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

LG 34UC97 vs 4k IPS

H

hensavage

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2014
9
0
Hey guys,

I'm tossing up buying either the LG 34UC97 or 34UM95 for my mid 2014 Macbook Pro 15".

For the past couple of months I have been paying close attention to the IPS SST 60hz 4k monitors and in particular the LG 31MU97.

My question, as I have not and cannot see these monitors in person anywhere near me, is how noticeable the difference between these monitors will be. Obviously the 4k will be noticeably crisper, but from two feet or so, when working with Photoshop and Illustrator and with a focus on colour accuracy, will the difference be drastic?

I do not want to be worried about the strain on my graphics and laptop in general when trying to work. I am a graphic designer and have heard about the often bad backlight bleed on the former two, but am willing to take the risk, and am also worried about the common problems with 4k monitors currently.

Let me know what you guys think.

Henry
 
Last edited:
hensavage said:
Hey guys,

I'm tossing up buying either the LG 34UC97 or 34UM95 for my mid 2014 Macbook Pro 15". For the past couple of months I have been paying close attention to the IPS SST 60hz 4k monitors and in particular the LG 31MU97.
My question, as I have not and cannot see these monitors in person anywhere near me, is how noticeable the difference between these monitors will be. Obviously the 4k will be noticeably crisper, but from two feet or so, when working with Photoshop and Illustrator and with a focus of colour accuracy, will be difference be drastic? I do not want to be worried about the strain on my graphics and laptop in general when trying to work. I am a graphics designer and have heard about the often bad backlight bleed on the former two, but am willing to take the risk, and am also worried about the common problems with 4k monitors currently. Let me know what you guys think.Henry
Click to expand...

I own the 34UM95 and love it. I saw the 34UC97 inside Fry's after owning my 34UM95 for several months, and I did not see enough of a benefit in that one over the non-curved version. Certainly not to the point of being worth $300 more !!

And I would be very wary of the 31UM97 4K monitor. I have seen bad comments and reviews for that one in regard to performance with Mac computers. Most of the issues are around "color uniformity" problems and that people are getting two different hues on each side of the monitor, and the fact that many people are only getting 50Hz out of it. Some are reporting 60Hz, so I would do some serious research before buying that monitor. Some are calling it the "best 4K monitor you can buy right now" but others have some problems. So you might be wise to find someone with a great return policy and give it a "test run."
 
I own the Dell U3415W which has the same panel as the 34UC97. You will be getting some backlight bleeds/IPS glow. The colors are great (srgb 99% which is the same with retina macbook pros). Excellent for productivity. I would keep mine if wasn't for the really bad backlight bleeds/yellow IPS glow. :(
 
maplingstorie said:
I own the Dell U3415W which has the same panel as the 34UC97. You will be getting some backlight bleeds/IPS glow. The colors are great (srgb 99% which is the same with retina macbook pros). Excellent for productivity. I would keep mine if wasn't for the really bad backlight bleeds/yellow IPS glow. :(
Click to expand...

Anytime you buy an IPS panel from ANY manufacturer, you are risking IPS glow/backlight bleeds. It's a lottery every time.

So my advice is to buy from someone who has a painless return policy. :cool:
 
It's a pretty big difference.. Do you want 21:9 or do you want 4k? That's all it really comes down to. You can get problematic panels with either.
 
ActionableMango said:
Yes but these ultrawide monitors seem to be particularly affected by the problem.
Click to expand...

I don't know that this is accurate. They just have been incredibly popular with the power user crowd over the past 8 months or so, and those are the people that are most vocal on Macrumors & Hardforum, posting photos etc. The average gamer that buys a 23" IPS at Best Buy considers that a big upgrade and doesn't even know what IPS glow is.
 
Zorn said:
I don't know that this is accurate. They just have been incredibly popular with the power user crowd over the past 8 months or so, and those are the people that are most vocal on Macrumors & Hardforum, posting photos etc. The average gamer that buys a 23" IPS at Best Buy considers that a big upgrade and doesn't even know what IPS glow is.
Click to expand...
If you wanna game or increase productivity then get this. If you are doing color critical work and can't tolerate the IPS glow then don't get it. Then again, the 21:9 is fantastic.
 
Last edited:
As the owner of both the 21:9 34UM95 and the P2715Q, I can say they both have their advantages.

Having them both, although a pain to my bank account, is brilliant in practice.

