Put the monitor in portrait mode, awesome for code and browsing ... just about a...

riobard · on Jan 11, 2013

Portrait mode will screw subpixel rendering of text.

gcr · on Jan 11, 2013

In most linuxes, you can ask for vertical subpixel hinting, at the very least from the command line.

I'm pretty sure that Windows has a setting for it too buried in the graphics card display settings somewhere.

mstromb · on Jan 11, 2013

It's under "Adjust ClearType text" on the control panel in Windows 7. It's also known as "ClearType Text Tuner."

It doesn't specifically ask you to pick your subpixel layout, but rather shows you a bunch of different renderings and asks you to pick the one you think looks best.

riobard · on Jan 12, 2013

Unfortunately vertical subpixel rendering is much less effective than horizontal rendering due to the nature of latin scripts.

rbanffy · on Jan 11, 2013

Not at all unless you fail to set it up properly. With Ubuntu, at least, it's trivial: IIRC, it's in the font properties panel.

FootballMuse · on Jan 11, 2013

You realize we are talking about a 2560x1440 monitor right?

Depending on your DPI settings, one can consider turning off subpixel smoothing at this res. At 4k you should certainly consider it. Plus, I'm sure various implementations are better than others. Does the iPad have this problem?

riobard · on Jan 12, 2013

True, it's a 2560x1440 display, but it's not “retina“ yet. There is still a big difference with and without subpixel rendering, especially for smaller texts. Well, at least to my “retina” spoiled eyes. YMMV.

iOS does not use subpixel rendering at all, possibly due to the inconsistence of text rendering in different orientations.

mixmastamyk · on Jan 11, 2013

"Just works" for me.

rogerbinns · on Jan 11, 2013

That requires having a stand that can accommodate the monitor that orientation - something neither of my existing displays can do. And you've just moved the problem around since a wider display would still be preferable.

I'd be really happy with three huge 4:3 displays but that will never happen.

mixmastamyk · on Jan 11, 2013

If you're not in the market for a new one, then its moot.

mertd · on Jan 11, 2013

The output quality depends on the panel type. If it is IPS like these, then viewing angle doesn't matter but some other panels look awful even from a slight side angle.