Dell P2715Q vs LG 27UD68 | 4k Monitor

[andy9l]

It is true though, that 4K scaled to 1440p will not be as sharp as a standard retina display.

There's a clear difference between my 4K 27UD88 and my 5K iMac. But there's another clear difference between my 2010 iMac (1440p native) and my 27UD88, in favour of the LG.

In short, for 1440p:

5K retina > scaled 4K > native 1440p

 

[smirk]

Oh, absolutely true. Find a pixel-per-inch calculator and put the numbers in and it's clear that what @andy9l says is correct.

But 163 ppi sure beats 109 ppi, even if it's not "retina".

 

[BJB Productions]

Yes - this was the question I had. Basically; the menu bar is a little large unscaled - so my question was if I scale it down, say to maybe the middle option, would it be lower res.

Oh, absolutely true. Find a pixel-per-inch calculator and put the numbers in and it's clear that what @andy9l says is correct.

But 163 ppi sure beats 109 ppi, even if it's not "retina".

It is true though, that 4K scaled to 1440p will not be as sharp as a standard retina display.

There's a clear difference between my 4K 27UD88 and my 5K iMac. But there's another clear difference between my 2010 iMac (1440p native) and my 27UD88, in favour of the LG.

In short, for 1440p:

5K retina > scaled 4K > native 1440p

 

[d14b0ll0s]

I think the 68 and 88 are largely the same design. The 68 has a black back, the 88 is white - or at least, mine is. Other than that, I think they're pretty similar. Check out their detailed tech specs though to be sure!

I have been using 27UD88-W for a couple of days now and it's pretty sweet (though in real life it achieves maybe 2/3 of the brightness I'm getting from my older Dell U2515H).

The main difference besides the USB-C etc. already mentioned here is that UD68 has a really terrible matte finish that looks like digital noise. I was going to buy it for its cheaper price but when I (happily!) connected it in store to my MBP, I immediately went for the newer one, which is fine in this respect.

Also, to add to the confusion: 27UD68-P is glossy black and with pivot (hence the -P), while 27UD68-W and 27UD88-W are both glossy white (-W) and don't do pivot (but I think the stand on 88-W was still somewhat adjusted). I'm using mine on a VESA mount at any rate, which was the wisest buying choice this year btw.

 

[smirk]

Well, the way I understand it, "unscaled" would be at full resolution, 3840x2160. At that resolution, everything would be tiny. Maybe when you said "unscaled" what you meant was the "Default for display" setting in the Displays panel in System Preferences?

Regardless, your display is always going to physically be driven at 3840x2160. "Scaling" means that OS X makes UI elements larger so they are more easily seen and targeted with a mouse. I'm scaling mine right now to "Looks like 3008x1692". What that means is that OS X and apps have 3,008 pixels across to play around with, even though under the covers those 3,008 pixels are really being drawn with 3,840 pixels. If an app draws a circle with a diameter of 100 pixels, that circle will actually be drawn across 127 physical pixels, not 100. The additional pixels lets the circle appear smoother.

I don't know if this is answering your question. Generally, I'd say that the more you scale the resolution down, the more retina-y it will look. But it will look best if the scaled resolution is an even multiple of the original. Scaling to 1920x1080 looks super smooth, but everything's ridiculously huge.

 

[andy9l]

retina-y

 

[radus]

I own the 27UD88-W and it does pivot very fine in macos x and windows 10 pro bootcamp.

 

[BJB Productions]

I just ordered a Dell UP2715K 5K Monitor to compare to my LG 4k. I absolutely love the design of the 4k; but I'm concerned it is not color accurate enough for photo editing.

 

[Cybbe]

I just ordered a Dell UP2715K 5K Monitor to compare to my LG 4k. I absolutely love the design of the 4k; but I'm concerned it is not color accurate enough for photo editing.

This is a bit of a bump, but what's your conclusion having presumably compared the two?

 

[BJB Productions]

This is a bit of a bump, but what's your conclusion having presumably compared the two?

Hi! Thanks for asking. So I actually had to return the 5K because my 2014 MBP wouldn't actually drive it. As for the LG 4K, the design of the monitor is lovely, but I'm actually not completely satisfied with the image quality. I don't trust it's color accuracy enough to rely on it for photo editing. I still trust Apple's monitors far more. I know I'm in the majority, but personally I'm also not a huge fan of the matte on the 4k. It just appears grainy to me.

 

[Cybbe]

Ok thanks. It would be good if Apple could release the iMac 27" display as a standalone monitor, the screen alone tempts me going for it.

 

[BJB Productions]

Ok thanks. It would be good if Apple could release the iMac 27" display as a standalone monitor, the screen alone tempts me going for it.

Well, a few months ago there were supposedly rumors if them working on a brand new monitor line up to go with the modular Mac Pro. So if you can wait a little while... we may get something next year. I'll probably keep this LG 4k until their new Pro Lineup is unveiled.