So I just got myself a zotac 980ti amp extreme and want to upgrade to 4k. I was originally looking at the AMH A399U but it is about the same dpi as my current 1440p monitor meaning I would get more usable space than my 27 inch but I wouldn't get the increased sharpness like I would on a 27 or 28 inch 4k monitor. So I was looking for some opinions about whether I should get a 27-28 inch 4k for the extra sharpness or just go for the more functional larger monitor with the same sharpness as a 27 inch 1440p. I would like more usable space for programming and working on projects but I am not sure if a 27 inch 4k will give that to me.
Stick to 39", no real point to making your font sharper with higher ppi.
@Thomas_Boyd
If you really need more space, get another monitor.
Stick to 39", no real point to making your font sharper with higher ppi.
Every smartphone in recent history would like to disagree. High PPI is great.
But a larger resolution on your phone just takes away from your battery life, only thing we really need super dense ppi for is VR stuff.
I agree anything past 1080p is overkill, but it is so nice not being able to see the individual pixels. I want that on all of my screens all of the time, especially on the desktop where power consumption isn't an issue.
But it doesn't really help you functionally though, the pixels are being wasted in a sense.
Check out this FOV/PPI/PPD/Size/Resolution/Distance Calculator.
PPD is Pixels Per Degree of vision. It is a much better measure of sharpness than PPI because it accounts for distance, e.g. a 55" 1080p TV from 10 feet would look twice as sharp as a 27" 1440p monitor from 20", despite the monitor being 2.7 times denser. 40 PPI vs 109 PPI; 85 PPD vs 42 PPD.
I would personally prefer more desktop space as opposed to using DPI scaling due to high PPD, but for sharpness you could just sit further from the 39" to get the same effect. And on the other hand, if you sit closer to the smaller monitor, that would negate the sharpness difference. The difference being between the variables, distance and PPI, and not the monitors themselves because sharpness is not inherent to the display; If you want to experience the sharpness of 4K UHD, just sit twice as far as you normally would from a 1080p display, or in your case, 1.5x further from your 1440p display.
Personally, I want a large 4K UHD monitor for desktop space and because it would be more comfortable to sit closer to for larger FOV coverage. I want that 70° IMAX standard!
with the 39 inch 4k at the distance I would use it it has an 65 ppd. My 27 inch 1440 monitor has about a 53 ppd. That is an increase, but I don't fully understand this measurement so I am not sure what that will actually translate into in real world use.
Move 35 inches away from your 27" monitor and you can see 65 ppd.
Edit: PPD is the number of pixels that fit in one degree of your vision. Imagine a top down view of your head at the center of a protractor to help visualize your angle of view (top down would make this your Horizontal FOV). 65 PPD means that, viewing your 112 PPI monitor from 30.4 inches, every degree of your vision that the monitor covers will be occupied by about 65 pixels. And if you multiply 65 PPD by the 59.1 HFOV, you'll get 3,840 which is the horizontal resolution of the monitor.
The best way to get an understanding of what this measurement means for sharpness is to just calculate the viewing distance with your monitor for different PPDs and try them. On that calculator, you can check Viewing Distance to make the calculator find it instead of PPD, which lets you set the PPD you want.
The difference you posted puts your PPD above 20/20 vision and increases your horizontal FOV from 48° to 60°. Also, text should be readable and images sharp at 65 PPD.
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