The benefit of a 3840x1600 screen over two monitors with lower resolution is that 3840/2 = 1920 and 3840/3 = 1280. Those are horizontal resolutions for 1080p and 720p respectively. The fact that these are standard resolutions means basically every app works as designed regardless of whether you have 2 or 3 windows side by side. This isn't true for ultrawides with resolutions like 3440x1440 that don't divide cleanly into other standard resolutions.
The default software that comes with the Dell mentioned above handles everything. If I want to simulate two 1080p monitors, I just do the standards Windows drag to the side of the screen. If I want to simulate three 720p monitors I can press shift while dragging and that tells the Dell software to take over. It is more versatile than having individual monitors.
> The default software that comes with the Dell mentioned above handles everything.
Does it really handle everything? Does it handle all (or even just a single one?) of the use cases I mentioned in my comment and that I care about. Can I turn of part of the screen, if I actually only need smaller space? Can I position a 1920 default width space right in the middle in front of me without it looking weird (i.e. symmetry of screen hardware borders)? Are workspaces working correctly (in unix, windows, macos, all of them?). Just splitting monitors isn't everything, I heavily use workspaces to switch between context.
If all of this works (except the obvious middle problem that's phyiscally impossible to solve) I might actually consider it.
It does for my use case, but obvious your mileage may vary.
>Can I turn of part of the screen, if I actually only need smaller space?
Sort of. The monitor can split into dual source mode that has two 1920 sources side by side. You could potentially turn that on and set one side to an empty source. You can also always use a black desktop if you need the rest of the monitor to be dark to allow you to focus on whatever window you have open.
>Can I position a 1920 default width space right in the middle in front of me without it looking weird (i.e. symmetry of screen hardware borders)?
How do you accomplish this with two monitors currently? You would have to choose between symmetry or having one monitor front and center. The Dell software allows you to customize the drag and drop regions. I use three columns that are the full height of the screen. You could set it up to have a 1920 section in the middle with two 960 columns on each side. You could also setup your physical workspace so one side of the monitor is centered in your vision instead of the center of the monitor. Also I have mine mounted on a monitor arm that allows me to reposition it as needed.
> Are workspaces working correctly (in unix, windows, macos, all of them?)
It works in Windows and that is the only native GUI I use. Everything obviously works fine when in the terminal and I rarely increase the resolution of a VM past 1920. I would frankly be shocked if there wasn't similar software available for Linux and OSX that allowed you to setup customized zones like Dell's software if you need to run one of those natively.
That Dell tool sounds a lot like Microsoft's PowerTool FancyZones. Have you tried FancyZones? It can optionally take over the Win+Left/Right shortcuts from Aero snap (the drag to side/quadrants tool built into Windows).
I've been drooling over the Samsung curved ultra-wides since like January as a possibility for my gaming desktop. In March one of my gaming desktop's monitors blew so I've been done to just one monitor and started to use FancyZones and regular usage of FancyZones has got me much more convinced I'd be happy with the ultra-wide, now I'm just hesitant for merely financial reasons.
I haven't used FancyZones. I will check that out, thanks for the tip.
The financial aspect of this is definitely the toughest part to justify. A single monitor with this resolution is always going to be more expensive than multiple smaller monitors. The cost was justified in my experience, but that will vary depending on your use cases and budget.
Yes the financial aspect isn't easy to get past right now, and the curved ones especially right now are a premium cost just because the option is still so new, but the curved ones do about what I tried to do in manually angling my previous dual monitor setup with added advantages in gaming (because I could actually use the center point and periphery in game rather than the center being bevels and in the way if I tried to span games across both monitors). Plus, all the usual financial concerns from the current state of the world and everything that has been going on.
The default software that comes with the Dell mentioned above handles everything. If I want to simulate two 1080p monitors, I just do the standards Windows drag to the side of the screen. If I want to simulate three 720p monitors I can press shift while dragging and that tells the Dell software to take over. It is more versatile than having individual monitors.