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Monitor for 2020 MacMini

Arry

Arry

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2017
6
1
Italy
Hello everybody! I recently purchased a new 2020 MacMini and I'm now in the market for a monitor. It's the first desktop that I buy and I don't know much about the different types of monitor available today.
I would like to buy a good 27" monitor, between $350-450; I will use the Mac for everyday tasks, music editing and some occasional video editing. Don't need anything extraordinary, something that's easy on my eyes and has decent colors.

I started reading reviews and whatnot but I'm not really familiar with IPS, VA, TN...

Any suggestion is welcomed, thank you!
 
Monotremata

Monotremata

macrumors 6502
Apr 11, 2019
356
206
Fontana, CA
Picked up this one right around the beginning of the month. I replaced a 32" HD Samsung TV with it and its working great so far. I love being able to see almost my whole mixer on the screen in Logic Pro, AND still have a nice chunk of the Arrange window up on top to look at. Was going to go for a 32" but at 4K that's too much screen space for me, and the 28" has an IPS panel so win win there..

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsun...onitor-dark-gray-blue/6386391.p?skuId=6386391
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,671
4,555
New Jersey Pine Barrens
I got a BenQ PD3200Q with my new Mini in June, cost was $400 at B&H Photo. Really happy with this screen, it is QHD, 2560 x 1440. Have used my ancient 23" Apple Cinema Display HD forever and really like the default size of text. The Cinema display is 100 ppi and the BenQ screen is around 92 ppi so text is a little larger, which is fine.

www.benq.com

PD3200Q｜32-inch 2K QHD sRGB Designer Monitor

PD3200Q covers 100% sRGB and 100% Rec.709 color spaces. Amazing Delta E ≤ 3 ensures superb accuracy.
www.benq.com

Many people would probably feel 2560 x 1440 is fine on a 27" screen, but I really wanted something bigger... have spent enough of my life looking at tiny text on my 11" MacBook Air. ?

Whatever you get, find something where the text is readable at the screen's native resolution, I would not go more than 2560 x 1440 on a 27" screen personally. If you use scaled resolutions on the new Mini, it stresses the integrated graphics and can cause problems. There are several long threads about this here.

Hopefully you also got enough RAM on your new Mini, people with 8gb have had problems since 1.5gb is used by the graphics chip.
 
Arry

Arry

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2017
6
1
Italy
Thank you for your suggestions! In terms of connections, should I get a monitor with a Thunderbolt port?
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

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Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,671
4,555
New Jersey Pine Barrens
My monitor doesn't have USB-C so I'm using a DisplayPort to USB-C cable. There have been several threads here about issues with HDMI connections, such as the screen not coming on when the Mini wakes from sleep. Don't know how much of a problem that really is however.
 
Monotremata

Monotremata

macrumors 6502
Apr 11, 2019
356
206
Fontana, CA
I had mine connected over HDMI for the first week or so, didn't have any issues there. I am using a USB-C to Display Port cable now though just because I can. Thunderbolt would be nice, but its also going to jack the price of the monitor up to a ridiculous amount, when Display Port or HDMI will work just fine. Its the graphics card you'll hit a wall with before the monitor..
 
P

pugxiwawa

macrumors 6502
Nov 10, 2009
472
929
I'm using it with LG 27UK850-W and it's been working very well, really like 1 USB-C cable connection .
 
S

SteelBlueTJ

macrumors 6502
Apr 2, 2012
442
60
USA
I am about to buy a 2020 Mac Mini i5 6 core 16Gb. I am thinking of getting the 32" LG 32UK50T 4K monitor from Sam's Club. I also have a spare 27" Dell 2560X1440 that I want to pair with it as a secondary display in portrait mode. Would this setup work or would it cause severe lag? What do you think? Thanks!
 
pldelisle

pldelisle

macrumors 68020
May 4, 2020
2,248
1,505
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
SteelBlueTJ said:
I am about to buy a 2020 Mac Mini i5 6 core 16Gb. I am thinking of getting the 32" LG 32UK50T 4K monitor from Sam's Club. I also have a spare 27" Dell 2560X1440 that I want to pair with it as a secondary display in portrait mode. Would this setup work or would it cause severe lag? What do you think? Thanks!
Click to expand...
If you don't use graphics intensive applications it shouldn't lag.
 
Arry

Arry

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2017
6
1
Italy
Hi guys, in the end I bought a BenQ PD2700Q.
I've had it for a week or so now... and frankly I'm having a hard time finding a way to get used to so much space and such small text. I have already enlarged the font size as much as possible, and also tried a scaled resolution.
Max resolution is 2560x1440: I tried 2048x1152 and that made it easier to read and live with, but it's not as crisp and detailed as the recommended 2560x1440. It looks somewhat blurry.
As far as you know, is there a way to use a scaled resolution and get the same clear, sharp definition of the recommended 2560x1440?
I can work for hours on my old 13" MacbookPro unibody but this 27 screen definitely doesn't feel as "easy" and smooth to use.
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,671
4,555
New Jersey Pine Barrens
I have the 32" version of that screen - the BenQ PD3200Q, really happy with it. I specifically bought the 32" screen to avoid the problems you're having. My reasoning was that I had been using an ancient Apple 23" HD Cinema Display forever, and always thought the text size was just about right. The Apple screen was 100 dpi, the 32" BenQ is 92dpi, so text is just a bit larger which is fine.

Using 2048x1152 makes no sense IMO, you might as well have a 1080p screen. And scaled resolutions on the Mini are not recommended since they tax the GPU and make the computer run hotter, possibly slowing it down. I don't really have a solution for you, sorry. But can you exchange the screen for either a 32" 1440p or a 24" 1080p monitor? Those would give you the nice sized, sharp text you want.
 
pldelisle

pldelisle

macrumors 68020
May 4, 2020
2,248
1,505
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Boyd01 said:
I have the 32" version of that screen - the BenQ PD3200Q, really happy with it. I specifically bought the 32" screen to avoid the problems you're having. My reasoning was that I had been using an ancient Apple 23" HD Cinema Display forever, and always thought the text size was just about right. The Apple screen was 100 dpi, the 32" BenQ is 92dpi, so text is just a bit larger which is fine.

Using 2048x1152 makes no sense IMO, you might as well have a 1080p screen. And scaled resolutions on the Mini are not recommended since they tax the GPU and make the computer run hotter, possibly slowing it down. I don't really have a solution for you, sorry. But can you exchange the screen for either a 32" 1440p or a 24" 1080p monitor? Those would give you the nice sized, sharp text you want.
Click to expand...

A 4K display cannot be scaled as a 1080p ?
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,671
4,555
New Jersey Pine Barrens
The OP has a QHD (1440p) screen, not 4k. I bought a screen that would give me the size text that I wanted at native resolution. You certainly can scale to whatever you like, but there are a number of threads here where users report issues with "lag" and other things on scaled displays. In these threads, people say that scaling makes the onboard GPU work much harder, which can make the fan run on high and/or cause the processor to throttle.

But I don't have any personal experience with that, so this is all based on a variety of threads about monitor issues. At any rate, I would expect that scaling a 1440 screen to 1080 would not be very sharp, or certainly not as sharp as the native resolution. And if 1080 is the resolution you really want, then why not just get a 1080p screen? With a 4k screen, that seems like another matter, since 1080 is 2160 divided by 2.
 
Arry

Arry

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2017
6
1
Italy
Boyd01 said:
I have the 32" version of that screen - the BenQ PD3200Q, really happy with it. I specifically bought the 32" screen to avoid the problems you're having. My reasoning was that I had been using an ancient Apple 23" HD Cinema Display forever, and always thought the text size was just about right. The Apple screen was 100 dpi, the 32" BenQ is 92dpi, so text is just a bit larger which is fine.

Using 2048x1152 makes no sense IMO, you might as well have a 1080p screen. And scaled resolutions on the Mini are not recommended since they tax the GPU and make the computer run hotter, possibly slowing it down. I don't really have a solution for you, sorry. But can you exchange the screen for either a 32" 1440p or a 24" 1080p monitor? Those would give you the nice sized, sharp text you want.
Click to expand...


Yes, I feel a 24" monitor is what I probably need... Unfortunately I purchased the 27" screen based on the idea that "the bigger the better", without really understanding what resolution is and how it works... ?
Is there any 24" BenQ with the 1080p resolution you would recommend? The colors on mine were quite nice, I'll see if I can return it and exchange it with another model.
 
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Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,671
4,555
New Jersey Pine Barrens
Sorry, no suggestions because all my other screens are really old or else just cheap TV's. ? But you might give some consideration to the 32" BenQ PD3200Q if it's within your budget (and fits on your desk). It's very nice and will give you the full QHD resolution with clear, readable text.
 
weaztek

weaztek

macrumors 6502
Aug 28, 2009
408
218
Madison
With your budget I think you can get a good LG 27" IPS monitor on sale and have some money to spare to put toward an eGPU for your Mini.
 
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