Roughly gauging text size on QHD monitor

[GaryG]

Need a logic/reality check... I want more screen estate and want to stick with one monitor (prefer a single central one). Currently have 24" FHD and looking at at 27" QHD (any bigger and it would obscure my speakers, would prefer to avoid moving them etc etc...)

Just concerned the text could be a little small. So, no local shops have one to try out so I wondered if this was in any way accurate: figure out pixel densities (24" FHD is ~80% of 27" QHD) then take a screenshot and reduce it to 80%... That should be a rough gauge of how a 27" QHD would look, isn't it, just to see the relative text, taskbar sizes etc....?

Can't decide if this is a yay or if I've lost the plot completely...

Cheers.

[uOpt]

Well, the higher DPI monitors rely on your applications being able to scale the text. Not all do, especially older ones.

You would need a 30" monitor to have the same text size without scaling.

You could mount a bigger display in portrait orientation. Presumably that doesn't obscure your speakers and it give you more real estate. You can even buy specialized monitors for portrait mode, although you can just rotate any old monitor.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BSL ... X0DER&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XT ... X0DER&th=1

[GaryG]

I don't think portrait mode would work for me, especially as I work from home on this setup too, way too much horizontal scrolling

I ran the numbers and think I found a 32" (which would just about fit in my space ok-ish) had absolutely identical pitch as my current one which i considered, was thinking more in terms of if i was happy with a 27" then would give me more physical room. And, call me weird, but I don't really like sitting in front of large monitors, too much head/eye movement, can feel almost overwhelmed. If I can deal with the text at 100% scaling on a 27" then would prefer that form factor.

Thanks.

[jdnz]

24" fhd ( 1920x1080 ) is 91ppi whilst 27" qhd ( 2560x1440 ) is 109ppi - whilst that sounds quite a jump in real terms it's not that noticable ( compared to HiDpi monitors which are over 140ppi)

I went from dual 24" fhd to dual 27" qhd at work ( both running 100% scaling ) and didn't find the text size change an issue, and I've got a 34" wQHD at home that's also 109ppi and have zero issues with plugins on it at 100% scaling. Now have a 38" at work ( 3840x1600 - again 109dpi ) and find it a good compromise of screen area vs text size ( again running 100% scaling ), but they're not cheap

Watch out with using monitors in portrait mode ( or using really tall monitors like 43" 4Ks ) - you can end up with the top of the monitor being uncomfortably high, leading to neck strain ( we've got a few 43" 4K monitors at work - I absolutely hate it when I have to work on them )

[MrJubbly]

If you're on Windows 11, it's quick and easy to change the UI scaling to make the text match the size you would have been used to at a lower resolution.

Depending on the DAW and plugins you're using, they may also be able to scale in relation to the OS scaling setting. For example, FL Studio is able to use the system scaling for its UI and also just added independent plugin scaling options for most of its native plugins.

I used to work using a 1080p display on my previous Windows 7 device. But my current Win 11 device is set either to 250% or 300% OS scaling on a 4K UHD 28" display, and text sizes and graphics on most apps and plugins are very comparable by size and readability in relation to how I used to view them on my old 1080p display.

Most of my third party plugins scale very well at 4K UHD. Only u-he's plugins are slightly smaller than I would prefer them to be (and that's at their maximum 200% scaling setting).