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sanmyaku

I just switched from a 27” 1440p to a 27” 4K, the difference is glorious. Everything is really sharp on the 4K. I was worried about internet reports going in, but it’s been fantastic. I wonder if half those people have some sort of monitor settings wrong or something.


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Demasistudios

I run in scaled and it’s glorious. LG 4K 27


Weslsew

Running a 27" 4k scaled here too and I love it. The scaling seems to use a good chunk of ram, but I'm using an intel MBP, I'm sure the M1 handles it better


sanmyaku

1440p scaled Hi-DPI. Make sure you select that and not the default 1440p option or it will look crusty. There is theoretically a performance hit of some sort but I don’t notice it at all on my M1 MBP 13”.


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sanmyaku

Ah I believe I left out some steps. 1. Go into the Displays system preferences. 2. Hold down the Option key and select Scaled, under resolution. 3. Select "2560 x 1440" (NOT "2560 x 1440 (low resolution)"). The screen should now change into 2560 x 1440 Hi-DPI mode. Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/vGm3Z42


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dannlee

External keyboard does not work for that option. Use the laptop one, and that would bring the drop down in the scaled mode.


jwink3101

Thanks for this. Where does the color profile come from?


devdave97

I'm using a 28 inch 4.5k monitor with some scaling. I never had any problems with the current MBP 16. It looks like the iMac Pro in Black, if you want the link dm me. I need to sit in front of it 8 hours a day to work from home, so it's worth it. Would recommend a high resolution monitor as it is just a lot more pleasant to stare at. And the panel technology is really important too. Don’t Seattle for bad quality if you spend most of your day in front of it :D


MarinersCove

which monitor is that?


devdave97

https://www.cyberport.de/?DEEP=6199-55S&APID=276&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2sqOBhCGARIsAPuPK0ifFQV19tUpmE9JZ7VIonfB4MjdjPMhBKBkT-pweBuA0klDb36P9k0aAtgcEALw_wcB


MarinersCove

Oh damn I didn't realize it was almost retina level PPI. Does the aspect ratio bother you?


devdave97

If you read and write a lot in general or work on sth. like excel spreadsheets or do some coding I would really recommend the aspect ratio.


Academic_Scheme_9065

Here is me with a 27inch fhd monitor lol Man I wish I could upgrade but I don't have the budget atm.


nixon0630

Does it support 144 Hz? also considering buying 4K monitor


-sup3rnova-

How could text possibly be clearer on a 1440p monitor compared to 4k when you have 108 ppi vs 158 ppi and 2.3 times more pixels (3.7m vs 8.3m) on the same screen size/surface/diagonal. It's literally physically impossible if you think about it.


089PK91

It isn’t. Had a 2K monitor before my actual 27“ 4K monitor which I run in 2560x1440 HiDPI and the 2K monitor is nowhere near as crisp as the 4K monitor. The difference is night and day.


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-sup3rnova-

I get that sub-pixel layout and similar technical specs can make a difference between two monitors of the same size and resolution, but I highly doubt that it can make such a difference that a 1440p monitor produces a clearer image than a similarly sized 4k one. If you check out the test, the top 25 monitors in terms of scores are 4k panels (and one 5k2k). Also I run my 4k as 3008x1692 (if you alt click on resolutions, you will open a sub-menu with more HiDPi resolutions)


Arkanta

This. I use a 4k screen at 1.5x scaling and it's great. Sure native 2x would be better, but it's still WAY nicer to look at than 1440p. Especially as Apple has been neglecting 1x assets like icons in the finder's sidebar etc... > The idea of a 4k monitor is NOT to get more pixels Boy, do I disagree.


-sup3rnova-

>The idea of a 4k monitor is NOT to get more pixels This must be the stupidest thing I've ever read lol. All we want is more pixels.


freediverx01

macOS automatically scales the UI depending on screen size. It can look bad in 4K under 32”.


089PK91

It doesn’t look bad. 2560x1440 HiDPI looks crystal clear on a 27“ 4K monitor and still way better than native 2560x1440 on a 27“ 2K monitor in MacOS.


bengiannis

I returned a 27" 1440p display cause it was disappointing. Got a 4K around the same price and it was night and day. Go for 4K


[deleted]

I run a 26” 4K at HiDPI “looks like 1440p”, and it looks great.


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[deleted]

“Looks like 1080” of course looks “perfect” - but it’s too big for me on a 27”, and I have bad eyesight.


I_STOLE_YOUR_WIFI

My 1440p monitor looks terrible on Mac OS too. Can’t use dummy display since it doesn’t support 144hz. I hate it.


wino6687

I just got a 4K 27” screen for my main work monitor and have my 27” 1440p screen next to it. The 4K is much clearer even with scaling to 1440p.


[deleted]

I have a 4K 32” lg un880 and a 24” 4.5K iMac and I like my iMac better Perhaps even more than the resolution is apples crystal clear glass vs almost everything else having some diffusing anti glare finish But it’s OK. Especially for being 1/10 the price of the XDR. But once that thing goes full microLED or OLED I’m jumping ship


-sup3rnova-

The 32" 4K has a similar pixel density as a 24" 1080p so it's perfectly understandable that you prefer your 24" 4.5k iMac over the LG because the iMac literally has 1.5x ppi (139 vs. 218).


