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DaGaffer

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Anyone got much experience of multi-input monitors? I have limited space for multiple monitors so I fancy having one big one that could display my gaming PC and my work laptop at the same time. I'm prepared to sacrifice ultimate gaming performance for decent resolution. I've spotted an interesting BenQ one which would work but is optimised for Macs, so other options would be appreciated.

 

Scouse

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Anyone got much experience of multi-input monitors? I have limited space for multiple monitors so I fancy having one big one that could display my gaming PC and my work laptop at the same time. I'm prepared to sacrifice ultimate gaming performance for decent resolution. I've spotted an interesting BenQ one which would work but is optimised for Macs, so other options would be appreciated.

I don't understand this. Like, your laptop on the right hand side of the screen and gaming PC on the left at the same time? "At the same time"? - as in, not just "switch inputs"?

How would you run your games, and run your laptop? Separate keyboard and mouse? And the monitor knows to show updates on one half of the screen from one source, and the other half of the screen on the other?

I've been drinking (heavily), but why would you want that?

OR - just get a big telly like me and put PC on HDMI1 and <insert whatever else> on HDMI 2, 3, or 4 and switch between the inputs when needed? You know, like, normal?
 

caLLous

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Anyone got much experience of multi-input monitors? I have limited space for multiple monitors so I fancy having one big one that could display my gaming PC and my work laptop at the same time. I'm prepared to sacrifice ultimate gaming performance for decent resolution. I've spotted an interesting BenQ one which would work but is optimised for Macs, so other options would be appreciated.

All ultrawides and larger monitors have a slew of Picture In/By Picture (PIP or PBP) configs. PIP is one input taking up the whole screen with the second input in a window on top (size and position configurable) and PBP is half for one input and half for the other (which is what you're after).

For gaming... you might get complaints about weird resolutions but modern games will scale to whatever they're told the resolution is (which would be 1720x1440 for half of a 34" 3440x1440 ultrawide). It would be a strange gaming experience (not even 4:3) and you'd be limited for peripheral vision in shooters (which is one of the best reasons to game on an ultrawide in the first place) and I just think it'd be a genuinely awful experience but it wouldn't be set in stone - you could always switch the input to the gaming PC and go back to PBP afterwards.

As for controlling both from one keyboard/mouse, some monitors that are more oriented to this sort of thing have built-in KVM switches or you can go down the software route with something like Input Director - which is one of the best (free) solutions if all the computers are on Windows. You just move your mouse to the right of the left hand half and it seamlessly moves to the right hand half, it's as if it's one desktop. You can lock the controls to either side as well so you don't "fall" into the wrong system with frantic mouse movement.

I have a 38" 3840x1600 ultrawide with a 34" 3440x1440 above it (which is, funnily enough, running in PBP from 2 sources all the time) - if you have the space for the bigger one the extra pixels definitely make a difference (especially height-wise).
 
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DaGaffer

Down With That Sorta Thing
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All ultrawides and larger monitors have a slew of Picture In/By Picture (PIP or PBP) configs. PIP is one input taking up the whole screen with the second input in a window on top (size and position configurable) and PBP is half for one input and half for the other (which is what you're after).

For gaming... you might get complaints about weird resolutions but modern games will scale to whatever they're told the resolution is (which would be 1720x1440 for half of a 34" 3440x1440 ultrawide). It would be a strange gaming experience (not even 4:3) and you'd be limited for peripheral vision in shooters (which is one of the best reasons to game on an ultrawide in the first place) and I just think it'd be a genuinely awful experience but it wouldn't be set in stone - you could always switch the input to the gaming PC and go back to PBP afterwards.

As for controlling both from one keyboard/mouse, some monitors that are more oriented to this sort of thing have built-in KVM switches or you can go down the software route with something like Input Director - which is one of the best (free) solutions if all the computers are on Windows. You just move your mouse to the right of the left hand half and it seamlessly moves to the right hand half, it's as if it's one desktop. You can lock the controls to either side as well so you don't "fall" into the wrong system with frantic mouse movement.

I'm not going to run a KVM, I don't have a problem with mouse/keyboards, and I wouldn't be playing games while I'm working, but personal and work applications on the same screen during work hours would be useful, like (home) Netflix and (work) Office. Like I said, my main issue is lack of space to run two separate monitors so at the moment I have to work on the (small) laptop screen unless I switch over entirely to dual screen (I have an adaptor) and not use the main PC at all while I'm working.
 

caLLous

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I'm not going to run a KVM, I don't have a problem with mouse/keyboards, and I wouldn't be playing games while I'm working, but personal and work applications on the same screen during work hours would be useful, like (home) Netflix and (work) Office. Like I said, my main issue is lack of space to run two separate monitors so at the moment I have to work on the (small) laptop screen unless I switch over entirely to dual screen (I have an adaptor) and not use the main PC at all while I'm working.
In that case you might look at one of the ludicrous ultraultrawides like this Samsung. It's basically two 16:9, 2560x1440 screens side by side - good for full screen Netflix on one side, plenty of space for work stuff on the other, not an outrageous number of pixels to power for gaming (~10% less than a 4k display) and still a smaller footprint than 2 separate monitors (this might not be true). I always thought they were ridiculous but regular PBP is a pretty ideal use case.
 

DaGaffer

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In that case you might look at one of the ludicrous ultraultrawides like this Samsung. It's basically two 16:9, 2560x1440 screens side by side - good for full screen Netflix on one side, plenty of space for work stuff on the other, not an outrageous number of pixels to power for gaming (~10% less than a 4k display) and still a smaller footprint than 2 separate monitors (this might not be true). I always thought they were ridiculous but regular PBP is a pretty ideal use case.

LOL. I think that might be a bit much. I have this sort of space to play with
 

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caLLous

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Ok, first thing's first - your FH isn't green enough.

Anyway, there's plenty of space! That Samsung is 1200mm wide, I reckon you could perch it on the window sill and the curve would mean that, even if it's wider than the window aperture, the sides would clear the wall either side (assuming the desk isn't deep enough for it to sit on). If that's too big, the 38" one I've got (one of the LGs here) is just shy of 900mm wide. You could always go for a big 16:9 4k, like this 43" one from LG - same width in pixels and physically (approx.) as the 38" ultrawide but 560 more pixels in height.

You can't have enough desktop real estate, especially if it's going to be split between 2 systems. I'd go for as big a screen as will fit.
 

caLLous

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Of all the gimmicky bullshit manufacturers are cramming into their phones under the banner of "AI" (manipulating photos etc), live 2-way translation of phone calls in the new Samsung Galaxy S24 range is the first one that actually sounds useful.

 

MYstIC G

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Of all the gimmicky bullshit manufacturers are cramming into their phones under the banner of "AI" (manipulating photos etc), live 2-way translation of phone calls in the new Samsung Galaxy S24 range is the first one that actually sounds useful.


Of course it does, it's the closest we've got to the universal translator from Star Trek
 

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