mini paired with Hauwei's new 4.5K 3:2 monitor = iMac killer?

[solq]

When the Mateview first came out there were plenty of reviews on chinese websites in which they stuck a calibrator on the panel and got 500 nits and around 1000:1 contrast ratio which is decent (bear in mind that the Apple Studio display also has similar contrast ratio).

My advice would be to get a 2nd hand ColorMunki Display (but not the Colormunki Smile model) from Ebay for about 50 euros (https://www.xrite.com/service-support/product-support/calibration-solutions/colormunki-display), and measure your panel. If it is below spec then return it.

For the brightness I believe anywhere from 450-550 nits would not count as defective.

As I explained before, I am not in the US, I cannot buy stuff from eBay.

And I don't have a problem, I am not looking to return the display. For my purposes (coding) it's adequate.

For games or video it is lacking.

My posting in this thread is to share my experience and not solve a problem I don't have.

I do not advise people to buy this display. If you do, you're probably going to be dissatisfied with it.

 

[tornado99]

@solq I am just pointing out that you may have a defective panel. The Mateview has a contrast level and brightness comparable to the Apple Studio Display (500 nits, 1000:1 contrast). People have measured this in real life reviews. Perhaps it's the fact that its only 165 dpi which is the problem for you.

here's an example. 537 nits on a real Mateview and >1000:1 contrast ratio from 50%-100% brightness.

出道即巅峰？华为MateView显示器评测

华为MateView是华为首款显示器产品，拥有28.2英寸的屏幕，3：2的4K（3840*2560）超高分辨率，10bit色深，以及sRGB、DCI P3和原彩三种色域。机身超薄，最厚处也不到13mm，此外，还能支持无线投屏功能。价格为4699元…

zhuanlan.zhihu.com

 

[solq]

@solq I am just pointing out that you may have a defective panel. The Mateview has a contrast level and brightness comparable to the Apple Studio Display (500 nits, 1000:1 contrast). People have measured this in real life reviews. Perhaps it's the fact that its only 165 dpi which is the problem for you.

here's an example. 537 nits on a real Mateview and >1000:1 contrast ratio from 50%-100% brightness.

出道即巅峰？华为MateView显示器评测

华为MateView是华为首款显示器产品，拥有28.2英寸的屏幕，3：2的4K（3840*2560）超高分辨率，10bit色深，以及sRGB、DCI P3和原彩三种色域。机身超薄，最厚处也不到13mm，此外，还能支持无线投屏功能。价格为4699元…

zhuanlan.zhihu.com

I don't think it's defective, it's just a mediocre panel.

If you game or watch videos there are much better options, particularly the OLEDs.

I just needed more screen, and at least that it does.

 

[Amethyst1]

It seems like a great monitor, but there is no way I'm putting a HUAWEI device on my network if I can avoid it.

Get the non-wireless version of the monitor if you can then.

 

[melliflu]

My new HauweiMac ! Got the monitor first, then my 2013 Macbook Pro could not handle it correctly, so I bought the base Mini M1: 450€ for the screen, 750€ for Mini = 1200€ when the exact same specs iMac 24 sells at 1669€ in France. Blutack gum to stabilize the Mini behind the screen, all cables (Displayport) and start button hidden but still accessible.
The MateView is very satisfying at this price, 3 main issues:
1. as noticed by some members, my monitor is leaning on the right! 2-5mm depending on the height, it is visible (and fixed with pieces of papers under it...)
2. the HDR is fine but OS Monterey has no shortcut to the HDR toggle in settings, that's 3 clicks away!
3. screen touch settings is annoying and the main shortcut is for sound, where I'd prefer brightness.
4. https://www.eizo.be/monitor-test/ this test very correct except screen uniformity with shadows on the sides. This is acceptable as I'm not a graphist.

Following advice from this forum I added the Samsung T7 2go with a speed of 630MB/s with its own USB-C cable, and 670MB/s with Hauwei USB-C cable. This is par with my 2013Macbook and more than enough for my needs.
In the end, a flexible, wider screen, cheaper solution than the iMac 24".

 

[deuxani]

I just got the Mateview yesterday and really love the design, the aspect ratio, etc. I however don't like the ports on the side, so I connected my M2 Air to the HDMI port on the back just to try. I just can't get a normal resolution there via USB-C > Apple AV multiport dongle > HDMI to HDMI:

The default scaled resolution I like via USB-C is 3008x2005 and there are many other good options available there too:

I just want to get those resolutions via HDMI or DP. Any way to do that? Maybe USB-C directly to HDMI or DP? Or does my MacBook just not support these resolutions over HDMI?

