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Advice needed for Best 4k Monitor for Mac Pro

MacProFCP

MacProFCP

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 14, 2007
1,200
2,695
Michigan
I have a 2013 Mac Pro and currently use a pair of HP zr27w monitors. My issue is that when viewing very large PDFs (blue prints), I have to zoom in to see the details and even with 32gb of ram, it can take a bit to refocus.

I am looking to upgrade to 4k displays so I can get more depth without having to zoom in, and thus see more detail.

I have been looking at the LG 34UM95-P which is right in my price range, but I am concerned that when I double pixelate, I will have less "screen estate" than I do now with my current 27".

Additionally, I need something with solid colors when I'm editing.

Don't want to dump $2k for nothing. Thoughts, recommendations, etc.

Please help.
 
Last edited:
JDHiro

JDHiro

macrumors 6502
Oct 24, 2013
372
622
Seattle, WA
I posted my thoughts on the U32D970Q in this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1811004/

I ended up keeping this display and I've been really happy with it. It looks best to me changing to color settings to AdobeRGB and bumping up the brightness a bit.

There isn't much to worry about regarding real-estate IMO. I run at "looks like 2560x1440" for the best text, but "looks like 3008x1692" is perfectly functional as well if you really need the extra space.
 
megalaser

megalaser

macrumors 6502
Nov 17, 2009
345
66
I have a pair of the Samsung 4K 29 inch ones and they are very good but if I were buying now, I would go for the BENQ 32 inch ones.
 
A

AppleDroid

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2011
631
84
Illinois
JDHiro said:
I posted my thoughts on the U32D970Q in this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1811004/

I ended up keeping this display and I've been really happy with it. It looks best to me changing to color settings to AdobeRGB and bumping up the brightness a bit.

There isn't much to worry about regarding real-estate IMO. I run at "looks like 2560x1440" for the best text, but "looks like 3008x1692" is perfectly functional as well if you really need the extra space.
Click to expand...

What setup do you have? My 2013 with d300 had issues with flickering with two units which I unfortunaty returned.
 
VirtualRain

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
MacProFCP said:
I have a 2013 Mac Pro and currently use a pair of HP zr27w monitors. My issue is that when viewing very large PDFs (blue prints), I have to zoom in to see the details and even with 32gb of ram, it can take a bit to refocus.

I am looking to upgrade to 4k displays so I can get more depth without having to zoom in, and thus see more detail.

I have been looking at the LG 34UM95-P which is right in my price range, but I am concerned that when I double pixelate, I will have less "screen estate" than I do now with my current 27".

Additionally, I need something with solid colors when I'm editing.

Don't want to dump $2k for nothing. Thoughts, recommendations, etc.

Please help.
Click to expand...

Dell P2415Q or P2715Q are probably the best 4K displays available in terms of great specs, no issues, and price. There's a thread here on this forum with reviews and reports from owners.
 
M

mintakax

macrumors regular
Dec 19, 2013
176
24
JDHiro said:
I posted my thoughts on the U32D970Q in this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1811004/

I ended up keeping this display and I've been really happy with it. It looks best to me changing to color settings to AdobeRGB and bumping up the brightness a bit.

There isn't much to worry about regarding real-estate IMO. I run at "looks like 2560x1440" for the best text, but "looks like 3008x1692" is perfectly functional as well if you really need the extra space.
Click to expand...

I also have this display and really like it. One heads up is you must have Yosemite to use the UHD resolution w/o artifacts. I have had 0 issues with the display since I upgraded to Yosemite.
I have nMP with D700s.
 
A

AppleDroid

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2011
631
84
Illinois
mintakax said:
I also have this display and really like it. One heads up is you must have Yosemite to use the UHD resolution w/o artifacts. I have had 0 issues with the display since I upgraded to Yosemite.
I have nMP with D700s.
Click to expand...

I really wonder if my D300's are faulty.. running 10.10.1 with the Samsung 4K my screen had flickering/artifacts constantly so I returned it. Or maybe the D300's just don't play well with the Samsung.
 
R

R3k

macrumors 68000
Sep 7, 2011
1,509
1,481
Sep 7, 2011
I too run the new Samsung 4k screens. 2 of them with a Mac Pro D500 set up, Yosemite. They run at 60hz fine.

Performance is good normally with both of them scaled at 2560 x 1440, a little bit of slowdown here or there, but Yosemite seems to jerk here or there no matter where I run it.

When restarting the Mac I often have to play with the monitor menu to get them to register that they're plugged in, but this isn't bothering me as I rerely restart and don't sleep the system.

The big problem I'm having which will ultimately have me returning them is the graphical performance while running Logic Pro and Logic X. It's laggy and slow to respond. Running video slows things down further, and running a QuickTime expended to cover even 3/4 of one screen makes the movie super jerky.

My 2010 Mac pro running 2 x 24" 1920 x 1280 screens and a 1280" TV runs logic UI's smoother than this nMP with 2 x 4k displays, and about comparable when I'm running just 1 of them.

Nothing I've tried fixes this, though it does perform better scaled to 1920, but I dont wanna run a low resolution like that.

Still, these monitors look nice, a little washed out perhaps, but that may be fixed with calibration. Still, the price is right and the performance may be a non issue for you depending on what you use the system for.. Is a good buy for some people imo.
 
A

AppleDroid

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2011
631
84
Illinois
R3k said:
I too run the new Samsung 4k screens. 2 of them with a Mac Pro D500 set up, Yosemite. They run at 60hz fine.

Performance is good normally with both of them scaled at 2560 x 1440, a little bit of slowdown here or there, but Yosemite seems to jerk here or there no matter where I run it.

When restarting the Mac I often have to play with the monitor menu to get them to register that they're plugged in, but this isn't bothering me as I rerely restart and don't sleep the system.

The big problem I'm having which will ultimately have me returning them is the graphical performance while running Logic Pro and Logic X. It's laggy and slow to respond. Running video slows things down further, and running a QuickTime expended to cover even 3/4 of one screen makes the movie super jerky.

My 2010 Mac pro running 2 x 24" 1920 x 1280 screens and a 1280" TV runs logic UI's smoother than this nMP with 2 x 4k displays, and about comparable when I'm running just 1 of them.

Nothing I've tried fixes this, though it does perform better scaled to 1920, but I dont wanna run a low resolution like that.

Still, these monitors look nice, a little washed out perhaps, but that may be fixed with calibration. Still, the price is right and the performance may be a non issue for you depending on what you use the system for.. Is a good buy for some people imo.
Click to expand...

Does it look anything like this? http://youtu.be/Rj8QwgzogqQ

That is what mine looked like running a single Samsung at 4K.
 
MacProFCP

MacProFCP

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 14, 2007
1,200
2,695
Michigan
VirtualRain said:
Dell P2415Q or P2715Q are probably the best 4K displays available in terms of great specs, no issues, and price. There's a thread here on this forum with reviews and reports from owners.
Click to expand...

Ended up getting two of the P2715Qs and they are great. Colors are amazing, they come with display port to thunderbolt cable and they quality is amazing. They ran me about $622 each on Amazon.

My only issue is that sometimes during wake, all my windows are on my primary monitor, as if it does not recognize both monitors at the same time. I think I got that fixed by putting each display on its on graphics card and reseting the PMU.

VERY SATISFIED with these. I love that in system preferences it gives you 5 options for display.

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PC9HFO8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
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