Buying a display

[JahBoolean]

I wish there were more (and more affordable) current 27" 5120×2880 options. The difference between that running at pixel-perfect 2560×1440 and a 27" 3840×2160 monitor scaled to 2560×1440 is like night and day to my eyes.

Wholeheartedly agreed, I have been running mine at scaled 1080p , could not bother with the visuals of 1440p.(buggy anti-aliasing ?).

I wonder if some hacker somewhere could make use of all those 5k imac screens that will soon be deprecated and cook up some mischief.

 

[pshufd]

Wholeheartedly agreed, I have been running mine at scaled 1080p , could not bother with the visuals of 1440p.(buggy anti-aliasing ?).

I wonder if some hacker somewhere could make use of all those 5k imac screens that will soon be deprecated and cook up some mischief.

There is an adapter to replace the iMac PC boards with a small board so that you can turn the older iMacs into an HDMI monitor. I don't know if they have something similar for the 5k imacs. 5k iMacs start at $650 in my area on Craigslist. There's actually an attractive model for sale in Boston - Late 2014 with i7 and 28 GB for $650. New LG Ultrafine is $1,300. Used LG Ultrafine is about $1,000.

The issue with these older iMacs is CPU speed - it's not really that great compared to even the M1. I'm contemplating the 2020 iMac 27 while waiting forever for the M1X stuff. I do wish that Apple would throw in 11th gen Intel chips in the iMac 27 and 11th gen Intel chips in the MacBook Pro 16. I just heard about more flooding problems in China affecting chips and manufacturing of tablets, computers, backpacks and athletic shoes.

 

[JahBoolean]

There is an adapter to replace the iMac PC boards with a small board so that you can turn the older iMacs into an HDMI monitor. I don't know if they have something similar for the 5k imacs. 5k iMacs start at $650 in my area on Craigslist. There's actually an attractive model for sale in Boston - Late 2014 with i7 and 28 GB for $650. New LG Ultrafine is $1,300. Used LG Ultrafine is about $1,000.

The issue with these older iMacs is CPU speed - it's not really that great compared to even the M1. I'm contemplating the 2020 iMac 27 while waiting forever for the M1X stuff. I do wish that Apple would throw in 11th gen Intel chips in the iMac 27 and 11th gen Intel chips in the MacBook Pro 16. I just heard about more flooding problems in China affecting chips and manufacturing of tablets, computers, backpacks and athletic shoes.

Thank you for the heads up, considering the fact that 2nd hand prices in my market still hover around the 1k mark. I had in mind to buy refurbished replacement screens directly and find a way to carry power and hdmi/dp in a 3d printed enclosure.

Still, I'm set for now, keeping my eyes open for those derivative apple HDR displays coming in 2022-2023 though.

As for chips, we have not seen the end of the shortage, but we can find solace in the fact that apple usually is top of the picking chain.

 

[Amethyst1]

There is an adapter to replace the iMac PC boards with a small board so that you can turn the older iMacs into an HDMI monitor. I don't know if they have something similar for the 5k imacs.

There are driver boards that allow turning the LG panel used in the 5K iMac into a stand-alone monitor, This thread has some info on that.

5k iMacs start at $650 in my area on Craigslist. There's actually an attractive model for sale in Boston - Late 2014 with i7 and 28 GB for $650. New LG Ultrafine is $1,300. Used LG Ultrafine is about $1,000.

I'm using a second-hand Dell UP2715K that I managed to pick up for less than $500. No complaints from my side at that price.

 

[pshufd]

There are driver boards that allow turning the LG panel used in the 5K iMac into a stand-alone monitor, This thread has some info on that.
I'm using a second-hand Dell UP2715K that I managed to pick up for less than $500. No complaints from my side at that price.

I have a u2718 for $368 and one for $448. These were purchased pre-pandemic though. The 5Ks are even more money though. I don't even know if Dell sells those. If they do, price is likely similar to LG.

 

[Amethyst1]

The 5Ks are even more money though. I don't even know if Dell sells those.

The UP2715K has been discontinued without a replacement.

 

[pshufd]

The UP2715K has been discontinued without a replacement.

I see. The K means 5k.

My take is that 5k is not a popular resolution at 27 inches. Dell sells a number of monitors at 4k 27 inches so that must be the sweet spot for high-resolution in a fairly small monitor.

 

[Amethyst1]

My take is that 5k is not a popular resolution at 27 inches.

This is because on Windows 10, 150% (i.e. non-integer) scaling to get 2560×1440 real estate looks great on a 3840×2160 monitor. On macOS, not so much: the only way to get pin-sharp 2560×1440 estate is to have a 5120×2880 monitor.

 

[pshufd]

This is because on Windows, 150% (non-integer) scaling to get 2560x1440 real estate looks great on a 4K monitor. On macOS, not so much: the only way to get pin-sharp 2560x1440 estate is to have a 5K monitor.

Never tried it before. I'll have to check it out next time I'm at The Apple Store.

I use native 4k at 27 inches. It's a bit small but I can mostly manage.

 

[zoran]

I wish there were more (and more affordable) current 27" 5120×2880 options. The difference between that running at pixel-perfect 2560×1440 and a 27" 3840×2160 monitor scaled to 2560×1440 is like night and day to my eyes.

What exactly do u mean... i dont understand.

 

[PeterJP]

What exactly do u mean... i dont understand.

5120x2880 is exactly double of 2560x1440 in both dimensions. If you do 2560x1440 resolution on an 3840x2160 screen, then it's not exactly double. So in theory, you could possibly see some artifacts. In practice, I use this all the time and I don't. I understand that these non-perfectly-doubled scaled resolutions have improved dramatically in a recent macos version. Perhaps Amethyst1 isn't running the latest version? Or my eyes are just bad (which they are!). Though I still see the difference quite clearly between 2560 native vs 2560 rendered on a 4K.