I’ve built a gaming PC and want to share my modest work desk (60” x 30”) with it instead of only having it hooked up to the TV. I’ve already got a 5K iMac 27” though. And this leaves me with a dilemma:
- Get a 27” monitor and share it with both the PC and the iMac. This would let me have a dual-monitor setup on the Mac, a display for gaming, and not give up the 5K display.
- Get a 34” Ultrawide and share it with a MBP/Mini and the PC.
My concern here is space for the 27” monitors, and text/photo quality with a 34”. The 27” setup would be more flexible, but I also don’t always need dual monitors at home, so I’d be moving them on monitor arms so that either one or the other is center stage most of the time. The 34” gives me a single immersive monitor, but there are few that have good gamut for photo editing as well, and text will definitely suffer. It fits the desk a little better as well, since I’ve got larger speakers (Paradigm A2s I got years ago). But, 34” displays seem harder to control IPS glow with, because the corners are more off-angle, even in curved displays.
I have used both these setups at work doing code development. 34” hooked up to a Mac Pro, and an iMac with a 27” 1440p display on the side. For that, I’ve preferred the iMac + Monitor setup. Especially since it lets me test Retina and non-Retina on the same machine. For gaming though, I think the 34” is more immersive. It’s rough since I’m pretty much trying to combine the two worlds into a single setup.
Thoughts that might kick me over the edge one way or the other?
- Get a 27” monitor and share it with both the PC and the iMac. This would let me have a dual-monitor setup on the Mac, a display for gaming, and not give up the 5K display.
- Get a 34” Ultrawide and share it with a MBP/Mini and the PC.
My concern here is space for the 27” monitors, and text/photo quality with a 34”. The 27” setup would be more flexible, but I also don’t always need dual monitors at home, so I’d be moving them on monitor arms so that either one or the other is center stage most of the time. The 34” gives me a single immersive monitor, but there are few that have good gamut for photo editing as well, and text will definitely suffer. It fits the desk a little better as well, since I’ve got larger speakers (Paradigm A2s I got years ago). But, 34” displays seem harder to control IPS glow with, because the corners are more off-angle, even in curved displays.
I have used both these setups at work doing code development. 34” hooked up to a Mac Pro, and an iMac with a 27” 1440p display on the side. For that, I’ve preferred the iMac + Monitor setup. Especially since it lets me test Retina and non-Retina on the same machine. For gaming though, I think the 34” is more immersive. It’s rough since I’m pretty much trying to combine the two worlds into a single setup.
Thoughts that might kick me over the edge one way or the other?