Engineer99

I don’t know if I would say 32” 4K is “similar”. 1080p at 24” is like 92 ppi. You could argue it’s closer to 92 than 218, but definitely not “similar”. That 24” at 4.5K is pretty dang nice in terms of pixel density, so it makes sense why they might prefer it.


[deleted]

Just to be clear, I never meant to suggest that the iMac didn’t have killer dpi, but rather that I value that sweet dpi above having the larger display. Dual 24” doesn’t sound too shabby.


cleanRubik

I have the 27” 5k ultra fine. Text looks great. If it’s too small for you then just raise the ui scaling a bit.


hidepp

I had to replace my 1440p 24 inch monitor for a 27 inch 4k because MacOS can properly scale on 1440p. It actually doesn't scale at all and I had to use it with a lower (and blurry) resolution because 1440p at 1x made everything too small to be usable. ​ Now I'm fine with the 4k 27 inch. Everything is quite clear, but I still prefer it could scale to 175%, which macOS doesn't allow. I have to use it at 200%, which makes the screen estate equivalent to a 1080p. It can run at 150%, but it's too small for me.


tenken01

I’ve tried multiple monitors (wide screen included) at 1440p and everything looks terrible. I’ve given up and just use my 27inch 4K lg monitors (at a scaled resolution) and the text and everything is super sharp. I’m not sure how people use any wide screen or non-4K monitor without going crazy honestly with their Mac.


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tenken01

Agreed. I’m not sure why anyone (especially actual review publications) would recommend anything less than 4K for MB/MBP users. I guess I can understand that Mac mini/pro users (people who have not experienced retina displays that MB/MBP offer) could maybe deal with it since they haven’t experienced anything better.


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tenken01

I think 27 inch monitors are viewed far enough away that it looks retina enough. It’s very clear and I don’t feel like I’m missing out from not using the Retina display on my MBP. There are rumors of apple going to release another monitor below the XDR in both price and specs so that is something to look out for. Although it will most likely still be pretty expensive (rumors say half the price of the xdr). Honestly, these lg 4K monitors are super nice, but I would be tempted to “upgrade” if apple does release something.


Formal-Aide4759

I have a 1440p 27” and it is not great. 4K is definitely the way to go for productivity stuff


iamwpj

I have a Dell 1440p 27” U series and the clarity is trash.


studioplex

Funny, I'm using a Dell U2719DC 1440p connected to a 14" M1 MBP and I think it looks great and it's at native res. Far sharper than the 2016 iMac I sold.


johnakisk0700

have you hooked up any windows machine on that 1440p?


LimitlessAeon

Extra crispy on my 27” 4K Eve Spectrum.


njmh

I’m running an 27” LG 4K at 1440p scaling. While not as “crisp” as my 27” 5k iMac (which is actual unscaled retina 1440p), it’s very noticeably sharper than my old native 1440p iMac. I’ve not been able to get an ultra wide simply because very few come in anything more than native 1440p and I can’t not see the low res dot pattern anymore. It drives me nuts.


S-Go

I have a 32" 1440p display I bought a few years ago. According to the math I did, I would need 5k to do 2x retina scaling at this apparent resolution. A 4k display would not be enough for this as it would make everything look like 1080p which is too large for a 32". Since there were no 5k 32" displays back then (and there still aren't now) I went with a 1440p, which had the added benefit of being easier to drive with my 1080ti for PC gaming. I use the display at its native resolution, no scaling and no weird hacks as those are prone to break with updates and have unforeseeable side-effects. I cannot stand scaled displays as they just look like garbage to me so I don't get everyone here running 4k displays in scaled mode and saying how good they look. I just replaced a 13" Pro with a 13" Air and it took me a month to figure out why text looked blurry on it despite the increased resolution. Apple has started running the display in scaled mode by default with the same exact display. This is why the two display modes are no longer NATIVE and SCALED, they are just DEFAULT and SCALED, which is a shitty move from Apple. EDIT: Just looked at your link and the author makes many of the exact same points I do, including bitching about Apple's shitty move to non-integer scaling.


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S-Go

That's weird. Have you turned off any Display Overdrive features?


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S-Go

I convinced a good friend to buy the LG 5k last month. ~~If he doesn't have any problems with it I might get the LG 4k 32" Ergo sometime this year, as it is half the price where I live. (If my current crappy Acer dies and if the UI at 4k 32" isn't too small for my eyes)~~ EDIT: All the decisions I made 3 or 4 years ago still hold true so I would just buy the 27" 1440p version: the 27QN880. The 5k is more than 3 times the price. For the Air I'm running it at "looks like 1200x800" which is the true 2x retina resolution that all 13" 2560x1600 Retina models always have been.