By the way, on my Windows desktop I’m getting every possible resolution over HDMI, high dpi, smooth, 50Hz, etc.

 

[EugW]

I just got the Mateview yesterday and really love the design, the aspect ratio, etc. I however don't like the ports on the side, so I connected my M2 Air to the HDMI port on the back just to try. I just can't get a normal resolution there via USB-C > Apple AV multiport dongle > HDMI to HDMI:

View attachment 2126143


The default scaled resolution I like via USB-C is 3008x2005 and there are many other good options available there too:

View attachment 2126146

View attachment 2126147

I just want to get those resolutions via HDMI or DP. Any way to do that? Maybe USB-C directly to HDMI or DP? Or does my MacBook just not support these resolutions over HDMI?

By the way, on my Windows desktop I’m getting every possible resolution over HDMI, high dpi, smooth, 50Hz, etc.

You can't get full resolution via HDMI because HDMI 2.0 doesn't have enough bandwidth at 60 Hz. It's supported at 50 Hz though I believe. You need to run DisplayPort or USB-C (which is also DisplayPort) to get full resolution at 60 Hz.

BTW, thanks for posting those pix. I went out and bought one of these monitors today, specifically to get that 2304x1536 scaled resolution in your pic. On my 5K iMac, the only options are 2560x1440 or 2048x1152. I run 2560x1440, but I'm not a huge fan of the default text sizes, and 2048x1152 is too cramped. I would have liked 2304x1296, but for some reason that option isn't available. 2304x1536 on the Huawei Mateview 28.2" is a great in-between size for me, and text quality is decent. Not quite as crisp as native on the 5K iMac, but very close.

I bought a bunch of Asus ProArt monitors in the last few weeks and returned them all. The 32" 2560x1440p was pixelated at my seating distance, and in one display setting there were stuck pixels. The 32" 4K model ordered from Amazon Warehouse turned out to be a scam, the same 1440p model I already had but in a 4K box. I re-ordered the 32" 4K model from somewhere else and it had annoying backlight bleed on one side. So, then I gave up on Asus and got the 28.2" Mateview after I saw your post. No obvious stuck pixels so far, and no major backlight bleed either. Better blacks too.

A minor beef is the supplied USB-C cable is rather short. I had to rejig my setup in order to make USB-C work. It's plugged into my Plugable Thunderbolt 4 hub.

Another beef is that while wake from sleep appears to work, it takes longer than it should IMO.

EDIT:

Is anyone running this monitor in HDR? I have the option with my M1 Mac mini (USB-C), but I was wondering if there was any point in doing so considering this is an HDR400 panel with no dimming zones. Any compatibility issues?

How is the colour accuracy measured, sRGB? Or does that apply to DCI-P3 and HDR as well? When I plugged the screen in, it defaulted to DCI-P3 so I left it that.

Also, anyone using this monitor with MonitorControl.app? It seems the button control with MonitorControl.app is inconsistent vs what the monitor shows for brightness level. However, in HDR mode it disables the monitor's brightness setting from the touch bar.

 

[EugW]

Is anyone running this monitor in HDR? I have the option with my M1 Mac mini (USB-C), but I was wondering if there was any point in doing so considering this is an HDR400 panel with no dimming zones. Any compatibility issues?

How is the colour accuracy measured, sRGB? Or does that apply to DCI-P3 and HDR as well? When I plugged the screen in, it defaulted to DCI-P3 so I left it that.

Also, anyone using this monitor with MonitorControl.app? It seems the button control with MonitorControl.app is inconsistent vs what the monitor shows for brightness level. However, in HDR mode it disables the monitor's brightness setting from the touch bar.

Answered my own question with regards to HDR.

Text in my Windows VPN looks fine in SDR mode, but there is colour fringing around some text in HDR mode. So, HDR will stay off. So, I'm currently using DCI-P3.

 

[tornado99]

Not quite as crisp as native on the 5K iMac, but very close.

I'm always curious what the threshold is for a monitor looking pin-sharp. I have a 3rd party 185 dpi 24 inch 4K and it is basically indistinguishable from Apple's 220 dpi monitors/iMacs. In particular text has that nice "printed look" to it.

