Using applications on Ultra HD 4K Laptops

[CockneyMafia 10]

Does anyone use an Ultra HD (4K) laptop or PC/Monitor combo?

 

I’m thinking of buying an Ultra HD machine but have heard some applications really struggle with the high resolution. For example, menu options shrink to the point where there are unusable and media players (e.g. VLC) grind to a halt. I'd value anyone's direct experience. The compliant appears to be that 4K is a few years too early for nearly all applications.

 

As the new machine will be purchased primarily for MS Office, web browsing, Lightroom photo editing and watching films , it’s a very big consideration.

 

Thanks in advance.

[mimic 10]

I have my main PC hooked up to a 4k TV and I only have 2 programs that have the micro menu and generally look bad. One of which is an old program that's not been updated in years and the other is a relatively new free program form a person just setting out...so i'm told.

 

Everything else seems fine

[Cyclone 10]

I don't have 4k, but I do have 3440*1440 res on the monitor in front of me and everything works fine.

4k is 3840 pixels × 2160 lines for reference.

[the_bloke 17]

Depends upon the physical dimensions of the screen as to wether you can read it surely? On a physically small screen, 4K would reduce everything to a point it may become uncomfortable to read even though it is being rendered properly. You can increase the size of the text in the OS to compensate but not every app respects that.

 

With regards to playing video, I wouldn't have said issues with performance would be related to the screen resolution, more the fact that a genuine 4K video takes a lot of grunt to uncompress it and play it.

[apelike 10]

A bit like cyclone in that I don't have full 4K but have a 2560x1440 monitor which only has a DVI-D connector. I have never had any problems with it struggling with apps but do have a decent Gigabyte game GTX 970 card and have the monitor set at a custom scale factor of 225% as its better for me to read text.

 

Using windows normal 100% scale does make text and buttons tiny but as above it is adjustable and so far have not come across any software that don't display properly.

[Cyclone 10]

I actually have everything set at 100%, I just checked. No scaling required. But then this screen is about 2.5' wide. So the high pixel count isn't the same as having a 15" laptop screen with this many pixels.

Windows 10 and modern software is all designed to scale though, there are many laptops with 4k screens out now, and I've yet to read a review where they complain about the general UI being difficult to use.

[mimic 10]

I have mine on 250% also. It's a fairly big telly (60") but with the way it's used and with my ageing eyes, 100% doesn't work for me.

 

As for video and programs running ok. It will depend on a lot of things that all come into play. You will need graphics and CPU grunt if you want to play 4k Bluray or x265/264. Most of my library is 1080p with the 4k adding about 30 films and TV.

 

As for video editing, again, you'll need power. My PC isn't the latest but still performs ok with an i7 4790, GTX 970, 16GB RAM. I don't use some of the programs the OP mentions so I can't comment on that. I do use Staxrip for video conversion to x265 which does strain the system but doesn't overheat or crash it.

 

I do use VLC but not as the main player. I use MPC-HC and Kodi. MPC-HC plays 4k without issues. The same 4k video in VLC won't play properly.

Edited March 16, 2017 by mimic

[apelike 10]

Windows 10 and modern software is all designed to scale though,

 

I think Window 10 still has a scaling bug though on high DPI settings which can result in some software showing blurry fonts. The only way to fix this is to select Disable Display Scaling On High DPI Settings, there is also some free software that can fix it.