Please help me understand monitor resolution when factoring in monitor size

hi,

if you have an old 40" that is 1080p, and a new 40" that is 4k, and put the same image on both monitors side by side, what will the difference be?

I just thought of this question after hitting my bong and I'm struggling to come up with an answer

i have a 27" and 24" monitors that are both 1080p, and when i drag a window from the 24" to 27" the window ends up looking bigger on the 27".

would it be the same thing? the 40" that is 4k will have way smaller icon and windows and the 40" that is 1080p will end up looking more "zoomed in" than the 40'' 4k monitor?

Yes

In short, on the 4k everything would look much smaller and have excellent detail. In the 1080p you would see pixels much clearer, think like seeing a staircase from the side (1080p) vs a straight line (4k)

Depends on the scaleing. If you set it up correctly the only difference will be the resolution but the size of thing didn't change

higher res has higher pixel density, the difference would be the resolution is higher - not sure i understand the question

and you can go into windows settings and change app size to maybe make more even settings -system - display- scale

It also depends how far back you are, however conventional wisdom says.

24" it smaller 1080
27" 1440 or 2K
32" or larger 4K

This is for computer monitors. For a television, 1080 is fine for anything if you're buying used. If you're not buying used, then go ahead and get yourself a 4K TV.

Basically goes down to pixel density, 1920x1080 on 40 inches means the pixels are big, 4k is 4 times as dense compared to 1080p, so the pixels are 4 times smaller and is generally less tiring to the eye, for monitors pixel density is important, so no it wouldn't be the same thing, of course you can scale the 4k image to have the same icons and fonts to the 1080p and it will look sharper as well compared to 1080p while being less eye straining.

ok i will

It depends on what content you put on it. Notice how watching YouTube on a lower resolution looks the same. A lot of windows in OSes are built pixel by pixel, but video is often scaled to fit the window or section of it.

The same window at 4k on the same size screen will be smaller by a factor of 2 (in each dimension), but if the content is scaled, it will be the same size. If the content carries the resolution to look sharper, it will look sharper on the 4k monitor.

A lot of things are still 1080p. I’m on my hotspot full time right now, and it won’t carry 4k, but that’s okay, cause my 55” tv is 1080p.

My 32” curved gaming monitor is 4k though, which is nice because I sit much closer to it than I do to my TV, so each pixel occupies a larger portion of my field of view.

4k is better, but it’s only “twice as good” if all the other pieces are in place to support it. And lots of people scale the windows in Windows so that they can still read text. 12 pixel text (12 point font) on a 27” 4k screen is smaaaall. Even a 32” screen.

thanks for the answers everyone

So, yes, the 4k at the same size will have smaller icons, but you can set your os to render at 125%/150%/200% to compensate.

For games, the pixel density means more detail can be displayed

In general, you get worse image at a steady resolution when you increase the size of the screen. And you get worse image at steady screen size when you decrease the resolution.

For actual use, the screen size AND VIEWING DISTANCE need to be factored in. For a large screen, if you will be fairly close, you will notice a stronger difference between 4k and 1080p. If you have it all the way across the room, it will be a lot less noticable and therefore less worth it.

For a computer monitor, where you will be close and at a universally short distance away, 4k will pretty much always be noticeably better than 1080p. However, it matters most when you have a monitor in the 27"+ range. I do not have a 4k, I have a 2k, which is something of a sweet spot for the 27" size, not too expensive, but still looks way better than 1080p. When you get a larger monitor, you probably want 4k to maintain the crisp lines and sharp pixel borders you may be used to seeing.

The window zooming in will indeed look like you expect it to. Just tested between my own 1080p and 2k monitor to be sure.

damn you guys are so smart