So I guess somewhere between 165dpi (Mateview) and 185 dpi is the real lower limit for "Retina" desktop monitors.

 

[EugW]

I'm always curious what the threshold is for a monitor looking pin-sharp. I have a 3rd party 185 dpi 24 inch 4K and it is basically indistinguishable from Apple's 220 dpi monitors/iMacs. In particular text has that nice "printed look" to it.

So I guess somewhere between 165dpi (Mateview) and 185 dpi is the real lower limit for "Retina" desktop monitors.

It also depends on the viewing distance of course.

This website claims

164 ppi is Retina at 53 cm / 21 inches.
184 ppi is Retina at 48 cm / 19 inches.
218 ppi is Retina at 41 cm / 16 inches.

Is This Retina? - DPI/PPI Display Calculator

Calculate aspect ratio, DPI/PPI, and minimum Retina viewing distance.

www.designcompaniesranked.com

The way I have the computer setup right now, it just so happens I'm at about 19-22 inches depending upon how I'm sitting. I'm almost never at 16 inches though.

The other point is that this presumes 20/20 vision. Only a minority of people have 20/15 vision normally, but AFAIK a fair number of people can get 20/15 vision with glasses.

My holy grail would be ~200 ppi, because that gives me larger default font sizing than 218 ppi, while still being Retina. That would correspond to a 5K 16:9 29.5" display.

 

[EugW]

After using this monitor a day, I'd say the biggest negative I've noticed is a drop-off in edge brightness. I work a lot in documents and white background browsers, and the edges of the screen are clearly more dim. I think a bit of it has to do with the viewing angle. I'm not sure why but it feels like this isn't your typical 178 degree IPS viewing angle. Could the matte coating have something to do with it? The brightness seems to drop off off-axis more quickly than most IPS. However, I think the real problem is a backlight which seems to emphasize the centre of the screen more than the edges. Fortunately, it's not a major colour shift like VA (which drives me nuts), and instead is a shift from white to grey. I haven't read through all of this thread to see if others have reported it here, but I know I'm not the only person that has noticed this. I went searching through some reviews and found it was also reported in this review, with actual measurements confirming the lower brightness at the edges:

At max brightness it was 526 nits in the centre, but only 400 at one of the edges. I run at I'm guessing around half brightness, and I still see that light drop-off. If I move my head over to the look directly at the edges, the brightness drop-off is not as obvious, but it's still there. In contrast, my glossy 5K iMac seems to have very even brightness edge to edge, even when viewed significantly off-axis.

OTOH, this MateView doesn't suffer the backlight bleed I noticed on the Asus ProArt PA329CV and PA328CGV, and it also has minimal IPS glow compared to them. (How is the MateView lit, BTW?) As a result, the MateView has deeper and cleaner blacks. The ProArts are rated at 1000:1 static contrast ratio whereas the MateView is rated at 1200:1. If I had to guess, I'd guess that MateView's contrast ratio is relatively accurate, but the ProArts might be lower than their claimed 1000:1 rating. The blacks overall on the MateView just look better in general and more consistent across the screen, so I have no fear of using a desktop wallpaper that is mostly black. Doing that on the PA329CV made it look like crap, as it accentuated the IPS glow and backlight bleed. The backlight bleed was even obvious in dark TV show scenes.

Overall, this is isn't the holy grail of sub-CA$1000 monitors but considering the overall feature set, the styling, and the performance, I think it's a good value at the price I paid - just under CA$700, which is just over US$500 - and it matches nicely price-wise with the Mac mini. CamelCamelCamel confirms these prices are the lowest it's been here, according to Amazon's 3rd party seller pricing. (Huawei is the 3rd party vendor on Amazon.ca but I bought it $50 cheaper at a brick-and-mortar computer shop.)

Overall, I'm quite pleased with this purchase despite the edge brightness drop-off. It's a much better value than the slightly cheaper 27" ProArt PA278CV, assuming it has the same problems as its big brother the 32" PA329CV I mentioned above. However, for those with more demanding needs, eg. video or photo editing at the mid end and up with a Mac Studio or M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro, I might recommend a higher end monitor.

 

[EugW]

I have the MateView sitting on the same desk as my 2017 iMac 27".

