The Ultimate MacBook+PC Monitor Showdown
jamejone.github.io
jamejone.github.io
The only monitor out there that would be an "upgrade" for me currently is the Apple 6K, which is far far into absurd-level purchase category.
Dell has an 8K out there (UP3218K) which, at a scant $4000, looks to only slightly less crazy than the Apple 6K @ $5000 (plus stand!).
It's a bit sad there are so few choices for us HiDPI addicts. Anything else out there I'm missing?
I upgraded to a LG 5K (same DPI, 27", 5120x2880) with the gc-titan-ridge thunderbolt card, but that was sort of a pain on an unsupported machine so I am moving to a M1 Mac mini + Thunderbolt PC. Hoping to drive it with a 3080, but I think it should be fine.
For any fast paced competitive games, you should be able to drive 60fps with the right hardware, but at the same time you will be held back by the lack of a greater than 60hz refresh rate.
I honestly can’t go back to a lower DPI; it’s so much easier to read text compared to lower res monitors.
I haven't played much beyond 4K resolution but it works and works well.
The LG UltraFine is not a hardcore dedicated gaming monitor (eg not 144hz and I couldn't tell you what ms the response time is), but I am not a competitive gamer and honestly 60hz/60fps @ 4K is absolutely gorgeous to my eyes and I am not wanting for more.
The two paths for 10bit 6k60 are either HBR2 + DSC, or 2x HBR3 streams. The 2x HBR3 streams have several gotchas - not daisy-chainable, limits the XDR USB-C ports to 2.0 speeds, requires a TB3 controller with 2 displayport inputs, and I'm not certain it even works with non-Apple TB3 firmware.
So I just run a short DP1.2 cable from the Nvidia card output to the DP1.2 input on the motherboard, then plug my LG monitor into the Thunderbolt 3 output on the motherboard, and it all works like magic.
I'm assuming it would work exactly the same way on the Pro Display XDR. The only caveat is that I think this setup is limited to 4K. I didn't dig too deeply since there's not enough of a difference between 4K and 5K IMHO to make the effort worthwhile. 6K might be worth figuring it out though :)
But the LG UltraFine 5K is still alive and well. My original one (vintage 2017) died recently (bad mainboard) and I went out shelled out $1400 for a brand new one from the Apple Store. They had a bunch in stock - it was not hard to locate.
I don't know whether it's new firmware or new hardware or what, but this monitor works 1000000000 better than my older version of the exact same one. I had plenty of issues on the last one - wouldn't startup after sleep, etc. This new one is just flawless - starts right up every morning, no ghosting, etc.
At this point 32" 4k is perfect for me, the only thing I'd wish for is improved panel. I have not seen the Apple 6k, but just picked up an M1 Macbook Air, it has best display I've seen (quite a bit better than my work 16")
But TFA is looking at 1440p screens, which is 2560x1440 and is LoDPI (@1x) on a 27" screen. I can absolutely tell the difference on those and that's what I can't ever go back to.
The LG 5K screen is 5120x2880 - same "size" as 1440p but everything @2x, and that is glooooorious :)
(If you’re using a non-integer scaling factor, that’s a different story, but I’ve always stuck to integer scaling factors.)
I have a non-retina imac 27 (1440p), external LG 27" 4K USB-C monitor and a macbook pro 13 with a real "retina", and use them all regularly.
For my eyes, scaling works fine with 4K - font rendering is significantly better than on 1440p imac.
13" screen on macbook pro is even better, and 5K 27" would be perfect, but that's a different price point. I'm quite happy with the improvement from 1440p => "4K with scaling" transition, and won't consider buying 1440p in future.
Scaled 4K may be not the best for high precision design work, but for development tasks / text reading that's an improvement, in my experience.
I definitely don't notice blurry pixels. I don't game, so maybe that's why I don't notice increased CPU use.
1080p is 4K pixel-doubled (21.5" iMac) (or 5K downscaled and pixel-doubled).
