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
I've been happy for the past several years with the Dell D2015H - LED monitor - Full HD (1080p) - 19.53" hooked up to my (soon to be replaced) mid 2010 Mac mini with a VGA (HD-15) cable going into an adaptor for the Mini Display Port. Does anyone know off hand (or can make an educated guess) whether there is likely to be a viable adaptor available that would be able to connect this monitor into the 2018 Mac mini's Thunderbolt 3 or HDMI 2.0 or USB 3 ports? I've been pleased with the monitor's sharpness, though I have to use the 1600x900 resolution rather than its higher default resolution in order to get text on the display into a readable zone.
I just had a very disappointing demo with the i5 mini 8GB RAM attached to the LG 5K 27 inch in an Apple store.
Points worth mentioning:
1/ most importantly, I found the font rendering at the default 'best for display, looks like 2560x1440' to be very blurry. I tried lots of other settings, including non retina settings (which were worse, but not that much worse). I don't understand it. The 5K iMac next to it had much sharper font rendering (identical to my 4K iMac at home). So either there is a problem with the 2018 mini GPU output (which I doubt), or the set up/contrast of the LG is just not at all on par with the 5K iMac screen.
2/ performance at 5K is definitely pushing the limit for the internal GPU. Window sizing is a tiny bit sluggish, and taxes the GPU (hits 100% GPU load in activity monitor). Moving down to Lower resolutions, especially nonretina resolutions, and the UI speed becomes butter smooth, with only 10-20% GPU load.
3/ I would say, with 8GB RAM, a 4K display is perfect match for the iGPU, but the 5K is a bit much, as would be more than one display. If you like smooth user interface that is. There are reports that boosting RAM helps to smooth the UI animations.
But, regardless, what I was really concerned by was the text rendering mentioned above. I would not personally be able to use this monitor. I thought it was absolutely awful. Nothing like a Retina display quality. In fact I think it looked worse than my non retina 27 inch I use daily for work. It was a direct USBC link. But it was as if there was too much contrast applied. The text was dark and heavy and not really sharp. Small fonts in mail were the worst to read.
Has anyone else seen something similar comparing iMac 4K or 5K to the LG displays?
Points worth mentioning:
1/ most importantly, I found the font rendering at the default 'best for display, looks like 2560x1440' to be very blurry. I tried lots of other settings, including non retina settings (which were worse, but not that much worse). I don't understand it. The 5K iMac next to it had much sharper font rendering (identical to my 4K iMac at home). So either there is a problem with the 2018 mini GPU output (which I doubt), or the set up/contrast of the LG is just not at all on par with the 5K iMac screen.
2/ performance at 5K is definitely pushing the limit for the internal GPU. Window sizing is a tiny bit sluggish, and taxes the GPU (hits 100% GPU load in activity monitor). Moving down to Lower resolutions, especially nonretina resolutions, and the UI speed becomes butter smooth, with only 10-20% GPU load.
3/ I would say, with 8GB RAM, a 4K display is perfect match for the iGPU, but the 5K is a bit much, as would be more than one display. If you like smooth user interface that is. There are reports that boosting RAM helps to smooth the UI animations.
But, regardless, what I was really concerned by was the text rendering mentioned above. I would not personally be able to use this monitor. I thought it was absolutely awful. Nothing like a Retina display quality. In fact I think it looked worse than my non retina 27 inch I use daily for work. It was a direct USBC link. But it was as if there was too much contrast applied. The text was dark and heavy and not really sharp. Small fonts in mail were the worst to read.
Has anyone else seen something similar comparing iMac 4K or 5K to the LG displays?
Last edited:
Thanks for your advice. The cable is not hardwired to the display, so the cable you describe should work, it looks like. Now to find one.
Any opinion on whether an old iSight webcam which is plugged into the mini's Firewire port will still work with some sort of adaptor? I mainly use it once or twice a year for Skyping with family at holidays.
I'm in the process of sorting out what I'm going to do for a monitor, and this was extremely helpful, so much so that I've copied your post onto my "Notes" app.
Thanks
No problem...I find it weird though. I thought they were identical panels in the LG and iMac 5K. But the difference was night and day (to me). Maybe it was just a bad example of the LG? If it hadn't been so busy I would have liked to connect the LG up to the iMac to check it wasn't caused by the mini output...which is possible I suppose.
My gut feeling is that the monitor colour/contrast profile was wrong. But it was set on the LG default.
When my 2018 mini arrives it will only be attached to non retina displays. I can safely say that the UHD630 will be more than enough for such screens.
If possible I will also try with a colleague's 4K 27 inch LG (I think) display.
This is out of left field, but was "Use LCD font smoothing when available" checked under the mini's General settings?
Hmmm...I don't know. Maybe not. That was the one thing I didn't look at...
EDIT: Well on my 4K iMac running High Sierra, turning OFF font smoothing actually makes the fonts even thinner (and nicer actually!). See below. Please note that font smoothing isn't actually off. If you use accessibility zoom, the fonts are clearly still anti-aliased.
