don't laugh, I get my money's worth

So, I have a desktop that is 9 years old; it's an hp pavilion elite M9340f.
The specs are:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 / 2.66 GHz
6GB RAM
500GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS

I also have the surface pro4.
The specs are:
Intel Core i5
8GB RAM
256GB SSD

My desktop monitor died a while back and I never replaced it, because I got the Surface, so I've been using that for very limited picture editing (using Canon's editing software). I find it quite annoying, because it takes about 5 seconds to see a response to an adjustment on the screen. I was planning on finally getting a new desktop all together, but not until the end of 2017, but I'm getting to the point that making minor adjustments on the Surface is getting to be a very frustrating process.

So here are my options: buy a new monitor and try using the old desktop for picture editing, or don't buy a monitor, yet, continue to use the surface and deal with the annoyances, until I'm ready to but a new desktop, and then get everything at once (another 6 months or so). I'm open to your suggestions. Monitor budget is about $500, but willing to spend about $800 if there is a night and day difference between the screens.

So, let's hear it. Thanks.

Do you plan on using more than just Canon's editing software on your other machine? Do you require a specific size and specific type of monitor? Do you print and require accurate representation? Or is this just for fun?

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18365605
Do you plan on using more than just Canon's editing software on your other machine?

Yes, lightroom and eventually photoshop; taking baby steps, but hopefully within the next 6 months

MalVeauX wrote in post #18365605
Do you require a specific size and specific type of monitor?

I just want it to be accurate. (I'm using x-rite i1 pro for screen calibration)

MalVeauX wrote in post #18365605
Do you print and require accurate representation?

Yes, I need accurate representation, so I can print.

MalVeauX wrote in post #18365605
Or is this just for fun?

...it's about to get serious

Go to an independent computer repair facility. I deal with two in an effort to keep old equipment running. Both have numerous used monitors for about $25 to $50. Get something to tide you over.

Fry's, Best Buy, WallMart, Sam's, Costco, just about anyone has monitors 24" and some 7" for under $200. Heck, there are a number of 24" monitor for sale at less than $130.

monoprice.com has a 27" 1920x1080 LG monitor for $199, and they have their own brand 27" 2560x1440 IPS monitor for only $280.
I have their 27" 2560x1440 IPS for my own desktop and have had it for over a year, and have been very happy with it. BTW, my own HP Pavilion computer is older than yours with Pentium Dual Core 2.6GZ and 6GB RAM and Nvidia GEforce 650 to drive the 2560x1440 IPS and it has been running fine on Windows 7 64-bit and Lightroom 5.7

Thank you guys for the help. I think I'll just pick up a decent monitor to get me by and use the old desktop. Thanks again

So I spent some time reading monitor comparisons and reviews and was wondering what you guys think about the Dell Ultra HD P2415Q 24-Inch 4K monitor? Any other recommendations other than was was already stated above?

Before you jump to 4K monitor for your 9 year old PC...what Operating System are you using, Win7 or Win10?

Win7's management of text sizes when viewing web pages on monitors with resolution higher than 1920x1080 is somewhat lacking, whereas Win10 does a bit better. The impact of a 4K monitor can be that applications programs that manage their own screen layout can display thinks poorly and illegibly small, under Win7

My Win7 PC text is close to 'too small' with a 27" 2560x1440 monitor; I dare say it would indeed be illegibly small with 4K on a smaller screen!
If I used Windows7 text size control to make text larger, it would make some of my applications screens all messed up, because the text vs. screen layout is poorly managed by the app!

Wilt wrote in post #18370768
Before you jump to 4K monitor for your 9 year old PC...what Operating System are you using, Win7 or Win10?

Win7's management of text sizes when viewing web pages on monitors with resolution higher than 1920x1080 is somewhat lacking, whereas Win10 does a bit better. The impact of a 4K monitor can be that applications programs that manage their own screen layout can display thinks poorly and illegibly small, under Win7

My Win7 PC text is close to 'too small' with a 27" 2560x1440 monitor; I dare say it would indeed be illegibly small with 4K on a smaller screen!
If I used Windows7 text size control to make text larger, it would make some of my applications screens all messed up, because the text vs. screen layout is poorly managed by the app!

As well as this, it is also important to remember that even under Win 10 certain programs do their own screen drawing, and simply don't play with hi def monitors. The complete Adobe CS Suite is one example of this, along with LR. I'm not really sure where that got sorted correctly, since when I upgraded to my new system, with the 5K display, I also knew I would have to upgrade to Adobe CC.

With Win 10 I'm running my system at 175% which is actually a little smaller than 2560×1440 would appear. I have used 2560 displays a bit in the past, but it was OSX on an iMac, and I wouldn't have wanted it to be any smaller. I think the added resolution simply makes the text so much smoother it is easier to read.

Alan

Wilt wrote in post #18370768
Before you jump to 4K monitor for your 9 year old PC...what Operating System are you using, Win7 or Win10

Windows 10

I figured that by going with a 4K monitor now I would somehow "future-proof" my monitor for the next 7-10 years.

Nothing wrong with getting your money's worth - I'm still using Photoshop CS3...

copmagnet82 wrote in post #18371155
Windows 10

I figured that by going with a 4K monitor now I would somehow "future-proof" my monitor for the next 7-10 years.

Also make sure that your current system can actually drive the 4K monitor at 60 Hz. You really want to avoid either running at 30 Hz, or even worse running at a lower non native resolution. Also make sure you have a suitable interface on your GPU to match the monitor. Dell's higher end monitors have less and less legacy support. My UP2715K, which is 5K(5120×2880) only has mDP and DP 1.2 ports for example. So I can't plug a satellite box into it and run it at 4K over HDMI, even though the mDP port only supports a max of 4K (3840×2160). I would suggest navigating to the Dell support pages and downloading the PDF manual before purchase, so ensure it will perform as required on your current system.

One thing is certain there is a very big difference in running the monitor at in your case 1920×1080 using 100% view in Win 10, and running it at 3840×2160 and using 200%. When you run at the lower resolution it just groups the pixels into fours, which actually looks really bad. While running in native, and scaling, you still benefit from the additional resolution, and the smoothing it offers, while maintaining the size of the desktop. I tried this when transitioning my LR 4.4 catalogue to my new system. That version of LR has no UHD support, and since I wanted to move all of my images from the collection of USB 2 external drives used by my old system, across to the internal drive of the new computer, before doing the upgrade to CC. In the end I just plugged my old VGA monitor in, via an adapter, since the new system (Dell XPS 8900) doesn't have a VGA port.

At this particular moment in time I'm not really sure that you can be certain of really future proofing a buying decision for a monitor, certainly not for the 7-10 year time scale. We are just now seeing the move to 5K plus resolutions, which are requiring new interfaces to move the data quickly enough. If I was looking for a monitor that was going to be generally compatible with computer systems for that length of time I would be looking for a monitor with the latest DP and Thunderbolt interfaces, which seem to be the way things are going. Of course they tend to be the more expensive options now.

Alan

Part of the 'future proofing' challenge is dealing with the input port type(s) supported on your monitor vs. the input port type(s) supported on today's PC vs. some future PC!

In searching for a video card to support my 2560x1440 IPS monitor, I had to make sure that the card and my monitor both had some port type in common! For example, you might be looking at a monitor that assumes an Apple video interface, but your PC's video card does not support that!

your ancient Nvidia gpu doesn't seem to support 4K
http://www.geforce.com …hnology/4k/supp​orted-gpus

Shouldn't be hard or expensive to upgrade though

Wilt wrote in post #18371969
For example, you might be looking at a monitor that assumes an Apple video interface, but your PC's video card does not support that!

pretty sure there are way more monitors for PCs