I need to replace my 40" 4K LG since I’m having problems with it after 5 years of daily use. I looked at shops I can buy from and I can get my hands on:
Dell UltraSharp U4320Q
ASUS ROG Strix XG438QR 43"
Gigabyte AORUS FV43U 43"
If I was a gamer, I would get Gigabyte AORUS FV43U and be done with it. But I’m a sysadmin/dev so most of the time I’ll be using web browser, terminal, VSCode under Linux with KDE Plasma dark theme. Based on my research Gigabyte AORUS FV43U has some issues with light text on dark background and that’s exactly what I’ll be looking most of the time at. Dell is not for gaming so in theory it should be the best for my use case after some googling it seems it has similar issues as Asus and Gigabyte so I might rather get Gigabyte that has overall better specs…
I’m guessing you aren’t really getting reponses cause it’s not clear what you’re asking. What are you looking for? Clarity? Brightness? Blacks? Density? Great packaging?
Isn’t 40" HUGE for your terminal / VSCode work? I couldn’t imagine going over 32" sitting at a normal desk setup.
Not really hands-on with any of your picks, but a 43 inch 4k display is exactly the same pixel density as a 21.5 inch 1080p monitor (four times the pixels and four times the area). I would expect any of your choices to display perfectly fine text at that pixel density.
I recently chose a 4k TV for mixed code, gaming, and video use (emphasis on coding, but I also wanted good HDR). At 43 inches the TVs I tried displayed excellent text quality. (Larger displays were more risky about text quality, although it is easier to get good HDR in a 50 inch TV).
If you have time (and patience with boxing and unboxing), nothing beats buying from a vendor that allows returns. That way you can try your best guess and not feel so bad if it is not exactly what you want; just return it and try again.
PS: I absolutely love coding on a 4k 43 inch display. It’s like having four 1080p displays all next to each other. It’s terrific.
I also wanted to switch from an LG43UD79, because i wanted a higher refresh rate, which makes the choice even smaller.
The annoying bit is that there is’nt much choice for these large displays with higher refresh rates.
Then is the issue of them all having VA panels where i prefer IPS, the black response time is a bit slower, unless a good overdrive is used like samsung has. (black smearing)
I can’t really find a review of the Gigabyte that correctly tests the difference in response time (like hardwareunboxed does) so i don’t really know.
The dell seems to have an IPS panel which helps out, but i can’t find reviews on input lag or the quality of the panel.
I settled for a 34inch ultrawide 3440x1440 144hz with IPS from ilyama, which is great for gaming, and i still use the LG 43inch for work.
I can add that my previous monitor was a 15-year-old 30 inch Dell Ultrasharp. It was an excellent monitor (although expensive at introduction). I would still be using it today if it were not so ancient that it did not have a connector that worked with my new video card.
Again not the hands-on experience you were hoping for, but Dell Ultrasharps have long-standing excellent reputation for a reason.
I am hoping that is just a temporary blip in the development curve.
As you say, I wound up having to choose between 43-inch “best size” or “full array local dimming” (better HDR). I could not find both on a single device at any price.
I have had good success with the Asus PG43UQ. (that is the XG438QR’s upgraded brother). Currently it is the same price as the other at 1,099$ If you want my full thoughts on the PG43UQ read my posts in this thread, as I go into too much detail to re-post here.