One confouding issue here is that I purposely turned back ON subpixel font smoothing (via terminal) in High Sierra a while ago because I noticed that the rendering was not as nice as in Sierra (even on a retina display). So now I'm not sure what Apple thinks the default should be like. I actually now quite like with the preferences pane for smoothing off (but I did also turn on subpixel smoothing, but not sure if that setting has any effect now). The fonts are light and crisp.
However, I don't know how any of this relates to the LG monitor I tested in Apple Store running Mojave though...
Images: With LCD smoothing:
Without LCD smoothing:
Last edited:
Addendum: I found these specs for the 2018 mini video capacity and connections at the Apple site... That makes me wonder whether VGA to Thunderbolt 3 is supported, but not VGA to HDMI.
That’s surprising. I never saw LGs Ultrafine in person, but it should use the very same panel Apple uses for its iMac 5k. I would expect the picture to look equally crisp on both monitors.
You already made sure that it was set to “best for this display”. Is there any chance that you use a pre-Mojave version of macOS at home? As I understand it Apple disabled fon smoothing / sub pixel anti-aliasing in Mojave, which may render text...differently if you’re not used to it. Just guessing here.
[doublepost=1542526593][/doublepost]
I think it’s on its way out. It was basically made with and for Apple specifically. I’m sure we will see a new Apple display along with the new Mac Pro, at which point there’s no need for Ultrafine any longer.
The difference, to me, was astonishing. I tried every possible monitor res, including the non retina versions accessed from system prefers by pressing the option key. I am now wondering if indeed it is simply the new way that fonts are rendered (with LCD font smoothing) in Mojave, which gets better when you turn it off (which possibly is how the iMac was set).
I can look into it some more when the mini arrives.
Woot is running a sale on the LG Ultrafine 4Ks ($269.99 each). I'm tempted to try a dual LG Ultrafine 4K display setup with the my new Mac Mini.
https://computers.woot.com/offers/l...led-monitor-black-32?ref=w_cnt_lnd_cat_pc_6_1
Per @Spectrum below: Reconditioned...only a 90-day warranty...(in case that matters.)
https://computers.woot.com/offers/l...led-monitor-black-32?ref=w_cnt_lnd_cat_pc_6_1
Per @Spectrum below: Reconditioned...only a 90-day warranty...(in case that matters.)
Last edited:
That is a ridiculous price!
EDIT: Reconditioned...only a 90-day warranty...(in case that matters.)
Man this is tempting...
I got this monitor:
https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-24UD58-B-4k-uhd-led-monitor
and it looks like the brightness is half on my monitor (250 vs 500 cd/m2).
I get my Mini tonight and I'll test things out. I always have liked having my phones/laptops very bright, so I'm not sure if my LG will be too dim for my uses.
Does anyone know if "Factory Reconditioned" means by LG? or just some 3rd party computer parts store.
The Woot website says (if you hover over "Factory Reconditioned") that it's restored by the original manufacturer or a certified partner, so I guess you can't tell.
I am coming from a 27" iMac (non-retina) to a 32" LG 4k 32UD59-B 32 on a Mini i5 w/ 16GB RAM. Here's my thoughts after 2 days:
1) I'm running at 3008 x 1992px because in 4k text is microscopic.
2) Color is good, but not as "pleasing" as my iMac was. Skintones that looked great and tan on the iMac can look sunburnt on the LG. I still need to play with calibration on the new machine.
3) The dynamic range is crazy good. Backgrounds and stuff that looked black on my iMac is now very noticeably not black. I will need to reprocess some of the old photos.
4) Window positions on the Mini are not saved correctly. It's driving me crazy. Everything on my Yosemite OS machine ran like a dream.
5) I feel like we're still in beta almost with the Mini running Mojave. I'm hopeful Apple will fix a lot of this UI stuff in coming months.
Do not hold your breath waiting for this. Every macOS release brings more things that are broken compared with the prior release and new things that few people want, driven largely by relevance to iOS stuff. I recently fell back from High Sierra to El Capitan because of this. I'm running my server on Mavericks because of this. Now that Apple appears to have started addressing long-lingering problems on the hardware side with the Mini release, I'm hoping they might start fixing some of the broken things (like "forgetting" window positions) in macOS. I'm not holding my breath waiting, however.
How is the animation of window resizing, dragging, full screen? Is it butter smooth, or a little jerky?
Also, I assume you are using the "looks like" 3008 x 1992 retina option. (Downscaled from '2x' 6016x3984 downscaled to 3840x2160)
However it is possible to run at '1x' 3008x1992, upscaled to 3840x2160. This is lower quality, but much faster on GPU. Which is it?
Regarding the window positions. It sounds like it could be a permissions problem. Check the Mojave forums for advice.
Yes, it's just amazing how Legacy software can be so stable and workable compared to all the new stuff. An example is in Photoshop the healing tool and clone stamp tool under Mojave have a lag time of nearly a second, where it all used to work in realtime. Stuff like that drives me nuts.
That said, my iOS stuff has always worked really well. And I do think Apple will fix the few bugs down the road. Otherwise there will likely be some kind of workarounds for the essentials that people will figure out.
