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The state of external retina displays

• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• alin23 5y ago
  Yep, having the same problem. I'd love an Ultrawide with comparable pixel density as the 14" Macbook Pro. I'm sitting on a very large database of monitor data coming from Lunar's diagnostics and error reporting (https://lunar.fyi https://lunar.fyi) Maybe I should organize it into Postgres and then search for monitors with the PPI I want. Or is there any easier solution than Postgres for fast ingesting some JSONs and filtering by arbitrarily nested fields?
  • d136o 5y ago
    JQ can get you started without any db setup as you explore the data
  • out_of_protocol 5y ago
    typical ultrawide - 34" 3440x1440. that's 110ppi, regular density. (owning one, perfect size IMO, filling field of view almost exactly) if you wish retina (220ppi), that'll be 7K - which is alot of pixels. Nothing like this on market though
  • 9dev 5y ago
    I’d immediately go with Elasticsearch for stuff like that.
  • 41b696ef1113 5y ago
    Depending on what you mean by large, you can go very far with SQLite. It even has a JSON extension if you want to drop blobs into there.
  • kenniskrag 5y ago
    If you know sqlite there is also a json extension for filtering. Here a link to the example section: https://www.sqlite.org/json1.html#examples_using_json_each_and_json_tree_ https://www.sqlite.org/json1.html#examples_using_json_each_a...
  • _xnmw 5y ago
    Postgres? Seriously, for one-off playing around? Just use Airtable and you can do all the filtering and nesting you want. Plus then you can share it with us and we can collaboratively contribute.
    • alin23 5y ago
      Could I easily import 30k large and arbitrarily nested JSONs into Airtable? I'd love to have something with an easy to use UI for filtering that can also be shared.
      • _xnmw 5y ago
        Yes, the Pro plan allows 50k rows per Airtable base. Arbitrary JSON can't be imported easily though, you'll have to convert it to CSV or use the API to dump data.
• minimaul 5y ago
  I have one of the LG Ultrafine 5K on my 14" M1 Max Macbook Pro - it is far more reliable with that Mac than with the 2018 15" I was using it with before. It's also worth swapping the TB3 cable if you still have issues. After both of those I find it works absolutely flawlessly for me now, and it is comfortably the best external display I have ever used. I would adore any option that is even remotely as good.
  • mgarfias 5y ago
    Huh, I’ll have to try the wife’s new 14” mbp and see if that is better. Too bad I’m a year away from a refresh.
• rdl 5y ago
  Every time I buy the LG 5K I feel a little sad (it's overpriced for what it is, outdated, and limited with non-Macs), but every time I use it, I'm happy with the purchase. Biggest downside (aside from the price) is extending the Apple lock-in.
  • sroussey 5y ago
    I have two. One has a bad burnin problem. It takes 30min to set and the rest of the day I see that original image. The other has a weird color wave. I used to buy an iMac 27 so I could have a great first screen. I’d like to go back or have an apple monitor again.
  • x0x0 5y ago
    I've also had a great experience w/ this monitor. As mentioned elsewhere, it and my mac are sensitive to the cable, so it's worth trying a couple if they give problems. (More apple idiocy: what if we put the same connector everywhere, but made devices super sensitive to some qualities of the cables, connectors, or who knows what -- there's definitely no way this will be super confusing for users!)
    • Groxx 5y ago
      This is also somewhat usb-c in a nutshell. Not all ports or cables are made equally, and the spec very much allows that.
  • hank_z 5y ago
    I can actually connect it to Ubuntu and use some code to simulate physical buttons. So you are not totally locked in apple ecosystem.
• aichi 5y ago
  Eizo Fortis Nova https://www.eizoglobal.com/products/foris/nova/sp/ https://www.eizoglobal.com/products/foris/nova/sp/
  • nabla9 5y ago
    I have no brand loyalty whatsoever, but all my monitors have been Eizo's Since I bought Eizo Nanao Trinitron CRT monitors in 1990s. I'm a lazy shopper and those things are high quality every way. I still have FlexScan EV2303W's from 2009 or 2010 and use them daily.
  • chipotle_coyote 5y ago
    While that looks like a great monitor, it's a 21.6" 4K OLED monitor that seems to retail for over $3000. It's less of a ridiculous option than the $6000 Apple 32" display, but for most of us (including, I'm fairly confident, original article author Casey Liss), it still falls into the "if you aren't sure you need this, you don't need this" category.
• ds 5y ago
  If you care about HDR, ironically enough there are only 4 options for a decent monitor as well- And almost all of them are nearly impossible to buy new. Some of these monitors are also years old https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCcSK3R8HcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCcSK3R8HcM * 27" 3840x2160 ASUS PG27UQ / ACER PREDATOR X27 (same panel in both monitors) 32" 3840x2160 ASUS PG32UQX 35" 3440x1440 ASUS PG35VQ 49" 5120x1440 Samsung Neo G9
  • theYipster 5y ago
    I have a PG27UQ and a X27 side by side and it's bliss. They're on a custom built PC (so Mac Retina scaling issues are moot.) On Windows 11 I run at 125% and it's comfortable for me. (I Bought both new within 6 months of each other when they were about half off before the supply chain crunch.)
  • derekdahmer 5y ago
    I bought a Neo G9 on Black Friday. It took 3 weeks to ship but they are available!
• henvic 5y ago
  I really wanted the 27-inch LG UltraFine 5K (https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27md5kl-b-5k-uhd-led-monitor https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27md5kl-b-5k-uhd-led-monit...), but I heard many complains about it not being as reliable as you'd expect, then I decided to get the LG UltraFine 4K (https://amzn.to/3qs2pFW https://amzn.to/3qs2pFW) a little over a year ago, and I don't regret at all spending so much more for a display, than I'd normally expect to. Now, I want to update to Apple's Pro Display XDR, but can't justify paying ~7 times more on it for now. Although 24-inch and 4K was a huge improvement for someone like me, used to only using a MacBook display (I spend the workday programming, and love photography), I still feel like 4K isn't enough. I can't comfortably open my editor/browser, while also watching a video, for example. For some time I've tried to use my MacBook 15 Pro as a second display, but that didn't work either. I hate the fact that there're small differences in color/brightness, even though the quality of either individually is superb (the external is slightly better)... The only thing that helped a little bit with regards to using multiple displays was using the iPad to play videos thanks to AirPlay, but this is suboptimal.
  • brandonmenc 5y ago
    I have owned the LG 5K UltraFine monitor for 6 months and it's the greatest thing ever. I will never go back to 4K. I drive it with an OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock with CalDigit Thunderbolt cables and a maxed out 13" 2020 MacBook Pro, and as of the latest version of macOS Big Sur it is rock solid. It's mounted on a monitor arm, so I can't comment on the included stand.
    • thebean11 5y ago
      How is the OWC dock? I just got the CalDigit, but super disappointed that the monitors often don't reconnect on wake from sleep.
      • brandonmenc 5y ago
        I have both of these docks. The OWC is my primary dock, but I did try the CalDigit one for a bit (both TB3.) Why? Same problem you're having - the monitors would never wake from sleep. At the time I was using a Dell P2415Q with macOS and this monitor would just refuse to wake up from sleep or when I swapped laptops on the dock. It "just worked" far less than half of the time. I would have to hard power cycle by unplugging the monitor power cable - power button recycle was rarely sufficient. I could never find a fix for this, but after a lot of searching I was led to believe that it was a problem with EDID and macOS with this particular monitor. I never confirmed this though. The problem was almost entirely fixed with the latest macOS Big Sur update. I have to power cycle the monitor only a couple times a month now. Huge difference, and seems to be the case with both docks.
• indymike 5y ago
  A lot of this depends on the distance of the monitor to your face. High actual DPI matters more if the screen is close to your eyes. Do a 24" 4k is great at close range, but if you move the screen 8in-12in back, a 32in 4K can work just as well.
• conradev 5y ago
  I will put another monitor into the mix because it is the first of its kind and might interest some: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1621993-REG/lg_27ep950_b_27_oled_uhd_tilt.html https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1621993-REG/lg_27ep95... It is a full 27" OLED panel for $$$ ($3,000), but it is not the highest DPI at only 4K resolution
  • minimaul 5y ago
    OLED isn't that great in the monitor space because you are going to get burn in, it's only a matter of 'how long?'.
• bluewalt 5y ago
  Another major issue not mentioned with non-retina displays is that you have to chose between a decent on-screen text size and pixel scaling. For example, I use a a 4K 27" LG monitor. If I use native 4K resolution, the text is way too small. If I use 2:1 resolution, the text becomes too big and I lose real estate. I ended up with a scaled resolution with pixel approximation. I won't explain here why it may be a problem for some people, but it is.
• s_dev 5y ago
  I also found it difficult to shop for a monitor in the past couple of years I ended up going for this: https://www.gigabyte.com/Monitor/AORUS-FV43U#kf https://www.gigabyte.com/Monitor/AORUS-FV43U#kf My constraints were proper 4k (no compromised height resolution) -- the 4:3 ratio is nice but I was happy with most ratios. Overall at 43 inches it's big probably more suited for console gaming than PC but the 165Hz refresh rate makes it suitable for gaming.
• jstx1 5y ago
  Not knowing too much about monitors and trying to search for "I want a 24in monitor that looks somewhat similar to my macbook" has been kind of challenging. Especially when you're shopping online. So many variables to tweak, and I have no idea which matter and which don't. I just want something that looks good.
• jebronie 5y ago
  I just want a 27" 5k display with 120hz and HDR 600 or better.
• layer8 5y ago
  New Apple displays are rumored to be coming up: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/12/16/apple-displays-24-and-27-inch-rumors/ https://www.macrumors.com/2021/12/16/apple-displays-24-and-2...
• MrFoof 5y ago
  I've been waiting for a solid 5K display that meets my requirements since 2011. In 2011 I said, "when I replace my iMac, I can't wait to have a few 5K 120Hz displays!" In May 2021 I did my workstation build. I just bought new value 1440p panels while I sit here with my arms crossed, wondering when the 5K displays which'll meet my requirements will exist.
• bluedino 5y ago
  When the original Retina Macs came out, they basically ruined me for non-Retina laptop screens. However, regular 27" 2560x1440 screens were just fine. In 2017 I was able to pick up a deal on the Anandtech or [H] forums, 2016 15" MacBook Pro and the original LG 4K USB-C display for $1600! I still have the screen to this day. It is still amazing. I never ended up buying a 27" 5K display.
• watersb 5y ago
  Very basic geometry problem, in which I discover that a 32-inch display with a pixel density of 218 pixels/inch (to match Apple displays) requires 6108 x 3436 pixels. An 8k display would be 40 inches. h = 32, 218 = p / x, c = 16/9 y, x = h cos(t), y = h sin(t), h^2 = x^2 + y^2, 90 = t + s, x > 0, y > 0, h > 0
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
• killjoywashere 5y ago
  I bought 2 XDRs because they are stupid-cheap compared to BARCO clinical options. Check out the Coronis and Steris lines if you really want to spend some money. It's been a while I since I did the comparison, but as I recall, the BARCOs are not hands-down better than the XDR, despite 5x the price.
• coldtea 5y ago
  >So, all-in, the Pro Display XDR is $7,000. Which is, charitably, absurd. In what planet is it "absurd"? Because the calibrated monitors it competes with (from Sony, etc) cost around $10K to $20K.
  • _ph_ 5y ago
    It is absurd if you don't compare it to other video reference monitors but being the only alternative for a large screen with 200 ppi resolution. The problem is the huge gap between this screen and almost every other screen outside. There are plenty of developers which would be happy to pay good money for 30" 200+ ppi screen. But the Apple Pro Display is very expensive for that and has some weaknesses as being optimized for something else (video production). It also isn't a really great screen otherwise. It doesn't even come with a second video input.
• happynacho 5y ago
  I've found running 4K @ 2x/200% scaling "retina" to be the best price/performance option right now. 5K displays are nowhere to be seen and 6K/8K have absurd prices. My dream monitor would be a dual-5k super-ultrawide, even at 60Hz. That's at least 5 years away if not 10.
• binbag 5y ago
  Can anyone tell me how to force an M1 Mac Mini to produce crisp images on a 27" 1440p (~110dpi) screen? I've tried various things and cannot get it to render anywhere near the clarity of Windows. I'm not going to buy a 'Hi-DPI' (220dpi) screen just to solve Apple's rendering problems.
• adib 5y ago
  Fwiw, Eyoyo offers 4K 15” monitors, which qualify as _retina displays_. Those are usually around $150, depending on reseller and exact model.
• rbanffy 5y ago
  When I’m using the laptop as a standalone unit, the built-in screen resolution makes a difference. When it’s docked on my desk surrounded by two 24” monitors, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference except, perhaps, by very subtle cues in text rendering. I can, however, see clear artifacts on the two 100-dpi ish screens. A 150-dpi screen would work perfectly for me.
• izacus 5y ago
  So I have a 28" 4K display (USB-C, ethernet, the whole shebang) and I don't notice a massive difference between that one and the MacBook one. Those displays are widely available and pretty cheap too. Is there something wrong with me that I don't see a massive improvement between that PPI and the MBP one? To the point where I'd lose my mind about it and demand 5K there?
  • b9a2cab5 5y ago
    You probably sit farther away from your screen than most people. At least for me there's a pretty binary threshold where you can either see pixels or not, which makes a huge difference for text smoothness.
  • vanilla_nut 5y ago
    Same here. If I get up really close, I can tell the difference, but not the way I normally sit in my seat. It probably helps that I have a fairly deep desk and monitor arms, for maximum eye-monitor distance. Retina is 326 PPI+ on iPhones. It’s 220 PPI+ on MacBooks. I have to say that my 170 PPI or so is plenty on my 4k 28” desktop monitors. Though I would be very very happy to upgrade to 120hz (without turning my laptop into a jet engine) and maybe 5k as well for perfect 2:1 1440p scaling.
• mgarfias 5y ago
  I’ve got a pair of the ultrafine 5ks. I’d happily trade them in on something that I can plug into and know that it will power up the display reliably. Right now if I take my laptop off somewhere and come back, who knows if they’ll both power up. I’m frequently stuck on one display and no amount of unplugging and reconnecting or swearing helps.
  • eigenvalue 5y ago
    Maybe try a powered usb-c hub and connect the displays to that instead of directly to the laptop?
    • minimaul 5y ago
      You can't. These are thunderbolt 3 displays. edit: and they use too much bandwidth to daisy chain with anything else, too.
    • mgarfias 5y ago
      One of them goes to a thunderbolt3 dock. When they display refuses to power up, it doesn’t matter if it’s plugged in direct or into the dock. Also, I can see the display in the system report in the thunderbolt section, and devices daisy chained off of them work. It’s just the panel that’s being a bitch.
  • tcas 5y ago
    I have 2x LG Ultrafine 5Ks as well. I found the USB-C connector wears down over time and causes display and power issues. I've reflowed the connector itself, and am looking at doing a complete connector swap soon. The mechanicals of an active USB-C cable puts stress on the joints and causes them to crack and create unreliable connections. I wish there was a way to lock the connector in and use something else as strain relief.
    • shog_hn 5y ago
      I have an LG Ultrafine 5K and suffer from random display disconnections. I was wondering if I was just unlucky, but this kind of explains everything now. Is there any guide that you know of for doing the reflowing? It's at the point now where I need to spend up to an hour carefully tweaking the connector into the right position to provide a signal so I don't mind hacking away at it with the risk of it breaking.
• wikibob 5y ago
  The only currently acceptable external display is the LG 27-inch 5K. Sadly the firmware is flaky, the webcam sucks, it has huge bezels, and is very thick. Rumor is apple might have a new consumer priced external display next year. Let’s hope it’s true.
  • formerly_proven 5y ago
    How is the contrast and BLB on that panel? The other LG panels in this area seem to have sacrificed basically everything for low reaction times. Also, just one input, and that being Thunderbolt on top, won't work for a lot of people. Edit: Oh I see, that's one of the LG-but-really-for-Apple-only displays.
  • dev_tty01 5y ago
    The 5K monitor model number and presumably the actual monitor has been updated a couple of times. Any chance the most recently updated design actually has corrected those issues?
    • joshmlewis 5y ago
      I've been researching this for a couple days before this post and am close to pulling the trigger on the LG 5K. The consensus from Googling and Twitter seems like with the M1 and newer at least people are saying the issues have been resolved. I'm still torn though because if they are coming out with a new monitor in the next few months that also has some dedicated graphics processing and better display, that will be really tempting. The resell value of the 5K will go down pretty quickly as a result after purchasing (< 6 months).
• never_a-pickle 5y ago
  The computer monitor market is at the mercy of gamers who want 1080p-1440p if it means getting 600fps in a game rather than 150fps at higher resolutions. It's why since 2015 there has been an arms race of refresh rates rather than of resolution. We had 4-5k panels at retina in 2015, market conditions could have had us with much higher quality panels if the entire thing wasn't catered to young, cash-strapped gamers whose opportunity cost when putting money towards a monitor is to put money towards a GPU. Thankfully, as more and more public figures begin using OLED TVs instead of computer monitors, and as the monitor market takes after the larger consumer TV market, we will start to see better technologies compete with each other like OLED and FALD/miniLED. It's a horrible time to buy a monitor right now, if you could wait even a year you should do so. But keep in mind the relativity of "retina". It depends just as much on viewing distance as it does PPI. There are several handy charts you can view online relating the minimum noticeable viewing distance based on PPI.
  • eckmLJE 5y ago
    Although you make an ok point, you're greatly exaggerating FPS. I'm on a beautiful 1440p 144hz LG and I really only need 150fps. This still often requires less-than-ultra video settings even with a 3080 ti. There is a very small niche of competitive gamers who want 240hz at 1080p and the fps that justifies it.
    • CuriousSkeptic 5y ago
      Oh there are people who want way more https://blurbusters.com/blur-busters-law-amazing-journey-to-future-1000hz-displays-with-blurfree-sample-and-hold/ https://blurbusters.com/blur-busters-law-amazing-journey-to-...
      • fomine3 5y ago
        BlurBusters is amazing resource to investigate HFR.
    • saxonww 5y ago
      Isn't this the entire esports community though? edit: This was intended to be a serious question. I thought the esports folks were mostly interested with minimizing input latency and maximizing framerate, to the exclusion of most other concerns. ESPN covers esports tournaments now, sometimes on the front page of espn.com, so I thought it was more popular than perhaps it is.
• distantsounds 5y ago
  Dell P2415Q. https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty/dell-24-ultra-hd-4k-monitor-p2415q/spd/dell-p2415q-monitor https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty/dell-24-ultra-hd-4k... you can still find it in stock on Amazon despite Dell not carrying it anymore. I have one, it's a glorious IPS panel for photo editing.
  • Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
    Can confirm that I've had more than a decade of very satisfying experience of using Dell displays. They have a very predictable menu and just work. Soundbar is a very good solution if you don't want speakers messing your desktop.
  • mwidell 5y ago
    I have this monitor. It is insane value for money and gives you a beautiful picture.
  • ModernMech 5y ago
    I just picked up a pair of P3222QE monitors. Kind of pricey but hands down the best monitors I've owned. I think it's too big to be "Retina" at 4K, but I really can't see any pixels. I still find it hard to believe though that I can't change the brightness via the keyboard though in state of the art monitors. Does anyone know of any monitors where this is possible, or do they mostly require you to go through the terrible built in controls? https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-32-4k-usb-c-hub-monitor-p3222qe/apd/210-bbcq/monitors-monitor-accessories https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-32-4k-usb-c-hub-mo...
    • yanokwa 5y ago
      See https://lunar.fyi https://lunar.fyi to change brightness via keyboard
      • ModernMech 5y ago
        Very cool! This lead me to another project as well for Windows: https://github.com/emoacht/Monitorian https://github.com/emoacht/Monitorian
• lxe 5y ago
  Don't even get me started on brightness... good luck finding anything that's higher than 350 nits.
  • formerly_proven 5y ago
    Why do you need so much brightness in an indoor environment? Personally I've more frequently had the opposite problem, i.e. minimum brightness only going down to the 30-50 nits level, which is quite bright in dark-ish environments.
    • Larrikin 5y ago
      People are different? I found it very straining on my eyes when I worked at a job where people liked to keep most of the lights off and the monitor brightness low.
    • cronix 5y ago
      One field that needs it is editing 4k+ HDR content that has 16 steps or more of dynamic range. All of the blacks would blend together on lower output monitors like 400nits. Really need like 1000. Here's a decent 18.4", but it costs $14k[1], or you could get the 32" for $30k. [1] https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1676872-REG/canon_5604c001_dp_v1830_uhd_4k_reference.html https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1676872-REG/canon_560...
    • zzt123 5y ago
      Not the person you’re replying to, but better speed of thought at higher brightness levels. Sounds ridiculous, but it is so apparent in me that I even have a 20ms delta in simple response time between 300 nits and 200 nits in a moderately lit room - the same delta between me being fresh awake and being tired after being awake for 20 hours. Additionally I’ve anecdotally observed that the dimmer the screen is relative to the background, the more disconnected I feel.
      • washadjeffmad 5y ago
        That's funny, because I've found something similar to be true for me. I wonder if that's a function of some measurement of interactive visual information. For instance, I have a green screen CRT that I can work on at any nit as long as the contrast is basically infinite (text dim or bright), but as soon as the rest of the screen becomes illuminated, it's like I'm peering through a literal fog. Contrast that to a dimmed 4k 10-bit panel, and I find myself dropping out of focus or losing my place. I'm looking for a particular OLED panel right now on AliExpress to test with.
• ____________g 5y ago
  I have been waiting for good external Retina displays for years. That the situation has not improved after all this time is incredibly frustrating. Why is no display manufacturer [0] interested in setting itself apart by producing and marketing a lineup of reasonably priced external pixel-doubled (~200 ppi) displays? For some reason everything must be 16:9 and 4K with no regards to display size, resulting in some very awkward pixel densities. The fact that Apple is able to mass-manufacture a 5k display with a whole computer in it for just a little bit more than an UltraFine 5k is to me an indication that at least it’s technically feasible. [0] There is LG, but these displays have their issues as the article explains.
  • epolanski 5y ago
    The monitor market as a whole is pretty underwhelming. TVs and mobile/portable devices get lots of attention. But pc monitor they are very far in manufactors priorities.
    • KptMarchewa 5y ago
      Focus is on 1) gaming, where response time and high frame rate is more important than high resolution, and 2) regular offices, where price is more important than any other feature. Add to this fact that manufacturing displays is a costly affair, so there are no "artisinal" choices.
  • naikrovek 5y ago
    it's a matter of connectors and display bandwidth. Apple's extra-expensive display doesn't use HDMI or DisplayPort connectors, it uses a proprietary connector. edit: I'm wrong on that. oops. apparently that invalidates my entire point. (it doesn't) display bandwidth matters, and connectors are where display bandwidth goes to die. apple had to design a special one for the bandwidth requirements of that display. it's not so much a matter of panels, but display protocol bandwidth and connectors that allow it. even Microsoft have the Surface Studio, and it's excellent 4500x3000 display, and it's only available as part of the Surface Studio because that's the cheapest way they can get the display bandwidth all the way to the screen. eliminate the connectors and hardwire it. this is also why laptops (especially apple laptops) have such good displays. they don't have to destroy the signal integrity with connectors, and they can use more wires to carry the signal than HDMI or DisplayPort allow. high resolution, high framerate monitors just won't happen over DisplayPort or HDMI without serious advances. I expect a new connector to appear before that.
• yrral 5y ago
  Why is <220 ppi a dealbreaker? 27 inch 4k displays seem fine to me for retina and they are quite abundant. Though I've tried 32 inches 4k, and there the resolution is not enough for text work. Dell has a 32 inch 8k display which is ~280 ppi in stock. https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-ultrasharp-32-8k-monitor-up3218k/apd/210-alez/monitors-monitor-accessories https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-ultrasharp-32-8k-m...
  • fourfour3 5y ago
    If you're on macOS, your choice for a 27" 4K is realistically either the 'looks like 1080p' high DPI mode, or the 'looks like 1440p' high DPI mode. The 'looks like 1080p' mode makes all of the UI elements huge. The 'looks like 1440p' mode makes text slightly fuzzy as it's being downscaled from 5120x2880 to 3840x2160. It's not terrible, but it's nowhere near as nice as the 27" 5K.
    • bluewalt 5y ago
      Exactly. I end up to get use to this fuzzy text, but the first time was like "Ughhh this is ugly".
    • petschge 5y ago
      That sounds like a MacOS problem, not a "220dpi is not enough" problem.
      • minimaul 5y ago
        This specific issue is definitely a macOS problem - instead of doing proper resolution independent rendering, macOS just renders at 2x the 'looks like' resolution, and then scales the result to fit the panel. But even on Windows, the choices at 27" 4K aren't great. 100% is too small. 200% is too large. 150% is quite nice, but I find apps regularly don't scale properly, and text still isn't as nice as 200% on a 5K display. edit: and on Linux, it's similarly not great - integer scaling works quite well on most modern DEs. Fractional scaling is a mixed bag and a lot of apps have broken or compromised UI when it's in use.
• __MatrixMan__ 5y ago
  I disappointed that this was about monitors and not something that I could clip on my glasses that would project onto my retinas.
  • abraxas 5y ago
    Thank Apple for fucking up the term Retina Display. It used to mean something very specific until the marketing department at Apple overheard it. Same happened earlier to "real time".