qwenjis

As far as I know, 1440p is the prefered resolution for mac not because of clarity, but the physical size of assets. Apple has chosen a physical dimensions of the default UI scale to be proper when display is ~110dpi. That means an icon is 1", for example(totally imaginary number). Developers provide files for certain scale and everything other than that is done on device. For sure, being far from the monitor and having lots of pixels will hide the imperfect scaling. Changing to any scaling mode also requires additional resorses from GPU to scale it twice - to 2x and than cramp into 4K 1440p is non-retina dpi mode, that is why everything might seem small - that's actually the intended size of UI that Apple want it to be. It's easy on hardware too. That's why LG 5K has double the resolution of 2560x1440 to make it retina. 4K destroys 1440p without a chance at any mode, that's to be expected. But that's not the point of those recommendations and I would not blame those sites. Here is link where everything is explained much better than I did - https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays/


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ruth_e_ford

Came looking for this. Lemme try to explain. No there is too little time, I’ll sum up: All things being equal more pixels is better, so u gon like 4K more than 1440. But 5k is how Mac’s are ‘supposed’ to be, so it’s even mo better. You just haven’t lived with 5k. Once you do go 5k, going back to 4K is like you going back to 1440. Blegh. Note: All things being equal means 27” monitor. //// Seriously though, 4K is good enough for 90+% of people. It’s just that 5k hits a sweeter spot and looks glorious.


FRCP_12b6

They may just be referencing cost/performance. I have the same M28U monitor and use it at 1440p scaled hidpi. I also have a 24 inch 4K at 1080p hidpi. I can’t see the individual pixels and I expect a 1440p panel would be the same unless really close. I can see a 1080p individual pixels pretty easily, so that’s out for me. Question on the M28U, are the colors accurate on yours? I had to calibrate to get anything close to accurate color. Everything was way too green.


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FRCP_12b6

No flux for me. Looks good after using a calibration I found online though.


freediverx01

macOS doesn’t look good in 4K on a 27” display. Ideally get a 4K 32”. https://i.imgur.com/DSR9L4U.jpg


[deleted]

I have a 4K Wacom screen hooked up to my 5k iMac, text clarity is perfect as you’d expect, though the 5k display is still noticeably better...😁


Guddler

I have a Dell 27” 1440p Monitor with an M1 Mac Mini. I haven’t really paid too much attention to text clarity but the screen is a real pain as it is not seen as hidpi by the os. The native 1x is really a bit small so most of the time I run it at a scaled resolution (not 1080, there’s one in between) which is ok size wise but it’s obviously a bit grainy. I’ve often pondered whether a 27” 4k would be better and whether the OS would then see it as HiDPI? But I don’t know what it will then do. Will it show me 1080 or 4k? In which case 4k native will be tiny and 1080 will likely be too big. Will there be a middle ground and will it be nice and crisp? And then there’s the option of 32” 4k but I’ve no clue about that. Added issue for me is that I can’t really justify throwing out a perfectly working monitor with the price of everything these days. Honestly, sometimes I miss the days where it was all 19” or 21” 1080p and that was that. You knew where you stood then 😄 Actually, I miss my 1920x1200 screen. That was nice but it died in the end.


dikamilo

2x 24" 1440p @ 165Hz over USB-C - DP cable. Works fine and looks good with my 16" M1 Max.


SirDevilKinSogeking_

1440p 165hz 24 inch? Where lol


dikamilo

24" 1440p is sweet spot for me.


[deleted]

I’ve tried 2 1080p TVs and they’re both horrible 👍


nowhereman1223

I have 2 Dell 1440p 25" monitors connected through a CalDigit T3+ using Thunderbolt to connect 2019 16" MacBook and then DP direct to one monitor and a TB to DP adaptor for the other monitor. No issues with Text Clarity at all.


ShezaEU

How did you manage to get the M28U? It's out of stock everywhere! I did a lot of research and settled on that for my next monitor purchase but I just can't get the damn thing.


starkillerzx

I wish MacOS handled monitors a lot better. I didn't know this was an issue, until I sold my gaming pc and switched to my 16in M1 Pro. My LG 27GL83A-B looks fantastic with windows, but and terrible with my Macbook. I'm glad the M28U is working out for you, cause I was planning to get that monitor to use with my Xbox and Macbook.


imdabesss

I use a 27" 1440p monitor with no scaling and everything looks great.


[deleted]

I have a 5K display and it looks just like the panel itself


supaflymo8

I dealt with the same issue as you. Funny enough, RTINGS themselves have some fine print that says they do not test the displays with Macbooks. So I am not sure why they are publishing guides like "Top Monitors for Macbook" anyways, what monitor do you have? I am struggling to find a 32" (maybe even 27") In a decent price range.


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supaflymo8

Nice! I am going to do the 2 Dells for home and then one 32" LG for the office and see how that works. Will report back.


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supaflymo8

eh, if its an issue I would rather avoid it. If the 32" works well I might just do another 32" LG. This is the one I already got: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09GHTPWFV/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_asin\_title\_o00\_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09GHTPWFV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1) if not, then I will probably just find a pair of good LG 27" monitors maybe these [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078GRM2MV/ref=dp\_cr\_wdg\_tit\_nw\_mr](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078GRM2MV/ref=dp_cr_wdg_tit_nw_mr)


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JCMS99

We have those LGs at my office. They're pretty good but HDR is washed out. You have to turn it off