Is 32 inches too big?

[gugy]

I have two 32" and I absolutely love it. For me 27" is too small and the main reason I have never considered the ASD. I'm motion graphics designer and spreading apps/windows across the screens is a must for productivity.

 

[avro707]

I have two 32” 6K LG and they are very good for screen resolution and real estate. I can fit a lot on the screens, it is very practical.

There are other elements of the LG I do not approve of, especially the terrible non native brightness and volume control.

 

[FatLouie]

Anyone who mentions using 2 displays, has already demonstrated not understanding and or caring about ergonomics.

Ergonomics is so important. That is why on my Subaru Outback, I blacked out all but one 27-inch rectangle on the windshield in front of my driver's seat.

 

[maflynn]

4K @ 32" is not a useful size for splitting the screen IMO. Not with the space you have after HiDPI scaling.

That's more about the failings in macos scaling vs. Windows and Linux.

I have a 32" 4k machine, and its hooked up to my work laptop (windows), M4 Studio, and my desktop (Linux). I switch between the three via the KVM

While I find the text too small running native resolution, in windows/linux I run it at 150% which is effectively 2560 × 1440 where as on macos the closest HiDPI resolution is 2048x1152

I'm finding that the visually I'm getting a superior result in windows/linux though I'm not unhappy with how it looks with macos.

 

[Bob M104]

Anything over 24" is not optimal

Try this. Post how you like it!

System Settings > Accessibility > Vision > Display > (scroll down to) Pointer.

Set Pointer outline color to Licorice (top-left colored pencil) and Pointer fill color to Flora (bottom row of pencils, fifth from left). These are my own color choices, and you may find others you like better. But after I learned this trick for use with my 27", I'm not going back to the default.

Thanks for the "Pointers". I went back to one 4k monitor. The other monitor is connected to a Linux Mint PC. I am currently moving all the files from the Linux machine to my new Mac Mini Pro. 🙂 I did change the pointer to a red center and a lime green outside.

 

[Bob M104]

FYI... If you lose your pointer, you can "shake it" back and forth for a bit, and it will grow bigger so you can see it. (Set in System Settings under Accessibility > Display).

Thanks for the tip. Still new to using a MAC.

 

[Madonepro]

the biggest question is if your desk support 32"


to be clear: at 32" you will begin to have to move your head around to see the entire screen, at a normal viewing distance it will be a small to nothing adjustment, but if your desk is not deep enough, you will suffer and 27" would have been the correct size for you.

I second that. You need to have a desk, with at least 65 cm of depth for a 32 inch monitor, otherwise you will be sitting too close, particularly if your desk does not have a pull out keyboard shelf. I experienced this during COVID, when I splashed out, and just found it too cramped. I bought a LG 5k Ultrafine, and didn't regret it. My desk was an Ikea Alex at 58 cm, and even that should have been a little further back.

 

[Vincent Hanna]

It existed for years, though (LG 34WK95U, not available anymore).

I was very familiar with it but never bought it because it wasn’t curved and was dim with poor black levels.

But there was a 34“ 5K2K OLED on LG‘s roadmap for 25/26. I wonder if that one will actually be released.

if I remember correctly, that was a gaming monitor without Thunderbolt. Do you have a link?

 

[Vincent Hanna]

Thanks for the tip. Still new to using a MAC.

Here’s your next tip: it’s “Mac”.

 

[the future]

if I remember correctly, that was a gaming monitor without Thunderbolt. Do you have a link?

The leaked specs didn‘t go into that much detail (wrt connections). This is a picture of the alleged roadmap that I saved.

 

[JoeG4]

Anyone who mentions using 2 displays, has already demonstrated not understanding and or caring about ergonomics.

Ya know it's bad for your health to sit exactly in one position all day, right?

 

[splifingate]

I usually sit-back from my Kuycon G32P at about 90cm. Currently at the end of a week trialing daily 1728p use . . . while some UI text is a bit of a squinter for these old eyes, the volume of information I can consume is totally-fantastic 🙂

 

[Vincent Hanna]

The leaked specs didn‘t go into that much detail (wrt connections). This is a picture of the alleged roadmap that I saved.

View attachment 2617790

Thanks for this. Production in Q4 2025 obviously didn’t happen, so this remains vaporware.