    • robterrell 5y ago
      Oh don't worry, I'll bet they re-use it when they have a working retina display. And the trademark will still be in place!
• Invictus0 5y ago
  Get an iPad Pro. Problem solved.
  • kayodelycaon 5y ago
    An iPad Pro is only 12.9” and you’re stuck with one resolution. You’re better off buying the 24” LG 4K (I think. Don’t remember it being configurable.) That said, it makes a very good external monitor for mobile use.
• pedrocr 5y ago
  By defining Retina as 220PPI most options are excluded as 4K at 27" or 32" is common but more isn't. A look at what Apple calls Retina though shows that angular density is a much better definition. The initial presentation by Jobs was about angular resolution and the actual screens follow it. PPI ranges from 218 to 476 but angular density only between 57 to 92. So if you set a 27" or 32" screen at a decent distance you get "Retina" quality. If you want the screen closer maybe not. Unfortunately the market for more than 4K isn't really yet here for various reasons. Maybe if 8K catches on as a media format we take the next step. At that point only if you want to set the screen so close you can't view it all at once will it be worth it to go higher.
  • floatboth 5y ago
    Yep, trying to find PPI based rules of thumb is silly. The better definition of "retina" is far simpler: you render UI at >1x scale on it.
    • seanmcdirmid 5y ago
      What does 1X scale mean? If your application is resolution independent, it doesn’t seem to be a meaningful distinction.
      • floatboth 5y ago
        In a "logical pixel" system (macOS, Wayland, …Android??) the scale is the relationship between logical and physical pixels. In an "app go draw bigger stuff" system like Windows, it's just the factor of how much bigger the UI elements should be. E.g. in Windows settings you can set 150% scale and all UI elements will be 1.5X as large. And the "good" scale depends mostly on PPI of the monitor, as well as user preference. On a 27" 4K monitor, 1x scale is near unusable: the UI elements would be microscopic. Windows defaults to 150%, but 175% and 200% are fine as well (here's the user preference aspect).
        • seanmcdirmid 5y ago
• AlcaDal 5y ago
  How about the ASUS 32" PA329CV?
  • happyopossum 5y ago
    Literally going the opposite direction there - 32” at 4k means huuuuge pixels…
• flyingchipmann 5y ago
  I would add LG CX/C1 48 inch. The lowest price has come down to 1000 usd + tax around recent month. It has all the features and packs a top tier oled panel.
  • djrogers 5y ago
    That’s basically a small TV - it’s nowhere near retina, and 4k is barely acceptable at 1/4 that size.
    • flyingchipmann 5y ago
      Unfortunately there are no 40-43 inch models like other usual 4k tvs. 48 is the best we can get for now
  • minimaul 5y ago
    I find that bigger than 32" at desktop distances is uncomfortable at best, unfortunately. 27" is definitely the sweet spot for me.
    • tpmx 5y ago
      You need a deeper desk.
  • deleted 5y ago
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• kirilangov 5y ago
  Eve Spectrum https://evedevices.com/pages/spectrum https://evedevices.com/pages/spectrum
  • minimaul 5y ago
    That's a 27" 4K, so it's already low PPI compared to the monitors in the article.
    • floatboth 5y ago
      That's double the PPI compared to 27" 1080p ;) Granted, the usual "non-retina" 27-inch resolution was 1440p, but it's still a monitor you could use 2x scaling on. Yeah 1.75x or even 1.5x would be kinda preferable if you want more screen space but I like the huge UI elements.
      • minimaul 5y ago
        Exactly - 27" 1080p is too large, 27" 1440p is nice for UI size for me, and then it's about extra pixels for sharpness & clarity. Unfortunately the OSes I want to use don't do fractional scaling well - macOS or Linux, but Linux can work here, it's getting better. Windows does fractional scaling well in theory, but I find it works poorly in practice as app support for it is really patchy.
  • deleted 5y ago
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  • floatboth 5y ago
    But only when they make a glossy one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mTV1TOblbA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mTV1TOblbA
• jasonjmcghee 5y ago
  LG 27GN950 seems like it hits a a lot of the criteria others are discussing. It is not 220 PPI though. 4K IPS at 144Hz (or 120Hz depending on video card) HDR 400 nits It also rotates to portrait mode, has a built in backlight for eyestrain, is essentially borderless- and it's $800-900. Have had it over a year with no issues.
  • minimaul 5y ago
    Is it actually HDR, or is it 'HDR'? I have another LG monitor that claims HDR support but really it just squishes the SDR content to make space for HDR - so it makes everything look awful.
    • flexin 5y ago
      It's HDR600 so I suppose 'HDR' in quotes. It's also matte which I like more than the LG 5k's glossy screen.
    • jasonjmcghee 5y ago
      I've heard others say that unless it has FALD, anything claiming HDR is basically lying. And I can't speak to how accurate that is, but this monitor has HDR600 which requires 10bit color depth and local dimming. I think it looks better with it enabled than without, seems like darker darks / richer color, but I'm not an HDR or monitor enthusiast, so check better sources before making a purchase.
      • mmis1000 5y ago
        There are so few thing on windows actually utilize HDR properly. The few I come up with are some games from UBI (Tom Clancy's series) and forza horizon 5. You get far better experience when play them with HDR. The others are either nonadjustable too dim, too bright or have a totally incorrect light curve.
    • theYipster 5y ago
      400 nits HDR is a marketing gimmick. For real HDR you need a 1000 nits minimum as well as a 10 (if not 12) bit display.
• urthor 5y ago
  > Ridiculous Option: Apple Pro Display XDR I'll admit, a monitor that costs more than my first car is beyond affordable for 99% of the population. But saying that, many of the people reading this are pulling truly exotic salaries right now. After devoting untold hours to reaching the top of their profession. Let's say you're a professional earning $300k plus in software. You're often working 100% remote, using your monitor 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, just for work. Plus untold hours of HackerNews (strictly after 5pm of course). I just find that's truly not an unlikely situation to be in. Without reference to the technical merits of the Apple Display, I don't think dropping $5000 on a monitor is outlandish for any professional in the situation I've described. My hairdresser for example has a $4000 pair of scissors. He uses the damn things every day, and he sharpens them twice a day. Whilst it's not essential, taking pride and investing in the tools of your trade is not a thing to frown upon.
  • jstx1 5y ago
    > I just find that's truly not an unlikely situation to be in. Uhm, I would say that fully remote $300k+ jobs are still unlikely.
    • cheeze 5y ago
      Not really. I was pleasantly surprised at the options out there when I looked recently. Entry level dev, yeah going to be hard. Senior level dev with a decent resume? Shouldn't be an issue at all.