At least to my eyes, my Dell U2715H with EDID override looks worse at 1440p than my LG 27UL850-W. I'd prefer to have a 2x scale factor, but at 1.5x, I can't see scaling artifacts or I'm used to them for still text. My poor GPU can't handle this though, so all motion and movement is terrible, and thus, I can't distinguish "shimmering" from just regular poor performance.
I'm really bothered that Apple sells an LG 5K display for the price they sell it at. Pro display XDR is joke-tier pricing for a developer. Even the 5K display is too expensive. The Ilyama 5K (XB2779QQS) was sold at the $999 price point, which actually kinda makes sense, but it's gone.
So practically speaking, either shell out $1,200+ for a good display or settle non-ideal retina or 1x.
Pros:
* Larger 38" screen
* 90w charging
* Thunderbolt 3 (like USB-C but better)
* 144hz refresh rate
* 1ms response rate
And current generation MacBooks only support one external monitor, so two 27" 1440p monitors should not be recommended. And there are methods to having more monitors, but they require additional hardware and do not always work well.
Cons:
* Hard to acquire (out-of-stock everywhere)
* Very expensive ($1,500+)
* Cannot natively control brightness & sound via keyboard like other LG monitors, but software [2] can add this feature. Though, this is currently broken for all M1 Macs.
* Does not support True Tone
Read a review [3] for more information.
[1] https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-38wn95c-w-ultrawide-monito...
[2] https://github.com/MonitorControl/MonitorControl/issues/323
1. Switch the video source on the monitor 2. Switch the USB destination on your USB switch 3. Switch audio source on your sound bar
That's why upstream USB-B is so compelling. The monitor acts as a full KVM.
My monitor supports Thunderbolt 3 daisy chaining - Connecting a thunderbolt 3 upstream port to the input of the 2nd monitor. Do you know if two monitors setup this way would work with a MacBook?
On a lark, last year I bought a 42.5@2160 (4k)[2], with the intention of using it primarily for tv/movies at that size, not knowing whether it would be suitable for work. But at 1x it’s nearly the same DPI as the 27@1440 so I have it a shot.
And at first the only way I could describe it was “comically large” and “probably a mistake”. For work, I only used the bottom half of the screen.
After a move, I changed my setup a bit, with the comically large screen set lower on my desk. This improved my viewing angle so much that I’m able to use the full vertical range of the screen (though it’s still so side that I treat the rightmost 20% or so as mostly a dead zone). Now I don’t know how I’d work with a smaller screen. That much vertical space is a godsend for dev, leaving tons of room for editor & debugger, or browser & dev tools.
It’s probably not for everyone, but for folks with a little disposable income and who might imagine finding the 27@1440 a little cramped, I recommend giving it a try!
[1]: Samsung S27A850D, with a PLS panel, which at the time was an interesting IPS alternative for me. I do realize that a high quality panel somewhat undermines my “see what the world sees” goal, but frankly my eyes and brain hate TN panels.
[2]: LG 43UD79-B, this time IPS, and I honestly can’t tell a difference in the panel quality.
Does that exist? I have never seek a 4k (or better) display smaller than 24", and I'd love to buy one.
And LG has a standalone.
I now have a 32inch 4k monitor, and I sit further away from ot than i did with previous 24inch screen. Get a large screen, as large as your work setuo allows, your back and posture will thank you.
I have similar requirements to the OP and got this monitor back in March just before everyone started working remotely. I've had no problems with it, and have been pleased with the choice. The separate control unit which can be configured to use the hardware buttons for KVM switching is a small thing but particularly nice to have.
The KVM takes a second or two to switch, and it'd be nice if it would do it (near) instantly. I'm not sure if its firmware is updatable - it's plugged into a Linux machine where I can't run their software or a locked down Windows machine where I'm not allowed to run their software. There's nothing on their website to suggest there are updates I'm missing out on though.
The monitor is otherwise pretty good, with decent latency and color accuracy in SDR mode. HDR mode is not good (which is expected for standard LED backlighting without local dimming), so don't forget to turn OFF HDR in the display settings of your computer. Image quality is way better in SDR.
