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Dell U5226KW 52 inch 6K2K vs LG 45 5K2K
- Thread starter seasurfer
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ascender
macrumors 603
I'd be interested to see what the supported resolutions are on this one. I suspect with macOS and its lack of good scaling support, the native resolution will mean text is rendered too small.
But having used a lot of these monitors, a larger canvas at 52" can only be a good thing even if working at lower resolutions as you've got more space to play with.
But having used a lot of these monitors, a larger canvas at 52" can only be a good thing even if working at lower resolutions as you've got more space to play with.
ascender
macrumors 603
Its a great idea in theory, but again, not great with macos.
I've been running mine in 6144x2560 with apps zoomed meaning it works well for what I want - a massive single workspace with loads of room for windows. The format of the screen works well as intended - effectively a central large monitor with two portrait 27".
At that resolution though, I found it a real struggle on my eyes, no matter what distance I sit from the screen. I guess the lower-than-retina PPI doesn't help either.
I couldn't get any more useable resolutions with better display to be honest. The split-screen mode works really well, for once I could genuinely have a macOS and windows machine connected side by side on the same screen with very useable resolutions on both halves of the screen.
I also had a couple of issues. One is the refusal to wake from sleep without power cycling the monitor. This was a known issue apparently resolved with the latest firmware update, but that didn't fix it for me. Very annoying to have to unplug the screen when you're just trying to wake it up.
The lack of power from the usb-c ports on the rear of the monitor was annoying - I couldn't run my webcam off it. But I think that's my bad for assuming I could, I think the product listing shows you can't do this.
So it's going back, primarily because of the "wake from sleep" issue. Its one of those things I could just hope they fix with further updates, but its a big gamble given its cost.
In some ways, the story of this monitor as a Mac user is the same as I've experienced on pretty much any non-Apple, large format screen I've tried. The macOS scaling issue kills it for productivity as you either end up having a high-res with text which is too small, or a nice resolution with high-res text, but not much useable screen space.
Which I think could be fine if you're music/video editing and just like to have one app running full screen, but it kind of sucks for anyone who is wanting multiple apps running at a useable resolution.
Build quality is great, it's a nice understated design, the 120hz mode is great for productivity and casual gaming, it's an incredible screen, speakers are pretty good too, but the same Mac limitations persist. Which isn't Dell's fault, but the issue with sleep seems like a very fundamental one which shouldn't be difficult to get right these days.
I've been running mine in 6144x2560 with apps zoomed meaning it works well for what I want - a massive single workspace with loads of room for windows. The format of the screen works well as intended - effectively a central large monitor with two portrait 27".
At that resolution though, I found it a real struggle on my eyes, no matter what distance I sit from the screen. I guess the lower-than-retina PPI doesn't help either.
I couldn't get any more useable resolutions with better display to be honest. The split-screen mode works really well, for once I could genuinely have a macOS and windows machine connected side by side on the same screen with very useable resolutions on both halves of the screen.
I also had a couple of issues. One is the refusal to wake from sleep without power cycling the monitor. This was a known issue apparently resolved with the latest firmware update, but that didn't fix it for me. Very annoying to have to unplug the screen when you're just trying to wake it up.
The lack of power from the usb-c ports on the rear of the monitor was annoying - I couldn't run my webcam off it. But I think that's my bad for assuming I could, I think the product listing shows you can't do this.
So it's going back, primarily because of the "wake from sleep" issue. Its one of those things I could just hope they fix with further updates, but its a big gamble given its cost.
In some ways, the story of this monitor as a Mac user is the same as I've experienced on pretty much any non-Apple, large format screen I've tried. The macOS scaling issue kills it for productivity as you either end up having a high-res with text which is too small, or a nice resolution with high-res text, but not much useable screen space.
Which I think could be fine if you're music/video editing and just like to have one app running full screen, but it kind of sucks for anyone who is wanting multiple apps running at a useable resolution.
Build quality is great, it's a nice understated design, the 120hz mode is great for productivity and casual gaming, it's an incredible screen, speakers are pretty good too, but the same Mac limitations persist. Which isn't Dell's fault, but the issue with sleep seems like a very fundamental one which shouldn't be difficult to get right these days.
brosenz
macrumors 6502
I am currently using an LG UltraFine 5K (2048 x 1152) + 2x LG UltraFine 4K (daisy chain mode) (1920 x 1080) connected via two Thunderbolt ports to a MacBook Pro 16 M1 Max, I am planning to migrate to a single Ultra Wide monitor like the LG 45GX950A-B. Three monitors consume a lot of energy and generate a huge amount of heat.
My main concern is that with macOS after configuring the display in Retina mode, the actual resolution in 45" will be 2560 x 1080, that seems not enough for such a big screen. I can't use it in native mode 5120 x 2160 because the fonts will be too small for me, I don't know if macOS 15.7.7 (Sequoia) will allow for in between resolutions.
Is there any experience using this specific or equivalent ultra wide LG 45GX950A-B monitor with a MacBook? I would like some feedback regarding font size, sharpness, clarity and image quality, coming from the LG UltraFines (the models sold at the Apple Store a few years ago) the bar is already very high. I don't do anything fancy like video processing, gaming, etc., just browsing and typical office apps. Thank you
My main concern is that with macOS after configuring the display in Retina mode, the actual resolution in 45" will be 2560 x 1080, that seems not enough for such a big screen. I can't use it in native mode 5120 x 2160 because the fonts will be too small for me, I don't know if macOS 15.7.7 (Sequoia) will allow for in between resolutions.
Is there any experience using this specific or equivalent ultra wide LG 45GX950A-B monitor with a MacBook? I would like some feedback regarding font size, sharpness, clarity and image quality, coming from the LG UltraFines (the models sold at the Apple Store a few years ago) the bar is already very high. I don't do anything fancy like video processing, gaming, etc., just browsing and typical office apps. Thank you
You posted the same message in 3 different threads.
Because I have completed my setup of 3 monitors 32"+40"+32", I may be able to help.
1. What is the main reason for you to want to change? Energy and heat? It is pretty proportional to the size/resolution and brightness of the screens (larger monitor will consume more power) and the number of monitor would only be a secondary factor.
2. Have you actually tried the 45" in native 5Kx2K resolution? A lot depends on how for you sit from your screen but my personal experience has been that 140DPI is about ideal and no the fonts are not too small. They are just right sitting from about 80cm-1m from my screen. The Dell 52 and the 5Kx2K LG are even lower at 130DPI so I suspect they would look just fine without scaling. The scaling really matters with Retina levels of 200+DPI and the in between 150-200DPI is where we are really at odds with MacOS.
3. The HiDPI scaling issue for the 4K monitors is a regression only affecting the M4 and M5 chips. You should be able to scale using HiDPI with and M1-M3. MacOS does allow for intermediate scaling or you can also use apps like BetterDisplay to get to some of them will degrade sharpness.