Ultravide monitors overrated, why I use a 4K TV instead

Optimizing for maximum productivity was my number one goal when I decided to redesign my home office earlier this year. Like any self-respecting technician, it was clear that a large-screen monitor was going to be the focal point of my desk setup. My requirements were straightforward: lots of screen real estate to work with, decent color precision and aesthetics. And so began the long journey of researching some of the best ultraviolet monitors in the vicinity, as every internet guru says this is the way to go.

As the title implies, I’ve made a tough pivot towards a 4K television instead. The reason is here.

Different strokes for different folks

Right off the bat, it’s important to understand how you use your computer. While gamers may ask for an ultra-fast refresh rate, some movie enthusiasts may require a 21: 9 aspect ratio for some monitor capabilities. But what I wanted was a huge canvas for multitasking.

Reading Price: Refresh Rate Explained – 60Hz, 90Hz, or 120Hz?

I’m not a PC gamer. My use case centers entirely around content, research, and writing. On any given day, I would have more than 40 tabs open, Spotify and Slack in the background, and I would probably do a few terminal tabs for any tinkering.

An ultraviolet monitor is suitable for most tasks but it is not the ideal solution. Of course, the ultraviolet shape ratio lets you open things up, well, wide, but most websites aren’t designed with a wide horizontal view in mind.

On the other hand, a large screen 4K monitor gives you the same level of horizontal viewing space but also significantly more vertical viewing space. This is about the amount of having an extra ultraviolet monitor on top. That extra vertical viewing area really made me excited about the possibility of using 4K TV as a monitor.

My favorite monitor

My favorite “monitor” is a 43-inch Samsung Frame TV that I picked up in India for around $ 700. Clean aesthetics and zero-gap wall mounts were at the top of my list of helpful factors in my decision. You see, I didn’t want to clutter up my desk with multiple monitors. In fact, I wanted to leave a monitor arm to maximize my desk space.

Mounted on the wall, the Samsung Frame TV pulls out just an inch and does not penetrate my limited desk space. When I’m reading a book in my back lounge chair, or flipping through some records, I set it to the built-in art mode to sort through the artwork. This helps reduce the aesthetics of the work desk and makes the room feel a bit more comfortable. If aesthetics are not the main consideration for you, then you can definitely get the same quality panel at a lower price.

While the Samsung Frame TV certainly doesn’t have the best-looking panels in Samsung’s portfolio, let alone the wide lineup of monitors and televisions on the market, once the color is calibrated, it looks good enough to me and is good enough for my photo editing. Demand. It also lacks high-end features like 120Hz or higher refresh rates, but again, this wasn’t a major consideration for me.

My daily use, as I already mentioned, involves dozens of tabs and windows. The default window management in macOS, however, is Borderline useless. I use an app called BetterSnapTool To control how apps behave in different areas of my monitor.

My daily configuration varies between five to six window openings simultaneously. With six window opening grids, I’ve got six 17-inch monitors on display effectively. Now, in today’s day and age it may sound too small, but it works perfectly well for looking at reference information, Spotify playlists or office chats.

While reading long articles, I switch to an alternative configuration where the window expands to the full height of the 43-inch display and effectively gives me the equivalent of a side-mounted 24-inch monitor.

As a fully virtual space, you can, of course, mix and match screen sizes with the content of your heart until you find the most suitable setting for your use. In fact, after a few months of use, I discovered that a large monitor like this is best used if you are looking for a multitasking nirvana. Most apps or websites do not scale well on such a large scale.

Also read: I bought an ultraviolet monitor for productivity and what I learned here

My colleague Bogdan recently wrote about his journey with an ultraviolet monitor. I echo his statement that an ultraviolet monitor can only be understood if you have a very specific use case. If you do not work with tools that can expand the width of the monitor, all those horizontal spaces are often lost. Using a 4K television instead will allow you to double the height as well as effectively double your workspace.

There are many other benefits to using a television as a monitor. Price, for one, was a big consideration. Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either. The price of 4K television has never been lower and it is possible to get a very beautiful television for only a few hundred dollars. In most cases, you will have to spend significantly more on a high-quality 4K ultraviolet monitor.

Some ideas: The best 65-inch TV you can buy

In addition, when I want some downtime and watch some YouTube videos or documentaries, the television comfortably doubles as a television.

Plus, I’ve seen myself use built-in perfect things like airplay support to beam my iPad screen to the TV or smart assistant support to control room lights.

The difficulty of television

Comes with the downsides of using a TV as a monitor. The primary of these is the lack of support for modern conveniences such as USB-C. The simplicity of using a single cable for video output and charging cannot be overstated, and my setup means I’m still stuck in Dongle Hell. My older OWC dock doesn’t support 60Hz above 4K, so my only option is to use two cables or invest in one expensive dock.

Built-in webcams are also out of the picture. I’ve never been too big on video calls but the epidemic has made them even more important. I find myself in several briefings or work calls and turning on the webcam helps a lot to capture the visual cues. Television, presumably, does not come with a built-in webcam. Additionally, when using a large display like this, you need to be somewhat creative with the location of an external webcam. I discovered that mounting the camera on top of the display mostly focuses on the top of my head and I’ve kept the camera on top of my studio monitor ever since.

Is it worth using a 4K television as a monitor?

I’ve spent the last few months with the Samsung Frame TV on my MacBook and I can’t say I regretted my purchase. Extensive screen real estate was a dream to capture live streams while chatting with colleagues. Moreover, the ability to comfortably snap six or more windows has been a game changer for my personal use.

I was initially skeptical of having a small two-foot viewing distance between myself and the display, but it didn’t really matter. Still, I don’t think it’s a good match for everyone. The lack of high-end features like 120Hz refresh rate or ultraviolet aspect ratio makes it a non-starter for gamers. Users with less intensive workflow may find it somewhat irresistible to work around the scaling issues of such a large display.

For me, however, I can’t see myself going back to a smaller or ultraviolet display. The sheer flexibility of being able to sort windows exactly for more data density or additional context makes it an obvious choice.

Are you using a 4K television as a monitor? How was your experience? Let us know in the comments section.