Edit: latency and VFR (freesync / g-sync) is also decent on this monitor, despite not being marketed for gaming.
My only complaint is that 4K is "too low" at 27 inches when you scale at 2x (the default so it "looks like" 1080p).
If they release a 5K model I will buy it in a heartbeat.
Sadly the only 5K 27 inch monitor that is any good is the LG UltraFine which is ~€1400 so a lot more than I am willing to pay considering this 4K LG was €440 when I bought it.
If you have the money, the Apple XDR 6k is super nice to code on.
For example, the 34BK95U-W is identical to the 34WK95U-W except for the longer warranty. However, LG's website claimed the B varraint supported a 75hz refresh rate when I got it, but it only supports 60hz, same as the consumer model.
Similarly, LG's 43MU79-B only supports 7.5W of power output on the USB-C port despite https://www.lg.com/us/business/desktop-monitors/lg-43MU79-B still claiming it supports "60W PD". In reality, it's identical to the 43UD79-B. (I notified them of this over a year ago, but they don't seem to care enough to correct it.)
Shit like that makes me want to avoid LG entirely.
This monitor has some things that make it a nice thing to share. It has 2 DisplayPorts and 2 HDMI connections for lots of connectivity.
I am currently using the 2 DP connections, one for MacBook, one for PC. The PC runs it a 4K 120Hz just fine and the MacBook is running it at 4K 60Hz. I haven't been able to get the MB to run at higher than 60Hz, unfortunately. I am using a usb-C to DP dongle from BENFEI. Maybe a different cable would help?
I have the Mac set to scale the desktop rez to 5K screen space, which works fine. It is clearly not as hi-rez as a natvie 5K display, but it looks pretty darn good to me. Much better than a 1440p monitor.
I have had not problems at all with this setup and highly recommend it
The MacBook has been perma-attached to the monitor due to the pandemic, so plugging power in via a different port on the MB was fine.
It's a 28" 3:2 monitor, resolution is 4500x3000.
Text is crisp, images are perfect, there's lots of vertical space. As an additional gimmick it has touch input and comes with a stylus.
I wish that monitor was available as an external monitor.
I'm looking at buying a new monitor to get past the problems with my old one. The ViewSonic VP2771, but I can't find it in stock anywhere close to me. Does anyone have a suggestion a similar product? 1440p, 27", USB-C, specifically for use with a MBP.
defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 0
Edit: found the link: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250732856
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-fixing-external-m...
It also doesn't appear to have an upstream USB-B port. How are you dealing with it?
The Intel iGPUs used in lower end Macs don't support adaptive sync though, so maybe it's a case of Apple waiting until they can offer it on the whole stack.
I use LG55C9 as my main display. 4K oled 120hz gsync. Absolutely gorgeous.
Will change it in few years if ghosting become a problem. 8k oled is coming soon anyway.
Cons : had to disable auto dimming in firmware.
Switched to the Dell 4k one for now and liking it so far.
I’ve been thinking a bit about a setup like this, but there are enough gotchas to prevent me from making a decision.
5k would be better but it’s good enough and pretty damn cheap. And it’s not 1440p which just isn’t good enough now.
I use a PC as well and that’s connected to the HDMI input and you can switch between from the monitor controls.
Lenovo sell one that does provide power.
Conventional KVMs have VGA, I doubt he uses it. Maybe he has an HDMI one.
I've got a 4k display and finding a KVM that supports 4k 60hz is nearly impossible where I live. I plan on using a regular KVM to share mouse and keyboard via USB and use my monitors second input for manually switching between PCs.
It's a two step solution but at least doesn't break the bank.
4k has been a source of lot of frustration for me. Regular adapters don't work, regular cables don't work, you can't find content. HiDpi scaling is not that great.
I feel like an early adopter. Everything is a hassle, parts are expensive.
I had a 1080p 32 inch monitor once, it was great but the resolution was lacking. I replaced it with a 32 inch 4K one, but I couldn't get the same experience.
Level1Techs sells a few KVMs that can do it but they're not cheap