My happiness with nascent 4K on the desktop, especially in its
lowest-cost form, does not mean I am satisfied with desktop displays. My ideals are
sky-high and I will be among the
last to be satisfied with desktop displays.
I am happy that display technology has finally awoken after
seven or eight years of hibernation. For nearly a decade, the best a prosumer could purchase was a 30-inch 2560x1600 LCD monitor. I purchased several during that period and every time I did, I wondered, "why is this still the pinnacle of premium desktop display technology?"
It really bothered me. Yes, I know very expensive options existed.
Today, desktop 4K is limited by interlink technologies such as HDMI 1.4. Like the displays themselves, the interlink technologies have been all too comfortable exclusively attending to the living room. Nearly a decade of low expectations means there is a great deal of room for improvement.
On the bright side, within the year, I expect a second generation of 4K displays will address many of today's limitations.
Across my various PCs, I use several premium 30-inch LCD monitors and now two
Seiki 39-inch televisions, and I am thrilled that the curmudgeonly 30-inch LCD is finally getting a well-deserved thrashing. 1600 rows is so 2005. As long as you can stomach the 30Hz refresh of HDMI 1.4, there is no reason to spend
more for fewer than half the pixels. And soon you'll not even need to suffer the 30Hz limitation.
I am surprised that anyone would think I am
satisfied with desktop displays. My opinion is that today,
for programming, a 39-inch television beats a premium 30-inch monitor at twice the price. Does it beat
two 30-inch monitors? No. But at that point, you're comparing a $500 television versus $2,000 of monitors.
Putting aside budgets and today's technology limitations, though, here are my priorities for desktop displays and some soft expectations I have for the future.
Desktop display priorities
As a programmer, I believe the priorities for desktop displays are the following, starting with the most important.
- Usable screen real-estate for displaying code and tools throughout the entire field of view, minimizing bezels, scrolling, or window shuffling.
- Concave screen surface centered around the programmer's point of view.
- High pixel density to display text and information clearly.
- High refresh rate to avoid the sensation of input lag.
- Matte screen surface for use within office spaces without glare.
- Good color accuracy.
Quick aside: for the time being, I'm not yet sold on the trajectory of VR goggles. VR may evolve rapidly and into something I'll really enjoy, but I feel it has wider technical and human-interface ground to cover than traditional displays.
Ideals
My long-term ideal display is considerably beyond today's technology. Below are reasonable future possibilities assuming the reinvigorated display industry continues innovating without another regression similar to the
taint of HD.
Early 2014
Having only recently realized that 2560x1600 at 30 inches is not the terminus of desktop computing, we are in a period of transition. We know today's technology, of course, and the first-generation 4K displays achieve the most usable screen real-estate with several concessions elsewhere. It's quite imperfect, but it is what we have now.
| Time | Early 2014 |
| Size | ~40 inches |
| Resolution | 3840x2160 ("4K") |
| Technology | LED-backlit LCD |
| Form-factor | Flat panel |
| Refresh rate | 30 frames per second |
| Color accuracy | Mediocre |
| Target price | $500 |
Late 2014
Later this year, I am confident higher-specification 4K displays will be available. Here is a target I'd like at least one manufacturer to aim for.
| Time | Late 2014 |
| Size | ~40 inches |
| Resolution | 3840x2160 ("4K") |
| Technology | LED-backlit LCD |
| Form-factor | Flat panel |
| Refresh rate | 60 frames per second |
| Color accuracy | Good |
| Target price | $700 |
Namely, DisplayPort 1.2 and/or HDMI 2 will allow for 60 frames per second refresh. Meanwhile, a broader spectrum of manufacturers means it's reasonable to expect higher-quality panels with better color.
You'll probably note that I do not want the size to diminish to something like 24-inches, 28-inches, or even 32-inches. While I certainly would welcome those as additional options for others' use-cases, for
maximum usable screen real-estate, I want 4K at approximately 40-inches. I can use 1:1 zoom at this size. Any smaller and I'd need to zoom text and user interface controls, reducing the usable real-estate. That would be putting pixel density above real-estate.
Early 2016
Assuming the industry pushes hard, I expect to see 8K displays about two years from today. Because I value screen real-estate out to my peripheral vision first and pixel density later, 8K means an even larger display.
| Time | Early 2016 |
| Size | ~50 inches |
| Resolution | 7680x4320 ("8K") |
| Technology | LED-backlit LCD |
| Form-factor | Flat panel |
| Refresh rate | 60 frames per second |
| Color accuracy | Good |
| Target price | $1,200 |
That target price is probably wishful thinking. I'd pay a lot more for such a display.
~2020
If OLED presses forward as I hope it does, I'd expect to see concave desktop displays at the start of the next decade.
| Time | Early 2020s |
| Size | ~55 inches |
| Resolution | 7680x4320+ ("8K") |
| Technology | OLED |
| Form-factor | Concave |
| Refresh rate | 60+ frames per second |
| Color accuracy | Very good |
| Target price | $2,400 |
~2025
Perhaps I am too optimistic, but I think that within about ten years, we could have absolutely awesome desktop displays.
| Time | Mid 2020s |
| Size | ~55 inches |
| Resolution | 10000x7000+ |
| Technology | OLED |
| Form-factor | Concave |
| Refresh rate | 60+ frames per second |
| Color accuracy | Excellent |
| Target price | $3,000 |
Ideal
If technical limits had no bearing on reality, an ideal single-user desktop monitor (outside of VR) would be something like this:
| Size | ~55 inches |
| Resolution | 15000x12000+ |
| Technology | OLED or other |
| Form-factor | Concave |
| Refresh rate | 120+ frames per second |
| Color accuracy | Excellent |
Obviously with display technology that advanced, I'd also want whole-wall or ceiling displays for collaborative work and entertainment.