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[Poll] What monitor are you using?

Black_Mage

Black_Mage

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 22, 2025
102
121
USA
For those of you with a Mac Mini, Mac Studio, Mac Pro, or a docking station for your laptop. What monitor do you use?

I was using a 1440p Mini LED monitor with the Mac Mini I traded in, and that's what I'll use with my Mac Studio. I didn't want OLED for my Mac because I read a lot of text with my Mac, and I didn't want to deal with burn-in. I didn't need 4K for my use case. It was $279.99 when I bought it. It's a cheap monitor, but it's good enough for me.

www.amazon.com

AOC Q27G3XMN 27" 2K QHD Gaming Monitor, 2560x1440, Mini LED, 180Hz, HDMI 2.0 x 1, DisplayPort 1.4 x1, Adaptive Sync, Xbox/PS5/Switch Ready, 3-Year Zero-Bright-dot

Unleash your potential and win sweet victories with the AOC Q27G3XMN gaming monitor- a sleek battle station with QHD resolution, 180Hz lightning-fast refresh rate and 1ms GtG rapid response time. With Adaptive-Sync, you get low latency, high refresh rates, and incredibly smooth graphics that reac...
www.amazon.com
 
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I have an LG 27GN650-B 27" UltraGear FHD (1080p) IPS 1ms 144Hz HDR monitor with AMD FreeSync Premium and G-Sync compatibility.


It works well with macOS 15.5, Linux and Windows 11.

For Macs requiring a USB-C DisplayPort cable, and not a plain DisplayPort cable, you have to buy a DisplayPort to USB-C adapter.


This configuration works great, macOS recognises the monitor immediately, with its HDR10 and G-Sync/FreeSync Premium support.
 
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Black_Mage said:
because I read a lot of text with my Mac,
Click to expand...
I also read a lot of text. I used a Dell 1440 Ultrasharp for years. Had sore eyes for years. On the advice of a coder bought an Apple Studio Display. No more sore eyes. You may not see much of a difference but your eyes do.
 
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Dell P2421DC. It's a 24" 1440p screen with a 60 watt USB-C port. I have absolutely no complaints about it.

They also made a P2418D that's almost identical, but without the USB-C port, and a ever so slightly different bezel - just enough to irk me. But it's also a nice screen, and if you don't need the USB-C port, just as capable.
 
I use a 7-year old LG 32UD99 4k monitor. It delivers 60w over USB-C to act as a partial dock for my M4 MBA.
 
I’ve got an almost-matching pair of 27” 4K Dell monitors of different vintages from the U...Q line, both purchased secondhand at different times. You can only tell them apart from behind. I got the second when upgrading to an AS Mac mini, because I was so happy with the first.

The bezels are narrow enough not to really notice, and the quality for what I paid for them is fantastic. Not QUITE as good as the display on a late model intel MBP, but close enough that I really only notice the difference with HDR content or the brightest sunlight. 4K at that size is close enough to retina pixel density at 2.5-3ft that I’m unable to see individual pixels, and I can run both the laptop and the monitors at scaled resolutions with plenty of space and nearly identical UI element sizes.

They also offer power delivery to a laptop and serve as USB hubs, with both A and C ports — more of each than I can use, between the two. Very happy with this setup. The only other thing I could wish for would be for them to come with built-in speakers, for those times when Zoom just refuses to play nice with my Bluetooth headset.

(Edit: typo)
 
I’ve also just plugged my Mac Studio into a TCL 50C6KS-UK QD-Mini LED TV, 4K HDR Premium to help accommodate my aging eyes. I’m surprised at how well it works.
 
Slumm'in it with dual 4k's (Cheap AOC that does very well when DisplayPort connected (via CalDigit TS-3 Plus) and old school LG 21.5" all-USB-C display. I'd jump at a fancy Apple 5k VESA mount if they drop the price near $1k.

Only hesitation in doing that is: all other displays and laptop screens will look so yesteryear.

