Which monitor should I pick for Mac mini M4? (2K vs 4K confusion)

[EugW]

That's because how macos handles scaling. For 5k you can scale down to 1440p, for 4k, you need to use 1080p. With BetterDisplay you can select a HiDPI resolution that is closer to 1440p (if you have a 4k monitor).

1080p totally defeats the point of a 32” monitor for most people. Way too little screen real estate, and text is ginormous. Better Display is unnecessary since as mentioned, intermediate HiDPI resolutions such as 2560x1440p and 3008x1692 are already offered natively in macOS for 4K monitors.

 

[maflynn]

1080p totally defeats the point of a 32” monitor for most people.

Perhaps, but my point is that's how macos handles scaling, 1080p x 2 is 4k, and 1440p x2 is 5k. Its a personal decision to determine what works best for your situation.

I have a 1440p monitor running at 1080p, and its less then ideal, so my moving up to a 32" 4k monitor is an actual upgrade without having to pay for 5k prices.

 

[EugW]

Perhaps, but my point is that's how macos handles scaling, 1080p x 2 is 4k, and 1440p x2 is 5k. Its a personal decision to determine what works best for your situation.

I have a 1440p monitor running at 1080p, and its less then ideal, so my moving up to a 32" 4k monitor is an actual upgrade without having to pay for 5k prices.

Yeah but 1080p on say a 27” 1440p monitor makes for poor text quality, so most other 4K monitor options will be better. IOW, that’s not a difficult threshold to surpass.

Have you ever tried 2304x1296 on a 4K 27” monitor? The text quality is much better than 2560x1440 on a 4K 32” monitor, and text sizing is reasonable. YMMV though for desktop space and font sizing.

 

[maflynn]

Have you ever tried 2304x1296 on a 4K 27” monitor? The text quality is much better than 2560x1440 on a 4K 32” monitor, and text sizing is reasonable. YMMV though for desktop space and font sizing.

I'm using a 1440p monitor, so no. I also have no desire to get a 27" monitor at this point, as the loss of screen real estate would be detrimental to my workflows and expectation. As I mentioned, I'm already on 1080p with my 34" monitor, so a 32" 4k (at 1080p) will be better then what I currently have.

 

[Miat]

Running at 2K on a 27” 4K monitor will have good quality text but the text size is massive and the usable screen real estate is low. Most would use it at 2560x1440. At that setting text quality is reduced but still relatively decent.

"1920x1080" mode is, effectively, still "3840x2160 but with the UI elements - system fonts, icons, buttons etc. - doubled in size so you can actually read them (the same physical size as they would be on a 1080p display, but with more detail). This does make them a bit too large for a 27" screen & they cut into your "real estate" a bit - but it's perfectly usable and everything is much sharper than it would be on a 2k screen.

The increased sharpness/crispness of a 4K screen considerably improves the usability of the screen for me at a 1080 setting.

I usually sit quite a way from the screen (≈1.2 metres, about 4 feet), which means the system text on a 1080 setting is a good size for me. Plus I am in my 60s with some vision issues so text on a 27" running at native 4K is just not workable at any practical viewing distance, let alone 1.2m.

1152, 1296, & 1440 res are all reasonably sharp for me on the 4K 27", still better than the old native 2K 27". But 1152 only gives a marginal gain in usable screen estate, and system text on 1296 & 1440 is still too small.

I am planning to move to a 4K 32" for my next monitor, partly for a bigger movie screen, and partly to see if I can use it at native 4K res or 1296/1440 scaling.

Also might switch from the monitor mount from a stand to an arm, to help fine tune the set-up.

 

[EugW]

The increased sharpness/crispness of a 4K screen considerably improves the usability of the screen for me at a 1080 setting.

I usually sit quite a way from the screen (≈1.2 metres, about 4 feet), which means the system text on a 1080 setting is a good size for me. Plus I am in my 60s with some vision issues so text on a 27" running at native 4K is just not workable at any practical viewing distance, let alone 1.2m.

1152, 1296, & 1440 res are all reasonably sharp for me on the 4K 27", still better than the old native 2K 27". But 1152 only gives a marginal gain in usable screen estate, and system text on 1296 & 1440 is still too small.

I am planning to move to a 4K 32" for my next monitor, partly for a bigger movie screen, and partly to see if I can use it at native 4K res or 1296/1440 scaling.

Also might switch from the monitor mount from a stand to an arm, to help fine tune the set-up.

At 4 feet, why don’t you just get a 4K 40” TV?

 

[Miat]

Practical limitations of desk space, and the cost.

Plus I do sometimes sit closer to the screen, and at 40" it loses its sharpness when I do that, but at 32" it is still good.

Overall 32" is a good compromise point for me.