[n00bface]

Monitors are a depressing set of products. Every consumer has a slightly different set of priorities, and for me, the continuous cycle of compromises to arrive at a monitor that checks just over 50% of my requirements feels punitive. The lack of satisfaction is compounded further by the tour de force of reasonably priced and high-end display technologies packed into a sexy af piece of art hanging in my living room. Stepping from the living room into the office feels like a trek into the past.

I'm hopeful that QD-OLED will make that a less jarring transition. Mini-LEDs may help modernize the market, but I don't see them making a significant dent in my disappointment.

[user_7832]

If you have the time and technical expertise of basic electronics (mainly soldering) and maybe 3d printing/basic CAD design, you can make your own monitor and that too at a decent price.

Step 1: Go to panelook.com (or directly https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=resolution if you have a resolution in mind)

Step 2: Find the model number of your desired monitor and put it into your desired search engine (Google works)

Step 3: Buy the monitor WITH THE DRIVER* from AliExpress/Alibaba/TaoBao/eBay/wherever you get Google search results from

Step 4: Wait (???)

Step 5: Design a 3d model and print it, or use acrylic and cut it by hand, or whatever you want. Profit!

* - the display connects to the display driver. The driver is the one with an HDMI/DP/USB-C port.

[NavinF]

This. 3 years ago I built a 1mm thick 4K monitor by just mounting a bare panel to a thin laptop stand and hiding the eDP to DP board underneath. It was better than anything on the market and cost literally 3/4 as much as a normal fat and ugly monitor.

I’ll just add “Message several sellers and ask for a datasheet and 1pc price+shipping from each one” to Step 3.

[zamadatix]

The problem is precisely the selection of appropriately sized "TV quality and price" panels to make a monitor with not the lack of physical construction of such panels into monitors.

[gryn]

here's a video a youtuber showing how to do it, in case someone want a visual example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqdHVeBkp4

[userbinator]

They're usually called scaler boards, not drivers. Ones with LVDS outputs are common, but a lot of the new panels use VbyOne which seems to be rarer and more expensive to find a scaler for.

[madsushi]

Thanks for sharing panelook; just spent 30 minutes browsing around. I love niche sites like this!

[ayushnix]

I've been going crazy and frustrated with the lack of HiDPI monitors on the market which can do integer scaling (27 inch 5K, 32 inch 8K) and here's a website that lists panels for such monitors.

I have no idea how to go about making a custom monitor but if it's feasible to solve my problem, I'm willing to learn.

So let's say I want to buy the LM270QQ1-SDA2, should I order that panel from an e-commerce website? Or should I find a monitor with that specific panel? Why is 3d printing needed here? Any article or detailed guide you can point me to?

[epicureanideal]

Sounds like it could be a good business. Custom monitors, no Alexa or spyware. Choose the specs you care about.

[skhr0680]

What are your priorities? A lot of pro photographers I know use iMacs because they are a cheap way to get an adequate computer attached to a monitor with high resolution and OK (for the price) color space

[zippergz]

This is currently challenging because the 5K iMac is still on Intel which I’d be hesitant to buy into at this point. Hopefully resolved soon but we don’t know exactly when or what form it will take (e.g. will the 5K iMac be an “iMac Pro” and have a higher price than the Intel version?).

[n00bface]

System agnostic (not an all-in-one), <35", HDR, OLED or OLED-backlight, >144hz, 1440p+ or higher, G-sync, 16:9, >=99% DCI-P3, doesn't look like a F-117 fucked a ferris wheel at an EDM festival, <$2k.

Prioritized in that order.

[AtlasBarfed]

I'd be curious as to the differing priorities you are thinking about.

For me, I want real estate. At this point I'm looking forward to 8k in a 50-55" TV, good DPI, and 60Hz. Not a twitch gamer, I'm a developer. I use TVs.

Gamers want response time/Hz, decent appearance. They are the prime target of "Monitors"

Then there's the professional editors and the like. They used to be high-end monitors, but I think high-end 8k TVs will serve them as well.

What else is there?

[account42]

What I am looking for is a large (at least 37.5") ultrawide OLED (or something with comparable contrast) with at least 3840x1600 pixels and a >= 120 Hz refresh rate. Basically something that is a straight upgrade from my current monitor [0] that improves the contrast without compromising on other factors (size and resolution are hard requirements, refresh rate, pixel response and color gamut are negotiable as long as they are good enough, brightness I don't care - have the current one set to 10%). Oh, it also needs to support FreeSync, but that seems to be less of a problem these days.

There are no panels that fulfil that at the moment. The nearest option woulb be getting a 4K OLED and then just not using part of the panel but that is hardly ideal.

[0] https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-38gn950-b-gaming-monitor

[NavinF]

Sure you’re not a gamer, but have you tried using a 120hz/240hz monitor for a week? I think you’ll find that it’s almost as massive an upgrade as going from 1080p to 4K.

Going back to 60hz is painful. You’ll see the cursor moving in a rotating square pattern when you’re moving your mouse in a circle. The lag is palpable.

> What else is there?

Well HDR is nice to have.

[gryn]

one of the jarring things about using a TV as a monitor is that some TV models don't have the option of disabling the image processing that blurs the text so you end up with blurry text that gives headaches. I remember encountering this problem in the past with a specific samsung TV model where the processing was only disabled for the VGA port but not the rest of the ports (it was hard coded and couldn't be disabled).

[layer8]

Not the GP, but my current dream monitor would be a 3:2 or 16:10 OLED in the 24"-27" range with roughly 200 PPI and 120 Hz, preferably slightly curved, with hardware calibration for at least sRGB gamut. There’s nothing close to that in the market.

[jimmaswell]

What are your requirements? I had no issue finding one that met all of mine at a reasonable price a few years ago. 144Hz, low latency, decent size, 2k resolution.

[jnwatson]

The solution is simple: use the “sexy af” piece of art in your office.

I’ve used one for 4 years. The only compromise is I have to power it on/off by remote.

[n00bface]

I've considered it, but can't play FPS effectively on anything over 34" due to biology and $ per sqft of real-estate. The seating position to keep the game in focus would be half way across the room.

OLEDs under 40" aren't TVs and almost all OLED monitors target revenue generating use-cases and are priced to match.

[ianmcgowan]

What brand/model are you using?

[after_care]

I really enjoy the 49" ultra-wide curved form factor Samsung has pioneered and is on the second generation of.