Admin / Office Monitor Size & Resolution

[robyholmes]

Hi All,

 

We're going to be purchasing a couple more office PC's and currently we go for dual 22" 1080p monitors for office use, however I'm thinking that Ultrawide or high resolution monitors might be the way forward now providing a cleaner and easier to maintain setup.

 

However I'm unsure what ratio, screen size and resolution to go for. I was thinking direct replacement, so 2x1920 but that makes for a very wide monitor and seems rare, thus high costs. 4K monitors seem the cheapest option currently but with a 16:9 ratio, can you really get two windows next to each other nicely on a 4K display? I guess it depends on scaling a lot. 2560 x 1440 seems like a middle ground but then you have 1280 per window.

 

Have others put in office PC's and monitors recently? What did you opt for?

 

Thanks, Rob

[atcoates]

We normally buy our Office Staff 24" Dell ultrasharps and some users have these as well Dell Dual Monitor Stand – MDS19. I'm starting to look at the Curved Monitors as well as the price point is dropping.

[zedster]

From personal experience, I worked for a company who purchased a couple of the ultrawide screens, and what the users all said was that they preferred dual screens as it allowed more "snap points" - I know there is additional software that can be installed to overcome this, but it was an issue for the users back then.

[dhicks]

What did you opt for?

 

Monitor setup seems to come down to individual preferences. Personally, I prefer a single larger (32") high-resolution (4k) monitor over multiple displays - that's effectly 4 x 1920 monitors stuck together. Our admin staff seem to prefer multiple displays, although I suspect that might be because they haven't got the hang of resizing windows but can figure out dragging a window to a different monitor and hitting "maximize".

[robyholmes]

Yes I can see it's slightly hard to put windows side by side, but Windows 10 does have this covered with the snap to edge feature, just might require a bit of training.

[Bev]

Our admin staff seem to prefer multiple displays, although I suspect that might be because they haven't got the hang of resizing windows but can figure out dragging a window to a different monitor and hitting "maximize".

 

Exactly this, I find it quite hard to work with 2 windows on the same screen, even though it feels like it would be more comfortable rather than having to look to the side for my second monitor.

I didn't know about snap to left / right, so I might give that a try in the future.

[Oaktech]

22" or larger, 1680x1050 or better is our minimum spec.

 

We use a minimum of 2 screens in matched pairs for all admin staff.

 

Some have 3 screens, one has 4 screens - one in portrait, but she has bought the graphics card and 4th monitor herself.

 

Anyone who gets multiple monitors gets a quick chat about using the snap/resize features.

[robyholmes]

Exactly this, I find it quite hard to work with 2 windows on the same screen, even though it feels like it would be more comfortable rather than having to look to the side for my second monitor.

I didn't know about snap to left / right, so I might give that a try in the future.

 

You have four corners as well which on a large 4K display at 100% scaling gives you four FHD monitors on one. I admit though it's not as easy to use as multiple monitors.

[JATSO]

duel screens 24"

[stevewill6]

Dual 24" for staff here, Few have dual 27" (all 1080p)

[BigG]

What specific model are people purchasing for these and what kind of price are you looking at? I'm looking to upgrade some of our admin staff from ad-hoc dual screen setups to 24" matched screens, but looking at the Dell Ultrasharps they are coming in at £230+ a screen, and the dual monitor mount is £100+. Seems expensive?

[zedster]

We've been buying these of late - ViewSonic VA2418-SH 24-inch - Amazon have them at £132.69 inc vat at the moment, and this dual arm mount - Duronic Dual Monitor Arm Stand DM252. The staff who have them are very happy with the quality of both aspects (screen and mount).

[Bev]

I've bought AOC 22 in screens, which were a huge improvement on what they had before. We've also gone for an all in one PC, so the 2nd monitor doesn't match exactly but they are the same size.

The All in one PCs are nice and tidy on the desk and reduce the cables etc.

[andy_b]

Had to do this "on the cheap" recently and used:

 

Iiyama XU2292HS-B 2@£112+

DS1002D-B1+Flexible Desk Stand Dual 1@£32+

 

Pleased with the monitors (22") the stand had a big footprint, but we wanted "cheap".

