Monitor confusion for tbMBP 13" - 1440p vs 4k

[bcbickers]

Hello Everyone,

I currently have two 22" 1080p monitors connected to my tbMBP 13" and am in search of a better solution. However, the world of 2k (1440p) vs 4k (2160p) is very confusing. My usage pattern is quite simple: the entire Office for Mac suite (Outlook, Skype, Word, Excel), tons of time in Visio (in a Fusion Win10 VM running in Unity mode), web browsing, and streaming media for background noise. I typically have Outlook and Skype open on one display and use the second display for documents and Visio diagrams. No games, content creation, or the like. My main goals are to get more screen real estate (mainly for Visio diagrams) and to have a single cable solution that charges my machine and provides USB-A connectivity for my external storage drives.

My thought is to run a larger, single display for my primary work with the MBP open as a second display for Outlook and Skype. I am considering the Asus H277HU 27" IPS display, as it appears to meet all of my needs (more screen real estate with 1440p, USB-A hub, charging at 60w). So my question is: is the additional cost of a 4k display worth it considering my usage pattern? Is there any benefit in spending an extra $200+ for a 4k display, like the LG 27UD88 for example?

 

[BenTrovato]

100% worth it. The problem I would have in your situation is working on both a retina screen and a 1440p monitor. Every time my eyes would switch over to the monitor, the quality would drop so much it would bother me. If you do a lot of reading or writing on the screen, doing it on 4k is more enjoyable. FWIW some people can't tell the difference, so although my opinion is definitely go for the 4k, others may not notice the increase in quality.

 

[bcbickers]

I didn't realize there was that much of a quality difference. Sounds like I need to wander down to my local Best Buy, connect my machine up to several displays, and compare. Thanks for the input.

 

[Fishrrman]

Chances are, the local BestBuy won't have the proper displays by which to do a good comparison.

If you have a retina MBPro, and if you're sensitive to "grainy v. clear" insofar as displays go, you're probably not going to be satisfied unless you have 4k displays to go along with the retina internal display...