Software Development New Workstation Brain Storming

@ErcinSarioglu  You didn't specify the connection method to the first display, but since all of your proposed setups involve a first display that supports USB-C, I'm going to assume that you plan to connect your system directly to the first display using USB-C.  In that case, Options 1 and 2 would work fine from any source system.  Options 3-6 require more video bandwidth since you're running 1440p displays.  In that case, you'll want a system that supports DisplayPort 1.4/HBR3 over USB-C, which will give you enough bandwidth to run up to dual 1440p displays and USB 3.x simultaneously.  But if you have a system that only supports DP 1.2/HBR2 over USB-C, you would only be able to run Options 3-6 by limiting your USB data speeds to USB 2.0 to keep more bandwidth available for video.  And even if you're ok with reduced USB data speeds, doing that also requires a display that supports being configured to set up the USB-C link that way.  On Dell displays, that option is called USB-C Prioritization.  But if you go to the Dell Support site and check the manuals of those displays, you can search for that term to see if that feature is available.

In terms of which to choose, I personally would not recommend a 24-25" display that has 1440p resolution.  That creates a pixel density that is too high for most people to use comfortably at the default 100% display scaling, and some Windows applications still do not support non-standard scaling settings very well.  And even if your applications do, enabling scaling means you effectively lose workspace in order to make things larger, in which case the extra resolution isn't giving you more space.  If you want 1440p resolution, which I think is very useful over 1080p for productivity, I would suggest looking at 27" displays.  The extra 2-3" might not sound like a difference, but it's enough to make 1440p usable at 100% scaling for most people.  But if you can't fit 27" displays or don't want to spend that much, another option you might want to consider is a 24" 1920x1200 display rather than 1920x1080.  Here again, the extra 120 vertical pixels might not sound like much, but it can be nice.  The Dell U2421E (not HE) is a 1920x1200 display.

Lastly, I would strongly recommend that you AVOID mixing a 24-25" 1440p display and a 24" 1080p display as you suggest in Options 4-6.  You will probably have to run those displays at different scaling settings, and while Windows allows this, it causes the non-primary display not to look as good as it could, because Windows will still only render at a single scale factor.  And then for the display running the non-primary scaling setting, it will take that rendered output and shrink or expand it post-render.  This can cause things like text not to look very sharp, and if you're doing software development, that will probably not be desirable.  Even if you select a display that will require using a scale factor other than 100%, I would strongly recommend that you make sure that make sure that you select displays that can all be used at the same scale factor.

So basically, the choices I would recommend would be:

• U2421E + U2421E (or P2421)
• U2722DE + U2722D

@ErcinSarioglu Happy to help.  I'm going to have bad news for you about the MacBook Pro though....  But I'll answer your additional questions first:

1920x1200 resolution gives you slightly more vertical workspace than 1920x1080, and for productivity use cases, that extra height can be convenient.  The difference certainly isn't as significant a 1920x1080 vs. 2560x1440, but if you can find 1920x1200 displays and 1920x1080 displays for similar prices, I would recommend that you consider 1920x1200.  If the price is significantly higher or you can't find the 1920x1200 U2421E rather than the HE at all, then 1920x1080 will still be fine.

But if you will be using 24" displays, I personally would recommend 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, and NOT 2560x1440.  If you want that extra resolution for more workspace, then you should get it as part of a physically larger display, otherwise the higher resolution on a 24" display might make things too small.

In terms of your revised options, do you care about whether your displays match in terms of physical appearance?  The U2421HE and U2419H have different stands and cabinet colors.  If you don't care about that, then you can definitely save money by using a U2421HE + U2419H.  With the U2421HE, you're paying extra for the USB-C input and built-in Ethernet, but you won't be using those on your secondary display.

In terms of the U2419H vs. P2419H:

• The U2419H has a side USB port that supports higher power output that can be useful if you want to charge a smartphone or tablet from that port.  The P2419H USB ports do not support this.
• The U2419H has four USB 3.0 ports.  The P2419H has two USB 3.0 ports on the left and two USB 2.0 ports on the bottom.
• The U2419H has a daisy chaining output if you wanted to add a third display later.  The P2419H does not.  But it does have a VGA input.
• The U2419H has an audio output jack if you wanted to send audio to the display via HDMI or DP and send it to non-USB speakers connected to the display.  The P2419H does not have that.

In terms of the U2421HE vs. U2419HC, the "E" on the newer model indicates that it has built-in Ethernet.  So if you want your laptop to have access to wired Ethernet when plugged into your display, the HE will provide that.  The HC does not have that, although you can of course connect an Ethernet to USB adapter to a USB port on the display to get the same result.

All of the differences I just summarized can be found by simply going to the Dell Support site and checking the manuals of these displays.  Dell's documentation is pretty good about showing the features of a display.  Just for future reference.

