Flat to Curved
About half a year ago I purchased a Samsung curved monitor (https://amzn.to/2YopwUj) thinking I’d see what it’s like to use a curved monitor. After setting it up and using it for 5 minutes I regretted getting it, everything looked curved, lines were curved, the taskbar was curved. How am I supposed to tell a straight line on here if everything looks curved?! Especially looking at designs and measurements.
Having already bought it, I kept using it having set it up and bought it thinking “maybe I’ll get used to it”. I kept on using it and the curves gradually faded into the background and I stopped noticing that it was curved monitor, lines looked “straight” and not curved like I used to. I’d say it took about 2 weeks to get used to it, but it’s hard to say since it was a gradual transition.
Curved to Flat
Fast forward to a few days ago 1/25/2021, I setup my new 4k monitor a Dell U2720Q (https://amzn.to/39wXlsR) and the first thing I noticed was that it felt like the monitor was bulging out, convex, as If the monitor screen had been wrapped around a ball, like a CRT monitor. It’s been a couple of days and it’s starting to feel more normal, I will update the post with an estimate of when it felt “normal” to look at a flat monitor again.
Conclusion:
If you are switching from a flat to a curved monitor or a curved to a flat monitor realize that it will take getting used to, give it a couple weeks. I think the curved monitor does reduce the travel your eyes have to do to scan the screen but because the majority of monitors aren’t curved monitors, it means that your brain will interpret flat monitors as convex. This will only be a problem if you use the opposite monitor of what you use mostly to any large extent.
- This guy on youtube does a good job of also explaining this phenomena.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK06qjVTJzs
- And I also found this reddit post of others having the same experience
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Monitors/comments/hawb4j/switching_from_curved_to_flat_monitor_screen_now/