What computer will you be connecting this SW271 to? If a PC, ignore this post-- I don't know how Windows scaling works. If a Mac, read on.
Most computers, either Mac or PC, can easily drive 4K these days, but be aware that if you are using a Mac, the pixel density of this display (163 PPI) may require a scaled display setting that will put a strain on your computer, perhaps reducing its performance, and
slightly reducing image quality.
True 2:1 "retina" scaling would be easiest for a Mac and give you excellent image quality and extremely sharp text, but that also would give you the UI equivalent of a 27" low-resolution 1080p display running at 81.5 PPI with monstrously large text and UI controls, and a feeling of not having enough space to do normal work.
1:1 scaling, driving the UI at full 4k resolution, will also result in excellent image quality but the text and UI controls will be too small to read and cause eye strain.
You'll likely settle on an intermediate scaling setting that will result in a comfortable text/UI size for the average person. But you should know, technically everything will be ever-so-slightly blurred, and your system will be working a lot harder to render to a virtual resolution
greater than 4k (likely 5k) while then
resizing that down to 4k resolution, 60 times a second. The downsampling to 4k is the cause of the slight blurriness and also means you'll never really be able to truly view your images at 1:1, or 1 image pixel to 1 monitor pixel.
Practically speaking this may not matter to you. Many people use these intermediate scaling settings all the time and never notice issues with them. You likely won't see the blurriness in normal usage. In fact, all MacBook Pros, either 13", 15", or 16", have been driving their built-in screens at these weird scaling factors for at least the past 5 years and it hasn't created an uproar.
But if you're going to drop over $1000 on an external monitor, I believe you should know the trade-offs, make sure your computer can handle the scaling without getting bogged down, and know you may be looking at your images scaled down from a higher-resolution rendering, not true 1:1. Caveat emptor, as they say.
Here's a good article describing the issue that demonstrates the blurring effect of these intermediate scaling settings:
If you’re considering an external display for your Mac, there’s a few important decisions to make. Apple doesn’t sell external displays any more, so you can’t just default to their wisdom. That’s an issue, because not all displays are well suited for Macs.
bjango.com
