After determining that the Philips 43″ monitor was too large for my taste as well as not having a clear enough display [1] I bought a Dell 32″ 4K monitor for $499 on the 1st of July 2022. That monitor has been working nicely for almost a year now, for DisplayPort it’s operation is perfect and 32″ seems like an ideal size for my use. There is one problem that both HDMI ports will sometimes turn off for about half a second, I’ve tested on both ports and on multiple computers as well as a dock and it gives the same result so it’s definitely the monitor. The problem for me is that the most casual inspection won’t reveal the problem and the monitor is large and difficult to transport as I’ve thrown out the box. If I had this sort of problem with a monitor at work I’d add it to the list of things for Dell to fix next time they visit the office or use one of the many monitor boxes available to ship it back to them. But for home use it’s more of a problem for me. The easiest solution is to avoid HDMI.
A year ago I blogged about using DDC to switch monitor inputs [2], I had that running with a cheap USB switch since then to allow a workstation and a laptop to share the same monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Recently I got a USB-C dock that allows a USB-C laptop to talk to a display via DisplayPort as opposed to the HDMI connector that’s built in. But my Dell monitor only has one DisplayPort input.
So I have just bought a DisplayPort and USB KVM switch via eBay for $52, a reasonable price given that last year such things were well over $100. It has ports for 3 USB devices which is better than my previous setup of a USB switch with only a single port that I used with a 3 port hub for my keyboard and mouse.
the DisplayPort switch is described as doing 4K at 60Hz, I don’t know how it will perform with a 5K monitor, maybe it will work at 30Hz or 40Hz. But currently Dell 5K monitors are at $2,500 and 6K monitors are about $3,800 so I don’t plan to get one of them any time soon.
Just a thought regarding the HDMI. A cupla years ago now, I bought a new monitor, and it was unusable. Took it back, exchanged it and the same problesm – monitor utterly unusable. Replaced the HDMI cable with a nice new one and bingo presto, monitor worked liked a charm.
HDMI cables are cheap enough that trying a replacement is a minor issue. Who know, the moniotor might be perfectly fine,testin this HDMI cable may end up being the solution
Would you mind disclosing which “DisplayPort and USB KVM switch” exactly you bought via eBay?
Romane: That’s a good idea, I’ll keep that in mind. But for the moment it’s working nicely with the DisplayPort switch. I guess I should have blogged about the HDMI issue weeks ago to get advice from you before the purchase. ;)
rinni: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/385423457613
Above is the URL for the item. For these sort of things I don’t usually give a URL because the same item is probably sold by multiple companies with slightly different descriptions and because the manufacturer will probably release a new product with different electronics under the same part number.
Just something to keep in mind for a (potential) future.
The main thing for now is that you found a solution which is working. No matter for the nonce any other considerations. :)
Romane