Hi all.

I am looking for a 2nd monitor, being used as a horizontal monitor.
27 inch.
WQHD (2560 x 1440).
Not for gaming.

Ideally, it should come with a stand that allows me to pivot or rotate it 90 degrees because I don't want to get a separate VESA stand or arm.

Is it possible to get it at around RM1,000?

I saw some Dell monitors that meet this requirement but it is around RM1,300, which I think is pricey for such specifications because if I top it up another RM200-300, I could get a 4k monitor.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Agree. I like your advice.
I understand that you don't go for value monitors. So I guess you also consider HDR, brightness, number of ports, ports version etc?
For my case, i am looking for a budget monitor of that specs. Since there are many factors, I had to prioritize certain specs (the ones I listed) as my basic requirements and also for comparison, if there are extra bells and whistles.

Hi.

I am not using the latest GPU card but based on my research, it could run 2 units of QuadHD (2560 X 1440) monitors and possibly one more widescreen monitor.

I am planning to use them purely for productivity and office apps only. No gaming at all (maybe light games or old games, but gaming usage is not important here).

I do not have the QuadHD monitors yet but plan to buy them.

Should I future-proof my new monitors for new few years by buying 2 units of 4K monitors, instead of QuadHD ones?

To minimize the load on my GPU, I will downscale the 4K monitors to QuadHD resolution, until I upgrade my GPU in the future.
I read that downscaling from 4K to 1080 is a better ratio at 4:1, while downscaling from 4K to 1440p is almost 2.5:1.

If I downscale it this way, will it cause more work to the GPU and also make the picture quality more blocky/unsharp?

Or just get the QuadHD ones to run at their native resolution?

Aiming for 27 inches.

Ya, laptop.
I think can run both but I am saving the juice for a 3rd monitor, which is an existing ultrawide.

Thanks for your feedback.
For the sake of completion, on top of my previous reply, I need to give one more input.

I do agree that it is better to check the new 2 monitors side-by-side at a physical shop selling them. Hope the colour issues happen rarely? At the moment, I am trying to save by buying online. I guess I have to risk it a bit, haha.




Thanks for the insights.

In short, you are saying that it is best to use native resolutions and to hold on to the 4k monitors for now?
And to get the 4k ones once I have upgraded my GPU?
I don't have immediate plans to upgrade the GPU yet.

With the above said, I was thinking that 4k monitors are much cheaper now and are slightly more expensive than 1440p monitors of the same size for a similar config (27 inches).
So my initial thought was to future-proof it, just in case I am getting a new PC/laptop end of the year (with RTX 30 series) or early next year, making me ready by having my 'new' 4k monitors. Otherwise, my 'new' 1440p may become obsolete?

The choice of whether to upgrade to the soon-to-be-released RTX 40 series as my GPU, will be another story.

Your feedback about the current 4k monitors being not 'matured' yet and not of value yet, is indeed good feedback. I am considering these seriously.



Yes, fully agree. The GPU of a laptop cannot be upgraded. Not for typical end-users unless one is a hardcore person or professional that tinkers with the soldering and has access to mobile components to break the supported factory configuration... a super-risky thing that shouldn't be done. Better to upgrade those on a desktop one instead.

Another way is to use a eGPU, right? But that's more expensive and the return of investment may not be worth it because of the limited bandwidth of the connection (maybe TB4 or TB5 connectivity may address it) and the expensive eGPU case.

When I mentioned upgrading my GPU, I meant to say either I buy a new lappy or a desktop.

The laptop in discussion is a 2018 version with GTX 1060 6GB that comes with a mini dual-mode DP, an HDMI 2.0 port, and a USB Type-C Thunderbolt that provides DP output. I hope that means it can connect to 3 external monitors via 1 HDMI port and 2 DPs? Both the DPs are of version 1.2.

I am going for a minimum of 60Hz for all my external monitors.

To clarify, I have an existing 34-inch 3440X1440 UW as the main external monitor. I am thinking of getting 2 units of 27-inch 1440p as 2nd and 3rd external monitors (portrait) for productivity reasons (or is this overkill?). Then it dawned on me that, maybe I should get 4k monitors instead of 1440p monitors for future-proofing. Hence, the question came about.

The current UW has a PPI of around 108. The corresponding 1440p monitors have similar PPI, at around 108. I prefer such parity.
If I am going to get 4k monitors instead, then I have to downscale it to maintain that parity. Hence that question also.

This post has been edited by toffy: Jul 3 2022, 09:42 PM

Thanks so much for sharing this.

Have you received your S2721DS? I read that the stand is wobbly.
Other than that, any feedback on your usage of it?

Sounds good! Thanks!
From what I read, it seems to be certified at DP 1.2 but ready for 1.3 and 1.4. Not exactly sure what this means.



Thanks for elaborating on this.
Mine is a laptop, so it is a mobile GPU. Since it is GTX 1060, then it is all the 'same' in terms of supporting DP up to version 1.4? Or the mobile GPU is different from the desktop version?
Only one of the 2 will work... do you mean it is either DP or TB that will work at a time? I guess there is no reason to configure and split the TB signal to support 2 or more monitors via an expensive dock, unless I don't have enough ports to support 3 monitors in total.

Wow! You must have a powerful iGPU. I thought only dGPU can do that.



I agree with the consistency suggestion.
If I am going to get a 4k, I can downscale it to 1440p to make it almost consistent but that carries the non-native concerns you mentioned earlier such as sharpness, non-value 4k monitors etc

Can 1440p be still mainstream for the next 4 years ah? Me curious.

This post has been edited by toffy: Jul 5 2022, 10:22 PM

Lol.
Most folks don't type aggressively unless they are angry, are testing the wobble or one of the keys is stuck stubbornly.
Hope it won't wobble at all during a 'normal' situation?

Ya, 27 inch seems like a sweet spot for now.

Do you mean you had stuff under your monitor before you rotated it to portrait mode?

The display issue is a bummer. Do you need to adjust it every time you switch it on?

Other than the above, I assume it is a budget monitor that is worth its price, given minimum bells and whistles?

Oh ok. Got it.
Just have to live with the issues then. Minor ones.
Which SE model? SE2723DS?

1.
Thanks. I am going try this!

2.
Is MST hub worth it? Is there any difference in terms of bandwidth of throughput, using 2 DP ports (parallel?) for 1 display each, vs 1 DP port that split into 2 display (serial?) via the MST hub?

3.
May I know what the '2D' in 2D display-out means? 2 dimensions or something else?

4.
Why do they want to limit it to 4?

Any major difference between this model and S2721DS? Or just the pivot capability and different base stand?

Oh ok.

The speakers are not that good I heard.

I guess if we want the pivot function, we have to choose the more expensive of the two, like what you did.
Otherwise, we will have to buy a new monitor arm or reuse an existing monitor arm, to have portrait mode for the cheaper version of the monitor.
I don't want to damage my table, so I prefer the pivot stand but I know the arm is more elegant.

Thanks! This is enlightening.

Deleted.

This post has been edited by toffy: Oct 22 2022, 10:50 PM

<deleted>

Found the answer. Yay!

This post has been edited by toffy: Sep 15 2023, 12:29 AM