Good monitor for DAW usage

[MrVegas]

I'm getting ready to purchase a new monitor to plug my Dell laptop into to run Cubase in Windows.

 

I need a larger screen than a laptop to prevent having to squint too much while learning and then using Cubase.

 

I do NOT want two screens.

 

For my day job I use two Dell montiors that are 26" diagonally.  

 

Looking for input on a good screen size for DAW.  I don't like the HUGE screens because there's just too much real estate to cover when they are overwhelmingly large.

 

[Anderton]

The first gating element is touch or non-touch screen?

[MrVegas]

non-touch

 

[KuruPrionz]

I have a 27" diagonal LG monitor. I got it at a thrift store for about $30 and it works very well.

Depending on how your DAW interface handles them, one bonus to having a larger screen is that you can keep a substantial space for your DAW and have some room to park plugins without covering up your primary working space. 

[MrVegas]

That's a really good point, it would be nice to see the plugins separately

 

[MrVegas]

Another issue just popped into my head.  I might want to get one of those bracket things that would allow me to move the screen around, closer, further away, higher, lower etc that clamps to a desk.  Do they work with all monitors or only certain kinds of monitors?

 

[Docbop]

8 minutes ago, MrVegas said:

Another issue just popped into my head.  I might want to get one of those bracket things that would allow me to move the screen around, closer, further away, higher, lower etc that clamps to a desk.  Do they work with all monitors or only certain kinds of monitors?

 

Most TVs and monitors support VESA system for mounting.    VESA is a standard mounting brackets, or monitor arms like you're talking about and it connects to a VESA bracket for the TV or monitor.   So you just need to check the monitor you buy to see if it supports VESA mounting. 

[Docbop]

1 hour ago, MrVegas said:

I'm getting ready to purchase a new monitor to plug my Dell laptop into to run Cubase in Windows.

 

I need a larger screen than a laptop to prevent having to squint too much while learning and then using Cubase.

 

I do NOT want two screens.

 

For my day job I use two Dell montiors that are 26" diagonally.  

 

Looking for input on a good screen size for DAW.  I don't like the HUGE screens because there's just too much real estate to cover when they are overwhelmingly large.

 

That depends on your eyes,  when I was still working doing ProTools I worked on a 24" iMac and it was fine.   I had a laptop and that was on the small size for a DAW.    Now in my 70's and decided to get back into recording and learn Ableton Live and on my 14" really hard for me to read and don't get a lot on screen.  But I have my 27" iMac and Ableton on that is good.   I am looking to either get a monitor for my laptop so I have two screens or sell my 14" laptop and get a 16" so things will be bigger and easier on my eyes.   So it's all about what you'll be comfortable with.   Like my last job before retiring I was working as an SysAdmin for a website at one point I ended up with a large desk and four 27" monitors for my two computers.    I loved it, but my boss wasn't as happy and I was back to two monitors boo.  

[Stokely]

After touch vs non-touch, then you consider size and resolution.   The resolution choice also must consider the graphics capabilities of your video card.

I also much prefer a single monitor.

I got two monitors around the same time a couple years ago, one for a gaming pc for my son and one for my mac (which shares duties with my own gaming pc!)  Partially because of the gaming requirement, i went with 2k resolution; I didn't think the graphics cards we had could handle 4k very well.   I also chose this because I wanted the monitor back a bit, so 4k I felt might get a little...squinty.  I can usually get by without needing glasses when using my DAW!   Size-wise, I went with 32".    2k 32" monitors a couple years ago were kind of a sweet spot for price, each of these was between $220 and $250.  It may be by now that the sweet spot has moved a bit.    Obviously these aren't super high end monitors but they look just fine to me.   Unlike the tv I experimented with, I can get 60hz refresh rate with 2k resolution....a refresh rate of at least 60 is critical IMO.  Both of these just worked right away with all 3 computers I've used them with.

As mentioned, you can get an arm with a VESA mount.  Mine clamps to the edge of my desk and I love the thing.  If I'm playing on a keyboard off to the side, I can grab and angle it so that I can see it better.   Saves desk space too.

For me, since I was sharing the monitor between a mac and pc, having two hdmi ports was nice.   If your pc has displayport, that might be a good thing to consider; also there are monitors that can get signal over usb-c apparently.   

[ElmerJFudd]

At this stage any monitor that can do QHD (2560 X 1440), 4K (3840 x 2160), or 5K (5120 × 2880.

 

 On the cheap, a Sceptre.  A bit more, a Viewsonic or Dell. 

 

 

[stoken6]

14 hours ago, MrVegas said:

I don't like the HUGE screens because there's just too much real estate

What do you consider to be "huge" and when does real estate become "too much"?

