Is this any good for a M1 base model?
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Good M1 Air Monitor?
- Thread starter sierrablue
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I'm sure it would be ok, but a 4k one can be had for less than $100 more. Here's the one I use with my M1 Air, and it's great! Yes, it's smaller, but still large (same size as the largest iMacs).
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Actually, here's a 32" 4k for only $300, only a few dollars more than my 27" (I feel cheated now, lol!):
LG UltraFine 27-Inch Computer Monitor 27UL500-W, IPS Display with AMD FreeSync and HDR10 Compatibility, White
Immerse yourself completely with phenomenal image precision and ultra deep granularity with 4K UHD (3840x2160), presenting four times the resolution of Full HD with HDR 10’s industry standard for High Dynamic Range imaging. This IPS computer monitor helps keep colors consistent at a wide viewing ...
www.amazon.com
EDIT:
Actually, here's a 32" 4k for only $300, only a few dollars more than my 27" (I feel cheated now, lol!):
SAMSUNG UJ59 Series 32-Inch 4K UHD (3840x2160) Computer Monitor, HDMI, Display Port, Eye Saver/Flicker Free Mode, FreeSync (LU32J590UQNXZA),Black
Bring your gaming to the next level with the Samsung 32 Inch UJ59 UHD 4K Gaming Monitor (LU32J590UQNXZA) that offers breathtaking picture quality like you’ve never seen before, greatly enhancing PC viewing, gaming and more. Thanks to over 8 million pixels that support a rainbow of colors (over on...
www.amazon.com
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Bigger isn’t necessarily better. You would be going from 163 dpi to 138 dpi with that change.I'm sure it would be ok, but a 4k one can be had for less than $100 more. Here's the one I use with my M1 Air, and it's great! Yes, it's smaller, but still large (same size as the largest iMacs).
LG UltraFine 27-Inch Computer Monitor 27UL500-W, IPS Display with AMD FreeSync and HDR10 Compatibility, White
Immerse yourself completely with phenomenal image precision and ultra deep granularity with 4K UHD (3840x2160), presenting four times the resolution of Full HD with HDR 10’s industry standard for High Dynamic Range imaging. This IPS computer monitor helps keep colors consistent at a wide viewing ...www.amazon.com
EDIT:
Actually, here's a 32" 4k for only $300, only a few dollars more than my 27" (I feel cheated now, lol!):
SAMSUNG UJ59 Series 32-Inch 4K UHD (3840x2160) Computer Monitor, HDMI, Display Port, Eye Saver/Flicker Free Mode, FreeSync (LU32J590UQNXZA),Black
Bring your gaming to the next level with the Samsung 32 Inch UJ59 UHD 4K Gaming Monitor (LU32J590UQNXZA) that offers breathtaking picture quality like you’ve never seen before, greatly enhancing PC viewing, gaming and more. Thanks to over 8 million pixels that support a rainbow of colors (over on...www.amazon.com
True, it's a trade-off, but for the OP's purposes, that's still 50% sharper than the one he was asking about (which would only be 92 dpi) if he's set on getting a 32" display.
I had the 880 LG 32 monitor @$700. Was incredibly disappointed with the performance. Grayish whites and blacks that were med gray. Side by side against an iMac retina it was so disappointing. Returned it. I'm assuming a much cheaper LG would be even worseIs this any good for a M1 base model?
I’m afraid it’s going to be a disappointment. Text rendering is awful on external QHD (2560×1440) monitors in macOS. You really need a “4K” (3840×2160) or higher resolution external monitor for any sort of decent text rendering.Is this any good for a M1 base model?
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Thanks for all the input. I will go with 32 inch 4k. My budget is $300-$400. Any other recommendations beside the Samsung mentioned or is that my best option?
No. The monitor is always driven at full "4K" resolution. Here's an explanation what these scaling options actually do.
Thanks, I just read all three pages of the explanation and I still do not understand. Would you be able to give me a brief explanation? I know my 27 inch 4k with the large text looks so much clearer than a 32 inch 2k at native resolution on my M1 MacBook Air. Also the 32 inch was too big for my desk and was hurting my neck looking back and forth from end to end.No. The monitor is always driven at full "4K" resolution. Here's an explanation what these scaling options actually do.
Your monitor has a native resolution of 3840×2160 pixels. It is always driven at that resolution by macOS.
macOS has only two sizes for UI elements (buttons, icons, windows etc.) and text: 100% ("non-HiDPI") and 200% ("HiDPI").
If you use 100%, things will be quite small on a 27" "4K" monitor.
If you use 200%, everything will be twice as tall and twice as wide compared to 100%, so everything looks like on a 27" 1920×1080 monitor, but a lot nicer and sharper. Selecting the "looks like 1920×1080" option gives you just that.
But what if you want a size in between, say, 150% so that everything looks like on a 27" 2560×1440 monitor? How does macOS do it if the only sizes it has are... 100% and 200%?
The trick is... macOS draws a framebuffer (you can think of that as a "virtual" monitor you cannot see) which is twice as tall and twice as wide as the resolution you select, so if you select "looks like 2560×1440", the framebuffer's size is 5120×2880 pixels (2560×2 × 1440×2).
On this framebuffer, everything is drawn at 200% size (it's always at 200%) so it "looks like 2560×1440", but a lot sharper. That 5120×2880-pixel framebuffer is too large to fit on your monitor (which only has 3840×2160 pixels) though, which means macOS has to shrink the framebuffer for it to fit onto your monitor.
And the shrinking is what makes the UI elements and text appear smaller compared to the "looks like 1920×1080" setting. (The actual size of the UI elements and text does not change!) It also makes them (slightly) blurry, which some people notice and dislike.
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Thanks again. I have it set to 1920x1080 and the text is large and crisp to my eyes. I am coming from a 5 year old 1080p monitor.
As long as both the Mac and monitor can do HDMI 2.0, you'll get "4K" at 60 Hz no problem. HDMI can be problematic on macOS though, so I'd always use DisplayPort if possible.
Thanks. What would cause the display to momentarily go black? HDMI? It happened on two monitors.
First thing I'd try with this kind of issue is, indeed, connecting via DisplayPort. So you need a USB-C to DisplayPort cable (unless you have a dock/hub with a DisplayPort output).