Hacker News Reader

Comment by shackattack | Hacker News Reader

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.

View on HN

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.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com