      • oceanplexian 5y ago
        My experience working as a senior engineer in FAANG is you get a 2 year old Intel MacBook and maybe a grand to spend on some accessories. Like 80% of my peers thought their 60hz Dell 1440p monitor was state of the art and couldn’t tell the difference between a Celeron and an i9 10900x if their life depended on it.
        • nine_k 5y ago
• bartq 5y ago
  A bit of offtopic: Mini LED screens honestly are disappointing for me to some degree. The blooming is a real thing and I can see it every time there is bright content on dark background. I do accept it because there is no other better option really. I can see this blooming both on MacBook Pro 16 M1 Max and on iPad Pro 12.9. It looks especially bad when bright contents moves slowly, you can see those backlight zones edges and you can observe one zone gets turned off and other on. Awful. I also own Gigabyte AERO 15 OLED laptop and I must admit I prefer this screen over Apple's. White text on black looks amazing and to be honest feels a bit magical, like a thing floating in the air, especially if I look on this screen in a dark room. Code, terminal content looks amazing. It's only 60Hz though, but for mostly static coding 60Hz is enough. Ubuntu works really well, so I don't have to deal with Windows for programming work if I don't have to. I'm tempted to buy LG OLED 27EP950, it's expensive, but honestly I'd pay those money to reproduce Gigabyte AERO 15 OLED experience on 27 screen. But I know it won't happen, because LG screen will have worse pixel density, it's only 4K. It should be 5K at least, or even 5.5K or even 6K.
  • deleted 5y ago
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  • zzt123 5y ago
    Problem with OLED is the 240hz PWM, which is present in the AERO as well. For instance, on my iPhone 13 Pro, I can see the on-off-on-off clearly once I’m below 20% brightness. The eye strain of oled is terribly annoying. I agree with you on the blooming, but there are no options today that scratch all itches.
    • adriancr 5y ago
      Are all laptops with oled using pwm? Some amoled phones are using dc dimming...
      • zzt123 5y ago
        I’m only aware of the Gigabyte Aero (240hz), Dell XPS 13 (240hz), Dell XPS 15 (60hz!?), and Razer Blade 15 (60hz!?). I wasn’t aware some AMOLED phones use dc dimming. I would love to have that. It’s so weird looking at your phone and seeing the screen turn on and off repeatedly.
• mundial86 5y ago
  I am hanging on to dear life with a slowly dying Dell UP2715K in the hope that 2022 will be the year someone finally makes a decent replacement for the glossy 5k displays that came out years ago. The fact that the pro xdr only has one port makes it a non starter for me. I need to connect more than one device to my monitors.
  • jansommer 5y ago
    My UP2715K broke recently, and I thought, well, 4k can't be that bad, there's almost no 5k monitors so perhaps the difference isn't that big of a deal. So I bought Dell's UP2720Q. Brilliant colors, can't complain at all on that point, but text is noticably blurry compared to what I'm used to. This is such a bummer
• yih35 5y ago
  I have the lg ultrafine 4K. Picture quality is obviously a lot better than the matte and lower resolution displays available for windows. It adjusts brightness for the room which is also nice. It has quite an annoying bug though in that whenever there is a power outage, it never wakes up. I have to get another monitor, plug only that monitor in, plug the lg back in after restart, unplug other monitor just to get it working again. Resolution is not quite retina but good enough. Sound quality is not as good as iMacs on built in speakers. It has no web cam but not sure I care. I used to be content with windows and low resolution monitors. I think the eyes just adjust and make up for anything that is lost. I am not even sure resolution even matters. 4K video would be nice, but very little content is in 4k.
• amrox 5y ago
  I use dual LG 24UD58-B’s (one landscape, one portrait) for coding and I’ve been satisfied. I don’t run them at native res, but this never bothered me. I also don’t game or edit photos or video either.
• symlinkk 5y ago
  How is the Ultrafine “unreliable”? What functionality would a monitor even have that could possibly break?
  • Eric_WVGG 5y ago
    Here’s a list of issues the LG 5k Ultrafine has had over the years: The initial batch would get disrupted if a WiFi antenna (like the kind in an ordinary laptop) was too close. There was a recall to replace the shielding. Sporadic dumping of devices connected to the internal USB-C hub (mine did this all the time when I had 2.5” HDs connected; got better when I switched to SSDs; mostly disappeared when I switched to an M1 Mac). Ghosting (I currently have this problem bigly). The pins in the powered USB-C socket that are responsible for data are poorly soldered. Over the years and wear, this can result in displays that can power laptops but not necessarily show a picture. The whole product line is a big fat lemon.
  • evolve2k 5y ago
    I’m not sure on others but for me it’s been issues when connecting the monitor to my laptop. I bring my laptop in each morning and after I plug it into the monitor I have issues. Often the monitor is not correctly identifying the MacBook and so it doesn’t correctly turn on even though my MacBook responds by moving everything across two screens. It can lead to 5-10 minutes of plugging and unplugging and switching the monitor on and off. Not an experience anyone wants.
• amelius 5y ago
  Here's a handy website to find panel displays without a frame: https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=advancedsearch https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=advancedsearch
• Eric_WVGG 5y ago
  My utterly unrealistic dream is: now that the first batch of 5k iMacs is approaching “old age,” some business would start selling kits than had the tools and instructions necessary to gut old iMacs, and a new controller board that would convert the remaining screens to basic DisplayPort displays. At $300 and around $500 for an old iMac on eBay, this could be somehow both more economical and likely more reliable than the displays currently on the market (see my other message in this thread). Also it’s just going to be a pity when those beautiful old computers start hitting the landfills.
  • washadjeffmad 5y ago
    I wouldn't blame you for wanting to remove the Intel innards, but iMacs can already be used as external displays. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592 Also, you can just spec the panels from Aliexpress most of the time. That's how I got my first Korean Retina IPS display over a decade ago, and I'm doing it again now for a non-standard OLED panel for a project.
    • minimaul 5y ago
      Target Display Mode doesn't work on any of the 5K iMacs, from what I understand.
      • chipotle_coyote 5y ago
        You are correct! IIRC, it wouldn't have been possible (or at least, wouldn't have been very easy) with the external display protocols available at the time the first 5K iMacs came out, and they've never gone back and revisited the idea.
      • washadjeffmad 5y ago
        Thanks, I missed that.
    • deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  • 5y ago
• oxml 5y ago
  I bought two LG Ultrafine 5K displays in 2016 and they're still going strong. They're good — probably the best affordable retina monitor option available, but not perfect. For example, I wish I could daisy chain, and there are occasional ghosting when changing from a contrasty/bright screen to a dark screen. I also ran into problems this year with my MBP maxing out CPU when running both displays at once — after 5 years without problems. Switching to one display solves the issue. If Apple released an affordable pro level display with reasonably good specs, I'd make the jump.
  • evolve2k 5y ago
    Could you link out to the specific model? Thx
    • oxml 5y ago
      https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMUB2LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k-display https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMUB2LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k... — It's the same LG 5k model from the post.
  • whynotminot 5y ago
    Are you having any image retention issues? Mine seems to hang onto images, especially along the outermost inch or so of the screen. Not a deal breaker--still love the screen--but kind of unacceptable given the price. But I bought it second hand so warranty isn't really an option for me.
    • oxml 5y ago
      That's the ghosting problem I referred to, although image retention is the accurate term. I never noticed that it was mostly the outer edges of the screen, but now that you mention it, the image persistence on mine seems to be mostly on the outer 2-4 inches of the screen. Agreed. Not a dealbreaker, especially since it's such a great screen otherwise. Although given the price, it's a shame this problem exists.
  • oxplot 5y ago
• metmac 5y ago
  My dream display would be close to retina PPI + 16:10 ratio. Still running 2x 30” Apple Cinema Displays because I prefer the 1600px height. They are awful displays by modern standards. But what I’d give to have a panel that is 5120 x 3200.
  • mastercheif 5y ago
    I’m in the same boat, I’m holding on to my 30” ACD until I get get a pixel doubled version of it for under $2k.
• minimaul 5y ago
  Curious as to what people think of https://consumer.huawei.com/en/monitors/mateview/specs/ https://consumer.huawei.com/en/monitors/mateview/specs/ - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09C6JZPZG https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09C6JZPZG It's 28.2" and 3840x2560 - it's a 3:2 aspect ratio. I think it's a very tempting option.
  • rsync 5y ago
    Thank you - that is very interesting ... Perhaps I can pay this forward by mentioning the Eizo 1:1 (1920x1920) monitor @ 26.5" diagonal: https://www.eizo.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/ https://www.eizo.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/
  • watersb 5y ago
    Looks interesting. Includes audio - stereo speakers and microphone array. Not sure the display can be used on a VESA mount; there are ports on the stand, but a detail illustration shows feed-through to ports on the hinge. The Amazon UK site seems to be willing to ship it to my US address. About $780, with that shipping cost.
  • t3rabytes 5y ago
    Looks cool, but I haven’t heard of this monitor once before — I suspect it’s likely because Huawei’s brand has been mildly killed by the US govt (I also don’t see that monitor on US Amazon).
  • jagger27 5y ago
    That price is a lot less than I expected.
• WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
  There’s also a market of those small portable displays that are definitely ”retina”. I own a pair of those, one 15" and one 12.9", both UHD. Sadly, many of them, while not precisely “no name”, are of dubious quality when it comes to driver boards. My 15" display likes to produce a loud “pop” sound with the picture going bright white for a fraction of an eyeblink. It’s also HDR without being HDR — in SDR mode, the picture is hideous and in HDR, it’s merely bearable. The 12.9" display is way better. No issues whatsoever, I sometimes take it with me when on the road. And it’s simply gorgeous when you have a lot of text to work with. I feel the sweet spot would be the 17" ones I’m seeing on Amazon. If only they had proper VESA holes, proper DP sockets ubstead of USB-C and were reliable, I could replace my Dell P2145Qs with two of those. A good size, super small pixels, and just a fraction of power consumed.
  • ghostly_s 5y ago
    How are they using "a fraction of the power"?
    • WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
      10 W vs 45 W?
• myrandomcomment 5y ago
  So sample size of 1, but I have had the "Apple" LG 5K for 3 months now and it is great. I was able to drop the TB dock and wire my external USB-C HDs right to it. It is hooked to M1 Mac Mini running the latest MacOS. This monitor replaced the "Apple" LG 4K which I ran for ~2 years.
• massysett 5y ago
  I have two of the LG 24-inch 4K monitors from this list. They’re great for web browsing and Terminal work. I use them with an Intel Mac mini and unfortunately the power management doesn’t work. Sometimes on computer boot, the monitors just don’t come on, and sleep is problematic too. Sometimes unplugging and replugging the video cable works, sometimes no. Sometimes the only fix is another reboot, which seems to reset something. I’ve found that Thunderbolt to Displayport cables work best, and I disabled all monitor power management both in the Mac and the monitors. Still sporadic issues though. Don’t know whether to blame the monitors or the Mac. Other than that, no complaints.
• watersb 5y ago
  If you are considering the purchase of an old Apple Cinema Display, make sure it includes the "power brick" or "power supply". It's a proprietary bit that combines the DVI and power onto a single cable that plugs into the back of the display. Many resellers process used Apple displays just like every other brand. You don't sell a DVI or VGA cable with a monitor. It's no big deal. But without the required Apple brick, your very nicely calibrated large LCD monitor is... just a brick.
• BeFlatXIII 5y ago
  What's the smallest 4K (external, I don't want your meme laptops with 4k displays in the recommendation pool) monitor currently on the market?
  • johnwalkr 5y ago
    There's a variety of 15.6" portable monitors, most seeming to have the same specs and obviously based on some laptop panel.
    • BeFlatXIII 5y ago
      I had completely forgotten about those when I wrote my question. IIRC, Dell makes a 24" 4K monitor, but I can't think of having ever encountered a 22" monitor at 4K.
• ArchD 5y ago
  Why the insistence on Retina displays, though? If the pixel count is too small for the monitor size, then place the monitor further away, and use more monitors if necessary. E.g. you could have 2x 30-inch 4k monitors. The DPI is low but you can place the monitors further to compensate. Having monitors further away from the eyes may also help to prevent eye strain from focusing too close for too long.
