New monitor for MacMini 2014 - 2K or 1080p?

[Giuanniello]

I know my Mini being ancient, I will probably get an M2 once summer is over but in the meantime I need an upgrade to the old and small HP Pavillon 22cw, sight is what it is at my age and I can only benefit of some more room not to mention I have another old Mini which I use headless for remote printing, scanning etc but too much hassle working like this so I'd swap the HP to the older Mini and get a new refurb screen for the i7 one.

My concern is about resolution, I believe my 2014 Mini can afford 2560x1440 through HDMI, is that correct? I am evaluating a refurb Benq among either an EW2780Q, a PD2700Q or a PD2500Q, this latter one being 25" diagonal.

I work with photography but at this moment in time can't afford a dedicated photo screen so I have to make the best out of the budget which can fit both the i7 2014 Mini and a next to come M2

Any comment would be greatly appreciated

Grazie 🙏

 

[Amethyst1]

My concern is about resolution, I believe my 2014 Mini can afford 2560x1440 through HDMI, is that correct?

Yes.

 

[BrianBaughn]

That's not the way I understand it.

From everymac.com:

If you're going to get an M2 Mini in the future…and plan to use whatever new monitor you get now with it…I'm wondering why you shouldn't go ahead and get a 4K monitor to run at 2560x1440.

Maybe someone else can add to the discussion.

 

[ovbacon]

I know my Mini being ancient, I will probably get an M2 once summer is over but in the meantime I need an upgrade to the old and small HP Pavillon 22cw, sight is what it is at my age and I can only benefit of some more room not to mention I have another old Mini which I use headless for remote printing, scanning etc but too much hassle working like this so I'd swap the HP to the older Mini and get a new refurb screen for the i7 one.

My concern is about resolution, I believe my 2014 Mini can afford 2560x1440 through HDMI, is that correct? I am evaluating a refurb Benq among either an EW2780Q, a PD2700Q or a PD2500Q, this latter one being 25" diagonal.

I work with photography but at this moment in time can't afford a dedicated photo screen so I have to make the best out of the budget which can fit both the i7 2014 Mini and a next to come M2

Any comment would be greatly appreciated

Grazie 🙏

Why not get a newer monitor that will be great when you upgrade to a new mini M2/3 and have it on your old mini for now even if the old mini is not able to use its full potential. There are multiple thread on here with suggestions of monitors but I think BenQ is great for photography.

I do a lot of photography and have a mini M2 with a BenQ PD2705U.

 

[Amethyst1]

That's not the way I understand it.

Apple’s spec page says 4K30 is possible via HDMI, which requires a higher pixel clock than 2560×1440@60Hz. So if 4K30 works, 2560×1440@60Hz has to work too.

 

[Giuanniello]

@BrianBaughn Well that sure is an idea, I have no clue what happens if I attach a 4K monitor to my 2014 Mini now until I upgrade to the M2, I can sure tell that when I used to use a 27" 2009 iMac it was a joy to work with so much space.

My main thing is photography but I can't afford the dedicated monitor right now, they fall into much higher of a range I can afford now and it would delay the upgrade of the Mini, the Benqs I mentioned above both fall within 350€ which is reasonable, both are 2K by the way, if you have suggestions which better fit the bill they are more than welcome.

@ovbacon unfortunately there is no PD2705U among the refurbished, it takes constance (and luck) on the store as they seem to go away very quickly.

Grazie

 

[ovbacon]

@ovbacon unfortunately there is no PD2705U among the refurbished, it takes constance (and luck) on the store as they seem to go away very quickly.

Grazie

How much are you able/willing to spend?

 

[Giuanniello]

How much are you able/willing to spend?

the two Benq I am evaluating both fall within 350 on the refurb store, at first I was thinking to get whatever on a cheap budget and then upgrade in the future but then I saw this 27" at 340 euros and thought I could stretch the budget and delay a better one to the future after I get a new Mini

 

[meson]

If you are struggling with viewing things on a 21.5" 1920x1080 display, you will have the same problem with 27" at 2560x1440 because both display sizes use the same pixel density meaning that things on the screen will be the same size, you will just be able to fit more on the larger screen. I suspect this is not exactly what you are going for, although it can be beneficial while photo editing. Trying to use a lower than default resolution on screens with those resolutions has never resulted in a picture that I've found to be satisfactory, especially for photo work.

The advice of going to a 4k display is very solid. In January, I went with a 32" 4k display, an LG 32ul500. It's an inexpensive bare bones monitor for its size and resolution, but at about $250 in the US was a bargain. My eyes are still young enough that I can work at a full native 4k resolution, which is exactly what I wanted. When I do remote lectures, I'll usually drop down to a scaled 2560x1440 resolution, and I'm reasonably happy with the way it looks. If the 2014 mini handles scaling like the newer machines, I think you will be more than happy (I'm not sure on this). Even without the 'retina'-style scaling of the newer machines, you will find that elements will be a little larger on the screen, and may help relieve your eyes a bit.

The only real issue I have with the display is that I wish it were a little brighter. I have a window behind my desk at the office that faces the setting sun in the west, and at certain times of the year, I wish I could turn up the brightness a couple more notches. As far as color, I don't see a strong enough difference between my laptop display and my LG to make it worth a formal color calibration. So, if close enough is close enough, you should be good. Given the price range you are looking in, I believe this to be the case. I believe there is a newer version of my monitor that is IPS-based and maybe slightly brighter for about $50 more, but you make a tradeoff in the number of colors displayed.

In short, take a hard look at a 32" 4k display, I think you might find that it bridges the gap reasonably well, and will accomplish what you need and may still fall within budget.

 

[Giuanniello]

@meson thank you for your detailed reply, I don't yet have an issue with text size, I am typing on a 13" MBAir and at 54 I can still do that without glasses, primary need is that teere is another computer in the storage which serves as storage and print server but headless is a pain in the neck so rather than to get a cheap screen for that one I would swap my HP for the i5 and get a bigger one for my i7-next-to-be-M2.

As far as I remember the 27" size of the old iMac was a pleasure to work with space wise, of course the old female ditto "the bigger the better" always in this case fits but I am afraid 32" being too big for my desk and too expensive for a decent screen with at least almost 100% of sRGB coverage.

 

[ovbacon]

the two Benq I am evaluating both fall within 350 on the refurb store, at first I was thinking to get whatever on a cheap budget and then upgrade in the future but then I saw this 27" at 340 euros and thought I could stretch the budget and delay a better one to the future after I get a new Mini

I think your instinct to go with a BenQ is good.... They have great screens that are extremely good for photography at very good prices. As I said I have a PD2705U and I came from a iMac 5K. The BenQ is really good and crisp. Depending on when you are upgrading your mini and screen, I upgraded to a mini M2 when my iMac became to slow for photography editing and after some long and in depth searching I went with the setup I have now. mini M2, 16GB/512GB with a BenQ PD2705U (27" 4K). The BenQ was $500 new and well worth it. I at first thought of going with a 32" screen but after measuring how big that would be on my desk went with a 27" (same as the iMac) and I love it.

 

[ovbacon]

Btw... I've been checking out your photos and they are really great.... you are a good photographer 👍📸.

 

[stx66]

This might help.

Mac external displays for designers and developers

If you’re considering an external display for your Mac, there’s a few important decisions to make. Apple doesn’t sell external displays any more, so you can’t just default to their wisdom. That’s an issue, because not all displays are well suited for Macs.

bjango.com

 

[saudor]

If you're going to get an M2 Mini in the future…and plan to use whatever new monitor you get now with it…I'm wondering why you shouldn't go ahead and get a 4K monitor to run at 2560x1440.

Maybe someone else can add to the discussion.

Running 1440p on a 4K display over HDMI is noticeably more blurry than running 1440p on a native 1440p display especially over intel graphics. On radeon graphics, running 1440p on a 4K display over displayport leads to a sharper image for some reason

 

[ovbacon]

This might help.

Mac external displays for designers and developers

If you’re considering an external display for your Mac, there’s a few important decisions to make. Apple doesn’t sell external displays any more, so you can’t just default to their wisdom. That’s an issue, because not all displays are well suited for Macs.

bjango.com

Designers and developers is a completely different thing from photography.... thats beside the fact that the article is over a year old and does not take any kind of price into account.

 

[Boyd01]

I am evaluating a refurb Benq among either an EW2780Q, a PD2700Q or a PD2500Q, this latter one being 25" diagonal.

I have been using the 32-inch version of those BenQ screens, the PD3200Q, for three years on my 2018 Mini. Really pleased with it... my eyes are 20 years older than yours! 😄

 

[Giuanniello]

I am now starting the very busy part of my working season (holiday spot here) and on one hand I will have the funds for a new Mini, on the other no much time to dedicate to photography but I can already see a good configuration with 16GB and 500GB below 1K mark which is tempting so if that happens again I might pull the trigger and get one along summer.

Screen wise as much as I'd like to get 32" I am afraid it would be too big for my desk and, to begin with, 4K downscaled on the mini would probably make it unusable, my guess is that 27" is the best size (I am no girl so the bigger the better doesn't apply) not to mention my apartment is quite small so have to find the right compromise.

As said above Benq are good screens so far, even the not photography dedicated ones have wide color range and accuracy and their online shop often has refurbished ones which make it a better deal.

Thanks for checking my photos and for the nice comments @ovbacon

 

[dictoresno]

I started using a 2014 Mac Mini and needed a monitor and debated for days what to get.

I initially had it hooked up to my 50 inch Samsung TV via HDMI while setting it up and it displayed at a very high resolution and looked great. However keep in mind, at these higher resolutions like 2560x1600 will only display at 30hz. looked ok for basic needs but terrible for quick work and videos obviously.

I decided to just get a really nice HP M27fw 27 inch at 1080p @ 60Hz (it can handle up to 75Hz). I plan on getting a new M2 mini soon, but im ok with the 27 inch at 1080p. sometimes I wish the resolution was higher but since I wear glasses sometimes, no big deal. BTW, the M27fw is a REALLY nice monitor and you should consider it.

 

[Giuanniello]

How weird, I found the PD2700Q on the Benq refurb store, 280 euros for a class A refurb, it was late night and I filled the basket and delayed payment to next morning, once along the process it showed as unavailable, it got probably sold along night local time.

Found the same on an Italian online store, 270 euros with the possibility to pay in three shares, free shipping, ok, had to rush to work and delayed again, once back the same shop has it at 329, went back onto Ben's refurb store and none available, did the chat with a Benq's employee who told me it is unpredictable when they have them back, ok, forget it...

This morning I did a check again and the PD2705 is there but over 350, worth it to have USB-C when I don't yet have any computer with the same connection? Kept browsing and, voila, PD2700Q again available at 25x euros, this time didn't delay and got it, it won't be the most up to date, no USB-C, no photography dedicated but if I kept working on this ancient and not profiled HP22cw I can only do better on 27" 100% sRGB (even tho I work ProPhoto color space when I send stuff to print) in 2K res, can't wait to get it!!!

Thank you for all of your hints, molto appreciated