Connecting an External Monitor to my M2 Air

[bballers29]

Hey!

I am in the process of completing my workstation (very simple) and recently bought the LG 24UD58-B 4K from Amazon for around $270. I previously had an old Samsung 24inch monitor that was only capable of standard HD but got fed up with the picture quality after getting used to the M2 Air's screen. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, so this LG monitor seemed like a good deal--and I am happy with it so far.

My question is-- even though my new monitor says I am using it at 1920x1080-- the quality looks far superior to my old 24inch Samsung display, which was also running at 1920x1080. Does that make sense? The resolution options I have are 1504 x 846, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440, 3008 x 1692, and 3840 x 2160. I am trying to find the the perfect balance between display resolution quality, battery consumption, etc. Does anyone run their external on a specific resolution for a specific reason. I am only using the external monitor for basic activities-- web browsing, email, excel, etc. Thanks!

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[jdb8167]

Hey!

I am in the process of completing my workstation (very simple) and recently bought the LG 24UD58-B 4K from Amazon for around $270. I previously had an old Samsung 24inch monitor that was only capable of standard HD but got fed up with the picture quality after getting used to the M2 Air's screen. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, so this LG monitor seemed like a good deal--and I am happy with it so far.

My question is-- even though my new monitor says I am using it at 1920x1080-- the quality looks far superior to my old 24inch Samsung display, which was also running at 1920x1080. Does that make sense? The resolution options I have are 1504 x 846, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440, 3008 x 1692, and 3840 x 2160. I am trying to find the the perfect balance between display resolution quality, battery consumption, etc. Does anyone run their external on a specific resolution for a specific reason. I am only using the external monitor for basic activities-- web browsing, email, excel, etc. Thanks!

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It is in HiDPI mode. You are getting 1920x1080 pixels but at 3840x2160 resolution. If you like, you can use the display settings to use more pixels. For example 2560x1440 which will be displayed as 5120x2880 upscaled. Not perfect but the display is working at about 180 pixels per inch so it will look pretty good.

I have the same display and it works fine under macOS.

 

[bballers29]

It is in HiDPI mode. You are getting 1920x1080 pixels but at 3840x2160 resolution. If you like, you can use the display settings to use more pixels. For example 2560x1440 which will be displayed as 5120x2880 upscaled. Not perfect but the display is working at about 180 pixels per inch so it will look pretty good.

I have the same display and it works fine under macOS.

Thanks! Yeah, I landed on 2560x1440 and am happy with it. It's night and day for me after using my standard HD display for so long. I won't be able to use anything that isn't 4k now. How do you like your display? I know this model has been on the market for around 5 years but there really is nothing else out there that offers this quality at a $300 price point.

 

[jdb8167]

Thanks! Yeah, I landed on 2560x1440 and am happy with it. It's night and day for me after using my standard HD display for so long. I won't be able to use anything that isn't 4k now. How do you like your display? I know this model has been on the market for around 5 years but there really is nothing else out there that offers this quality at a $300 price point.

I had to tweak the contrast and brightness controls but after fiddling around with it for a while it seems to be pretty good for a 250 nit inexpensive 4K display.

 

[bballers29]

I had to tweak the contrast and brightness controls but after fiddling around with it for a while it seems to be pretty good for a 250 nit inexpensive 4K display.

Thanks! One more question: If I primarily have my laptop connected to the external monitor, is it better to have it always connected to the charger or just connect the charger when the battery is low?

 

[Tagbert]

Thanks! One more question: If I primarily have my laptop connected to the external monitor, is it better to have it always connected to the charger or just connect the charger when the battery is low?

If you are connecting over USB-C/Thunderbolt cable, then the monitor probably provides power over the cable and you would not need the separate charger connection. Just turn on “Optimized Battery Charging” and let the battery system handle things.

 

[jdb8167]

If you are connecting over USB-C/Thunderbolt cable, then the monitor probably provides power over the cable and you would not need the separate charger connection. Just turn on “Optimized Battery Charging” and let the battery system handle things.

That display (LG 24UD58-B) connects over either DP or HDMI. No power.

I turn on optimized battery charging and don’t worry about it. I use a USB-C power adapter with a pass through power delivery USB-C dock.

 

[dickiedunn]

Which USB-C/Thunderbolt to HDMI dongle would you recommend to connect? I have an Anker one that only seems to work part of the time.

 

[rocketbuc]

Thanks! One more question: If I primarily have my laptop connected to the external monitor, is it better to have it always connected to the charger or just connect the charger when the battery is low?

I would install the app Al Dente. This allows you to limit the maximum charge to 60 or 80%, the computer will stop charging once the limit is reached. Helps with battery life without impacting your use case.

With the free version, however, Al Dente cannot stop the charging when MacOS is shut down. Otherwise, no issues at all.