I used to be in the '4k or bust' camp, but then I realized that I needed 1.5x scaling on a 27" display to have my UI at a comfy size. That put me right back at 1440p screen real estate and you had to deal with fractional scaling issues.
Instead, I bought a good 27" 1440p monitor, and you know what? I am not the discerning connoisseur of pixels that I thought I was. Honestly, it's fine.
I will hold out with this setup until I can get a 8k 144hz monitor and a gpu to drive it for a reasonable price. I expect that will take another decade or so.
I have a 4K 43" TV on my desk and it is about perfect for me for desktop use without scaling. For gaming, I tend to turn it down to 1080p because I like frames and don't want to pay up.
At 4K, it's like having 4 21" 1080p monitors. Haven't maximized or minimized a window in years. The sprawl is real.
I find the scaling situation with KDE is better with the Xorg X11 server than it is with Wayland. Things like Zoom will properly be scaled for me with the former.
It's true but I don't run into this issue often since most games and Windows will offer UI/Menu scaling without changing individual windows or the game itself.
Instead, I bought a good 27" 1440p monitor, and you know what? I am not the discerning connoisseur of pixels that I thought I was. Honestly, it's fine.
I will hold out with this setup until I can get a 8k 144hz monitor and a gpu to drive it for a reasonable price. I expect that will take another decade or so.