Mac for dual monitor setup?

[Forti]

Hi,

so currently I have macbook pro 13" mid 2018 (i5/16ram) with connected 4k LG 27uk850-w via usb-c. It works very well with macbook opened.

But when I want to close the macbook and use only the monitor with magic keyboard and magic trackpad I found a lot of issues, e.g. turning on or off the monitor sometimes reboots the macbook, which is annoying.

So I was thinking - mac mini (i5/32gb) + dual monitors 27 4k, but then I have read there are UI lags with the build in intel graphic card. So I was thinking about eGPU - the cost is not that high to me (Sonnet eGFX with Radeon RX580 8gb) but... would it be better to just get this mac mini and instead of dual 4k monitor... maybe better option is to connect my 27" 4k + LG 27QN880‑B Ergo (27" 2k with usb-c)?

What I'm doing is programming, sometimes I have opened 2x iOS simulator + android emulator. No video editing, no gaming at all.

I want the 4k because of sharpness and UI quality - working with retina and fullHD display next to it is painfull...

any suggestions? Should I go with mac mini + dual monitors (4k + 2k/4k?), or maybe just get an macbook pro 16" with radeon 5300?

 

[gjesp]

Turning off the monitor should not shutdown/reboot your mac so that is weird man.. I'd analyse the console to see what is going if I was you. Anyway the Mac Mini can handle dual 4k but you better pack some RAM and give it i7. Aside from the obvious, i7 will give you hypertreading which I'm sure you will benefit from a lot as a developer, especially when virtualizing stuff like you do.

 

[biffuz]

You can also consider the 27" iMac with a 4k 27" external monitor set as "looks like 2560x1600". It's not perfect but at least the UI will have the same size and almost the same quality on both screens, and the iMac is quite more powerful than the Mini.

 

[Forti]

Well, I was thinking about that, but the deliver time for iMac is pretty high Not to mention the bezels... I just can't look at it, especially with almost new 27" LG with 0.5cm bezelz next to it.