Hi. I'm considering buying Mini M1 and upgrade display from QHD to 4k. The problem that I worry about is scaling nauture of MacOS on HiDpi displays and performance loss. To try that somehow I tried to connect my current MacBook Pro 13" 2019 to 4k 43" TV and while scaled resolution "like" 2560x1440 (rendered from 5120x2880 - 5k) proved to work good with GPU-intensive Exposure X6 RAW editor, then higher scaled resolution (similar to 6k) has been a disaster performance-wise. It looks like MacbookPro with Intel Iris 655 GPU is not capable to work efficiently with screen rendered at anything higher than 5k. How is your experience in such a situation with M1 and scaled resolutions? I'm considering either Samsung F32TU87 (interesting as it is have Thunderbolt hub) and LG 27UP850-W. And while on 27" I could work on scaled 2560x1440 res, on 32" it would be too large UI for me, hence I wonder if anything smaller would work well with M1 Macs. I know that M1 Pro or Max work quite well with scaled scenarios thanks to this guy:
So maybe it is a good idea to wait for M2 based Mini? What is your experience with either 27" or 32" 4k displays and scaled resolutions on first gen M1?
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Mac Mini M1 - 27 or 32" 4k display?
- Thread starter sylwiusz
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I think it will work fine at "looks like" 2560x1440 and likely even higher than that. My 2015 15" MBP with only Intel graphics worked fine at this scaled resolution on a 27" as well, and I imagine M1 is way better than that. But, if you don't need it urgently, there is no harm in waiting either.
There was a YouTuber who recently posted a video about returning a 4K monitor due to the scaling Apple does. Best bet is to buy a 1440p monitor which scales properly.
That's also my experience with MBP 13" (i7, integrated Iris 655). I'd rather wait, maybe buying display first
I saw it, but maybe his problems were due to Blender in non-M1 native version? All creative apps in video I've attached above had no such a problems with even higher than "like 2560x1440" resolutions until you pushed it really hard like connecting more than 2 4k monitors. And BTW - scaled "like 2560x1440" resolution is like using 5k monitor (5120x2880) but with resolution cut in half to achieve "like 2560x1440" UI sizing. We used to have such a resolution already in iMac 5k and in very good LG 27" monitor. But going above it can be problematic as I saw on my MBP and near end of my video, where hi-end MBP 16" with i9 has been connected and tested - it got really slow with loud fans work - all despite having dedicated GPU. But for some reason these Intels are probably not that good with anything higher than 5k (resolution used in these test was closer to 6k rather).
I had an M1 13" MBP running a 27" 4K running in '5K to Looks like: 2560 x 1440' mode. Zero scaling issues and no noticeable performance penalties.
Simply put, Intel Mac and Apple Silicon performance aren't comparable. The 2019 MBP 16" I had before this always ran hot. Having said that, if you can wait for an M2 update, then wait.
I went with the 27" over the 32" because I wanted sharpness. It was a significant jump in sharpness over my 27" 1440p (Apple Thunderbolt Display).
Simply put, Intel Mac and Apple Silicon performance aren't comparable. The 2019 MBP 16" I had before this always ran hot. Having said that, if you can wait for an M2 update, then wait.
I went with the 27" over the 32" because I wanted sharpness. It was a significant jump in sharpness over my 27" 1440p (Apple Thunderbolt Display).
Thanks. Yes, that's what I'm leaning to - 27", sharpness is important also, on 32" pixel will be just bigger, no doubt. And I could use "Looks like: 2560 x 1440" scaling on current MBP while waiting for a suitable M2 machine this or another year