Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Best Monitor for New Mini
- Thread starter goldbuffalo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wait, I remember seeing that at bhphotovideo.com when I bought it, but now I can’t find it.
Edit: check here it says 3 years, in the warranty section:
https://www.benqdirect.com/pd2700u.html
It depends on usage and your personal discretion. In my experience running it scaled at 2304 x 1296, I did notice things were not as smooth in general, but keep in mind I came from a hackintosh 4ghz i7, 1060GTX. I did notice it not as smooth with Adobe Illustrator in the GPU-assisted zoom, and resizing Illustrator window was a bit painful.
In retrospective I should have gotten the i3 and eGPU, to me i7 is worthless if you don't get an eGPU, you will experience quirks, laggyness somewhere on OSX, it's guaranteed, even heavy websites you will notice laggyness when resizing for example, to me it's a dealbreaker getting an i7 beast, if at the end of the day the system isn't beautifully responsive on a 4k monitor.
There was a time where a 27" monitor seemed overkill, but I'm glad I tried it, now going lower seems impossible to me
It's not so much that it's "overkill" - I just think good window management is harder on a single canvas that big. I'll be running (when the second one arrives) 2x 24" @ 4K, and honestly if they'd be available here I'd have possibly gone for 2x 21" @ 4K.
I recently purchased my first one from the Woot sale the other day, for $269.
Granted it is my first Mac retina display, coming from a 2013 MacBook Air, but I must say I am very impressed with it. It is a beautiful display. The resolution is so crisp on my Mac Mini, I don't think I can ever go back to a non-retina display now.
Also, the built-in speakers are better than I expected as well, and I enjoy that I can use the Mac keyboard to change both volume and brightness.
I'm not sure why these things get so much criticism, maybe at full retail I would be less happy but for the price I paid I am very happy with it.
(If anyone sees them on super sale again, let me know
I wouldn't mind a second for a dual setup)I just opened Launchpad on my Asus four times and did not see this.
Woot was selling those as refurbished, right? What do you think of what you received compared to new? It sure is a good price.
Yes, I forgot to mention they are refurbished through the Woot sale I found. I've never owned a brand new one to compare it to, but besides the plain box it came in I certainly can't tell it's not brand new. The firmware was even up to date.
It's just a 90-day warranty instead of whatever the normal factory one is, but I'll take my chances.
Btw. here is a tool which allows you to control brightness and volume on most monitors using the function keys (including working overlay). Tested on Dell P2415Q and LG 32UD99-W:
https://github.com/the0neyouseek/MonitorControl
Did the volume control work on the Dell? I can get brightness control but not volume (using speakers plugged into the Dell's headphone jack, and the Dell (over DisplayPort) selected as audio output in Sound Preferences
FWIW: Monitor has 3 year warranty. Amazon price:$280. Lenovo (on sale) $210. Shipping free.
[doublepost=1544156886][/doublepost]Question: I mostly need monitor for web browsing, email, some Netflix, Word app. Currently using 19 inch HP L1950 DVI, resolution 1280 x 1024. And it serves my purpose. But, would like to upgrade.
Subjective question 1. Considering my uses will the 24" Lenovo p24h (2560 X 1440) be a good choice.
Question 2. Since 19 inch "real estate" serves me well, is there a upgrade possible at 19 in or 21 in?
Subjective question 3. Why aren't buying the "Apple" LG Ultrafine 24in? Just seems more than I need, but can afford it. The one year warranty is a big turn off, for a $700 monitor.
Question: I've read that using the new mini without a Retina monitor makes print fuzzy. I think that would be a concern.
Comments?
Display size is meaningless without resolution. Despite 1280 x 1024 at 19" serving you well, it's very limited screen real estate compared to most modern displays. With 2560x1440 you'll fit much more content into the frame, but at 24" it will be rendered smaller than before. Personally, I think 24" is too small and such a resolution is ideal on a 27" display.
While I wouldn't go back to non-retina displays, you have been using one all the time and apparently it served you well. It has nothing to do with the Mac Mini in particular and it's absolutely not a requirement, but it is a significant feature. The LG Ultrafine is one of the few true retina displays with very high pixel density - it's a whole different league. I wouldn't want to miss the crispness of high pixel density displays (even if it's lower than the Ultrafine), but you have to make that decision for yourself. Go to an Apple store and try the 5K and 4K iMacs to get an idea of how the Ultrafine will look. It should be night and day between them and your old 19" display. If it isn't to you, congratulations, a world of much cheaper options is available to you.
Sorry if my post was misleading, the Dell doesn't actually offer any volume control (not even through the internal OSD), so that's why only brightness is working. It's not wired to adjust any volume on its output. It is however working fine on the LG which features volume control through the OSD (I think monitors who don't have integrated speakers generally don't offer volume control).
Got my LG 27UK650 from Amazon and there’s some sort of small bolt or part rolling around inside that I noticed when installing. Quick google search and someone had the same issue with their original and replacement LG monitor.
Now this is sold out, and even after reading this entire thread I’m not sure what to get.
Now this is sold out, and even after reading this entire thread I’m not sure what to get.
Right, I guess I should have realised that. It's definitely helpful for brightness though, much simpler than the OSD.
[doublepost=1544198104][/doublepost]
There are apparently some changes to text rendering in Mojave, some of which can be tweaked using terminal commands.
However, my understanding is that [/any/] sufficiently high PPI screen doesn't have those problems - so you're not limited to "just" the UltraFine displays - but you may want to get a high PPI screen.
Related - following a suggestion I saw.. maybe here I guess, I don't remember - I've actually turned off "Use font smoothing when available" in System Preferences > General, and I find it looks nicer.
I bought the same monitor from Best Buy but the UK600 model which is the same panel but a couple less features(can't remember what exactly). It was nice but not quite what I was looking for. Do you need it to be 4K? If not, I suggest the viewsonic VP2771. I ordered from Best Buy as well and I liked it so much I have two now.
That may have been me. I've found that even on High Sierra, turning OFF font smoothing in System Prefs makes fonts sharper - both on a retina and a non-retina display. To my eyes at least. If I have a chance this weekend I am going to re-test the 5K LG display to see if it helps there too because the one in the Apple Store I saw a couple of weeks ago attached to a mini was awful.
Not horrible at all, not to my eyes. BenQ 27” Wide Quad HD (WQHD) 2560x1440 IPS LED (2.5K), 2018 Mini i5.
Last edited:
The "Mojave text" is a typeface called San Francisco. It has apparently been in use since El Capitan, and it has been lauded for improving accessibility. There are probably millions of people reading it on non-Retina screens. Against that, there are a very small number of people who have written posts on the internet alleging that it looks horrible on a non-Retina screen, including at least one person who suggested that Apple deliberately introduced San Francisco to push people to purchase Retina displays. Which just goes to show that if there's a way to dream up a nefarious explanation, someone will find it.
Last edited: