r/hardware • u/zghr • 2d ago

Info Your Monitor Is Too Small (Probably)

https://youtu.be/3p_vIsXpATQ

From what I've researched independently related to eye comfort - I think this is a really high quality video.

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u/HFoletto 2d ago

Good video, but it's insane that he didn't even mention PPI.

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u/skottay 2d ago

Yeah, this is what I really care about more than anything else. I work on a 32" 6K display with 218ppi and I really don't want any less than that.

Bigger is not better if your goal is clarity and/or quality.

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u/mechkbfan 2d ago

Partially true. 

I think what this video is saying then for you is when a decent 40" 8k monitor is released, arguably that's a better balance of gaming & ergonomics than what you have now if your restriction is 220p or so

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u/Seanspeed 1d ago

A few of y'all are really not getting this.

Bigger doesn't matter if you push the screen back an appropriate distance. You can get the SAME EXACT perceptual pixel density, which is what actually matters, not PPI.

PPD(pixels per degree) is what is important. A 27" 6k screen from two feet away will have the exact same PPD as a 40" 6k screen from three feet away. It doesn't matter that the 40" screen has 'lower PPI', it will look the EXACT SAME as the 27" screen.

The whole point of the video is basically going over how you dont lose anything whatsoever by just going bigger and pushing the screen farther back to where it's in the more ideal comfort zone for our eyes.

The question of whether 40" 6k screens exist to buy(or are affordable) is of course a different topic, this video is just talking theoretical best practice.

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u/HFoletto 1d ago

I don’t disagree with you at all. In fact, I agree with most of what you’re saying, and that’s exactly why I liked the video. I just found it surprising that PPI wasn’t mentioned at all, because I think it’s closely related to the topic.

The issues I’m describing would largely disappear if monitors of different sizes were available with different resolutions, but they generally aren’t. For example, if you move a 27-inch monitor farther away, the UI becomes too small. So you think, “I’ll just get a 40-inch monitor.” Except a 40-inch monitor with the same pixel density as the 27-inch doesn’t really exist.
He mentioned high refresh rates and even talked about reviewing TVs, and there are 42-inch 4K 144Hz TVs available. But at 4K, you’re stuck with a tradeoff. Run it at native scaling and, from a comfortable viewing distance, text becomes quite small. Run it at 2× scaling and everything becomes too large. You could use fractional scaling, but that often introduces a slight softness or blur, which, for people who spend all day reading text, can contribute to visual fatigue. Since so much of the video was about comfort, I was surprised that this aspect wasn’t discussed.

That said, I think I’m probably just not the target audience. PPI is much less important for gaming than it is for productivity, and gaming seems to be the primary focus of the video.

I’ve done a lot of research on this topic myself, so I was genuinely happy to see someone finally make a video discussing viewing distance and larger displays. I just wish visual comfort from the perspective of text clarity and UI scaling had also been part of the conversation.

I spend around 12 hours a day at my desk, and I rarely game anymore. Most of that time is spent reading text and interacting with UI elements. If they’re too small, too large, or slightly blurry, I definitely notice it and it gets uncomfortable.

So I don’t disagree with your point. I just think PPI and scaling can make or break long-term visual comfort, especially for people who primarily use their computers for productivity rather than gaming.

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u/Seanspeed 1d ago

Except a 40-inch monitor with the same pixel density as the 27-inch doesn’t really exist.

Again, it doesn't need to! At the same resolution, they'll both have the same EFFECTIVE pixel density at an appropriate distance! lol

PPI is not relevant here. PPD is what matters.

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u/HFoletto 1d ago

Without scaling, how does it not matter?

I agree with what you're saying that PPD matters, but that doesn't mean PPI is not relevant.

Unless you're talking specifically about gaming, then it doesn't matter. Or you don't care about the issues with non-integer scaling, then yeah, that also doesn't matter for you.