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iMac 5k Second Monitor thoughts

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porterusaf

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 8, 2009
55
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I'm a developer and not having a second screen is not really a possibility. The Dell 5k is outside my budget. What monitor does everyone recommend for use with the iMac 5k that won't drive you nuts next to a 5k? I'd say budget max is $950 (Thunderbolt Display). Anyone have a second monitor for their iMac 5k?

Thanks all!
 
I would say TBD is the best option. It's still a nice screen and it will match the iMac.
 
porterusaf said:
I'm a developer and not having a second screen is not really a possibility. The Dell 5k is outside my budget. What monitor does everyone recommend for use with the iMac 5k that won't drive you nuts next to a 5k? I'd say budget max is $950 (Thunderbolt Display). Anyone have a second monitor for their iMac 5k?

Thanks all!
Click to expand...

Any decent 4K 27 inch screen will show very little difference resolution wise but you may need to do some calibration to get colours to match.
 
I have been taking a liking to the LG 34UC97 Curved Display. I can't really justify it at this point since my desk area will not permit it, but when I change it up I may use one to mount above the iMac.
 
I'm a website designer on a budget. I have the iMac 5k which I use for PhotoShop, Final Cut Pro, all my "real" work. and I use a 20" Cinema Display for all other apps, mostly mail and messages. I found that you really don't need 2 5k displays.
 
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I think a 24" 4K Dell P2115Q would make a good second monitor, especially if you want to rotate it into portrait for use with a code editing window where height is important.
 
porterusaf said:
Any recommendation of a good 4K monitor? I was looking at the Asus PB287Q.
Click to expand...
I actually bought one and plugged it in via DisplayPort daisychained from my Thunderbolt external drive enclosure. I took it back because I couldn't really appreciate an improvement in resolution from my 27" IPS 2560 x 1440 monitor — i.e., they were both inferior to the 5K Retinal display to about the same degree in HiDPI with screen elements sized to approximate those on the 5K. If there was any difference, it certainly wasn't worth the $600 for the Asus PB287Q, which is not even an IPS display. YMMV depending on whether you value text resolution or graphic resolution more highly -- for me, text resolution was most important, and that's what my impressions are based on.
Perhaps when the 27" or 28" IPS 4K monitors become more affordable, I'll explore an upgrade. For now, though, the Asus is probably the best of the TN 4K monitors, and it's not appreciably better than a 2560 x 1440 IPS to my eye.
 
porterusaf said:
I'm a developer and not having a second screen is not really a possibility. The Dell 5k is outside my budget. What monitor does everyone recommend for use with the iMac 5k that won't drive you nuts next to a 5k? I'd say budget max is $950 (Thunderbolt Display). Anyone have a second monitor for their iMac 5k?

Thanks all!
Click to expand...

Cost aside, the Dell 5K is also outside the hardware resources available to anyone with a current Retina iMac who's already using one of the Thunderbolt ports for anything else. If you're Thunderbolt ports are both free, and you're sure you'll never need one of them in the future, then the Dell could work. I just don't think it could possibly be enough of an improvement to justify $2,500 for a secondary display. Financially, it seems only for primary displays for critical graphic work . . . in my non-expert opinion.
 
I might depend a bit on ergonomics. I use a second 2560x1440, and it's just about twice as far away as my 5k, which means the pixels on it don't resolve. And I like to have a lower resolution monitor for proofing stuff. You don't wanna end up losing the benefit the 5k's resolution by moving it back.
 
The Dell P2715Q running at 5120x2880 scaled mode will probably be good enough at $600, but I've used a Dell UP2715K and if I didn't have other financial commitments, I'd be dropping $2k on that display without any regrets.
 
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