[doublepost=1542752888][/doublepost]
Animations look smooth to me. The biggest issue I am having (and it's bad) is in Photoshop the healing tool and clone stamp tool under Mojave have a lag time of nearly a second, where it all used to work in realtime.
I'm using the supplied high-speed HDMI cable in port 2 and am getting 30-bit color @ 60 Hz with UI looks like 3008x1692. I ran a test of Zwift (indoor cycling game) and it didn't look great. Acceptable, but not great.
I also run BetterSnapTool on this machine and it works well and animations run smoothly.
Thank you. I will look into that for sure!
The LG 24UD58 (4k 24") is available from B&H for $294 and the Dell P2415Q (4k 24") is occasionally available from Newegg for $300. The Dell is well liked by numerous forum members. Anyone have any experience with the LG. Thanks.
I just bought a LG 34WK95U 34" 5120x2160px, coming from a 40" 4K Philips display.
I bought it because of the beautiful panel with great colours, the wide aspect ratio as well as the clean bezels.
I got it mainly for photo editing, otherwise I probably would've gone with one of the cheaper curved displays. It's my first time with an ultrawide after having used both large 40" displays and multiple <27"-setups and a day in I'm really starting to like it.
The big downside I've found with the monitor is the stand which is absolutely terrible. It's so weak and wobbly I'd advice against this monitor unless you're planning to use another monitor arm. Absolute joke considering the price.
I was a bit worried about the performance after reading this forum and a few others but everything looks smooth to me so far. The GPU is at 14-18% usage no matter which scaling I use, occasionally spiking higher when there's a lot of stuff going on. Not seeing much of a difference between native res, 2x and scaled, maybe a few % higher average GPU useage at most.
I'm currently using 3008x1269 but I've been bouncing back and forth between 2560x1080 and 3360x1417 as I haven't made up my mind on which resolution to keep yet. 5120x2160 is too small and 2560x1080 lack screen real estate.
Now I'm not coming from a 5K iMac so I can't compare performance and font sharpness to that display.
I do get lag in some applications however. Photoshop is real sluggish for example. Even iTunes, when scrolling quickly and displaying large amount of album art. I think it's because of the 8 GB ram which is constantly at 70 - 85% use. I'll upgrade to 32GB today (and I hope) and suspect it'll make a big difference. I have the i5 and the CPU and GPU almost never went above 30% usage from my workload yesterday. I've yet to do heavy Lightroom work though.
UPDATE:
Ok, I upgraded to 32 GB RAM and it's a massive improvement. Memory usage is now at 25% (down from approx 75%) and GPU usage is down to about 8% (down from approx 18%). All the lag I previously experienced seems to be gone! I used this ram:
http://eu.crucial.com/eur/en/mac-mini-(2018)/CT13492047
UPDATE II:
Today the monitor wouldn't wake up from sleep after being idle for 10 hours. I had to pull out the thunderbolt usb-c cable and plug it in again for it to work. I found others had similar issues with other (LG) monitors as well.
I bought it because of the beautiful panel with great colours, the wide aspect ratio as well as the clean bezels.
I got it mainly for photo editing, otherwise I probably would've gone with one of the cheaper curved displays. It's my first time with an ultrawide after having used both large 40" displays and multiple <27"-setups and a day in I'm really starting to like it.
The big downside I've found with the monitor is the stand which is absolutely terrible. It's so weak and wobbly I'd advice against this monitor unless you're planning to use another monitor arm. Absolute joke considering the price.
I was a bit worried about the performance after reading this forum and a few others but everything looks smooth to me so far. The GPU is at 14-18% usage no matter which scaling I use, occasionally spiking higher when there's a lot of stuff going on. Not seeing much of a difference between native res, 2x and scaled, maybe a few % higher average GPU useage at most.
I'm currently using 3008x1269 but I've been bouncing back and forth between 2560x1080 and 3360x1417 as I haven't made up my mind on which resolution to keep yet. 5120x2160 is too small and 2560x1080 lack screen real estate.
Now I'm not coming from a 5K iMac so I can't compare performance and font sharpness to that display.
I do get lag in some applications however. Photoshop is real sluggish for example. Even iTunes, when scrolling quickly and displaying large amount of album art. I think it's because of the 8 GB ram which is constantly at 70 - 85% use. I'll upgrade to 32GB today (and I hope) and suspect it'll make a big difference. I have the i5 and the CPU and GPU almost never went above 30% usage from my workload yesterday. I've yet to do heavy Lightroom work though.
UPDATE:
Ok, I upgraded to 32 GB RAM and it's a massive improvement. Memory usage is now at 25% (down from approx 75%) and GPU usage is down to about 8% (down from approx 18%). All the lag I previously experienced seems to be gone! I used this ram:
http://eu.crucial.com/eur/en/mac-mini-(2018)/CT13492047
UPDATE II:
Today the monitor wouldn't wake up from sleep after being idle for 10 hours. I had to pull out the thunderbolt usb-c cable and plug it in again for it to work. I found others had similar issues with other (LG) monitors as well.
Last edited: