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Is there a high PPI 4K display?

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satchmo

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Aug 6, 2008
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Picked up a M1 Mac mini the other day…now the challenge is to find a decent 4K display.

I know it’s not going to be possible to find one with the same PPI as an iMac, but I’d love to find one relatively close.
Ideally 27” or larger…but I suspect it might be 24”

This will determine if I keep the Mac mini or go with an 24” iMac.
 
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The only option is 5k LG or Dell 5K monitor if you want to use Apple’s HiDPI Retina mode to achieve what they do with their 27” monitors. At 4K resolution, in HiDPI mode, it will give you the screen area of a 1920x1080 monitor. The other option is to use a 27 4K monitor with no scaling but everything is going to be super small. MacOS does offer other scaling option but it takes a performance hit and the UI wont be as sharp/ crisp.
 
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Woodcrest64 said:
The only option is 5k LG or Dell 5K monitor if you want to use Apple’s HiDPI Retina mode to achieve what they do with their 27” monitors. At 4K resolution, in HiDPI mode, it will give you the screen area of a 1920x1080 monitor. The other option is to use a 27 4K monitor with no scaling but everything is going to be super small. MacOS does offer other scaling option but it takes a performance hit and the UI wont be as sharp/ crisp.
Click to expand...

Right. So a 27 4K monitor needs to be scaled to be usable, but takes a performance hit…great.

Is there a happy middle ground where it looks reasonably sharp (high 100s in PPI), but doesn’t take a hit in performance?

Apologies as I’m not use to having to noodle with resolutions on Macs. That’s what I love about the iMac.
 
Aggedor said:
I use a 27" 4K display with the scaling set to the middle option, which is the equivalent of 2560 x 1440. Looks good to me. But as @Woodcrest64 says, to match Apple's displays you need a 5K display, not a 4K one.
Click to expand...

Does scaling severely affect performance on an M1 Mac mini?
 
I was in the same boat as the OP. I had a mini on order by could not find a 27" monitor that would look as good as my now broken 27" imac. I ended up cancelling the mini order and I am waiting for my 24" iMac to be delivered.
 
satchmo said:
Is there a happy middle ground where it looks reasonably sharp (high 100s in PPI), but doesn’t take a hit in performance?
Click to expand...
A ~24" 4K is about 185 ppi and I find running mine at 2304×1296 (scaled) to be acceptable in terms of sharpness. Not nearly as sharp as my 27" 5K and 21.5" 4K (218 ppi) monitors running pixel-doubled though.
 
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satchmo said:
Does scaling severely affect performance on an M1 Mac mini?
Click to expand...
I ran 4K scaled at 2560x1440 on a iGPU of a MacBook Pro 13 and it was ok for the most part. Only in photoshop did it start to lag.

Since the M1 is way faster than intel graphics, I’m sure it’ll be fine
 
satchmo said:
Does scaling severely affect performance on an M1 Mac mini?
Click to expand...
Mine is an M1 MBA, but they're basically identical, aren't they? I haven't seen any performance difference. The machine (sitting in a TwelveSouth Book Arc) stays cold to the touch.
 
satchmo said:
Right. So a 27 4K monitor needs to be scaled to be usable, but takes a performance hit…great.

Is there a happy middle ground where it looks reasonably sharp (high 100s in PPI), but doesn’t take a hit in performance?

Apologies as I’m not use to having to noodle with resolutions on Macs. That’s what I love about the iMac.
Click to expand...
I'm using a scaled 27" 4K monitor as a second display for my 2015 iMac. It replaced a 27" QHD monitor (no scaling on native 2560x1440) as my second display, and the performance difference is surprisingly small. Plus the image quality of the 4K monitor is not too far off the 5K iMac (macOS has got a lot better at scaling).
 
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satchmo said:
Right. So a 27 4K monitor needs to be scaled to be usable, but takes a performance hit…great.
Click to expand...
Performance shouldn’t be an issue now the Mini has a half-decent GPU... and a 27” is perfectly usable in “looks like 1080p“ mode (Which isn’t 1080p - it’s 4K with double-sized icons etc) - it is just that the icons, dock, window furniture etc. are a bit chunky and use up screen space. Most apps let you freely zoom the content and take full advantage of the full resolution so, e.g. you can still set your editor to the smallest font comfortable, full-screen it if you want, and fit lots of code on the screen. It takes seconds to change video mode, so you can adapt it to what you are doing. If you’re playing a game with a 4K mode, watching video, running a full-screen 3D render etc. the scaling may be irrelevant. If you’ve got good eyesight, 1:1 4K might even work for you (again, many apps let you freely zoom your work)

If you really want moooaaaarrrr PPI the iMac is hard to beat, because the non-Apple world has mostly decided that “4K“ UHD is enough. The Mini gives you more options, and “4K” UHD on a desktop display is getting you firmly into the “can’t see the pixels” territory.
 
