Monitor type

Hello,

I’m planning on buying a 27" monitor. Until now I was working on my laptop.

Which type is best for dorico? VA panel or IPS?
Are there other qualities I should consider?

greetings,

Stefaan from Belgium.

I don’t think a particular panel type is likely to be meaningfully better for Dorico. All of the different LCD panel types (VA, TN, IPS) provide sufficient contrast and brightness. Personally I have an Asus VG289 IPS panel, and it works brilliantly not only for Dorico but for everything else I throw at it.

resolution is more important than panel type… For 27 I’d say a 1440p / QHD / QuadHD / WQHD resolution (1440 x 2560) is ideal. You get more real estate on a 4K but you tend to spend more time zooming in and out. :slight_smile:

Is a 28" monitor better in any way than two 21" monitors?

David

Both have advantages and disadvantages, depending on your needs and uses.

Having two displays is useful for managing different windows more effectively; and a single larger display is useful for displaying a single larger window. :grin:

I’d like to display 2 entire pages(A4) plus the side panels.
Could a 27" hqd do this?
On my wife’s 24" I can see 1,5 pages and the side panels.
Still hesitate between a 27" and a ultrawide 34"

greetings from Belgium,

Stefaan

I have a 27 inch 2K display (2560 x 1440), and with the screen zoomed to 150%, I can see 2 A4 pages at Actual size – e.g. if I put a sheet of A4 on the screen, it fits. Plus the side panels (The Properties panel cuts into the page.)

Of course a 27-inch display at 4K (3840 x 2160) would also display 2 A4 pages at Actual size, but the image would be sharper and clearer, using more pixels. (The zoom factor would be 225%, for the same size!)

A 34-inch display would have a vertical height of 423mm, compared to 336mm for the 27 inch, so you could display the A4 spread slightly larger than real size. (1.3x) But if it’s only 2K, then your pixel density is 86 pixels per inch, so the image would not be very sharp and clear.

In short: I would go for 2K at 27 inches. If you wanted a physically bigger display, I would suggest 4K.

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Thank you Ben for your top answer. This clarifies a lot for me.

Greetings and I hope you have the same sunny weather as in Belgium.

Stefaan

A few years ago I got a 40" 4k, and I can’t imagine every using anythings else. It was life changing.

I have a number of different displays:

  1. primary laptop screen of 17" at 4K
  2. additional screen of 32", HD (1920 x 1080)
  3. additional screen of 32", 4K
  4. additional screen of 70" (? not entirely sure), 4K - mounted on wall, for video

I have a very powerful laptop which supports 3 external displays of 4K each. If you are looking for an external display for your laptop, the first thing to check is what resolution the graphic card in your computer supports. If that is only HD, then you would be wasting your money on a 2K or 4K screen.

I compared the way Dorico displays on my 32" HD screen versus my 32" 4K screen. The 4K display is much sharper (well doh) but actually the HD (1920x1080) screen isn’t all that bad either. Having a large screen in and of itself is a big boost.

And by the way, the reason I still have an HD display is that some plugin GUIs do not work well on 4K monitor as they do not scale, meaning you are looking at a razor sharp but tiny tiny window.

Now I know why you are such an expert, @Peter_Roos: you are surrounded by monitors and cannot escape the computer room. :rofl:

(Lucky for us.)

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I don’t know if I am an expert.

If anything, I am certainly not an expert at Dorico.

But I am happy to share my gear acquisition syndrome experiences with the world.

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