4k monitors, what are the benefits vs downfalls?

[Anonymous]

My office is currently looking at the potential to purchase some 4k screens to work in tandem with Revit, but we're not entirely sure what the pros and cons are. After a bit of research it appears a lot of people suffer from issues with small scaling and interface errors. Do they reduce eye strain? Does anybody use 4k monitors or have a comprehensive list of good and bad points?

[BIMAbhi]

Given below one link for System requirements for Autodesk Revit 2019 products. Hope it will help you.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/S...

[Anonymous]

Sorry but this isnt what i was asking, we dont need to know the system requirements for Revit 🙂

[BIMAbhi]

You can check the Video Display Resolutions which recommend by Autodesk from the provided link.

[MiWolff]

I exchanged my two full hd screens by a 4k screen and am happy with it. I use Revit down to version 2017 and have not had issues that can considered 4k specific. On the pro-side I think the best is that I do not look at the gap between two screens anymore, there is more design space left on screen if you keep the font size small, screenshots become (almost) printable. On the contra-side I would mention that the physical screen size cannot be large enough, mine is a 27" diagonal which I find ok, but colleagues seeing me at my desk sometimes have a hard time decyphering things. I think a 28" screen size should be the minimum.

We do not do colour calibration or video editing - so I cannot say whether that works out alright.

[Anonymous]

I have to admit im struggling to see any huge benefits at the moment, it sounds like you gain crisper visuals but at the cost of a greatly reduced UI. I think we would be going for a minimum of 28" monitors but the size of the revit ribbon and icons has never really bothered me. I do my modelling on one monitor and have my properties/system browser panels open on one edge of my second monitor so im not affected by a gap.

[MiWolff]

The ribbon based UI costs space of the shorter dimension of most screens which is why I dislike it. Also if you are working with a number of add-ins, you might consider it a benefit to see them all at once neatly beside one another. I loathe clicking the little fast forward symbol to look whether the add-in I'm looking for is installed at all only to find it is not.
But you are, of course right, 4k or not is just a matter of user preference.

[HVAC-Novice]

I think the advantage would be apparent on a 55" 4K TV. It has twice the resolution of HD (mostly used on 27" screens). So everything is still the same size, but you have more real estate and not a gap between monitors. 

I currently have two 27" HD monitors and have the properties and system browser on the other monitor. a 55" 4K monitor would allow me to use 3/4 of the monitor for Revit mainscreen, and the rest for the panes, and other applications. 

This is just speculation on my part. But I have my a 27"or 28" monitor will take full advantage of 4K. You can get 55" 4K TVs at Walmart et al for $500 or less, so it isn't really a big thing nowadays

[MiWolff]

All true, but is sitting close to a device that is meant as a tv set really an option?

[Anonymous]

You definitely get more screen real estate and yes everything gets a lot smaller.   If you use the small icons in the task bar and desktop now it is about like that.   There is a little bit of eye strain when you first start using them, but it gets a bit easier later and you can crank up the display zoom to 125% if still using older versions of Revit...think you can go higher with 2019 and 2020....but then what is the point of having 4K right?

Personally though, I think the 27" 2K (2560x1440) monitors from Dell are awesome...I still have one that I use with my older computer and Photoshop.  My previous employer had a pair of them for all Revit users.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all,

Found this image on google that shows how small everything gets!