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dannyx

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 1, 2014
51
6
I want to upgrade my monitor, with 32" 2560 x 1600 / 32" 2560 x 1440 / 4k 28 inches 3840 x 2160

One of those should be :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260132

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014372

The monitor i have now, is BenQ GW2760HS / res. 1920 x 1080

Do you think, the fonts, generally speaking, would look better / sharper / crisper, on 2560 x 1600 / 2560 x 1440, than 1920 x 1080 ?

I tried everything possible, on my 1080p monitor, but i don't really like the way the fonts look like. They look blurry. I googled a lot of forums, about. But still no result. I tried with the commands "defaults write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 1" 2 /3 / 4 / as well, but the fonts still looks blurry.

Could you advice me, please ? What monitor would you recommend, to have a close / same / quality, like Retina Display ?

What about the 28 inches / 4k displays ?

I wonder how the fonts look on 4k display. I don't mean the font size, but the quality. Are they getting close to Retina Display ?

How are the fonts looking on iMac 27 inches / 2560 x 1440 / ??
Are they looking better than 1920 x 1080 monitor / Hackintosh ?
If i would have a monitor with 2560 x 1440, would the fonts looks same like iMac 27 ?

As you can see in the attached image, there are 3 displays / comparisons
1. 15 inches / 16:9 / 2880 x 1800 resolution ( MacBookPro Retina )

2. 28 inches / 16:9 / 3840 x 2160 resolution ( 4 k monitor / 28 inches )

3. 27 inches / 16:9 / 1920 x 1080 ( specs for the monitor i have now )

For the 15 inches, there is 53.921 pixels / square inch
For the 28 inches / 4k / there is 24.784 pixels / square inch
Less than the half

That's why i asked you if the 28 inches 4k monitor is getting close to the Retina quality

All i want is to improve the fonts quality. Whatever i'm doing, OS X fonts looks blurry, compared to Windows fonts.

Thanks in advance, i hope someone can give me some advices about
 

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Hi, how are you?

Yeah, I know the feeling. When I got my Retina MacbookPro I used my 21.5" 1080p iMac as a second display for a while, and yes, the fonts looked blurry.

Well, that was expected, because my macbook has 220ppi, and the iMac has 102ppi. That's indeed a massive difference.

If you want sharper fonts, the closer you can get nowadays is a 4k monitor, like the Dell UP2414Q. It's a 23.8", 4k, 60hz, IPS, 99% rgb monitor. It has 185ppi, that's indeed a lot.

Since the OS X 10.9.3 you can "Retinaze" (HiDPI) a higher definition monitor to look shaper. This way the 4k monitor could have the workspace of a 1080p monitor however a similar sharpness of your Retina Macbook Screen.

I almost bought this monitor, however I realized I need more space than sharpness, and a 5k (5120x2880, 1440p doubled) monitor is not an option right now, I'm looking to buy the LG 34UM95.

Edit: I would like to share this website with you, it calculates the ppi and at what distance the monitor becomes retina.
 
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Yes, 4k display would be the best option for me, but bigger than 24 inches
27-28 inches would be okay
I found some 4k displays with IPS but they are pretty expensive, and only 30Hz isn't a good idea, and i don't mean for gaming but for every day use
 
If you talk about blurry fonts, there is also the option in the Terminal to tune down OS X's font smoothing a bit:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2

1 = minimum, 2 = medium, 3 = strong

I did this when I connect my Dell U2413, because I also found the fonts not as crisp as I wanted them. Been using medium font smoothing for over a year now and really like it.

Btw, my approach is not to get a 4K but to get a 32" with the same PPI as a 24" and a good contrast ratio, so I'm thinking about buying BenQ's BL3200PT 32" AVA monitor, but there will be also a Samsung S32D850, rumored to come out in a month or two.
 
If you talk about blurry fonts, there is also the option in the Terminal to tune down OS X's font smoothing a bit:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2

1 = minimum, 2 = medium, 3 = strong

I did this when I connect my Dell U2413, because I also found the fonts not as crisp as I wanted them. Been using medium font smoothing for over a year now and really like it.

Btw, my approach is not to get a 4K but to get a 32" with the same PPI as a 24" and a good contrast ratio, so I'm thinking about buying BenQ's BL3200PT 32" AVA monitor, but there will be also a Samsung S32D850, rumored to come out in a month or two.
I did try with
defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2
1 / 2 / 3
but i don't really like the fonts
By the way :i checked the reviews about BenQ BL3200PT / Samsung S32D850
I think BenQ BL3200PT is my next monitor
I'd like to know how the OSX fonts are looking on 32 inches / 1440p, compared to 1080p / 27 inches
Are they looking better ? More crisp / clear / sharp ? What do you think ?
 
Here is a PPI comparison between MBP Retina 15 inches vs 4K Display 28 inches
MacBook Retina Display - 226 PPI

4K display 28 inch - 157 PPI

So, what do you think ? Is 4k / 28 inches, getting close to MBP Retina 15 inches, when scaled / HiDPI ?
 

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My only problem with 4k 28 inch displays is that at the 700 dollar price range, they are TN panels. After seeing a couple of them, it turned me off to the notion of getting one right now. But if you don't care or need an IPS screen, I would see that as a better investment if Screen Real Estate is most important to you.

As far as personal experience, I would get the Dell. But iI have yet to see that BenQ to compare the 2.
 
I don't mind the TN display.
All i want is to have nice / clear / crisp / fonts on the OS X web browsers
They look different when browsing the internet, compared with Windows 7
 
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