Responding from my Dell u3417w, I have to agree that ultrawide is a great form factor for a monitor. The PPI of my monitor is about that of an Apple Thunderbolt display, so I do miss the "retina" experience of my Macbook Pro driving the monitor, but overall having so much horizontal real estate is glorious. I think my dream, too, would be a monitor with these dimensions but a higher PPI.
Even after months with the glorious panel in the LG and using the 15" retina as second display, going back to big ole' country pixels was almost a price I was willing to pay for ultrawide. I think the 2 x 28"s is the right choice for me, but only by a gnat's dick.
If I could have beaten my Mac into driving the LG at a non-2x scale, I'd have kept with it, it's such a nice panel. But now it's on my Win 10 box, which supports it perfectly; that was a very pleasant surprise.
I am not happy about its brightness level -- it's noticeably dimmer than an Apple Cinema Display, and turning brightness/contrast up just gives you a washed-out image.
The other thing is that the width, for me, doesn't add much utility. I like my windows centered so I am looking straight ahead at what I am working on, and keeping certain things (like log outputs and dashboards) in the periphery of my vision is just distracting. I know some people enjoy tiled window arrangements and vertically-split editor windows, but that stuff just doesn't do anything for me. So I am not using the horizontal space very efficiently. The best use of the width is being able to read wide diffs or other things that go side by side.
I also couldn't get it to work as a USB hub, not sure why. Thunderbolt would have been better, at any rate -- then you'd only need two cables instead of three.
I am considering replacing my home monitor, a Cinema Display, with the Dell 27-inch 4K, but it's just so damn ugly. It's got the thick bezel instead of the "infinity edge" one or the black glass of the 5K (which I can't buy since it requires two DisplayPort connections).
I agree. I think that's the same one I have, and I love it. Wide enough that I can fit three windows side by side, and tall enough to be useful. I'd actually like higher PPI (like you I've noticed it's not quite retina, even at 4K), and I'd like it to be even wider. Four windows side by side would be amazing. But still, for now it's a huge leap forward for my productivity and happiness. I'm hoping to see more ultra widescreen monitors and higher PPIs on them in the future.
Responding from my Dell u3417w, I have to agree that ultrawide is a great form factor for a monitor. The PPI of my monitor is about that of an Apple Thunderbolt display, so I do miss the "retina" experience of my Macbook Pro driving the monitor, but overall having so much horizontal real estate is glorious. I think my dream, too, would be a monitor with these dimensions but a higher PPI.
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