Vision issues and possible 4k monitor - how to?

Win 11 Pro 25H2, 2600,8037
My 27" 2k Dell monitor Ultra Sharp 2722 DE (flicker free with blue light control), which has just gone out of warranty has developed a separating panel and I need to replace it. I have medical vision issues and to comfortably read text I've been running the Dell scaled to 125%. I also changed the system font to Roboto Medium from Google fonts. Flicker free and IPS are necessary and with the above I'm doing ok. I don't game but otherwise use my desktop for everything. I still do occasional photography, use ai voice and note dictation etc etc.

When I look for a new monitor (27" space limitations), I keep finding 4k versions to be the ones with updated specs such as flicker free and blue light TUV certification, DP 1.4, refresh rate well over 100 and DCI-P3 around 95%+.

I'm wondering how it would be to purchase a 4k monitor and run it at 2k because I won't be able to see adequately at 4k. I'm already scaling 2k up to 125%. Would it be more difficult to read because of a lack of clarity? Would Windows have a breakdown? I have an NVIDIA GEforce RTX 5060 ti which I think would do this smoothly. My greatest question is my own visual experience.

Thanks for all suggestions and recommendations.

Imo 27" isn't adequate for "comfort" at 2k. That's why you need the 125%, same physical size as 33.75" at 100%. I had calculated from other kinds of experiences that 2k needs 32" for comfort.

Physically you either can do or cannot do certain physical efforts, like lifting 50 or 100 kg. You can be specially trained and capable to do lifting competitions with a few hundred kg. But never expect to do that kind of efforts "confortably", the same as lifting 1 kg lol.

If I take off my myopia glasses and I approach to few cm from the object, I can see anything. "Anything" means that I've been able to visually confirm the atoms orbitals shapes predicted by Schrodinger etc, but that's not practical let alone comfortable in any possible way. Well, if I were really able to see the inners of atoms individually that way, I could not catch the "virtual reality" that any monitor shows. If you know photography, likely you know that cinema/TV/even computers are full of "dirty" tricks to make it as real as possible, w/o efforts of any kind from the spectator...

So let's wear the myopia or whatever glasses if needed, stay at about half a meter from the monitor, and watch what's showed or printed there. This requires 24" for 1080p, 32" for 2k and 48" for 4k, reading at 100%. I'm not into photography but I can understand that using over 100% and having a finer pixelage has advantages.

There're other stories I don't "buy".

I have never ever seen:

- An elephant held by a spider's thread.
- A supersonic car driving normally (at supersonic speed, "pam" included).
- A monitor in good working condition flickering.
- If it isn't in good working condition it can do many things, but I haven't seen certifications of not those, except "flickering".
- A flying hippopotamus (and asking landing in an airport).
-...

The flickering thing was a propaganda that uses the "placebo effect" technique but the other way round: instead of convincing you that anything good is happening for using any software or setting or product that actually achieves nothing, the conviction is about avoiding things (like CRTs, other brands, vaccines, mobile phone antennas, anything political) to avoid effects that do not exist at all!!!!

I have seen:

- Monitors with excess of blue color in the mix.

I have one working in front of me just now!! It has a notepad window where I'm writing this! In a review they measured 17,000ºK to this device. I didn't know this defect was common enough to produce a certificate against. This monitor is TN eh?, the IPSs are fine, at least the ones I get near of . I lower a bit the gfx card blue level for my TN, both brightness and gamma, and I'm set.

Is there any serious confirmation that if the world were yellowish we'd have better health?

-----------------------------------------

Well, in essence, and unless monitor manufacturing has turned much worse than it used to be (I have diffuse news it has happened with disks, but not with monitors for now), I'd drop the no flickering certificate (achieving quality in general isn't straight but I think that's what you need) and you can reduce the blue below normal with the gfx card if you like, but the screen will appear yellowish... ¡ah! They say here "while maintaining color accuracy" rebig-LOL. Seeing and not seeing the color at the same time... Good quality is your option, I think.