Whatever you are considering, make sure you check out the specs at https://www.displayspecifications.com/en before buying some half-baked Windoze gaming display!
 
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iMac Pro 27" screen panel (bought new) and speakers, made into a DIY 5K monitor (in 2019 iMac case) with VESA mount.
Best monitor I've ever used... :D
Less than half of the price of an Apple Studio Display, but with DP/HDMI/USB-C inputs.
 
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Black_Mage said:
Mac Pro
Click to expand...

27" LG Ultrafine 5K and Apple Studio Display 5K to the W6800X Mac Pro, the other one (the dual W6800X Duo) has a regular 4K screen connected to it.

For Mac Mini M4 Pro I have 55" 4K Hi-sense TV connected to it.
 
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Two 32" Viewsonic VP3268-4K displays plus the MBP display below them. I also have a 27" Viewsonic VP2785-4K but it seemed to lose some brightness after a more than six years so it sits unused in its box now. The 27" may just need calibrating but I now think I like the 2x32" 4K displays + MBP better than the 27" 4K + the 2x32" 4K displays + MBP. External 32" seems to be kind of a sweet spot size for me.
 
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AW3423DW

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27" 4K Dell Ultrasharp U2723QE display with hub function (i.e.: several ports), connected to Mac Mini via USB-C DisplayPort-Alt-Mode, and I got this dirt cheap as an open box special from Woot! late last year for $320.50 tax and all. I'm one of those people who don't notice an overt difference in evident resolution vs. 27" 5K (had a 2017 27" 5K iMac before this and compared side-by-side).

If I were buying today, I'd consider one with 120-Hz refresh rate, as I think they have a 27" 4K lower end option with that. I don't game, just heard it makes moving objects on the screen pleasingly smoother in motion.

Apple Studio Display is too expensive for me.

I'd like a Asus 6K 32" display, but it wasn't available then and $1,200 anticipated price (+ tax) is expensive.

Here's my thinking. I'm a home user, not making money off this Mac. There are too many fairly rapidly evolving frontiers in computer displays for me to want to drop a grand + on a display I might not stay happey with for 10 years because the 'new, shiny' stuff comes out later.

Yes, I know, 'new, shiny' always does, but there are times when development is evolutionary and times when it is revolutionary. These days in the fairly large desktop display space, I see serious trends...

1.) Faster refresh rates.

2.) Higher resolutions - more 5K 27" options, and 6K 32" options are coming out (aside from Apple's XDR, which at that price might as well not exist for me).

-----Right now 5 or 6K seems to equate to 60 Hz refresh rate, whereas both features are desired strongly enough individually I imagine many people would like to have both in one display. That will take time!

3.) Larger sizes going mainstream - it used to be 24 vs. 27", now it's 27 vs. 32". I'm not a dual display guy.

4.) OLED. But another forum member mentioned having heard text wasn't as sharp vs. LCD, and I don't see 5K and 6K options, so again, may take time to see how this shakes out.

For what I do with it, I'm happy with this Dell. Yes, I liked my former 27" 5K iMac's 5K glossy display slightly better...the Dell color in large white areas looks a bit 'warmer' (whether that's the color or the matte coating or both I don't know), and I'm disinclined to fool with color adjustments - not my comfort zone.

If I wanted 27" 5K today, I'd consider the Asus (around $800 last I checked) or ViewSonic (a bit more expensive but Thunderbolt 4 rather than USB-C). But for now, happy with what I got.
 
Asus 48" 4k OLED PG48UQ

Pro
Big screen, relative large pixels, good contrast. Balsam for my eyes.
Not much of extra thrills. No "smart" internet dependent features. Small desk foot print, but stable.
Fast on/off (relative to my old 43" LG display).

Con
Heavy, expensive, no TB port, no physical on/off button.
 
Cheapest 24" 1440p display I could find back then, a Philips, because I needed a secondary display for my iMac. Then my iMac died, and now it is my primary display hooked up to my M4 Pro mini. Will be upgrading to a 5k2k OLED display sometime in 2026.
 
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