[robyholmes]

Had to do this "on the cheap" recently and used:

 

Iiyama XU2292HS-B 2@£112+

DS1002D-B1+Flexible Desk Stand Dual 1@£32+

 

Pleased with the monitors (22") the stand had a big footprint, but we wanted "cheap".

 

Pretty much as above until we opted to try the 4K route. Got a AOC u32e2n for just over £300 (Thanks to VeryPC). Currently more cost than two displays plus a stand, but less cabling and two extra Full HD displays on top with be being 4K. Takes a bit to get used too but I can see this being a good option going forward especially as prices are going to drop more and more on 4K or larger displays. I wouldn't go smaller than 32" though otherwise scaling means your loosing to much screen space to make it worth it.

[CHiLL]

Our teacher monitors are 22" 1080p and our office monitors are 24" 1080p. Our student workstations are mainly 19" 1366x768, but we recently upgraded one suite to 22" 1080p monitors. We want to do the rest, but the price of monitors has increased some 20% over the past few months, so we can't justify it at the moment.

 

I'd like to go higher resolution, but display scaling is still an issue in Windows and it's not something I've investigated yet for every day work use.

[MatthewL]

We use Lenovo P24h monitors, they also act as USB C docks, one cable into a laptop and it does the whole log, also can link them together and use 1 cable to plug in.

[pete]

Single or dual 24", depending on space/work, usually on an adjustable arm, newer ones on gas piston arms (bit more expensive, but easier to adjust monitor)

 

24" monitor prices are a bit stupid at the moment though.

[atcoates]

What specific model are people purchasing for these and what kind of price are you looking at? I'm looking to upgrade some of our admin staff from ad-hoc dual screen setups to 24" matched screens, but looking at the Dell Ultrasharps they are coming in at £230+ a screen, and the dual monitor mount is £100+. Seems expensive?

If you get a quote from dell themselves the screens should be closer to £170. Dell's website prices are always ridiculous.

[DrBeaker]

2x 22" TFTs at full HD should be adequate.

 

Our admin have 24" Iiyama TFTs brought years before I was there which would not have been cheap. Especially given they support VGA, DVI, USB3 and have USB3 hubs on them.

 

So for them, IMHO there's no justification at current for them having upgrades as they actually have the best kit onsite.

[Jamman960]

I’ve recently started buying 29” ultra wide screens, think they were £149 each

 

Take up far less space on the desk

[SamanthaD]

Our standard is 2 x 24". I can appreciate how it's easy to say grab a 32" 4k screen and you've got 4 HD monitors, but consider the user experience. Larger displays means more vertical neck movement, our field of vision is wider than it is higher so it's easier to consume content in a landscape fashion hence why 2 monitors is usually preferred.

 

For "snapping" software I've been using the Dell Display Manager, once it's setup it's dead easy to snap (hold shift and drag window to desired location, it resizes for you) but is only for Dell monitors. There's other (paid) alternatives but I've not found one that works as well. However I noticed in Win 11 the maximise button also has some new snapping features, hover over it for a second and a small windows appears with some new snapping options...

[Alis_Klar]

Our standard is 2 x 24". I can appreciate how it's easy to say grab a 32" 4k screen and you've got 4 HD monitors, but consider the user experience. Larger displays means more vertical neck movement, our field of vision is wider than it is higher so it's easier to consume content in a landscape fashion hence why 2 monitors is usually preferred.

 

For "snapping" software I've been using the Dell Display Manager, once it's setup it's dead easy to snap (hold shift and drag window to desired location, it resizes for you) but is only for Dell monitors. There's other (paid) alternatives but I've not found one that works as well. However I noticed in Win 11 the maximise button also has some new snapping features, hover over it for a second and a small windows appears with some new snapping options...

 

Give Microsoft FancyZones PowerToy a try

[Bev]

I've seen that smapping option pop up on W11 but I hadn't realised what it was for. That's quite useful.