You told us: Some of you use a 4K TV as a monitor, but there's more to it

Our own Bogdan Petrovan recently wrote about his experience using an ultrawide monitor for his PC, but it turns out that fellow AA writer Dhruv Bhutani preferred a 4K TV as his monitor.

Dhruv detailed his experience in a separate opinion article, and we also embedded a poll to find out whether readers are open to using a 4K TV as a monitor. Well, the results are in, and here’s how you voted.

Have you considered using a 4K TV as a monitor?

Results

Just over 1,200 votes were counted, and it turns out that 37.78% of polled readers already use a 4K TV as a monitor. Several readers also noted in the comments that they used a 4K TV as a monitor. We’re guessing that the article attracted many of these voters in the first place, but it’s still a noteworthy result.

In second place was the camp that chose “I like using multiple monitors to segregate my work,” accounting for 28.75% of the vote. Rounding out the top three was “I prefer ultrawide monitors,” accruing 17.28% of the vote. Interestingly, the multiple monitor and ultrawide monitor choices accounted for a combined 46% of polled readers, beating out the 4K TV camp.

Finally, 16.18% of respondents said they didn’t use a 4K TV as a monitor as it was too big. We’re guessing these readers are using a standard monitor, a laptop display, or a smaller TV with a sub-4K resolution instead.

Comments

• Matt Lamoureux: For 99% of people, using a TV for productivity and even normal gaming is a great idea. I use a 42″, and Windows PowerToys has Fancy Zones which works great for customizing any layout you can think of.
• Mark McCoskey: Have been using TV’s for years. My current NUC is plugged into an Hisense 85″. I use a wireless keyboard and mouse while sitting on the couch.
• Zckom: Not a gamer so regular 60Hz TV is fine for me. I got a free Samsung 4K TV (50″) when I bought my N20U in 2020. Since then, I have been using it as the monitor of my laptop.
• xxPaulCPxx: I used to use a 42″ 4K HDR Visio I got at Costco… I even updated it when it got a higher refresh rate. I eventually replaced it with a curved 32″ Samsung 4K. While I loved the bigger screen, with it being flat my eyes had to refocus constantly as I panned right to left between screens on the monitor. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a 42″ 4K with a curved screen – they used to make them! That would be my ideal setup.
• Dezirdt Uzurnaim: 42″ 1440p UW here. Use case scenarios differ but this has been the single greatest upgrade for both productivity and gaming. 2 apps SxS or a full 16×9 and a vertical app for messaging/cli/whatever. Why strain your eyes just to say you can have 4 apps open on the screen at once? In no way are you capable enough to make that justification. Also, multiple active desktops FTW.
• Hagar: I have had 2 of these in the last couple of years and they have made my home office a great experience! I started with a Samsung TU8000 which worked well but upgrading my second monitor – a 27″ 4K monitor made it look dim and washed out. So I upgraded to a Sony X85J 43″ TV and it was so bright and had such a great colour palette, it made the new 27″ monitor look a bit washed out. Can’t win. ;) But it makes an excellent monitor, console display, TV, and smart TV device. And the value is outstanding! I will always have one in my office now.
• hindisong.cc: I have tried using 32 inch FHD TV as my monitor when my monitor failed. I noticed another thing when using TV as monitor, Its too bright, Yes we can reduce the brightness, and contrast, but it still tires my eye. But The screen real estate was good.
• Greg: I have a similar but slightly different setup. Brand new to me. I have a 6-year-old 75-inch Planar professional monitor, 4K. It has the ability to display four sources at once, in a 2×2 grid. Equal to a bank of four by 37 in monitors. I have two different laptops, so I’m out putting two video sources from each laptop. This is mounted to a standing desk, so the monitor moves up and down as I sit or stand. So far it’s been really good, no eye strain at all by the end of the day.
• Jonathan: I tried this but it gave me headaches after a while. Going back to two wide monitors was a big relief.