Many of these should do well. This shop is Spanish, you should have similar ones in your region...

No essay here. Just arithmetic.

I have a couple of PCs with 3840X2160 displays. One is a 27". Both have text scaling set to the default 150%.

Your Dell Ultrasharp 2722 is 2560X1440. You're running it at 1.25X text scaling. To get the same text size with a 3840X2160 monitor of the same size, you'd need 1.88X. That's not a standard scaling in my system., but 2X is available.

With some applications, the menus may not scale properly, but they're mostly old stuff. Photoshop CS6 had a problem, but supposedly some compatibility settings fixed it.

It may be practical to run the display at a lower resolution than its native one, but I've never tried it.

I don't know about "flicker free". I've never been bothered by flicker at 60Hz with any flat panel display. I found 60Hz to be intolerable with CRT displays, back in the 1990s.

Thank you both for your comments. @bobbkn - thanks for figuring out what scaling I would need to use to have the same size text. I have trouble with some things at 125% and have to reduce scaling to make them work properly. I can only imagine how often that would happen at scaling of 200%.....

Mine is not a "usual - getting older" eye issue. I had a stroke and have lost some peripheral capacity with decreased clarity in some areas. Therefore, my distance from the monitor will not fix it.

mlg said:

Thank you both for your comments. @bobbkn - thanks for figuring out what scaling I would need to use to have the same size text. I have trouble with some things at 125% and have to reduce scaling to make them work properly. I can only imagine how often that would happen at scaling of 200%.....

Mine is not a "usual - getting older" eye issue. I had a stroke and have lost some peripheral capacity with decreased clarity in some areas. Therefore, my distance from the monitor will not fix it.

Click to expand...

I just tried an experiment:

Switched the monitor, 32" 38740X2160 with text at 150%, to 2560X1440. text at 125%. Seem acceptable to me.

My monitor is an Innocn 32Q1U OLED, but its subpixel arrangement makes it similar to an IPS display. (It doesn't have the text issues common to OLEDs.)

For one to buy, there is a wide range of choices.

Here are some that are natively 2560X1440:


This is rtings.com's take on photo editors. Some are 2560X1440, most are 3840X2160.


If you were happy with the Dell, I suppose you'll find a replacement that serves as well or better.

Instead of reducing the display resolution, increase Windows Settings > System > Display > Scale. It magnifies the UI elements but keeps the content of viewports of DPI-aware photo/video editors, modelling/design applications, the video frame on the YouTube website, etc. in 4K.

Thanks for your suggestions and the efforts to try things out so that I have more information. I happened upon a monitor and purchased it on the spot. A BenQ Design View 27" 2k PD2706QN. Reading your comments I kind of wish I'd tried their very similar monitor at 4k. THE REASON FOR MY EXCITEMENT: I'm extremely sensitive to reflections and glare since the stroke. This has a "nano matte panel" which absolutely blocks reflections and glare - even in a room with windows facing open sky and several plant grow lights. I personally have never seen a screen this relaxing and comfortable which doen't dull color or flatten image intensity I've had BenQs before because of their flicker-free and blue light control that I've always found to work very well. Text is crisp and transitions are smooth. It's ergonomically very adjustable and good looking.

Specs include 95% DCI-P3, several profile choices and an option in the accompanying software to create two of your own profiles. 100% refresh rate which I'm using steadily. It comes color calibrated and Calman Certified etc etc. As you can surely tell by now, I'm really happy with it. Actually, if I had no eye issues I'd still suggest checking out the BenQ monitors which use their "nano matte" screen.
BenQ DesignVue PD2706QN 27" 1440p HDR 100 Hz Monitor

Thanks again. 4k next time!

Thanks for posting back.

The specs for the PD2706QN look pretty nice. (The list in the link appears to have at least one error: its maximum refresh rate is 100Hz, not 60.)

It's fairly inexpensive, too.