# Computer hardware for high resolution monitor



## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

Thought maybe I'd run this past you all to see if anyone can educate me a bit.

I would like to have a new computer. Most of what I want is really pretty basic stuff. I would be using it for basic web browsing but would also be using it for more productive work. I deal with a bit of word processing stuff but also a fair bit of spreadsheet setups where I would really like to have some screen real estate. 

By screen real estate, I don't need a few things to be HUGE. I need to see a lot of small things at the same time. What I need is to be able to open up a very large spreadsheet without having to scroll side to side or multiple spreadsheets that I can see all at the same time, or multiple spreadsheets, word docs or webpages all open at the same time. In times past, I had a three monitor setup and that worked pretty well.

I don't need to watch HD movies but might want to watch the occasional YouTube. I don't play games on it.

But what I seem to be having a hard time figuring out is what computer hardware I would need to support something like a 2K or better yet, 4K monitor. I know I could use multiple monitors, and I've done that in the past. But with the prices on some of the higher res monitors coming down a bit, I can see how a single monitor would be nice to use.

It's been close to three years since I've bought any computer hardware whatsoever so I'm a bit out of the loop. What kind of hardware would I need? I know prices are way less than they used to be and hardware specs have no doubt improved, too. 

Just to make sure, I'm thinking along the lines of a basic desktop computer. Laptops are fine but I already have that covered. Tablets are fine, and I have that covered, too. But I no longer have a desktop and other than a 1999 model HP which I think is pretty much done.

My basic software needs are pretty simple, too. Mostly, I have in mind to use an OS like Linux Mint / Cinnamon, Firefox or similar browser, and a program like OpenOffice or similar. That would pretty much cover 95% of my computer usage. I'm not much interested in Windows anymore though I know a lot of computers that I would buy might come with a version of Windows installed on it. In that case, I might like to do a dual boot setup and load Linux along side of Windows. But if it did not have Windows at all, that would be fine. 

I would imagine just about the cheapest computers out there would work for me with a couple of cheap monitors and would probably do ok. Just thought maybe I'd take a step up from that, though, if it's not overly costly. 

Glad for any suggestions.


Thanks!


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

If you are running Linux and Open office, pretty much any computer from the last 10 years or so will handle that.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

mnn2501 said:


> If you are running Linux and Open office, pretty much any computer from the last 10 years or so will handle that.


But will it handle a high resolution monitor?


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

The resolution ultimately depends on the capability of the video card used in your PC and the video driver of your operating system.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

Shrek said:


> The resolution ultimately depends on the capability of the video card used in your PC and the video driver of your operating system.


From what I can gather, most of the lower end computers not intended for gaming use integrated graphics rather than a separate graphics card.

I know what a graphics card is, I even put one in my old 1999 computer to set up for up to 5 monitors. That was pretty straight forward for the most part, at least hardware wise. 

But where would the specs for integrated video capability be? Would that a part of the motherboard specs? Or processor specs? Or is it more a function of the actual video driver? 

My problem is, I kinda know what I want to end up with, just don't know quite how to search for it.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

Hmmm... Just came across a couple of online articles that I hadn't seen before. Kinda sounds like a 4K monitor might be a bit more mainstream a few years from now and maybe I'd be better to either go for something lower in resolution or stick with the multiple monitors. 

A pair of 1920 X 1080 monitors would be pretty easy for most of the hardware to handle plus they're pretty cheap, too.

I might have been trying to take a bit too big of a leap. But hey, it was fun looking.

Thanks for the input!


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Your saying 'high res' but I'm not sure it means what you think it means.
Spreadsheet do not need 'high res' they just need large size -- big difference. 
High Res refers to dpi -- meaning high quality graphics, but you're not talking about things that need high quality graphics (ie games and High Def movies). A spread sheet and even YouTube videos will take pretty much any graphics card that works (including integrated). What I believe you mean is a wide monitor. I have one 23" wide monitor at home which works good for spreadsheets and other wide things, not so good if you want to see multiple programs at once (my triple monitors at work are much better for that). You can set the resolution of your monitors in the O.S. settings which has the effect of making things larger or smaller.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

I'll put it this way... My wife has computer screen with 1280 X 768 maximum resolution. I do not like it. Everything that I try to display on that screen is inclined to take up way more of the screen than I want it to and making it smaller means that the details are not as crisp and clear. I'm typing on a computer that has a 1600 X 900 screen. I tolerate it. If I could increase the settings to 1080p, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Yes, that means things would be smaller on the screen, but they'd still be crisp and clear, more so than if I just make them smaller on the 1600 X 900 screen. 

I'm ALWAYS running out of desktop real estate and need things to be crisp and clean and clear even if they're very small.

So I don't know if I know what resolution means or not. But I know that I get frustrated with low resolution screens.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Sounds like a larger Monitor is what you need you said running out of real estate if you had a WIDE screen Computer monitor you would not be running out of typing space. 
Monitors are so inexpensive todays a nice 24 inch Wide Screen these days run under 150 bucks WAY better then buying a new computer.~ And then get a LED one which is sharper in details then the older LCD ones.
That is why also most HDTV's now are LED LCD are all but gone. LED are much sharper in details then LCD


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

arabian knight said:


> Sounds like a larger Monitor is what you need you said running out of real estate if you had a WIDE screen Computer monitor you would not be running out of typing space.
> Monitors are so inexpensive todays a nice 24 inch Wide Screen these days run under 150 bucks WAY better then buying a new computer.~ And then get a LED one which is sharper in details then the older LCD ones.
> That is why also most HDTV's now are LED LCD are all but gone. LED are much sharper in details then LCD


Thanks, that might be one way to go. Actually, a 24" wide screen sounds like something I may have to go check out. I do need a new computer, though. I just want to make sure I'm buying hardware that is going to do what I need it to do.


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