The 21:9 is completely awesome once you adjust to it.
But having the 4K for 4K purposes is also awesome and useful.
:D:apple:
 
maplingstorie said:
I own the Dell U3415W which has the same panel as the 34UC97. You will be getting some backlight bleeds/IPS glow. The colors are great (srgb 99% which is the same with retina macbook pros). Excellent for productivity. I would keep mine if wasn't for the really bad backlight bleeds/yellow IPS glow. :(
Click to expand...
Can mid 2014 13 inch run this at 60hz? Plz provide some snapshot. Whatvdo u think? Normal productivity phtoshop and video watching is perfect with the 13 inch version? Or will ut not be able to drive those pixels?
 
samcema said:
Can mid 2014 13 inch run this at 60hz? Plz provide some snapshot. Whatvdo u think? Normal productivity phtoshop and video watching is perfect with the 13 inch version? Or will ut not be able to drive those pixels?
Click to expand...
yes it will. relax, a 4K has way more pixels than this. Watching movies in 21:9 is breath taking. it's like your in a personal cinema. I can't go back watching 16:9 movies now. However, you will need to bare with the glow at the corners as it comes with it. In dark scenes you will notice but in normal or bright scenes you won't see it. I can't say I would recommend this for colour critical applications because the yellow IPS glow will shift the colour. If you're doing normal productivity work as in you need as many screen estate then it's one of the best out there. I'm keeping my Dell U3415W despite the glow and still waiting for my 3rd replacement. Sadly, waiting for an updated thunderbolt display now is pointless for me. I am in love with retina displays however, the riMacs are loud and throttles as I've read.
 
I just ordered a Samsung S34E790C from Amazon and should have it early next week. Since it has a VA panel as opposed to an IPS panel, it shouldn't suffer from the light leakage issues that the LGs and Dells do. We shall see.
 
kfscoll said:
I just ordered a Samsung S34E790C from Amazon and should have it early next week. Since it has a VA panel as opposed to an IPS panel, it shouldn't suffer from the light leakage issues that the LGs and Dells do. We shall see.
Click to expand...

that's great! please keep me notified. i'm interested to know as well. :D
 
kfscoll said:
I just ordered a Samsung S34E790C from Amazon and should have it early next week. Since it has a VA panel as opposed to an IPS panel, it shouldn't suffer from the light leakage issues that the LGs and Dells do. We shall see.
Click to expand...

So, the Samsung is a keeper. Sure, there's a little bit of color shift across the screen and the image begins to wash out if you view it off-center, but these are known limitations of VA panels and are exacerbated with a VERY wide screen. Color pop was also better on the IPS panel but contrast is definitely improved on the Samsung. However, the biggest thing is that there is no obnoxiously bright yellow backlight bleeding to speak of (unlike the IPS panels). Compared to that the Samsung's compromises are minor IMHO.

FWIW, the Samsung is finicky (just like my LGs were) about displaying my Mac's boot screen on start-up (I'm using TB to DP to drive the monitor). Since I have a Boot Camp partition, I need to be able to see the boot screen occasionally. However, a sure-fire workaround I've discovered is to simply switch on Picture-By-Picture when booting if necessary. You don't even need to connect anything to the second input -- just turn on PBP. For some reason (and I suspect it has to do with resolution) the boot screen displays just fine on the active half of the screen when PBP is enabled -- once the OS X (or Windows) login screen appears you can simply turn PBP off and everything works as advertised. This inability to see the boot screen on newer monitors seems like something that Apple could easily fix but just choose not to.

I also like the fact that it's easy to quickly adjust brightness with the Samsung (since I no longer have the ability to adjust brightness via the keyboard as I did with my TBD). Samsung uses a small joystick controller on the back of the panel for adjustments (similar to the LG controller) and they have a one-click shortcut that gets you right to the brightness adjustment. The screen is VERY bright -- I have to turn it down to its minimum brightness level to use it in a darkened room.

Alas, nothing is perfect, so I'm sure I'll find some more niggles with the monitor as I continue to use it (i.e. switching the USB ports to "super charging" mode disconnects them from the computer), but so far it seems to be a great replacement for my TBD. Once my OWC TB2 dock arrives, I doubt I'll be missing anything.
 
Last edited:
kfscoll said:

FWIW, the Samsung is finicky (just like my LGs were) about displaying my Mac's boot screen on start-up (I'm using TB to DP to drive the monitor).
Click to expand...

My Dell u3415w (also a 3440x1440) monitor does the same thing.

With the Samsung, LG, and Dell all exhibiting this same problem, I assume the fault is on the Mac side.
 
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