I wrote earlier how I tried other monitor setups that just didn’t work for me.
It has been a few days so I thought it might be interesting to report on how the TV as monitor update is working.
- I have never used a TV as a monitor before so this is a new experience for me. I didn’t know what to expect but so far I can’t think of any problems that I have had. The resolution is less of course than a very expensive 38 inch monitor, but the size makes up for that. My eyes feel more rested and they aren’t red and tired as in the past.
- Colors are slightly off but not dramatically so. The TV is a cheap $400 that is six years old so I don’t expect it to compete against a new high end monitor. I did some research and there is a 55 inch OLED TV monitor that looks interesting that could probably make it look even better. I must admit however that the newer TV is not compelling me to buy it. For $800 I’m sure it would be an upgrade, but I just don’t get excited about picture quality. This TV is good enough for now.
- It is quieter than the previous LG monitor. I like quiet things and since having this TV setup I don’t hear the noise that I used to. The LG had a high pitched hum and this does not.
- Zoom is more fun with a large screen. When people are life-sized it makes it more realistic when you are talking with them. I joked with a coworker about this that he was life-sized and it seems more natural than a small image of someone.
- I rarely scroll. Even with the 38 inch ultra-wide monitor I had to scroll often to read information. With this size I have Slack, Outlook and a web browser open and I only have to barely scroll in the browser. If I had a higher resolution I wouldn’t need to scroll at all. This is remarkable. I don’t mind scrolling, but you don’t realize how much time you take scrolling to find information until you have larger/higher resolution monitors. With this I can easily work since I have the space to put 3 or more windows stacked and still be able to work.
- Is there a downside? I keep trying to find one. I think only designers/video creators would not like the setup due to color matching requirements. I like being able to use something for multiple purposes and I find that even the 16 inch display is getting too small for me. Once you start using larger screens you want to explore if larger sizes can further help you and for me 55 inches seems to be a good spot for me.
- What is the next step? If I bought another 55 inch TV which would be OLED I would probably move my L shaped desk at an angle so it would form an arrow shape. My chair would be the arrow body and the desk would from the arrow head. In that configuration I would have two 55 inch screens. One dedicated to my mac and the other to my PC. However this is unnecessary at the moment sine I can switch inputs and may be impractical due to weight limits of my cheap desk. If I did do that setup however, it would be incredible. I would be able to have as much information displayed as I want at a very affordable cost.
- Is there any ghosting/weird visual effects that happen on the screen? No, they have been as reliable showing an image as a regular monitor. I haven’t seen any behavior that has issues. In fact they have been more reliable than the LG monitor I used to have when switching between a mac/windows computer.
- Does the TV cause problems for accessories like a bluetooth keyboard/headphones? The TV doesn’t cause any problems with the bluetooth headset I have, and it hasn’t negatively affected any accessory I have.
- What company would you recommends to buy a TV from? I am not in the business of selling TV’s. I think right now OLED is a good option and I have limited experience in buying TV’s. I currently am using a sharp, used a LG in the past and a few other brands. All TV’s seemed good to me since I only used them primarily to play Playstations with.
My eyes are less red and sore with this monitor than a very expensive LG ultra-wide monitor. If you have dry, red or tired eyes perhaps trying out a TV will help you as well.