Lastly, the bad news about your MacBook Pro.  First, as a general bit of advice, when talking about systems, it's good to identify the exact model.  Apple has had many generations and sizes of MacBook Pros over the years, and they're not all the same.  Sometimes the hardware differences are relevant.  But in this case, the issue you're going to have is that macOS does not support DisplayPort daisy chaining.  So if you connect your MacBook Pro to this setup you're planning, you're going to see mirrored output on your two displays.  Ironically if you run Windows on your MacBook Pro via Boot Camp, then daisy chaining works fine, so it's not a hardware limitation.  It's just that Apple has not implemented DisplayPort MST support in macOS.  People have been complaining about this on Apple's forums, here, and elsewhere on the Internet for years.  The only way to run multiple displays from a single port on a Mac is to use a solution that relies on actual Thunderbolt, such as a Thunderbolt dock or a Thunderbolt daisy chain.  But you're not looking at a dock, and you're only looking at regular USB-C and DP displays, not Thunderbolt displays (which are rare and expensive).  So if you want to run your two displays separately from your MacBook Pro, you can still connect it to the first display via USB-C, but then you'll need to use a separate cable to connect it to a different input on the second display, like HDMI.  Then switch that second display to HDMI when you want to use the MacBook, and back to DP when you want to use it as part of your daisy chain -- unless.....

In potentially even more bad news for Macs, if you have a new MacBook Pro that uses the Apple M1 processor, then that system only supports a single external display.  In that case, even that cabling solution I just mentioned above will not work.  The only way to run more than one external display from an M1-based Mac is to run additional displays via DisplayLink dongles.

@jphughan 

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation.

Yes, I plan to connect to the source computer via Type-C.
By the way, it is worth mentioning, I use 2 computers. I have actively a Windows computer and a Macbook Pro that I use a little bit.

Actually, I did not prefer 23.8 '' as a model, I preferred the models that I think the appearance and the screen adjustability are better. For example P2419H, P2419HC, U2419H, U2419HC, U2421HE etc.

Frankly, I didn't quite understand why I needed to focus on 1900x1200 resolution.
2560x1440 for 24 '' is not necessary? For 23.8 '' or 24 '', 1900x1080 or 1900x1200 would be fine. Do you think this way?

The 27 '' versions are a bit high in price, yes. 24 '' looks more reasonable considering that 2 were taken.
In addition, I eliminated what you stated as resolution difference.
Is the U2421HE model not 23.8 '' dimension?
For this reason, I also have 3 ideas
1- U2421HE -> U2421HE (I paid attention that there is no difference in production year)
2- U2421HE -> U2419H (I made sure there were 2 UltraSharps)
3- U2421HE -> P2419H (thought minimum cost)

By the way, what is the difference between U2421HE and U2419HC? The U2419HC model is very limited in Turkey. I had a hard time finding stock.

Hi @jphughan ,

Thanks for your support. You shared very valuable information for me.

The compatibility of the products with each other is important to me, yes. I would like to buy monitors that are compatible with each other in terms of appearance.

U2421HE and U2421E are at close prices in Turkey. I will decide on 1 of these 2 monitors. Your comments are also very important at this point.

Additionally my Mac computer model; MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015).

Finally, what is your opinion about 1 large size monitor instead of 2 24 inch monitors?

Best regards

Hello @jphughan 

Thank you very much for your detailed information. You shared very valuable information for me.

In the light of this information, I decided to buy 2 monitors. I will choose between U2419HC, U2421HE or U2421E.

Thanks,

Best Regards

Hello @jphughan 

Current question

I decided to buy the U2421HE. I bought 1 U2421HE.
What's your 2nd monitor recommendation for Daisy Chain?

Options;
1- U2421HE + U2421HE
2- U2421HE + U2419HC
3- U2421HE + U2419H
4- U2421HE + P2419H
5- .....
6- ......

Thanks,
Best regards

@ErcinSarioglu  If you only plan to use the second display for daisy chaining and therefore don’t need it to have a USB-C input, then the closest match to a U2421HE is a U2419H. The U2419HC is just a U2419H with a USB-C input (the 21HE added Ethernet), so you could get that too, but it would probably cost more without adding anything you needed. The P2419H could also work, but I think it has a mix of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports if you care about that. But if not, it looks the same and the panel should be the same, so if the P2419H is less expensive than the U2419H, then that would be a good choice too.

Hello @jphughan ,

You provide information in a very short time that I could not get from Turkey for a long time. Thank you very much for all your support.

Best regards.

Hello,

Even though I bought 2 identical monitors, there were color differences. You said that too.
For this reason, I returned the 4 monitors I bought.
I decided to buy 1 large monitor.
I'm planning to buy a monitor between 34 inch - 42- inch.

Especially the monitors I have listed below attract my attention.
What are the critical issues that I should pay attention to on large monitors?

P3421W
U3419W
C3422WE

34 inches seems to be enough. What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks

Hi,

Even though I bought 2 identical monitors, there were color differences. You said that too.
For this reason, I returned the 4 monitors I bought.
I decided to buy 1 large monitor.
I'm planning to buy a monitor between 34 inch - 42 inch.

Especially the monitors I have listed below attract my attention.
What are the critical issues that I should pay attention to on large monitors?

P3421W
U3419W
U3421WE
S3422DW
C3422WE
ext ...

34 inches seems to be enough. What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks