If I were starting from scratch again. M2 Pro Mini with a LG 42" C2 OLED for the monitor. WOW what a combo.

[QuietGamer]

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I think this would be a great combo IF you desire a large monitor and have the space.

Currently sporting a base MBP M1Pro with an Apl Studio monitor which is a great combo. I like to occasionally game WOT and Civ 6 in addition to normal civilian computer stuff.

My past Minis have been the 2012 I5, 2014 I5, 2018 Mini I5, 16, 1 TB with a BM 580 with the LG 4K monitor which is currently used by the Misses. I also have an M1 Mini as a Media server.

Just thought I would share.

 

[mouthster]

Well, I have the LG C2 42" (Mostly for PS5 and gaming PC) and was curious and tried hooking up my M1 Max 16" to it to see how it looked. The text is not good at all, especially coming from a Studio Display. The addition of HDMI 2.1 for 120Hz on the M2 Mac Mini is nice but the increased refresh rate won't improve text clarity.

IMO if legible text is important it's a no go.

 

[Wonderwing]

That sounds good on paper, but the subpixel layout on OLED makes text blurry. And on top of that, you'd have to contend with the burn in risk as well (some say it's not really an issue anymore but I'm still not so sure).

 

[QuietGamer]

Interesting feedback. Like Wonderwing points out, it looks good spec wise but if text is sub-par it would be a deal breaker. Thanks all.

 

[jimthing]

It's all about the resolution. Hence why Apple endorse hi-res 5K (at 27") and 6K (at 32") displays – both are 218ppi.

 

[Che Castro]

I’m currently using a 32” 4k Samsung tv as a Mac mini monitor and ps5 gaming , I can’t imagine 42” so close on a computer desk

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Well, I have the LG C2 42" (Mostly for PS5 and gaming PC) and was curious and tried hooking up my M1 Max 16" to it to see how it looked. The text is not good at all, especially coming from a Studio Display. The addition of HDMI 2.1 for 120Hz on the M2 Mac Mini is nice but the increased refresh rate won't improve text clarity.

IMO if legible text is important it's a no go.

That matches my results as well. TV's even 4K sets work well when playing PC games or console games. Trying to use it as a monitor will result in disappointment. I hooked up my 2018 Mini and gaming PC and the text while legible did not look sharp or crisp. The only way to reduced the halo of the text was to reduce the sharpness.

If the objective is to have a large display then a monitor will be required. The OP might want to look into AORUS 43" gaming monitors. They are available both in LCD and OLED.

Gigabyte AORUS FV43U 43" 144Hz 2160p HBR3, NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible, Exclusive Built-in ANC, 3840x2160 Display, 1ms Response Time, HDR, 96% DCI-P3, 1 DisplayPort 1.4, 2 HDMI 2.1, 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB C

43” 3840x2160 Super Speed VA Display, NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible 144Hz Refresh Rate, High Bit Rate 3 support (HBR3) 1ms Response Time (MPRT) / 1ms KVM Monitor, and 8-bit color 98% AdobeRGB / 96% DCI-P3 and VESA Display HDR1000/HLG Tactical Display with Premium ESS SABRE Audiophile Sound System Excl...

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AORUS FO48U 48" 4K OLED Gaming Monitor, 3840x2160 , 120 Hz Refresh Rate, 1ms Response Time (GTG), 1x Display Port 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, 2x USB 3.0, with USB Type-C, Space Audio

47.53" OLED 3840 x 2160 4K Display Gaming Monitor 120Hz Refresh Rate, 1ms (GTG) Response Time, Supports FreeSync Premium Detailed color presentation with 10-bit color / 98% DCI-P3 / 130% sRGB OSD Sidekick, PiP /PbP, Dashboard, Black Equalizer, Game Assist Space Audio (5 modes of melodic sound exp...

www.amazon.com

 

[John90976]

Sadly the clarity on 4K panels of that size hurts my eyes, it is not very dense/crisp at all. I honestly don't feel like Apple would go out of its way to say "4K 240HZ" on its website without having an option sometime in the future. 4K 240hz is also a more advanced HDMI 2.1 spec if its even true. 4K caps out 144hz on 2.1, I want to know what special HDMI sauce apple is using as when you use a display that requires that much bandwidth, it is the only display you are allowed to use, which implies it is also impacting the PCIe/thunderbolt lanes? There is a very interesting setup under the hood there. I have a 32" Neo G7 and am curious to see if the M2 Pro Mac Mini can run the full 4K 165HZ over HDMI.

 

[jimthing]

AFAIU, 4K240 HDMI 2.1 uses DSC (compression) to get that.

Mini/MBP M2 Pro: 8K60 or 4K240 HDMI + zero TB displays.
MBP M2 Max: 8K60 or 4K240 HDMI + 2x 6K60 TB displays.

Hence, the Studio M2 Max will be an attractive wait to buy for many people, when likely Autumn released. As it'll give the same as the MBP M2 Max option above, just with an additional 6K60 TB display (i.e. 3 rather than 2).

 

[grayskyz]

42-inch Class C2 OLED evo 4K TV - OLED42C2PUA | LG USA

Discover the 42-inch Class C2 OLED evo 4K TV that features ThinQ AI and Refined Design. Find reviews, specs, and more for OLED42C2PUA.

www.lg.com

I think this would be a great combo IF you desire a large monitor and have the space.

Currently sporting a base MBP M1Pro with an Apl Studio monitor which is a great combo. I like to occasionally game WOT and Civ 6 in addition to normal civilian computer stuff.

My past Minis have been the 2012 I5, 2014 I5, 2018 Mini I5, 16, 1 TB with a BM 580 with the LG 4K monitor which is currently used by the Misses. I also have an M1 Mini as a Media server.

Just thought I would share.

It's a tv...its going to look terrible for anything other than gaming and even that I can't imagine is that great.

 

[George Dawes]

I use a 65 inch sony 4k led tv as a monitor ( 65x95j ) , but at 1080p res , 4k is just crazy small and basically unreadable at the distance I use it

 

[thingstoponder]

Well, I have the LG C2 42" (Mostly for PS5 and gaming PC) and was curious and tried hooking up my M1 Max 16" to it to see how it looked. The text is not good at all, especially coming from a Studio Display. The addition of HDMI 2.1 for 120Hz on the M2 Mac Mini is nice but the increased refresh rate won't improve text clarity.

IMO if legible text is important it's a no go.

It’s non retina for a desktop. 8k at 42-43” is what you would want.

 

[Rix__Mix]

I'm using my LG 42 C2 as my main display for my Mac Mini M2 Pro. It looks absolutely fantastic. As soon as I powered on the Mac I could tell it was displaying at 120hz, mouse movement smooth as silk.

Text clairty (black text on white) was initially not great, but decreasing the sharpness settings on the display made a huge difference.

 

[iZollo]

I'm using my LG 42 C2 as my main display for my Mac Mini M2 Pro. It looks absolutely fantastic. As soon as I powered on the Mac I could tell it was displaying at 120hz, mouse movement smooth as silk.

Text clairty (black text on white) was initially not great, but decreasing the sharpness settings on the display made a huge difference.

Agreed I have the same setup and it looks great!! Not sure what others are seeing with text but I think it looks great and I am sitting 3 feet away and have it scaled to 2560 X 1440. When I go into Mac system report it shows the resolution is at 5120 X 2880 5K/UHD+ - Ultra High Definition Plus which is fake 5K but looks great and icons are not small.

 

[MatthewUT44]

It's a tv...its going to look terrible for anything other than gaming and even that I can't imagine is that great.

It looks perfect on my windows PC.

 

[Che Castro]

Agreed I have the same setup and it looks great!! Not sure what others are seeing with text but I think it looks great and I am sitting 3 feet away and have it scaled to 2560 X 1440. When I go into Mac system report it shows the resolution is at 5120 X 2880 5K/UHD+ - Ultra High Definition Plus which is fake 5K but looks great and icons are not small.

I'm using my LG 42 C2 as my main display for my Mac Mini M2 Pro. It looks absolutely fantastic. As soon as I powered on the Mac I could tell it was displaying at 120hz, mouse movement smooth as silk.

Text clairty (black text on white) was initially not great, but decreasing the sharpness settings on the display made a huge difference.

You guys aren’t worry about burn in ?
I’m debating between 42 Samsung qn90b & lg c2 42”
I want the oled but burn in makes me nervous

 

[k995]

LOL at people thinking the text would be blurry : no it doesnt.
A 42" 4k screen has a ppi of 105 thats the same as a thunderbolt display.

As for burn in: just auto hide whatever static gui parts and set a black screen saver after 2-3 minutes.

6-7000 hours on my LG c1 48 inch and no burn in whatsoever .

 

[magbarn]

The ones complaining about text blurriness have definitely sharper eyes than me or are trying to use it as fullres and not hidpi modes. Also no burn in on my 4 year old C8 55" nor my newer 48" C2. You just can't leave stuff on the screen for hours.

 

[Rix__Mix]

You guys aren’t worry about burn in ?
I’m debating between 42 Samsung qn90b & lg c2 42”
I want the oled but burn in makes me nervous

No, screen burn does not worry me at all. It takes a ridiculous amount of time (we are talking thousands of hours) of static displayed content for it to become an issue. The only change I've made on my setup is to automatically hide the dock.

It's a stunning display.