Recommendations for 4k monitors to use with 5k imac

[tatty27]

I use my 5k imac for mainly Photoshopping, Dreamweaver and a bit of Illustrator. I like to have a second monitor but my old 1920 x 1080 one now looks shocking next to the imac and it's got to go.

Can any one recommended a reasonably priced one to replace it. I don't want to pay thousands for one having just spent over £3k for the imac and it's not that I need it for anything like video editing etc etc, I just want the display to semi resemble the imac's.

Ones I have looked at are...

Dell P2815Q 28inch Ultra HD 4K LED (£340)
ASUS PB287Q 28inch Ultra HD LED (£418)
Samsung LU28D590DS 28inch Ultra HD LED (£449)

Does anyone have any experience of any of these monitors, specifically if used in conjunction with a 5k imac or can anyone recommend any others around the same price range?

 

[ra004e]

I use my 5k imac for mainly Photoshopping, Dreamweaver and a bit of Illustrator. I like to have a second monitor but my old 1920 x 1080 one now looks shocking next to the imac and it's got to go.

Can any one recommended a reasonably priced one to replace it. I don't want to pay thousands for one having just spent over £3k for the imac and it's not that I need it for anything like video editing etc etc, I just want the display to semi resemble the imac's.

Ones I have looked at are...

Dell P2815Q 28inch Ultra HD 4K LED (£340)
ASUS PB287Q 28inch Ultra HD LED (£418)
Samsung LU28D590DS 28inch Ultra HD LED (£449)

Does anyone have any experience of any of these monitors, specifically if used in conjunction with a 5k imac or can anyone recommend any others around the same price range?

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&sku=860-BBFF

LG IPS panel and should be from the same fab as 5k, AG coating very light.

Dell P2815Q 28inch Ultra HD 4K LED (£340)
Samsung LU28D590DS 28inch Ultra HD LED (£449)

These two are TN panels.

 

[campyguy]

One of my employees has a riMac, and he's ordered the Dell 27" monitor in this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1816805/

It's due to arrive in about a week, and I'm considering pulling the trigger on the 24" to complement my rMBP, the same one in ra004e's link. Those Dells spec out as pretty sweet for size, capabilities, price, and gamut.

I'd recommend a pass on the Dell you listed, the P2815Q has a pretty slow refresh rate IMO.

 

[tatty27]

It's looking good for the 27" Dell P2715Q.

Thanks for that advice both of you.

 

[ra004e]

It's looking good for the 27" Dell P2715Q.

Thanks for that advice both of you.

Just a note the 24" Dell (Dell P2415Q) will match the apparent pixel size of the 5k better than the 27" Dell (Dell P2715Q) as 27" iMac 5k "best retina for retina" is looks like 2560x1440 and the Dell 24" (Dell P2415Q) "best retina for retina" is looks like 1920x1080. If you go with Dell 27" (Dell P2715Q) "best retina for retina" is looks like 1920x1080. I'm not sure but you can probably set HiDPI on Dell 27" (Dell P2715Q) to 2560x1440 so not really a big deal, just won't be best for retina setting. Wanted to make sure you were aware of that. Plus the 24" (Dell P2415Q) is cheaper.

I want to mention one more thing, with both 5k and 4k monitors active you're really asking a lot from these to chips (m290x, m295x) so if you scale HiDPI on Dell 27" (Dell P2715Q) to 2650x1440 it will have more to do. From my 5k experiences with both of these chips scaled ( resolutions other than best for retina or full resolution )
system does not perform as well as with either of those resolutions. More stuttering, lag, etc. Again just my observation.

 

[tatty27]

Just a note the 24" Dell (Dell P2415Q) will match the apparent pixel size of the 5k better than the 27" Dell (Dell P2715Q) as 27" iMac 5k "best retina for retina" is looks like 2560x1440 and the Dell 24" (Dell P2415Q) "best retina for retina" is looks like 1920x1080. If you go with Dell 27" (Dell P2715Q) "best retina for retina" is looks like 1920x1080. I'm not sure but you can probably set HiDPI on Dell 27" (Dell P2715Q) to 2560x1440 so not really a big deal, just won't be best for retina setting. Wanted to make sure you were aware of that. Plus the 24" (Dell P2415Q) is cheaper.

I want to mention one more thing, with both 5k and 4k monitors active you're really asking a lot from these to chips (m290x, m295x) so if you scale HiDPI on Dell 27" (Dell P2715Q) to 2650x1440 it will have more to do. From my 5k experiences with both of these chips scaled ( resolutions other than best for retina or full resolution )
system does not perform as well as with either of those resolutions. More stuttering, lag, etc. Again just my observation.

Thanks for the advice

The 24" is smaller than I really wanted, thats all.

I am considering waiting to see if/when Apple update the thunderbolt display. Hopefully, by the time that comes around (can't be too long surely?) there will have been a few people using these Dell displays and there will be some reviews around.

 

[edjrwinnt]

Can the m290x feed a 4K LCD, i.e. is there enough memory? I ask because I had to upgrade my video card in my PC for my single 4K LCD, and I wouldn't think 2 gigs is enough memory for the Retina iMac and another 4K LCD.

I have 4 LCD's in my setup with my iMac 2009 using two USB video connections, and it would be great if I could use 2 external LCD's via Thunderbolt, one of which would be a 4k LCD and the other would be a 1920 x 1200 LCD, using the m290x. Maybe with the next update of OSX it won't be absolutely necessary to get the m295x because of performance issues.

 

[ra004e]

Can the m290x feed a 4K LCD, i.e. is there enough memory? I ask because I had to upgrade my video card in my PC for my single 4K LCD, and I wouldn't think 2 gigs is enough memory for the Retina iMac and another 4K LCD.

I have 4 LCD's in my setup with my iMac 2009 using two USB video connections, and it would be great if I could use 2 external LCD's via Thunderbolt, one of which would be a 4k LCD and the other would be a 1920 x 1200 LCD, using the m290x. Maybe with the next update of OSX it won't be absolutely necessary to get the m295x because of performance issues.

From apple.

If you use a 60Hz MST display with the MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) or iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), only one additional Thunderbolt display can be supported. See Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) for more information on Thunderbolt displays.

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202856

So yes you could do 4k LCD and the other would be a 1920 x 1200 LCD, using the m290x, but 4k would only work at 30 Hz, probably not recommended.

For me ( base unit ) I use "looks like 3200x1800" scaling, so additional monitors really not necessary. 1 additional 4k would add plenty of real-estate. ( my usage ). I do use an additional 1920x1080 with 5k currently. I'll add 24" 4k shortly.

I don't think memory ( 2GB, obviously is 4GB better ) is an issue, any performance issues I think are with both OS X doing the retina scaling ( as from my observations system much more responsive at full resolution 5120x2880 ) and transparency effects ( which can be disabled in System preferences ) of Yosemite.

Let's not forget it's still is early on with HiDPI tech and 5k and 4k together is really pushing what riMac is currently capable of. Not that it's not an awesome machine. We just need to have realistic expectations of current technology. Give it a few years. For me it's still way ahead of where everyone else is at, so I'll deal with limitations/shortcomings. Very happy riMac user