Monitor for surface dock?
I'm looking into adding a monitor to my surface book 3 and just bought a surface dock. I haven't ever heard of usbc as a way to connect to monitors. Can I just use any old monitor? A quick search seems to tell me that a usbc monitor would be powered straight from the dock? Is this correct? I'd heard the old docks could barely even power the surface book itself. I'm also wondering if it would be better to go with a 1080p monitor for gaming as this computer doesn't have that much power, or would just going to 4k and scaling down to 1080p be fine?
Posted Oct 26, 2020, 2:06 AM UTC
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Any 2 usb-c to hdmi adapters can connect 2 4k monitors to the surface dock 2.
They DO NOT provide monitor power.
Simplest way for big and high def are 2 43" 4K hdtv, each under $200 at Wal-Mart, plugged into 2 usb-c to hdmi adapters.
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You can plug in even more. See past reddit threads on 3, 4, etc monitors driven by a surface.
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Usb-c is basically micros#!t's way'of not providing users with what they expect from a $$$ dock and charge more for the monitor adapters.....much like Apple with only 1 usb-c port on some macbooks.
Seriously. Hdmi is more than capable today and tomorrow as the worldwide standard.
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A usb-c monitor has the Big problems of 1) being limited in what they'll work with. Vga, hdmi on a regular monitor or hdtv are the best. 2) more expensive (a 43" 4k hdtv is one of the cheapest, biggest) 3) limited screen sizes. 4) can't watch the games for free (plug in an antenna into the hdtv used as a monitor and watch the games anytime).
Is a 4k tv not going to have terrible latency? I thought they were designed to process the image to better quality which added a latency that isn't an issue for tv, but comes as an issue for controls. Doesn't 1080p on a 4k also not look as nice as 1080p on native or 1440p?
https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/inputs/input-lag
Much like regular pc monitors, input latency varies from model to model.
You can't buy 1 monitor or hdtv and assume it's got great or poor latency.
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On the pc monitor end, modern high refresh rate gaming monitors (144hz or faster) helps ensure low latency.
On the hdtv end, rtings.com latency measurements, or look for "gaming console optimized" hdtvs.
Eg on the top end, oled 4k lg hdtvs are awesome! https://www.lg.com/in/lgoled_m/sub/game.html
https://www.gamesradar.com/best-gaming-tvs/
1080/2k upscaling to 4k can look great because you simply double pixels in each dimension to get 4k exactly.
Naturally, ai upscaling in 4k hdtvs can provide an even better image.
But that's only assuming for some reason you'll run a 4k at 2k even though there's no hardware limitation of the book to use 4k up to 60hz.
If you must, 2k monitors are fine, too, even though 1 4" 4k hdtv at $200~ gives more real estate than 2-3 2k monitors.