• johnwalkr 5y ago
  I recently gave away one of two of my 7 year old 4K 27" monitors, thinking I could upgrade to something larger and higher resolution instead of using 2 monitors. I assumed I could get something around 35" and >4K but it doesn't exist. Aside from the Apple XDR display (32" 6K), there are 27" 4K monitors, a few 32" 4K monitors, or much larger (too large in my opinion) 4K or 8K TVs. Then there's a refresh rate arms race of smaller 1080p or 1440p monitors for gaming. And almost all of the options above aside from the XDR and large TVs look terrible next to a macbook. If you read monitor forums there's posts going back 2 years now saying "with HDMI 2.1 coming out soon, there will be more options." But nothing really appeared. In the end I pulled the trigger on a 1440p 49" ultrawide[1] because it appeared on sale one day for $600 with only $50 shipping from US to Japan. I really like the form factor for working with references off to the side, but it's dim, washed-out, and blurry compared to the macbook I use it with. I'll be replacing it as soon as something better is available. And why do all monitors have absolutely terrible UIs? I virtually never use any feature aside from switching inputs, and that usually takes 10 button presses. Usually the buttons are all in a row but represent up/down/left/right. Adding insult to injury, the monitor I'm now using has single button access to change the power LED color or add a crosshair to the screen. And if it loses signal for a split second, such as to change resolution, it either changes to another input or powers down. Either of these takes 10 seconds to fix. The manual shows a remote control with the buttons I want, but apparently it is no longer included, or available. [1]https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=43305 https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=43305
• new_realist 5y ago
  It's shameful that Dell's 8K monitor is sabotaged by Apple.
• pseale 5y ago
  A reasonable high-enough DPI option I've been watching for a while is a 55" 8K TV. We're close to the 8K utopia! - HDMI 2.1 can push 8K @ 60Hz over a single cable (though I am told the colors are not full range? https://twitter.com/MaratTanalin/status/1426726300585185284 https://twitter.com/MaratTanalin/status/1426726300585185284 - "Afaik, 8K@60Hz via HDMI 2.1 is only possible with either DSC compression or chroma subsampling — both are lossy.") - A 3090 can push the pixels - 8K TV prices have come down to ~$1500-$2000 - In theory, some combination of Game Mode and/or manually turning off all forms of picture post-processing can get you into good-to-good-enough input lag If you want to wait for monitor manufacturers to manufacture 8K monitors, well, while it's inevitable, it'll be a while. But for the bold and stout of heart, for those willing to take risks, a new adventure awaits you. 8K
• jiggawatts 5y ago
  Where PC displays ought to be in 2021: At the high-end: 6K or 8K 120Hz 1000 nit, 12-bit HDR in various sizes from 27" up to 40" where this kind of resolution makes sense. At the "enthusiast" or "gamer" tier: 4K 240Hz with 10-bit HDR, either 1000 nit LCD or 600 nit OLED. (From 2022, RGB OLED with 1000 nit brightness) In both cases wide-gamut colour (Display P3 or wider) should be available and "just work". Ideally much wider, near Rec.2020. I still use a 8 year old(!) monitor with 100% AdobeRGB coverage. For some bizarre reason, this is a "high bar" that 99% of currently sold PC monitors don't reach, despite quantum dot filters being a thing since 2013(!!). This isn't wishful thinking, this is all existing, off-the-shelf technology widely available elsewhere in the general consumer market -- just not for PCs. So for example, my iPhone has a wide-gamut, 1000 nit HDR OLED screen with 120 Hz. LG sells an 8K OLED with 120 Hz, and 240 Hz 4K televisions are commonplace. Most TVs have 1000+ nit HDR, and OLEDs will reach about 1000 nits in 2022. Most of the above is simply unavailable in the PC display world, or is only available "piecemeal". I just got a laptop with an OLED 4K HDR display, but it is limited 60Hz. This isn't an input cable limitation, it's a built-in display with a 5cm long cable! There are exactly zero 120 Hz PC OLED monitors available on the market under 40" (i.e.: not a re-purposed television). None. Back to my laptop: HDR "works" in the checkbox tick sense. The panel is physically very good, but even on Windows 11 with the absolute latest drivers it's hit & miss: - Windows is not colour managed by default. Still. In nearly-2022 era. Apps randomly look correct or have visibly "stretched" gamuts. Most things are limited to sRGB, and can't use the display native gamut, despite wide-gamut support for the UI being available as far back as Vista. - HDR content is randomly correct by accident (YouTube), overbright and clipped horribly (also YouTube for some reason), or way too dark (NetFlix). - Dolby Vision doesn't work at all. The "Dolby Access" app is abandonware that does nothing. (Again, both my TV and my phone can play DV content!) - Games don't work in HDR at all on the internal OLED display, but do work with an external TV plugged in. So the GPU is capable of it, it just refuses to work! - The panel is 10-bit capable, but only if HDR is turned on. - With HDR on the screen stays black when the laptop resumes from sleep, making this a no-go for general use. This is a known issue that has persisted through at least three semi-annual releases of Windows, with a WONTFIX response from Microsoft! This is where were are on the eve of 2022: A super-high-end Windows computer screws up the colours for apps, can't reliably play HDR, refuses to for games, and dies if HDR is used before it goes to sleep. It doesn't matter anyway because HDR displays are rarer than hen's teeth and won't be available until 2023 at the earliest, some time after TV manufacturers will stop making LCDs entirely and switch 100% of their production over to OLEDs. Don't worry, the old LCD lines will be used to make faded, sub-sRGB displays for us poors.
• michaelmrose 5y ago
  For your consideration a calculator. https://www.designcompaniesranked.com/resources/is-this-retina/ https://www.designcompaniesranked.com/resources/is-this-reti... According to it's methodology which seems reasonable a 4k display is "retina" at 26" at a typical 20" viewing distance. A 27" at 21. I think a 27" is so near as good as to be indistinguishable despite being a reasonable upgrade in screen area. I have something very similar to this. https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824025891 https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824025891 I'd easily put it in the position of the bargain choice.
• riekus 5y ago
  I am currently looking at the dell or Lenovo 40 inch 5k2k displays... Want to pair it with 2020 Macbook air. Any thoughts?
• binbag 5y ago
  Why is it so difficult to get the right screen for a mac, relative to how easy it is with Windows? Is this a proactive design choice by Apple, or just a lack of care?
  • kecupochren 5y ago
    The issue is subpixel antialiasing. it got removed in Big Sur and hence nonretina screens have blurry fonts.
    • binbag 5y ago
      But, why?
• manuelmagic 5y ago
  When talking about hi-end monitor I'm always surprised that nearly nobody list Eizo monitors among the choices. https://www.eizoglobal.com/ https://www.eizoglobal.com/
• akrymski 5y ago
  Got a Huawei Mateview recently - 28.2", 4K+, 3:2 aspect ratio, USB-C charging, £500! Fantastic monitor with a great feature set. Retina screen similar to M1 Macbook quality, can barely tell the difference. Looks just like the Apple Pro Display, but with a better aspect ratio for devs. 100% Recommended.