A monitor with a built-in thunderbolt 2 KVM | Hacker News Reader

A monitor with a built-in thunderbolt 2 KVM

dshack.net

44 pointsshackattack27 comments

The author says he wants a 4K display. 4K is 3840x2160 - 8,294,400 pixels. This monitor is only 3440x1440 - 4,953,600 pixels.

That is hardly more than a 2560x1600 30" display (4,096,000 pixels). By contrast a full 4K display has more than twice as many pixels as a 30" display.

I can't speak enough praises of the Dell UP3214Q. It is by far the nicest monitor I've ever used and gives full 60Hz with OS X 10.9.3 on a MacBook Pro. It came fully calibrated from Dell, has a solid-feeling aluminum base, awesome matte finish and provides a USB3 hub. I was able to grab one from Newegg for $2200. Now, it isn't TB2, but I'd rather have a nice, adjustable display a buy a separate thunderbolt 2 dock when one comes out.

For the price I purchased it, it is less than two Dell U3011 or U3014 displays, is better-constructed and doesn't suffer from dual-screen calibration issues. I don't consider Apple displays viable since they aren't height-adjustable and only come in a glossy finish.

I'm the author of the post. Good point– it's definitely more of a 2560p+ than a real 4K display.

I was tempted by the UP3214Q, but 32" just seems way to big for my needs, both from a desk-space perspective but also because of PPI. What I like about my retina macbook is that it's 2560x1600 on a 13" screen (227ppi) vs the Dell's 140ppi.

The other win here is just the ease of switching inputs– if there was a standalone thunderbolt/USB3 KVM, or even a well put together DP2/USB3 KVM I'd happily buy that. As far as I've seen, though, most KVMs are one or more of: USB2 only, ugly and clunky, or crazy expensive.

No problem - at first glance I thought the res looked pretty high, however once I started doing some quick math it didn't add up.

Yeah, I haven't seen any TB2 docks yet. Most seem to be just TB1. In my specific case I use the wireless keyboard and trackpad, so it ends up just being the minidp cable, power and headphones. Which granted is more than just a single TB cable, but not too bad.

In terms of the PPI, the effective size of elements on the screen of a 15" rMBP at 1920x1200 is 147ppi. So the 140ppi of the UP3214Q works out really well together. While not quite as smooth as the retina screen, it feels much nicer than the common 27" and 30" displays that I've used in the past.

In terms of the physical size, it does feel large, but for right now I have it on a small corner desk at my house and it fits snugly.

This is maybe an option, if it ever ships:

http://zenboxx.com/

Combines power, USB, and thunderbolt in a single adapter.

I use a wireless keyboard as well, but the value to me is being able to switch peripherals between a mac and a pc without a bunch of unplugging. Someone below suggested Synergy, though, which I might try.

That does look interesting. It appears it is pass-through for the thunderbold/minidp and power, but then the audio and USB are from the USB. Thanks for the link!

I use a Belkin Thunderbolt dock. Does all that and more. Firewire, GigE, etc.

Well, not strictly true, power and a TB cable out the MBP. But from what I heard, the Zenboxx is slip sliding away.

You can just use Synergy. It will turn off the display that the keyboard and mouse aren't on, so the monitor will hopefully auto-switch to the other input.

Failing that, most monitors have a serial command interface, so you can just tell the monitor to switch inputs when the keyboard and mouse move to the other display.

You're right though, there are no acceptable DisplayPort KVMs for less than $700.

Is synergy smooth enough for gaming?

In my experience Synergy is a little wonky. It gets you about 90% of the way to what you want.

However, for gaming I would think it would be tough - I would think it would be easy to accidentally switch back to the other machine in the middle of the game.

You can hit scroll lock to lock the mouse to 1 screen. As long as you game on the synergy server machine there is no problems.

Just make sure your inputs are connected to the machine you do gaming on. If you do gaming on both, then this might not be an option.

> Failing that, most monitors have a serial command interface, so you can just tell the monitor to switch inputs when the keyboard and mouse move to the other display.

Really? I sincerely hope so because it would be a boon if they did, but I'm not sure they do (Dells for example), but I would love to be proven wrong! I would love to be able to switch monitor inputs using a programmable mechanism rather than (usually) clumsy OSD menus.

I have one. It's the best monitor I've ever used. And I've went through a lot of monitors, including the 4K Dells.

Maybe it isn't an issue on OSX, but with a 4K 32" fonts were too small unless I upped the DPI in Windows, which resulted in blurry text/icons. Many apps aren't DPI aware in Windows.

Compared to running the UP3214Q at 125% DPI, I'd also say the total desktop real estate is similar to the 34UM95.

Also, this LG has the best matte coating I've ever seen on a display. Completely unobtrusive. It looks semi-glossy but is still effective at cutting out reflections. My old 3008WFP had such a strong anti-glare coating that it gave off a noticeable grainy/ sparkle effect on solid color BGs. The UP3214Q was much better in this regard, though I still wished the coating was lighter.

I also really, really like 21:9 for gaming (FPS are amazing to play on this thing). I don't really care about 4K anymore, at least not until a higher-res 21:9 display comes out and Windows handles DPI scaling better.

"it's a very compelling alternative to a thunderbolt display, especially for those that have a lightweight mac alongside a cheap gaming PC"

This is the exact situation I've been trying to solve for awhile now, I wonder how many other devs have this same issue.

But this monitor is 34", not <=27". Ultra wide screen and only 1440 pixels high: similar DPI to an Apple Cinema Display but wider (not denser).

Yeah, what I really want is 4k in 24" with this feature-set. The Dell 2414Q is almost there, but without thunderbolt support: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l...

What is daily life like with a monitor that wide? I'd be curious to try it instead of a dual setup, but the inability to angle both halves of the monitors looks like it might cause viewing comfort issues up close.

Someone posted about it on reddit and there was a lot of discussion: http://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations/comments/24qmtf/just_...

Also this video review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnrxNfxRK_4

One thing to note is that is an IPS panel it has a much wider viewing angle than an ordinary TN panel. This video demonstrates via camera movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWXcNlh85Ps

I'm thinking about getting this screen for my game/workstation but I haven't decided yet.

The upcoming ROG Swift PG278Q is going to be a pretty cool monitor as well- 144hz at 2560x144o and some pretty amazing refresh rates as well

I would almost certainly get this over a Cinema Display at that price range. Looking forward to reviews of this display.

Are there monitors out there that allow input switching via USB? If the on-screen menus supported setting one button shortcut access to an input, I'd live with that, but the generally require some degree of navigation through an awkward menu.

Your "PagerDuty" link intrigued me, then I got redirected to https://www.jobscore.com/employer_login

My bad! Here's the actual link: http://www.pagerduty.com/jobs/

This has a 21.5:9 aspect ratio, which is kind of terrible compared with the standard 16:10 if you're accustomed to having lots of vertical space.

Actually it has the same or more vertical space than any monitor you can name in the sub-4k category. It just has an extra monitor's worth of width.

In fact, you can use it as 2 1720x1440 5:4 aspect ratio monitors, which is better for some use cases.

Wow, this looks amazing. Looks like I might be kicking the Apple displays to the curb.

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