 

[the future]

Thanks for this. Production in Q4 2025 obviously didn’t happen, so this remains vaporware.

Yeah, sadly so. I just hope it will be released eventually.

 

[kasakka]

That's more about the failings in macos scaling vs. Windows and Linux.

I have a 32" 4k machine, and its hooked up to my work laptop (windows), M4 Studio, and my desktop (Linux). I switch between the three via the KVM

While I find the text too small running native resolution, in windows/linux I run it at 150% which is effectively 2560 × 1440 where as on macos the closest HiDPI resolution is 2048x1152

I'm finding that the visually I'm getting a superior result in windows/linux though I'm not unhappy with how it looks with macos.

MacOS should not have any issues scaling to "looks like 2560x1440" as well.

It's not a scaling issue, it's a screen size/resolution issue. 32" 4K is just not a whole lot of screen to start splitting it in half. It's fine for switching between devices like you are doing.

 

[maflynn]

t's not a scaling issue, it's a screen size/resolution issue. 32" 4K is just not a whole lot of screen to start splitting it in half. It's fine for switching between devices like you are doing.

If its not a scaling issue, why does Windows and Linux scale so well with higher quality?

 

[dropadrop]

At least on Windows side they have selected a different logic for scaling (vector fonts) which was a massive effort from Microsoft. Since Windows prioritises max compatibility that was surely justified, but Apple might have different priorities.

From what I can derive, Linux does not use vector fonts either, but leaves more room for apps to dictate their own font size to potentially reach pixel perfect sharpness. If an app does not do that then it will work like osx (or maybe worse). I guess Apple is not ready to give that kind of autonomy to app developers… 😃

 

[maflynn]

At least on Windows side they have selected a different logic for scaling (vector fonts) which was a massive effort from Microsoft. Since Windows prioritises max compatibility that was surely justified, but Apple might have different priorities.

Microsoft (and I assume Linux) uses DPI scaling where as macos uses a logical point that is made up of physical pixels, so they need to be divisible by an even number which limits the actual resolution.

 

[kasakka]

Microsoft (and I assume Linux) uses DPI scaling where as macos uses a logical point that is made up of physical pixels, so they need to be divisible by an even number which limits the actual resolution.

That's not true at all. MacOS supports fractional scaling just fine.

The way MacOS does scaling is that it simply naively renders at a higher resolution and downscales to your display. This is what limits its scaling options too.

By comparison Windows renders vector fonts so the whole UI etc can be scaled, with the caveat that applications must support scaling so you still have e.g installers that look blurry because they don't.

The font rendering between the two is different as well. Windows tends to fit fonts into a pixel grid which makes them sharp but less accurate, whereas MacOS renders fonts as they are but they end up in subpixels which makes them less sharp.

 

[maflynn]

hat's not true at all. MacOS supports fractional scaling just fine.

Oh the support is there is there, but it looks horrible - very fuzzy, I know because I have a 4k 32" monitor.

 

[Basic75]

MacOS renders fonts as they are but they end up in subpixels which makes them less sharp

IIRC Apple removed sub-pixel anti-aliasing for font rendering in Mojave.

 

[Basic75]

That's not true at all. MacOS supports fractional scaling just fine.

What macOS does is at best "fine", but it's far from optimal. It's a cheap and dirty "solution". True resolution independence would be welcome, then Mac users could finally buy the common 140ppi and 160ppi displays without compromising on quality.

 

[dropadrop]

What macOS does is at best "fine", but it's far from optimal.

Pretty optimal… For Apple 😀

It's a cheap and dirty "solution". True resolution independence would be welcome, then Mac users could finally buy the common 140ppi and 160ppi displays without compromising on quality.

It’s a simple solution that works well enough, at the cost of compatibility.

Everyone needs to optimize the things that are central to their strategy and accept some others have room for improvement. Successful companies are the ones that choose well and find a good enough balance.

My understanding is that it was a massive effort that Microsoft did not get right on the first attempt. Massive meaning it would be by far the biggest amount of work for some new OSX release. Not sure it’s that important, but for Microsoft it’s totally different.

Anyway, there is more and cheaper high dpi monitors then ever before and a lot more to come. So maybe the market will solve your problem.