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With my M1 Mini, I use a 27" LG 4K monitor (model 27UP850-W). It runs at 3840 x 2160 but I have it scaled to display like at 1920 x 1080 monitor. It's running at 60Hz over HDMI and looks great to me.
 
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I bought the LG 5K Ultrafine in April along with a 16/512 m1 Mini to get away from the all-in-one trap.

Now I see that LG has discontinued all 5K models.
 
colinsky said:
I bought the LG 5K Ultrafine in April along with a 16/512 m1 Mini to get away from the all-in-one trap.

Now I see that LG has discontinued all 5K models.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I am pulling my f@#$ing hair out because I was going to pick on (or two) of these up. Looking to replace my 2014(!) 5K iMac but cannot find anything close in PPI. I have decided that if I am going to have to put up with “low” res than I am going with a mega screen. 49” or something crazy. At least then I will have the enormous screen real estate to compensate for the lack of retina clarity.
 
If LG discontinued 5K model, it can only mean (I hope) that soon we can expect Apple 5K monitor in that price range :confused:
 
The OP asks:
"Is there a high PPI 27” 4K display?"

I don't claim to be that smart, but...
Would not ALL 27" 4k displays have exactly the same number of pixels per inch?
 
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I'm still amazed we don't have more hiDPI screens to pick from in 2021, almost 7 years after the 5K iMac came out. Like I don't even need 220ppi, at this point I'm fine with as low as 180ppi (though 190-200 is probably the sweet spot for me personally)
 
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reallynotnick said:
I'm still amazed we don't have more hiDPI screens to pick from in 2021, almost 7 years after the 5K iMac came out. Like I don't even need 220ppi, at this point I'm fine with as low as 180ppi (though 190-200 is probably the sweet spot for me personally)
Click to expand...

I wonder if it's cost issue.

Perhaps demand is not high enough to warrant monitor manufacturers to order higher specs in low quantities. The economies of scale is not there for them to make a decent return.

Apple however, has investments in some of the glass makers and their sheer numbers allow them to buy in scale.
 
My preferred configuration is a pair of LG 24" 4K displays in portrait orientation (pixel doubled 1080 x 1920). I sit about 40" away from the screens so the 185 ppi is perfect for me. I know that LG does not recommend using the displays in this orientation, but I'm not generating any heat by drawing power from the ThunderBolt or USB-C ports on the back. The displays don't seem excessively warm.

I have another 24" LG 4K display on order from Apple. They estimate delivery in 3-4 weeks. The 27" 5K LG display is also available with the same delivery time estimate.

One of the LGs I'm using now -- a refurb from Woot -- has started to show a very thin blue line across the screen that I can't make go away by gently squeezing the bezels as in the past. So although I have not been impressed by LG's reliability, the fact that 24" 4K displays are getting hard to find has motivated me to order another one while they are still available.
 
satchmo said:
Does scaling severely affect performance on an M1 Mac mini?
Click to expand...
I use a 32" 4k LG (UL950-W) scaled to 3008 x 1692. If there's a performance hit, I haven't noticed it... This is also after coming from an Intel Mac mini with an eGPU pushing a Radeon Vega 56 graphics card. Feels as smooth as butter.
 
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Media Pimp said:
I use a 32" 4k LG (UL950-W) scaled to 3008 x 1692. If there's a performance hit, I haven't noticed it... This is also after coming from an Intel Mac mini with an eGPU pushing a Radeon Vega 56 graphics card. Feels as smooth as butter.
Click to expand...
I have 2 x AOC 27" 4K monitors I use on my 2018 Intel Mac Mini at this same resolution 3008 x 1692, performance is fine and I prefer the resolution set this way as at full 4K things get too small to read with my old eyes (post Lasik, Cataracts, torn retina repaired in one eye and post capsule thickening in the other.
 
On my M1 MacBook Air I'm using an LG 24" 4K display (24UD58-B). This display is ~183 DPI and I usually run it in either 1920x1080 or 2560x1440. The 1920x1080 is the default scaled resolution but I haven't noticed any performance problems at 2560x1440. I use it mostly in clamshell and haven't noticed any heat issues either.
 
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