24" monitor suggestions

[mdwh]

Hi,

Looking for advice on a monitor please. I currently have a i7-8750H with NVIDIA 1060 laptop (Recoil 2 17"), but plan to upgrade to one of the 17" 3060 laptops in the next few weeks. (I know desktops are better for price/performance, but I like using on a sofa too.)

This will mostly be for work, but I will also be playing games (including Warthunder, Total War series).

* I think ~24" is the right size for my setup (desk isn't that big).
* Most monitors of that size seem to be 1920x1080, I don't know if 1440p is a something to consider (either from the point of view of working with a mobile 3060, or worth it at 24")?
* I'm intrigued by curved and ultra-wide setups, but whilst more immersive for gaming, I'm not sure how well they'd do for productivity, so it may be safer to stick with flat and 16:9 or similar.
* I don't particularly have a budget, it seems up to £300 has plenty of options for 24", but I can spend more if there's a benefit to doing so.
* I have separate speakers so don't need them, an audio out might be useful.

 

[AgentCooper]

You’re in an interesting middle ground here with screen size limitations, and one that I’m quite probably out of my depth on given that I am not a laptop user in the slightest. The new 3000 mobiles are still a bit of an unknown quantity to me.

Time to call in the big guns... @barlew, @FerrariVie, @andjef796, what’s your perspective on the new mobile GPUs, can we find this fine individual a monitor to pair things up with nicely?

 

[barlew]

Hi,

Looking for advice on a monitor please. I currently have a i7-8750H with NVIDIA 1060 laptop (Recoil 2 17"), but plan to upgrade to one of the 17" 3060 laptops in the next few weeks. (I know desktops are better for price/performance, but I like using on a sofa too.)

This will mostly be for work, but I will also be playing games (including Warthunder, Total War series).

* I think ~24" is the right size for my setup (desk isn't that big).
* Most monitors of that size seem to be 1920x1080, I don't know if 1440p is a something to consider (either from the point of view of working with a mobile 3060, or worth it at 24")?
* I'm intrigued by curved and ultra-wide setups, but whilst more immersive for gaming, I'm not sure how well they'd do for productivity, so it may be safer to stick with flat and 16:9 or similar.
* I don't particularly have a budget, it seems up to £300 has plenty of options for 24", but I can spend more if there's a benefit to doing so.
* I have separate speakers so don't need them, an audio out might be useful.

The new laptops should drive a 1440p absolutely fine.

The big question is what are you going to be using the monitor for as its not all about resolution?

 

[FerrariVie]

My personal opinion is that from 17" to 24" might not be that huge of a difference in terms of size, and when you consider that newer laptops are coming with 144, 165 or 240Hz, then unless you get an external monitor with similar refresh rate, I would prefer playing on a 17" 165Hz than a 24" 60 or 75Hz.

So in case you still want to invest in an external one, avoid the cheap low-refresh rate options, or else you would still prefer using your laptop's screen. If I was to buy an external monitor today, this would be my initial lower-cost possible option: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-C24RG50-24inch-Curved-Monitor/dp/B07PFJH2YX . Regarding the curvature, I've always read that it is actually beneficial in reducing eye strain for productivity work, so don't know why you might have concerns over it. However I've never used one, so can't comment based on my own experience (just from what I read).

Regarding 1080p x 1440p, I could not find any good enough option of 1440p with high-refresh-rate from a respectable brand, as those are usually available for 27"+ monitors. And I have concerns over the 3060 not being good enough for 1440p when mixing it with Ray Tracing. Taking Cyberpunk as an example, their spec sheet mentions a 3070 desktop (which is a lot more powerful than the mobile counterpart) for 1440p with RT ultra. Then for the 3060 mobile, my guess is that you would need to change settings to RT medium or low to keep 1440p resolution, so maybe 1080p with all maxed out would be a better option?

 

[mdwh]

The new laptops should drive a 1440p absolutely fine.

The big question is what are you going to be using the monitor for as its not all about resolution?

The main usage will be work (software development). After years of only using laptop on sofa (and almost one year of work from home) I've set up a small desk, currently testing it out by borrowing the spare TV (21.5" 1920x1080), but want to get a dedicated monitor. My understanding is that gaming can benefit from certain things (e.g. low response time?), so even though I'll mostly be using it for work, it'll be nice to use it for games at least some of the time (as I say, War Thunder and Total War series most common at the moment, although sometimes something older like Skyrim - I may be tempted by something newer like Cyberpunk too). (By the way, if anyone's wondering why I'm upgrading a 1060 laptop so soon, the screen developed a problem and would require a motherboard replacement, see my other thread on that!)

My personal opinion is that from 17" to 24" might not be that huge of a difference in terms of size, and when you consider that newer laptops are coming with 144, 165 or 240Hz, then unless you get an external monitor with similar refresh rate, I would prefer playing on a 17" 165Hz than a 24" 60 or 75Hz.

So in case you still want to invest in an external one, avoid the cheap low-refresh rate options, or else you would still prefer using your laptop's screen. If I was to buy an external monitor today, this would be my initial lower-cost possible option: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-C24RG50-24inch-Curved-Monitor/dp/B07PFJH2YX . Regarding the curvature, I've always read that it is actually beneficial in reducing eye strain for productivity work, so don't know why you might have concerns over it. However I've never used one, so can't comment based on my own experience (just from what I read).

Yes that's a good point about wanting at least as good quality as the laptop screen, and I'll look for at least 144Hz.

On curvature, yes the monitor you link does look very nice Although on the flip size I note that the monitor seems to have some "depth" to it in the stand, and so a flat monitor may work better with the space I have (40cm deep!).

One more question, since I'll be using an NVIDIA laptop should I be looking for a monitor including support for G Sync? I appreciate information on 3060 laptops may be unclear at this point though (I see PCS's page at https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/custom-laptops/nvidia-rtx-laptops/ mentions "Advanced Optimus" which reportedly will allow the benefits of both Optimus and G Sync, but it may not be clear if this will be supported on all the new laptops yet).

Thanks for the replies!

 

[mdwh]

In the end it turned out my "small desk" requirement mattered more than I first realised, as monitors (and their stands) have grown in size since I last had one many years ago. I made use of https://www.displayspecifications.com/ , and ended up with the AOC G2590PX which I'm happy with - 24.5", 1920x1080, 144Hz, G-Sync compatible (g-sync works fine over displayport with the 1060), and reviews I found seemed to think it was reasonable for monitors at that price. I see there's a newer AOC that people have been recommending here too, but the G2590 came with the slimmer stand for my desk