Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is an affordable separate 27'' retina monitor coming out?

L

letsudo

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 19, 2012
56
0
I regret getting the rMBP because I always use it at home and don't need the portability, unless I'm at an airport at which I guess it could be problematic.

Is an affordable separate 27'' retina monitor (instead of as the part of one-in-all iMac) coming out sometime next year?
 
letsudo said:
I regret getting the rMBP because I always use it at home and don't need the portability, unless I'm at an airport at which I guess it could be problematic.

Is an affordable separate 27'' retina monitor (instead of as the part of one-in-all iMac) coming out sometime next year?
Click to expand...

Dell have a 5k monitor but anything with a ppi count like that is going to cost a fair bit.
 
There are a few $500ish 4K monitors, and as long as you don't need good colours and viewing angles it might work. The issue is that the monitor needs MST over DisplayPort to get a 60Hz refresh rate, otherwise its only 24Hz or 30Hz. See Apple's article.

I don't know how the 5K screen is connected but it probably needs both DisplayPort ports since 4K is the highest a single port can support. OSX support might not exist, as it took a while for 4K to be properly supported.
 
Are any of those monitors as good as the retina iMac monitor?

Is Apple going to come up with a retina monitor that they sell separately from the retina iMac someday?
 
letsudo said:
Are any of those monitors as good as the retina iMac monitor?

Is Apple going to come up with a retina monitor that they sell separately from the retina iMac someday?
Click to expand...

Apple has not announced one, however if they do expect it to be in the $1000+ range. It certainly would have Thunderbolt too, those things being said I don't think that will fit your criteria for pricing.
 
Apple won't be providing a 5K display any time soon. That is because nobody has DisplayPort 1.3 capable computers yet. DP 1.3 will probably be integrated with Thunderbolt 3 which is unlikely to come out before 2016.

Of course 5K displays won't be cheap, we have to buy new Macs to use it! :eek:
 
So the only way to get a 5k monitor anytime soon is buying the retina iMac?
 
letsudo said:
Is it as good as the one that comes with the iMac retina?
Click to expand...

I assume it's the same panel. Though you'll surely lose your thunderbolt ports and I'm not even sure 650m/750m supports the resolution.

For your case I think something interesting like the LG QHD 34" 21:9 would be great. Not really retina but it's one great option. It even got thunderbolt ports! The flat version would be nice as a second display and the curved one as your only display with rMBP in clamshell mode. ;)

http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-34UM95-P-ultrawide-monitor
 
Dell is a IPS screen while the iMac uses TFT like the Airs. IPS will have better colors and viewing angles, but it is supposed to be close.

Apparently the $2500 price will drop to $2000 since you can get the retina iMac for $2500.
 
cruisin said:
Dell is a IPS screen while the iMac uses TFT like the Airs. IPS will have better colors and viewing angles, but it is supposed to be close.

Apparently the THB 82,174.85 price will drop to THB 65,739.88 since you can get the retina iMac for THB 82,174.85
Click to expand...

It said IPS over here. Yes, IPS displays have really great colours and viewing angles. Though Apple displays (multiple Macs & Cinema Displays) tend to come in glossy. I've been using them for so long the glare don't really bother me anymore. And I usually have windows behind me! :eek:

http://www.apple.com/uk/imac-with-retina/specs/
 
cruisin said:
There are a few $500ish 4K monitors, and as long as you don't need good colours and viewing angles it might work. The issue is that the monitor needs MST over DisplayPort to get a 60Hz refresh rate, otherwise its only 24Hz or 30Hz. See Apple's article.

I don't know how the 5K screen is connected but it probably needs both DisplayPort ports since 4K is the highest a single port can support. OSX support might not exist, as it took a while for 4K to be properly supported.
Click to expand...

5K is much, MUCH more res than 4K, though. I really don't know why people compare the two. 5K is almost 15m pixels, whereas 4K is just a little over 8m pixels.

And don't forget, Retina 4K is only 1080p usable real estate, whereas Retina 5K is 1440p-like real estate, which for a 27" monitor is important.
 
cruisin said:
Dell is a IPS screen while the iMac uses TFT like the Airs. IPS will have better colors and viewing angles, but it is supposed to be close.

Apparently the $2500 price will drop to $2000 since you can get the retina iMac for $2500.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the iMac is also IPS
 
Yup

Cape Dave said:
That is the question. But I think a retina 5K stand alone monitor will be especially NOT affordable :)
Click to expand...

I'm thinking $1500+, which is likely why it's not out yet.

Hard to convince more than a few people to spend that much on a monitor.

----------
WilliamG said:
5K is much, MUCH more res than 4K, though. I really don't know why people compare the two. 5K is almost 15m pixels, whereas 4K is just a little over 8m pixels.

And don't forget, Retina 4K is only 1080p usable real estate, whereas Retina 5K is 1440p-like real estate, which for a 27" monitor is important.
Click to expand...

It's 1k more.
 
My understanding is that Dell has a 5k monitor they are in the process of releasing, and it is $2500 [approx same price as RiMac.

This was actually one of the primary selling points for me, as 5k display vs 5k display + entire computer for same price ;)
 
letsudo said:
Is it as good as the one that comes with the iMac retina?
Click to expand...

Dell's is much better in terms of display quality, at least on paper. They may have the same panel but the Dell clearly has better backlit module, controller, etc. You can see the difference from their specs. For example, Dell has wider gamut (Adobe RGB vs sRGB), several orders of magnitude more colors (1.07 billion vs 16.7 million), etc. In addition, since the Dell one is a professional display, it has advanced features iMac doesn't, such as hardware calibration, 14-bit LUT, etc.

I think for ordinary consumers, there is no noticable advantage over the iMac, but for professional phtographers Dell is much much better. It's really depend on what you do with your computer.
 
The Dell 27" 5K, as others have pointed out, has dual DP 1.2 ports. One for each half of the screen. AFAIK there are no drivers in Windows or OS/X that will do that monitor justice.
 
So if you already have rMBP, it would be better to buy the Dell 5k? Does it work with rMBP alright?
 
letsudo said:
So if you already have rMBP, it would be better to buy the Dell 5k? Does it work with rMBP alright?
Click to expand...

No it doesn't, the Dell 5K requires simultaneous dual DP 1.2 connections. While electrically the rMBP provides that via the dual TBolt connectors, nothing in OS/X video drivers understands that those two connections are one display.

You could probably make it "kind of" work, personally I've hit the point where I avoid frustrations like I'm certain that kind of lash-up would instill.
 
letsudo said:
So if you already have rMBP, it would be better to buy the Dell 5k? Does it work with rMBP alright?
Click to expand...

Do you need 5K? Or all the professional features of the Dell?

If not then I recommend Samsung 28" 4K u28d590 which I've bought a few days ago. It gives you 1080p in Retina mode, noticeably more than 900p on rMBP. So you're getting a nice display you can keep for years, great screen real estate boost, and healthier wallet! ;)
 
To be honest, I really don't notice much difference between a 4K display and Apple's 5K iMac display in terms of resolution. Maybe it's because my sight is (sadly) not as good as it used to be... :p

If you need extra real estate, you can always use your 4K display at 1440p HiDPI scaled resolution (5120x2880 retina mapped to 3840x2160), so it gives you the same real estate as the 5K imac - it's still a retina-ish resolution (looks much better than stock 1440p).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back