I have no measurement tools, but by my eye for skin colour in studio photos of my kids, the iMac is just about perfect, but the MateView has a very slight green tint to it. I think most people wouldn't notice the difference, but it's there. I tried sRGB and DCI-P3 and it's there in both. Furthermore, with certain content (videos played in Infuse) if I use the DCI-P3 setting on the monitor and either the DCI-P3 colour profile or the MateView colour profile in Ventura, Infuse is washed out, but Photos looks fine. I tried using Display P3 and that corrects the issue. Is Display P3 the correct profile to use in this context? Cuz, this is not a Display P3 monitor. It only has sRGB, DCI-P3, and Native options:

So, I'm not convinced the claim that it is calibrated to delta error < 2 is consistently true. I'd say colour balance is good overall, but not great. In fact, measurements in this review would agree:

HUAWEI MateView review: Marvellously minimalist

The HUAWEI MateView aims to stand out in the 28-inch monitor market with a minimalist design and large 3:2 aspect ratio.

www.androidauthority.com

They measure DCI-P3 average delta error at 2.84 for their specific unit, which is good but not great, and the maximum delta error exceeds 6. For sRGB, it averages 2.92 with max delta error of 4.55. Colour temp is also off somewhat.

The two Asus ProArt monitors I tried had more accurate colour balance which looked just like my iMac (and came with Calman calibration readouts which supported what my eyes saw). However, they had other significant problems which made them worse to use, such as significant backlight bleed or blurry text depending on the model, which is why I returned them.

Fortunately for the time being I have my iMac for when I need to edit the pix. The MateView is more for business productivity at this time. However, in the future if I were to retire the iMac and go with an Apple Silicon Mac mini for editing, I'd get a higher end monitor.

 

[tornado99]

@EugW even if a monitor is factory calibrated for delta E<2 it won't stay that way over the years. you need to buy a calibrator and create a profile at the brightness setting you want.

and does the mateview even claim to be factory calibrated, or is that spec for after the user calibrates?

 

[EugW]

@EugW even if a monitor is factory calibrated for delta E<2 it won't stay that way over the years. you need to buy a calibrator and create a profile at the brightness setting you want.

and does the mateview even claim to be factory calibrated, or is that spec for after the user calibrates?

The MateView claims to be factory calibrated for delta error less than 2.

"Intensify your love of colour via the 98% DCI-P3 cinema-level colour gamut, and bring incredible vibrancy to your design projects, movie viewing and photo editing. Be sure that each colour is more real-to-life thanks to the ∆E<2 standard colour accuracy, individually calibrated on every HUAWEI MateView."

This is in stark contrast to the ProArts I tried, which also claim calibration to ∆E<2. They came with a Calman calibration summary sheet, and I believe those readouts, because the colours were basically perfect on those. But like I said, they had other significant problems.

 

[tornado99]

Ok, but a factory calibration will change over time, and will only have been done at a specific brightness level (most likely the default brightness). Your ProArt in 6 months time will not be calibrated.

Also, trying to eyeball colour accuracy doesn't work. I bet your iMac isn't as accurate as you think.

 

[EugW]

Ok, but a factory calibration will change over time, and will only have been done at a specific brightness level (most likely the default brightness). Your ProArt in 6 months time will not be calibrated.

Also, trying to eyeball colour accuracy doesn't work. I bet your iMac isn't as accurate as you think.

That may be true to an extent, but like I said, the iMac's colours looked basically identical to the two ProArts I tried, and those two had been factory calibrated.

Basically I had three different monitors with the same colour balance, and two of those had Calman calibration stats confirming accurate colours, whereas this MateView looks different. It's the odd one out. While the iMac may not be perfect, I suspect that even after 5 years of usage, it's still more accurate than my MateView unit, at least for skin tones. However, I'm not saying I liked the ProArts more than the MateView, cuz I don't.

BTW, I considered buying one of the newest Dell Ultrasharps as they have better native contrast at 2000:1, but I saw a review talking about bad backlight bleed, which is a deal killer for me. I'm sticking with this MateView as it has no backlight bleed and IPS glow is lower than the others.

 

[russell_314]

At max brightness it was 526 nits in the centre

I think it would have been more helpful if the reviewer measured consistency at a lower brightness. Variations would bug be but I would never turn it that bright. On a laptop I get it because maybe you're in the field with the laptop on the hood of a car as a desk. I bet my monitors never get turned up over 250 nits when indoors but I don't have a meter to test it.

