1440P Ultrawide on MacOS Ventura?

[Robdmb]

Hi,

I've read some posts where people complain about the text clarity of 1440p monitors in MacOS whereas others seem to think its fine. I am looking for a 34" ultrawide for office/productivity use only. Was wondering how they look in MacOS Ventura? Has anything changed? If a 1440p model I would run in its native 3440 x 1440 resolution if that matters. Or is the LG 5k2k the only way to go for a 34" ultrawide on MacOS?

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[stanleystf]

I don't know about wide ultrawide displays but I have a 2K, 25-inch dell monitor and everything looks great! I just had to choose 1280*720 HiDPI for the monitor.

 

[YMark]

I have a BenQ PD3420Q that is 3440x1440. I have my MB Air M2 hooked up to it and it works and looks great. I also use BetterDisplay for quick resolution swaps. I often use PbP mode with my work Windows laptop connected with Display Port and my MB Air connected via USB-C. I think you'd be very happy with it.

 

[MacGizmo]

I just don't understand the desire for such a large display with such a low resolution, but to each his own I guess.

That being said, I have the LG 5k/2k 34" Ultrawide and the text clarity is quite nice.

 

[Robdmb]

I just don't understand the desire for such a large display with such a low resolution, but to each his own I guess.

That being said, I have the LG 5k/2k 34" Ultrawide and the text clarity is quite nice.

Do you hook it up to a macbook or a mac mini/studio? Do you rune it scaled? Any major issues you've noticed with it?

 

[tstafford]

I have an old LG 3440X1440 and it doesn't look very good on macOS. I mean I guess it was sort of fine when I got it in 2015 but there must be better options these days.

It's sitting on a shelf in the garage and hopefully finds a new home. I'd hate to scrap it as I don't trust that it would get recycled appropriately.

 

[kiranmk2]

From what I've gathered the issue is with scaling. At native resolution, the monitors will look fine - a 34" 3440x1440 will like like an old, non-retina display (similar to a 24" 1080p or 27" 1440p display) as the dpi is ~110 ppi. To get retina quality (and an acceptable scaled display) you need >200 ppi and ultrawides with this high density don't exist (and don't seem to be coming either). What we really need is a 34" 7k3k display (6880x2880) which would be a retina 21:9 ultrawide. Sadly, unless Apple suddenly embraces 21:1 screens I think this will be a long time coming as most manufacturers are chasing refresh rates and the few hidpi screens announced are just 27" 5k and 32" 6k which are copying Apple.

 

[MacGizmo]

Do you hook it up to a macbook or a mac mini/studio? Do you rune it scaled? Any major issues you've noticed with it?

It's hooked up to a Mac Studio. I run it at two resolutions, depending on what I'm doing: 5120x2160 and 3840x1620 (the vast majority of the time it's at the full 5k/2k res, though). I've had no issues with it at all.

I don't spend a whole lot of time worrying about scaling and dpi, because it's all subjective opinion. What looks bad to me might look good to you, and what I consider pretty darn good, you may think looks bad. When it comes to display specs, I'm more interested in the full native resolution, contrast, color and brightness.

I'm more than happy with the LG 5k/2k 34" Ultrawide and the flexibility it offers me with resolution and hardware features and ports.

 

[tstafford]

I don't spend a whole lot of time worrying about scaling and dpi, because it's all subjective opinion. What looks bad to me might look good to you, and what I consider pretty darn good, you may think looks bad. When it comes to display specs, I'm more interested in the full native resolution, contrast, color and brightness.

This is how I feel too. The display debates are kind of pointless. There are price points and specs to meet most any preferences. Some of us are sensitive to the font clarity, others HDR, refresh rate, etc. The only thing that is mildly annoying is that there (to my knowledge) isn't a retina resolution display above 60 Hz nor with HDR. One can only hope (and save up a lot of $$$$ in the meantime).