Ultrawide... dope or nope?

[EEzycade]

I'm in the market for a new external display for my 13" 2018 MBP w/ Touch Bar. My three main considerations are the LG Ultrafine 4k, a 1440p 27" from Dell, or an LG Ultrawide 1440p monitor. 4k, I'm all for it, but the LG ultra fine is 21.5 inches and I want a bit more screen real estate than that. The 27" 1440p Dell looks great and I know I'd be happy with it. I'm leaning towards the Ultrawide. It's 34 inches(3440x1440). Any reasons for choosing it over the 27" or vice versa? Should I be going with 4k? Thanks for any and all opinions.

 

[Velin]

Better sit and experience an ultrawide before spending the money. Depending on your setup and how close you want the monitor to you, you may not like having to scan with your eyes, or turn your head (even slightly) to see your entire screen. Or you may love it, especially if your setup and preferences provide enough distance from you to the screen. Personally, I like the monitor up close, and thus the 5k 27" iMac screens are perfect. I then run a second monitor -- but only have to look at it when necessary, which isn't often.

I tried the Samsung 49-inch ultrawide monitor. Within a minute I knew it was a huge no. You cannot see the entire screen without turning your head, and I got sick of it very, very fast. Realized within three minutes I'd prefer dual monitors, where the stuff I need only occasionally is better placed on a secondary screen which I can ignore if I wish.

Finally, if this is for gaming, see what Linus has to say about 4k monitors. Far more important is refresh rate and smoothness/no ghosting, not pixels.

 

[Cuda392]

I'm in the market for a new external display for my 13" 2018 MBP w/ Touch Bar. My three main considerations are the LG Ultrafine 4k, a 1440p 27" from Dell, or an LG Ultrawide 1440p monitor. 4k, I'm all for it, but the LG ultra fine is 21.5 inches and I want a bit more screen real estate than that. The 27" 1440p Dell looks great and I know I'd be happy with it. I'm leaning towards the Ultrawide. It's 34 inches(3440x1440). Any reasons for choosing it over the 27" or vice versa? Should I be going with 4k? Thanks for any and all opinions.

I use a Dell U3415W Ultrawide with my 2018 MBP 15" Vega 20. Works great. You can have two screens on the monitor. It's like having two monitors. I also use the laptop on the side for another screen with mainly my email on it.

Get the curved one and not just the straight models. The straight ones I had before, and it felt like the edges of the screen were too far away. The curved doesn't feel like that.

 

[kikote]

I have both setups. At work I use a 34" curved Ultrawide monitor from LG... At home I use a 27" 5K screen... I prefer by far the 34" form factor, it is far better for productivity... BUT on the 34" screen I miss the retina resolution... This is the reason why at home I use a 5K 27" screen. At home I do image processing, so a Retina display is a really big advantage...

The perfect setup would be a 34" monitor with a 6880x2880 resolution... But I believe we will still have to wait a while till we see monitors with that resolution in the consumer market...

 

[kohlson]

I think a factor to consider is your personal vision. An old friend readily adopted larger screens (first 27 and then 30) when they became available. He likes it because he is near-sighted, and places the screen close enough that it fills his entire field of vision, allowing him to be absorbed in his work.
I am far-sighted. My 3 monitors are arranged in a semi-circle. Extending my arms, the screens are at least 10 inches beyond my fingertips.
One of the screens is a Dell P2715Q - it's awesome.

 

[macMD]

I am looking for an Ultrawide monitor for my 2018 MBP and keep reading conflicting issues with the resolution, the lack of support and how the fonts look horrible. For those who are running Mojave and have an Ultrawide Monitor can you post your setup and what has and hasn't worked for you. Thx.

 

[Pakaku]

I'd still rather keep at least one separate screen to the side, for being able to see stuff while something is full screen on the main one. At that point I doubt I'd have the desk space for an ultra-wide, and the second/third screen would fit that need anyways.

 

[MRrainer]

Anybody tried either the Dell U3818DW, the LG 38KW95C-W or the HP Z38C?

Those have a 4K resolution stretched on 38" but 1600 pixels vertically. I currently have a 30" 2560x1600 display and I'd really like to keep those 1600 pixels.
I don't need it right now - but I doubt I'll be able to afford an 8k display when it comes out - nor the Mac that will be needed to drive it.

 

[crescentmoon]

I'm in the market for a new external display for my 13" 2018 MBP w/ Touch Bar. My three main considerations are the LG Ultrafine 4k, a 1440p 27" from Dell, or an LG Ultrawide 1440p monitor. 4k, I'm all for it, but the LG ultra fine is 21.5 inches and I want a bit more screen real estate than that. The 27" 1440p Dell looks great and I know I'd be happy with it. I'm leaning towards the Ultrawide. It's 34 inches(3440x1440). Any reasons for choosing it over the 27" or vice versa? Should I be going with 4k? Thanks for any and all opinions.

I got this monitor last year... I had tried the a similar ultra wide monitor and found it to be uncomfortable to view. I got this LG monitor instead.... https://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-LED-lit-Monitor-43UD79-B/dp/B0711MP768
[doublepost=1546460675][/doublepost]You can also get it at newegg at a better price... well worth it... https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824025629

 

[MarkC426]

Anybody tried either the Dell U3818DW, the LG 38KW95C-W or the HP Z38C?

Those have a 4K resolution stretched on 38" but 1600 pixels vertically. I currently have a 30" 2560x1600 display and I'd really like to keep those 1600 pixels.
I don't need it right now - but I doubt I'll be able to afford an 8k display when it comes out - nor the Mac that will be needed to drive it.

That is not ‘4k resolution’ (3840 x 2160 is 4k or 4096 x 2160 for real 4k).
It is basically two 1920 x 1600 screens.

 

[MRrainer]

I know - but that would be OK (I think). No HiDPI etc.

 

[c0mm0n]

Anybody tried either the Dell U3818DW, the LG 38KW95C-W or the HP Z38C?

Those have a 4K resolution stretched on 38" but 1600 pixels vertically. I currently have a 30" 2560x1600 display and I'd really like to keep those 1600 pixels.
I don't need it right now - but I doubt I'll be able to afford an 8k display when it comes out - nor the Mac that will be needed to drive it.

I come exactly from this.

Have Dell U3014 and now testing z38c since today.

A few notes:
- It feels like having 2 screens
- It takes a bit more space on a desk (though the U3014 is already a beast).
- While the z38 had a bigger diag it's in fact smaller in height (ultra wide factor).
- The dell has 100 dpi, while the HP is 110 = text will be smaller.
- Video wise you got used to some black horizontal bars due to the dell 16:10 ration you'll then get some veritcal ones on a UW monitor (though some movies are 21:9)

OSX (mojave) offers some hidpi scaling on the z38c offering
- 3840 x 1600 (native)
- 3200 x 1333
- 2580 x 1067
- 1920 x 800

Right now i'm a bit lost with the UW factor, it really is like having 2 monitors in one, have to get used to the window management.

I am also contemplating getting a 32 4k screen using OSX scaling to land a 2880x1620 ish resolution, offering a better readability (140 dpi on those monitors is way too small) and some pseudo retina effect.

Another option would be the 43 4k which could be used in native res and kinda a direct upgrade from the 30 dell.

Ultimately I'd want a higher refresh rate then 60hz, but this is not really available yet on those kind of screens.