I’m 99% certain that the following is true

You said buying a 24+ 1080p screen looks like shit so you didn’t buy one.

4K with 100% scale AND 80% browser zoom at 4K would be microscopic.

Logically you have a 2K monitor. Basically you don’t understand the need for scaling for an obvious reason

1080p 24" monitor from 2008 = 92 DPI 2560x1440 28" “2K” monitor = 104 DPI

Meanwhile 24" 4K monitor = 184 DPI 14" 4K laptop = 315 DPI

What you use is barely different and scaling doesn’t make sense.

High DPI monitors are useless without scaling.