[plug] miniPC recommendations?

[James Henstridge]

On Tue, 15 Sept 2026 at 10:32, Bruce Axtens via plug <plug at plug.org.au> wrote:
>
> I will have to pay attention to the fine details. I have a screen like this: https://www.samsung.com/au/monitors/gaming/odyssey-g9-g95c-49-inch-240hz-curved-dual-qhd-ls49cg954eexxy/ both at work and at home (covid-era WFH setup). As for a unit lacking wifi, I do have powerline ethernet adaptors in a cupboard somewhere.

That is a massive screen, and I suspect you'd have trouble finding a
system that is both cheap and can drive it at it's native resolution.
For example, the spec sheet for the HP system I mentioned says it's
integrated GPU tops out at 4096x2304. While 5120x1440 is fewer pixels,
I would worry that 4096 is a hard limit on the display width it can
handle as it is a power of two.

It looks like the display can also run in a "virtual dual monitor"
setup though, where it can pretend to be two 2560x1440 screens driven
from different inputs. You could use this to display from two
different computers, or from a single PC in dual monitor config. This
would likely work with the cheap HP system, but I imagine you'd get
noticeable tearing if you tried to position a window in the centre of
the screen across the seam between the virtual monitors. If you keep
windows on the left or right halves, things would probably be fine.

James.