Click this if you've used an ultrawide monitor before!

I'm thinking of using an ultrawide monitor for productivity in the hope of getting this:

- Lots of screenspace with less cable mess and hassle
- Be able to get tons of screenspace wirelessly with a single miracast dongle with my thinkpad yoga so hopefully I will eliminate basically all cable mess
-

1. What problems do you see arising in my plan?

2. http://www.lg.com/us/ultrawide-monitors
You see these prices ranging from 199 to 1000

If you care about productivity and don't necessarily need pixel density and don't want color distortion/viewing angle problems when moving side to side on your swivel chair, what monitors would you consider?

3. My laptop doesn't have an ultrawide monitor. If I try to use miracast with the monitor, what will happen?

4. http://www.lg.com/us/ultrawide-monitors why such a massive price range?

5. Let's say you end up deciding to get two cheap ultrawide monitors that are 25 inch diagonal instead of the 34 inch diagonal expensive one. Now you want to hook your thinkpad yoga or any other laptop as quickly and with as little wire clutter as possible (including options like miracast). But now you have TWO monitors. What would be your best bets?

 

>> 1. What problems do you see arising in my plan?
Miracast only supports maximum resolution of 1080p (1920 x 1080). For Ultrawide, you'll be outputting resolutions of either 2560x1080, or 3440x1440. In either case, DisplayPort is highly recommended.

>> If you care about productivity and don't necessarily need pixel density and don't want color distortion/viewing angle problems when moving side to side on your swivel chair, what monitors would you consider?
I'd only buy a Dell 3440 x 1440 or LG 34" 3440x1440 model (both use panels manufactured by LG), for two reasons:
1) The 3440 x 1440 pixels are going to be far better than 2560 x 1080 for productivity. There are physically more pixels, which means you can physically put more stuff on the screen.
2) You'll want an IPS panel, to avoid color shift at the extreme edges of the monitor.

>> My laptop doesn't have an ultrawide monitor. If I try to use miracast with the monitor, what will happen?
Don't know. I don't recommend using Miracast. Just use a DisplayPort cable (recommended), if your laptop supports it. If you must use HDMI, you can output 3440 x 1440 @ 50Hz, which should be fine for productivity use.

>> 4. http://www.lg.com/us/ultrawide-monitors why such a massive price range?
Different sizes (25" or 34"), and different resolutions (2560 x 1080 or 3440 x 1440).
The monitor you want is an LG 34UM95, which should cost you around $850 on Amazon or NewEgg. Honestly, if you can't afford that, then don't bother buying an ultrawide monitor. Just get an inexpensive 27" 2560 x 1440p IPS display instead.

>> Let's say you end up deciding to get two cheap ultrawide monitors that are 25 inch diagonal instead of the 34 inch diagonal expensive one. Now you want to hook your thinkpad yoga or any other laptop as quickly and with as little wire clutter as possible (including options like miracast). But now you have TWO monitors. What would be your best bets?

Your best bet is to not buy those inexpensive 25" ultrawide monitors in the first place. Ultrawide monitors are on the cutting-edge of monitor design right now, which means they are expensive. If price is a concern for you, then buy a 27" 2560 x 1440p display instead. They are far cheaper than a 34" 3440 x 1440 monitor.

 

1. My laptop (thinkpad yoga) doesn't have a display port only mini HDMI. So I can't use any of the display port stuff you mentioned, correct?

2. So let's say you have a laptop with only USB 3.0 and hdmi or only USB 3.0 and mini HDMI.

And let's say you just want to plug in one thing into your laptop (maybe two if you have to) each time and get plenty of screen space each time everytime without fail.

My experience using a USB 3.0 dock was not very good. Failed all the time, lots of wire clutter, easy to accidentally bump into a wire and the slightest bump would ruin the configuration even if nothing was dislodged. What would you do personally?

The next laptop I'll get would most likely be the thinkpad yoga 15 which only has full sized HDMI I believe

 

". If price is a concernfor you, then buy a 27" 2560 x 1440p display instead. They are far cheaper than a 34" 3440 x 1440 monitor"

Well if I went the cheap route I would go two 27 inch monitors.

But you can't reliably daisy chain an HDMI between two 27 inch monitors can you? Can a single HDMI really give you that?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=hdmi split

I used to use an HDMI and then use a USB 3.0 hub (which is now broken) and I would always get an octopus of a mess of wires that were always easy to bump into and ruin everything. 90 degree wire directors should help but I am not sure the ideal configuration for 1) connect just one or two things then done 2) reliability
http://www.amazon.com/Afunta-Speed-...6060&sr=8-2&keywords=90+degree+hdmi+mini+hdmi

 

>> Well if I went the cheap route I would go two 27 inch monitors.

That doesn't really make sense. The cost of two 27" monitors is going to be close to the price of a single Ultrawide display anyway. A single 27" 1440p monitor will cost around $300 - $400, depending if you want to buy the cheapest-of-the-cheap monitors or if you're willing to spend more money on features (build quality, monitor stand quality, input connections, etc). That means $600 - $800 for two monitors. Meanwhile, an ultrawide display costs $850.

If you're trying to buy 2x 27" monitors as a workaround to save money when what you really want is an ultrawide display, then just save up enough money and spend $850 to buy what you really want.

>> But you can't reliably daisy chain an HDMI between two 27 inch monitors can you? Can a single HDMI really give you that?
HDMI cannot be daisy chained. If you want to output to two monitors that accept HDMI, then you'll need to have two HDMI outputs on your laptop.

I replied in another discusson thread with similar advice as to what I will give now... Keep it Simple.
If you can afford $850, buy a 34" 1440p ultrawide monitor and connect it via HDMI. That is the item that you really want, and what will actually fit your needs. If you can only afford $350 - $400, then buy a single 27" 1440p monitor.

Don't make things complicated by trying to get 2x 27" 1440p monitors. By the time you're done with HDMI splitters, multi-head display adapters, miracast ,etc, you're going to be stuck exactly where you don't want to be: a complicated mess of an "octopus of wires" where you're going to spend close to $850 anyway.

Honestly, just do yourself a favor. Save up $850, and buy the one monitor that you really want. One monitor, one HDMI cable. And you're done.