 

For example: an ultrawide 3440x1440 34in, is that excessive?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[TJ Cornish]

I’m a huge fan of 4K resolution - 3840x2160. In a 27” size a nice 4K monitor is almost paper sharp, and I run 150% screen scaling for a good balance of text size and screen real estate. A 32” 4K monitor is my current setup. For me, (I’m in my 40’s with reasonably good vision; YMMV on what is readable to you) the difference between 27” and 32” allows me to run at 100% screen scaling - I trade off a bit of sharpness compared to the 27” as the pixels are a bit larger, but the result is a huge amount of usable real estate.

 

I agree on a single monitor - the bar in the middle is frustrating. A 27” is on the edge of too small for a single setup; for me a single 32” 4K has been great.

 

The other things not mentioned include panel type and intended market. For any non-gaming purpose, you want an IPS panel if you can afford it. These are typically 60Hz monitors, but the colors and the viewing angle range are really good. Gaming monitors sacrifice viewing angle and color quality for faster response time so you can blast the alien sooner, and typically gaming monitors are lower resolution than a decent business/graphics monitor, as high resolution monitors take a huge amount of GPU power to drive at frame rates that make gamers happy.

[D. Gauss]

Get a 4k TV at best buy! They're cheap and work great. I run an 18" screen laptop driving two TCL 42 inch 4k tvs.  They cost 200 bucks each. One 42" is my Reaper DAW screens, the other 42" is the in/out mixer app on my interfaces. (I have 24 channels of analog in and out via MOTU avb.) Finally the laptop screen is plugins.  Addionally I run OSC over wifi on a tablet to control transport functions and record enable tracks for when I'm across the room playing drums.

[Stokely]

A tv will work great, if it works.  The one I tried (as I mentioned) could not give me the resolution I wanted at an acceptable refresh rate over hdmi.  30hz was laggy and was actually making me feel ill.   That was a couple years ago so it may be that tvs in general have all improved in this area. 

If I did get a tv, I'd probably get one with displayport, or that was the advice I got back then.   

[D. Gauss]

No problems with the TCL 4k tvs I have. 60k refresh over super cheap HDMI 60k capable cables.

[Jose EB5AGV]

1 hour ago, D. Gauss said:

No problems with the TCL 4k tvs I have. 60k refresh over super cheap HDMI 60k capable cables.

 

60k is an awesome refresh rate!. Some claim 120Hz as good. But nothing currently beats 60000Hz! 🤯

 

And those HDMI cables should be super-conductor based 😉

 

PS: joking about a simple units error, no harm intended 🙏🏻

[xp50player]

[stoken6]

Reminder:

On 1/18/2024 at 6:13 PM, MrVegas said:

I don't like the HUGE screens because there's just too much real estate to cover

@MrVegashasn't specified what is considered "HUGE" so I've held off from my recommendations.

 

Cheers,. Mike.

[xp50player]

Mine is a 49” 32:9. It’s basically half a 4k monittor and 2x 27”. If the OP already uses 2x 26” for work, this is that with no center line. I like it, because I don’t want to wreck my neck looking up at anything taller than eye level.

[obxa]

I see several folks who park their laptop under main screen as an auxiliary monitor.  I personally have to have two screens to drag plugins or mixer. When doing VO I put my copy on there.  After years of dual side by side, I switched to a vertical setup.  LG ultra wide 29 " on bottom and 32" on top.   Took a little bit, but really like it now, and much easier to focus.  I'm considering a touch screen on bottom for the mixer and plug-ins.   Don't think I could do more than 40"   I do sessions at a few places that have 60" monitors, and it gives me a headache, though makes sense at distance.

[stoken6]

21 hours ago, obxa said:

vertical setup.  LG ultra wide 29 " on bottom and 32" on top

Cool idea. The 29in is 2560x1080 - couple that with 32in QHD and the two screen areas line up perfectly.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[obxa]

29 minutes ago, stoken6 said:

The 29in is 2560x1080 - couple that with 32in QHD and the two screen areas line up perfectly.

Was kind of a happy accident.  When they first came out,  I bought the 29" first to use as main monitor.  But 2560 rez was too small for aging eyes at the distance I needed.    At its native resolution it works fine for the mixer and plugins.  When needing  to view  long  text or scores,  I use this  little program to quickly change to larger and/ or custom resolution.    https://manytricks.com/resolutionator/. highly recommended if you do different kinds of tasks.

 

Not sure why, but in picture I posted, monitors don't look physically lined up, but they do.   Having  "mixer screen" on bottom feels normal because used to have my hardware Mackie controllers (...and analog mixer before that...)  always set up in similar way.