally, it would be possible to remove the entire laptop docking station and use Power Delivery via USB-C, used within this KVM. Replacing two monitors with one obviously means the need to use a 32:9 aspect ratio, which is an “even more ultra-wide” format than the most popular wide one, i.e. 21:9.
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However, since one(!) of my monitors, in addition to the 2560×1440 resolution, also uses a refresh rate of 144Hz, the return to the usual 60 hertz will be noticeable and painful. Therefore, in addition to the 5120×1440 resolution, the new monitor would also have to have at least 120 Hz. And the Picture-by-Picture (PBP) function, because without it, sharing the desktop (not the window) is terrible. You can’t see anything on it. Microsoft Teams is currently full of unnecessary functions, but it does not offer the option of selecting which screen sections to share.
A cable that could be solved by one decent USB-C, Photo source: © Licensor | Kamil DudekKabloza, which could be solved by one decent USB-C Source of photos: © Licensor | Kamil Dudek
Still, I want “double” resolution, instead of two almost identical monitors side by side. The desktop tapeworm effect will eliminate PBP. It would be best if it was double 4K and the USB-C cable for KVM used the Thunderbolt interface, but let’s just say that this is overkill and you can live without it. 1440p should be enough, at least for a while, and regular USB-C it will probably handle what it needs, especially without 4K.
…so you don’t have three monitors
A similarly problematic issue is the (surprisingly common) lack of support for DisplayPort daisy-chain (MST), i.e. connecting monitors together to connect their set to a computer with one cable. This would be useful because I also have… a third monitor, in a 5:4 ratio, vertically positioned and used to display A4 documents. I definitely don’t want to give it up and it would be best to connect it to the big one. But this is really dreamy. It’s better to focus on the right needs. A vertical monitor can only remain connected to a desktop computer.
If a large monitor were to play the role of a full-fledged KVM, it would need a built-in USB hub with at least four connectors to connect a keyboard, mouse, USB microphone, tablet and camera – without the need to use additional hubs. It is known that connecting a Full HD camera to an external USB 3.1 hub, connected to a KVM with a USB 3.1 hub, outputting a single USB-C cable connected to the Thunderbolt port with Power Delivery will result in a working camera only by accident.
There is no functional USB hub
Typically, the device will be unavailable, disappear during operation, transmit a flickering image, report USB 1.1 speed negotiated and the socket voltage spike or burn out. Out of shame. So a solution comes to mind in the form of a camera built into the monitor that supports Windows Hello. Yes, it’s a great idea, but it still falls into the category of whimsy. Therefore, I limit myself to a working USB hub. However, it turns out that this is just a minor whim.
If I want to get rid of the docking station, I want to get rid of the following cables: two signal cables for the monitors, two USB-A cables for their hubs, power, and Ethernet. This means that the monitor will need an RJ-45 port and its USB-C cable must work with Power Delivery (PD) mode. Powerful laptops refuse to charge when the PD has too few watts, so something that can handle at least 65W would be useful. The situation with USB-C power supply from the monitor is still quite poor, but it is slowly improving.
What is optional and what is unnecessary?
The situation regarding Ethernet sockets is changing a bit slower. Although they also appear in newer monitors with KVM, they are undoubtedly rare and filtering the offers in terms of the presence of RJ-45 can effectively “weed out” most of them. The argument “it’s a laptop, you can use Wi-Fi” is, of course, completely beside the point. When it comes to removing the docking station, there are no half-measures. There should be one cable and the same functions.
So I know what I can let go of. I can definitely handle the absence of 4K without any problems. I can live without DisplayPort MST support. I’m not at all pushing for USB-C to use Thunderbolt. Instead of a built-in camera, my old Logitech C925e will work without any problems. I don’t need speakers. I also don’t need an OLED matrix. I can survive without a built-in inductive charger for phones – although with one monitor instead of two and without a docking station, I don’t need VESA mounts and I could use an ultrapanorama with a “leg” on which I would put the phone. Well, you can’t have everything. So let’s check whether after sifting out the frills there are many options left to choose from. Oh, and it would be nice if such a monitor cost less than quadrillion zlotys.
Few offers
Many stores do not have filters at all that allow you to search the offer for such details. It is also often the case that the filter is present, but the products do not have correctly completed fields that would make them useful. Therefore, the search is tedious and requires separate checking of connectors and functions on the product card directly from the manufacturer.
The good news is that the number of such monitors is growing. They offer devices that more or less meet most of the above-mentioned requirements, among others AOC, Asus, Lenovo, LG i Samsung. The will to unify cabling is therefore not niche… unless we really want to meet all expectations (including Ethernet). Then a few products are eliminated, and the remaining ones often have them quite bad reviews. About the interrupting hub, about disappearing connections, about ineffective Power Delivery, about “unusable KVM”, about generally low quality.
However, these bad opinions concern an incredibly complex technological stack, passed through one cable. In the age of buggy drivers and laptops that can’t sleep, such problems with super-integrated solutions are quite expected. Because they are probably not universal – some people have them, some people don’t. On the same hardware.
Therefore, you must approach negative opinions with caution, as the monitor may receive undeserved criticism. This is reminiscent of eight years ago when Thunderbolt docking stations were becoming popular. Initially, they presented a multitude of problems, completely consistent with those described in the monitor reviews. It was not uncommon for updates to docks (and Thunderbolt controllers) to come out every week. Today it is much better. It is possible that this will soon happen with monitors as well.
The popularity of remote work will eventually make the temporary storage of equipment on desks annoying, which will translate into an increase in the number of users of extremely multi-functional monitors. Their quality will certainly increase, but the current state, although perceived completely subjectively, discourages me a bit. Especially in the context of the price, which oscillates around “five and a half thousand with a slight increase”. And when you count the whims that were rejected at the beginning, we come to eight. This is definitely more than the price of two average (but decent) regular monitors. That’s why I’m not going to buy a monitor that organizes my desk.
Kamil J. Dudek, editorial collaborator of dobreprogramy.pl
2024-02-04 11:22:00
#good #monitor #OPINIA
