Since I launched it, over 5,000 people have used my 4K Calculator to see if they will benefit from a 4K display. What many people have found is that in a common living room setup, with a 50” display around 10’ away from the couch, you may not see any benefit at all. If you do see one, it is probably slight in nature. I’m sure some 4K vendors are not fans of this, but it helps readers realize what they might not be missing.
I often hear from people that the calculator is wrong. That they see a huge difference with 4K in a showroom and I’m obviously blind. Or they mention that their iPad or smartphone have HiDPI (Higher Dots-Per-Inch) screens and they can see the difference. When it comes to a smartphone, or tablet, or even a computer monitor, they’re right. You can see a difference. Which is why this article has a simple point to make: High resolution is about the distance from the display just as much as the size of the display.