 

[EugW]

I think it would have been more helpful if the reviewer measured consistency at a lower brightness. Variations would bug be but I would never turn it that bright. On a laptop I get it because maybe you're in the field with the laptop on the hood of a car as a desk. I bet my monitors never get turned up over 250 nits when indoors but I don't have a meter to test it.

You’re right but I’m at somewhere around half brightness and I’m still seeing significantly lower edge brightness. It’s pretty obvious when working on white documents at the edge of the screen.

This review states the dimmed edge at 100% brightness does not improve at 67%.

Huawei MateView monitor review

Huawei MateView is a large, stylish and well-specced monitor at a reasonable price - what's not to like?

www.creativebloq.com

 

[melliflu]

6 reasons why I'm returning my Mateview:
- mine is not flat / even, a few mm to compensate...
- brightness consistency obviously bad on edges and sides
- not waking up 25% of the time (this could be a Monterey issue)
- HDR for videos not impressive at all, it looks washed out.
- side USB A and C not working when monitor is on minidisplay-port
- cannot disable wi-fi

I'll regret the 3:2 ratio, I would keep it at half-price.

 

[Amethyst1]

Maybe USB-C directly to HDMI or DP?

Go for USB-C to DP.

You can't get full resolution via HDMI because HDMI 2.0 doesn't have enough bandwidth at 60 Hz.

That doesn't explain why the 50 Hz mode or HiDPI modes larger than 1920×1080 aren't available. This has nothing to do with HDMI 2.0's 600 MHz pixel clock limit.

I'm always curious what the threshold is for a monitor looking pin-sharp. I have a 3rd party 185 dpi 24 inch 4K and it is basically indistinguishable from Apple's 220 dpi monitors/iMacs. In particular text has that nice "printed look" to it.

As has been said, this depends on various factors and is thus "subjective" to some extent. I can see a difference between 185 and 220 ppi. 185 is nice and sharp but 220 is "a bit" better.

 

[EugW]

- brightness consistency obviously bad on edges and sides

Yup

- not waking up 25% of the time (this could be a Monterey issue)

I don’t have this problem on Ventura with USB-C.

- HDR for videos not impressive at all, it looks washed out.

This may be a display profile setting issue AFAIK. However, I keep HDR off anyway since it causes colour fringing around text in my Windows VPN. It’s as if 4:4:4 has been disabled or something.

- side USB A and C not working when monitor is on minidisplay-port

This is to be expected.

- cannot disable wi-fi

My version doesn’t even have WiFi.

 

[tornado99]

Go for USB-C to DP.


That doesn't explain why the 50 Hz mode or HiDPI modes larger than 1920×1080 aren't available. This has nothing to do with HDMI 2.0's 600 MHz pixel clock limit.


As has been said, this depends on various factors and is thus "subjective" to some extent. I can see a difference between 185 and 220 ppi. 185 is nice and sharp but 220 is "a bit" better.

Are you comparing like with like though? My 185 dpi monitor has a light matte coating whereas 220dpi displays have either a glossy coating with an air gap (LG), or are fully laminated (Apple).

In a dark room a fully laminated panel at the same dpi as a matte panel would appear sharper.

 

[Amethyst1]

Are you comparing like with like though?

My 185 ppi monitors were matte. My 220 ppi ones are glossy.

 

[melliflu]

This is to be expected.


My version doesn’t even have WiFi.

There should be an extra USB-C behind not to use the one on the side to plug the Mini (ugly and Mini cannot charge through it). I suppose USB-C could solve my DP wake-up issues.

One needs to connect monitor WiFi for firmware updates. Check Source=>Wireless or Wifi. I had 3 consecutive updates from the start (one can hit the "update" line in menu to speed it up).

 

[EugW]

There should be an extra USB-C behind not to use the one on the side to plug the Mini (ugly and Mini cannot charge through it). I suppose USB-C could solve my DP wake-up issues.

One needs to connect monitor WiFi for firmware updates. Check Source=>Wireless or Wifi. I had 3 consecutive updates from the start (one can hit the "update" line in menu to speed it up).

I don’t have that option.

They released two models, one with wireless and one without. I have the latter. I don’t have the WiFi logo on my unit.

Anyhow, I’ve ordered the LG Ultrafine 4K 27” 27UP850N for comparison.