So how bad are 27" 4k monitors really?

[PurplePega]

Hey everyone. Happy new year!

I've been agonizing over my next home office setup. I am an information worker... spreadsheets, code, and text are the bread and butter of my day to day life. I figure a Mac Mini M1 would be pretty great for my needs, but I have yet to find anyone who has anything really good to say about the available monitor options.

I've got four possibilities in mind:

1. Pro Display XDR -- This is the dream, but is wildly impractical in terms of cost.
2. 5k LG -- I really would like to move to a dual screen setup. My current 5k imac is gorgeous, but is showing its age. The LG consistently gets suggested by folks I find only as a "Well, it's the only game in town for 5k" despite everyone seeming to hate its build quality. The M1 macs cannot drive 2x LG 5k monitors or that would probably be my go-to.
3. 2x 27" 4k monitors. -- Practical, cheaper than a single 5k LG, and easily driven by any modern computer including the M1 Mac Mini. Problem is, it falls into that ~160 dpi range that people say is bad for MacOS, and I'd prefer to not run them at 1920x1080 hidpi mode... I'm used to a 1440p screen. Dell has their U2720Q/QM displays that look pretty ideal in this range.
4. The 34" LG 5k2k display -- This has all the problems of the 5K LG combined with all the problems of the 27" 4k displays, but it keeps rattling around in my brain. On paper, it's gorgeous, but in practicality I'm afraid that it'd have too many compromises to justify its cost.

I'm hoping someone can give me some first hand experience with these setups. Retina displays have ruined me for non-retina-quality setups, so a 49" megawide display isn't my cup of tea, nor are 27" 1440p displays. Would the 2x 27" displays be bad? Is all the discussion about it being a non-integer scaling factor really that big an issue? Please help! Thanks!

 

[ght56]

I think you are going to get some very mixed opinions on this, so here is mine. I consider the 27-inch 4K display to have the best balance of availability/features, price, and performance/pixel density for most of those looking for a higher resolution display. So I would not call them, 'bad' at all. They have a pixel density of 163 PPI. While that is a good bit less than the MacBook Pro and way-way less than say the iPhone 12, that is still a lot of pixels, plus most people have a further viewing distance from a 27-inch display than they do a 6-16-inch display.

For my 4K displays, I settled on the Dell U2720Q/U2720QM (same displays but different cables). It is a 27-inch, 4K USB-C display that has a built in hub, 350 nits of brightness, and it does almost all of the sRGB and DCI-P3 colorspaces. (It does the lowest level of HDR but this is not the greatest display for HDR IMO.) It does everything well that I want in a display. The panel is consistent and the colors are gorgeous. The hub is well-designed, the stand is great, and the build quality is excellent. The standard warranty is also very good. Its pricing is middle of the road for a 4K.

I considered the LG 5Ks but decided against them due to the number of issues noted by users, as well as the poor warranty and LG's tendency to refuse to service their own display. If they were priced at like $400-500, it wouldn't be quite as much of an issue and I might have purchased them. However, they are $1,300...you can get two very nice 27-inch 4K displays with a 3 year warranty for that price.

I also use one of Dell's QHD displays in the same family as the U2720QM, the 25-inch U2520D. I consider QHD on a 25-inch screen to be more than acceptable in most situations, although text on a 4K 27-inch display is noticeably crisper than text on a QHD 25-inch display. I find it most pronounced with dark mode, serif fonts, and especially small fonts. I consider the difference between QHD and 4K to be more pronounced than 4K and 5K, but less pronounced than the difference between 1080p and QHD.

 

[PurplePega]

I think you are going to get some very mixed opinions on this, so here is mine. I consider the 27-inch 4K display to have the best balance of availability/features, price, and performance/pixel density for most of those looking for a higher resolution display. So I would not call them, 'bad' at all. They have a pixel density of 163 PPI. While that is a good bit less than the MacBook Pro and way-way less than say the iPhone 12, that is still a lot of pixels, plus most people have a further viewing distance from a 27-inch display than they do a 6-16-inch display.

For my 4K displays, I settled on the Dell U2720Q/U2720QM (same displays but different cables). It is a 27-inch, 4K USB-C display that has a built in hub, 350 nits of brightness, and it does almost all of the sRGB and DCI-P3 colorspaces. (It does the lowest level of HDR but this is not the greatest display for HDR IMO.) It does everything well that I want in a display. The panel is consistent and the colors are gorgeous. The hub is well-designed, the stand is great, and the build quality is excellent. The standard warranty is also very good. Its pricing is middle of the road for a 4K.

I considered the LG 5Ks but decided against them due to the number of issues noted by users, as well as the poor warranty and LG's tendency to refuse to service their own display. If they were priced at like $400-500, it wouldn't be quite as much of an issue and I might have purchased them. However, they are $1,300...you can get two very nice 27-inch 4K displays with a 3 year warranty for that price.

I also use one of Dell's QHD displays in the same family as the U2720QM, the 25-inch U2520D. I consider QHD on a 25-inch screen to be more than acceptable in most situations, although text on a 4K 27-inch display is noticeably crisper than text on a QHD 25-inch display. I find it most pronounced with dark mode, serif fonts, and especially small fonts. I consider the difference between QHD and 4K to be more pronounced than 4K and 5K, but less pronounced than the difference between 1080p and QHD.

I appreciate the reply. Thanks! Can I ask what resolution settings you use on the Dells?

 

[ght56]

I appreciate the reply. Thanks! Can I ask what resolution settings you use on the Dells?

No problem!

I have them at 4K, 60Hz, 10-bit, connected using USB-C (DisplayPort)--at this setting, data transfer speeds on the hub are limited to USB 2.0 speeds. In the Display settings, I have it set to 'look like' 1440. On the 25-inch QHD, I just use native 1440. I have a pretty close viewing distance. If I was further I'd probably set both to 'look like' 1080.

 

[velocityg4]

I set up a 5K iMac with two 27" LG 4K monitors for a client. When that monitor model was still available in the Apple Store. I set them to the same scaling as the iMac and calibrated them to match the iMac's color, brightness and so forth.

At any rate I could barely see a difference between them and the iMac at 1440p scaling. There's a small difference. Unless your doing professional graphics work. I don't think the difference really matters much. Just get a decent quality 4K.

 

[PurplePega]

I set up a 5K iMac with two 27" LG 4K monitors for a client. When that monitor model was still available in the Apple Store. I set them to the same scaling as the iMac and calibrated them to match the iMac's color, brightness and so forth.

At any rate I could barely see a difference between them and the iMac at 1440p scaling. There's a small difference. Unless your doing professional graphics work. I don't think the difference really matters much. Just get a decent quality 4K.

This makes me feel a lot better about the situation. Now trying to decide on which 4k is the best...