I am currently planning a new desk setup and i am trying to find some monitors to use in portrait for it. Either 16:10 or 3:2 or similar aspect ratio.
I have a couple of Dell UltraSharp U3023E 30" WQXGA (2560x1600) monitors at work that i got a couple of years ago that i use in portrait and i LOVE them, its the perfect size and resolution for that use case. But they don’t make them anymore and I have been trying to see if anyone makes monitor around this size and resolution that i can get here in NZ at a reasonable price but not finding anything.
1920x1200 on a 16:10 27” is too low resolution.
I found these BENQ “Programmers“ monitors available here but they are stupid expensive. BenQ RD280UG 28.2" 4K @$1600NZD They are 3:2 and would be awesome to run a pair in portrait but the budget does not stretch that far .
Back when i got the Dells they where $700NZD each and there was a few options for 2560x1600 to choose from but it seems that WQXGA is dead? Now no one seems to make desktop monitors in that resolution anymore. There are a few small portable monitors around that use it but nothing 28” - 30”
If you live in Japan, JN-282IPS4KP is an option. And you might have similar knockoffs in your country too (not so sure about NZ), look for 28.2” screens - that’s the magic number.
But since these are knockoffs, mine had some minor issues.
First, good things:
The panel is great. I don’t know how the manufacturer would classify this as “not fit for benq”, but it’s awesome.
Price. I managed to get 2x of those monitors and all the accessories to make them usable with the price of 1 RD280U. Not UG, the 60Hz model. Less than ¥100k JPY in total, $620 USD in today’s exchange rate.
And the downsides:
The screen was glossy. Very glossy. I managed to use these screen protectors (Amazon JP link), and they work wonders. The text is still crisp.
To apply, ask a friend for help. Start from the bottom, and use credit cards to squeeze out bubbles. I was astonished how easy it was once you understand how to do it. Zero bubbles since I installed right after peeling the screen’s protective film.
It needs DP for 60Hz. HDMI is capped at 50Hz, and they somehow only include an HDMI cable. Just buy the needed amount of DP cable.
Oh, an older model had USB-C with 90W, but they discontinued it.
If you’re driving 2 from a laptop, provided your laptop has enough bandwidth on the USB-C port, you can use Cable Matters 201099 (post link).
The OSD menu and control is dogsh*t. I seriously never had this bad of an OSD menu before. If I was buying for myself, and not for work with strict budget requirements, I’d hesitate to pass just because of it.
Remember the OSD controls with buttons instead of the stick? Make that as cheap and mushy as possible. The UI? Nah, don’t bother - the customer will find a way out.
The stand is… barely OK. It’s height, tilt, and rotation adjustable, but the base is a bit wobbly.
Combined with the OSD menu, I just never touch the monitor.
Did I say it was 60Hz limited? Vertical use is a no-go for me just for this reason. But it’s tall enough that I just use in normal direction. (Sorry Wendell, the UG variant isn’t sold in Japan yet)
All in all, I’d buy again if I was budget constrained.
But if I had more money, I’d go with 2x RD280UG just for the 120 Hz panel and better OSD UX. The real question is price2perf, and I’d say go for it for office work. Scrolling using mouse drag is unreadable, but they’re big enough to fit an A4/A3, so I just don’t scroll long text.
Also been seeing if anyone still sells the LG Dualup 28” as well as i remember seeing those around the time i got the two DELL monitors.
It seems like a couple of years ago there was a flurry of great options for people that wanted more vertical space and maybe because no one bought them the experiment is over and everyone is back to just making 16:9 or only 1200p 16:10 office monitors.
EDIT: Just found them on amazon.co.jp and they will ship to NZ, would be about $600NZD each but the reviews are a bit worrying as one persons arrived broken and another review says it works but build quality is bad…
We can get most stuff locally without issue, but when you are thinking a bit outside the box you need to look overseas, i use AliExpress a lot. That site has come a long way in the last few years.
i wonder if LG and BENQ ordered a bunch of panels to be made and then the units never sold so they flogged em off to JAPANNEXT or even the panel maker will just sell the panels to anyone and doesn’t care.
I found and picked up a couple of 28.2” 3:2 Gawfolk GF005’s off amazon Aus for $159.98aud each. Pretty happy with them, using one in portrait next to my primary monitor, my housemate has the other. Measured 101% actual srgb coverage on them, no dead pixels. a couple of reviews complained about them dying early, so ive used a nicer 12v power supply to power them!
They don’t seem to have any available any more, at least not that i can find that they will ship to NZ, so i will have to see what happens with the Japanese ones.
Goodluck! i hope something that fits the bill for you pops up! might get lucky and the rejected 120hz panels in the rd280ug end up in some of these cheap monitor brands!
I will say, i love the 163ppi of the gawfolk, it is so so good. I do a lot of my uni note taking in obsidian and i got this monitor because qdOLED 1440P 27” monitor that is my primary was just not nice to read text on haha
nice, I’m excited to see how it is when it arrives, got the notification today its shipped and should be with me on Friday.
Also, i wonder if you can overclock it to 75hz on displayport, i have ordered some very high quality displayport 2.1 cables, to make sure that the cable does not cause any issues.
As an alternative. I have the LG dualup which is essentially 2 2560x1440 panels on top of each other to give 2560x2880 in a 25inch display. Great for code and Documents.
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