Mac mini M1 compatible monitor list

[LeavingImac]

thanks carverskate & mlody! (didn't know that Asus and LG were so bad with support)
Forgot to mention:
-would like speakers in the monitor (I know they sound terrible -- but....) - U2722DE has none - otherwise looks great.
-do mostly audio productions and text-business, a little IMovie editing
-I'm getting the 8gb/256 mac mini m1

 

[LeavingImac]

PS. just saw an old note re Dell S2722DC -- which does have (lousy) speakers.
Anyone have experience with that monitor?

 

[0906742]

I have U2722DE and I couldn't be happier. It is not 4K, but I personally don't care for that as 1440p is plenty sharp for me and don't need to deal with odd scaling etc.

People who want to have their fonts looking nice might get extremely disappointed with QHD/1440P monitors. I had one and I could not stand it until I found out I need 4K monitor for HiDPI support to get nice iMac/MacBook style fonts.

 

[mlody]

People who want to have their fonts looking nice might get extremely disappointed with QHD/1440P monitors. I had one and I could not stand it until I found out I need 4K monitor for HiDPI support to get nice iMac/MacBook style fonts.

I had non-5k iMac 27, then I had 5k iMac 27 and now have this 1440p Dell and the screen falls right between the non-5k and 5k iMac picture quality wise. Of course it won't be as sharp as 5k screen, but neither will be 4K display, due to not the most optimal scaling. it is always the best to 'see it yourself' before making the decision.

 

[mlody]

thanks carverskate & mlody! (didn't know that Asus and LG were so bad with support)
Forgot to mention:
-would like speakers in the monitor (I know they sound terrible -- but....) - U2722DE has none - otherwise looks great.
-do mostly audio productions and text-business, a little IMovie editing
-I'm getting the 8gb/256 mac mini m1

Dell offers SB521 sound bar that magnetically attaches to select few monitors, including the one I have - U2722DE. I can't speak for the sound quality, but I would assume it is no worse or better than average build-in speakers.

Dell Slim Soundbar - SB521A | Dell USA

A slim and sleek soundbar that perfectly complements your dell monitor. Letâs you enjoy crystal clear sound and a clutter-free desk.

www.dell.com

 

[headlessmike]

People who want to have their fonts looking nice might get extremely disappointed with QHD/1440P monitors. I had one and I could not stand it until I found out I need 4K monitor for HiDPI support to get nice iMac/MacBook style fonts.

I frequently switch between Retina and 1440p 27" monitors and have always found the complaints about font rendering on the latter to be blown way out of proportion.

 

[0906742]

I had non-5k iMac 27, then I had 5k iMac 27 and now have this 1440p Dell and the screen falls right between the non-5k and 5k iMac picture quality wise. Of course it won't be as sharp as 5k screen, but neither will be 4K display, due to not the most optimal scaling. it is always the best to 'see it yourself' before making the decision.

I frequently switch between Retina and 1440p 27" monitors and have always found the complaints about font rendering on the latter to be blown way out of proportion.

As I said people who want to have fonts looking nice might get disappointed with QHD/1440p.

I know many people are happy with QHD but personally I could not stand how blocky the fonts looked like in MacOS due to missing HiDPI support for under 4k displays. It was terrible compared to how the same monitor looks in Windows, so anyone getting QHD and thinking it would look comparable to what it looks like in Windows _might_ wanna check out the screen how it works on Mac before purchasing one.

 

[headlessmike]

As I said people who want to have fonts looking nice might get disappointed with QHD/1440p.

I know many people are happy with QHD but personally I could not stand how blocky the fonts looked like in MacOS due to missing HiDPI support for under 4k displays. It was terrible compared to how the same monitor looks in Windows, so anyone getting QHD and thinking it would look comparable to what it looks like in Windows _might_ wanna check out the screen how it works on Mac before purchasing one.

Describing it as terrible is a bit of an exaggeration. A 27” inch display should, ergonomically speaking, be situated about a yard or meter in front of you to fill your field of view. That’s more than an arm’s length way. At that distance there’s little visible difference between 1440p and 5K, even in macOS.

 

[Blacktip]

Well, yes … sort of. But it's all about what you compare with. I have the past year used my 4K LG 27UP850-W with my Mac mini, and have been sort of okay with the image quality (especially after tweaking the font rendering with https://www.fontsmoothingadjuster.com). But … whenever I sit down in front of my 6 year old iMac (that my kids now use), or at my work's LG 5K Ultrafine monitor … I realise how bad my own setup really is. Again, most people won't notice, but if your job is to nudge pixe … eh, vectors in super small increments etc, you really need a monitor that has a PPI of 218 (or higher). I will most probably soon trick myself into the decision of buying a Studio Display just to *not* feel like I do whenever I stroll past my old iMac.

Read this great article for more info regarding monitors: https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays2/

 

[0906742]

Describing it as terrible is a bit of an exaggeration. A 27” inch display should, ergonomically speaking, be situated about a yard or meter in front of you to fill your field of view. That’s more than an arm’s length way. At that distance there’s little visible difference between 1440p and 5K, even in macOS.

Well, it definitely seemed terrible to me but I know some people claim there is no difference between HiDPI fonts and low resolution fonts. Anyway, anyone considering QHD should first make sure they are OK with this and realize font are not going to look even remotely similar to Windows using the same monitor there.

I saw some claims that upcoming Ventura might allow QHD use HiDPI mode by default. It might help a bit. I tried myself tricks that allowed HiDPi for my QHD when I had it but I was not satisfied since I would have needed to use much lower looks like resolution than native 2560x1440 which is not suitable for me as I find screen estate rather small with that already. I currently use 3008x1692 with my 32" 4K monitor and it looks great.

Here is a long thread about QHD issues: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/solution-quadhd-monitor-with-hidpi-and-mac-mini-m1.2303291/

 

[loby]

Asus is known to have non existent customer support, and LG is not that much better, so purely from the support perspective, I would go with Dell. I have U2722DE and I couldn't be happier. It is not 4K, but I personally don't care for that as 1440p is plenty sharp for me and don't need to deal with odd scaling etc.

The LG 27UL850-W works well with M1 mac mini and Macbook Pro 2021. The USB-C port on the monitor comes in handy and it also has two HDMI ports as well. 4K matted. Built-in speakers are just “ok” as most monitors are (except the Apple Studio Monitor that has nice speakers). Monitor also works well with my Mac Pro 2013. What it offers for the cost, does the job and more.

 

[phrehdd]

I don't believe any of these monitors has decent audio but some have sufficient. There are alternative such as speakers or a headset. I use speakers during the day and at night late, earphones. The monitor video is where my focus would be for the selection along with making sure the ports you need on the choice is there.

 

[loby]

I don't believe any of these monitors has decent audio but some have sufficient. There are alternative such as speakers or a headset. I use speakers during the day and at night late, earphones. The monitor video is where my focus would be for the selection along with making sure the ports you need on the choice is there.

Coming from an Apple Thunderbolt Display Monitor to the LG 27UL850-W, I can honestly say that the LG 27UL850-W's audio "sucks" onions in comparison.

But...then again, for monitor audio output for "general" applications...the LG 27UL850-W is...just ok.

Apple (from my opinion) has probably the best audio experience for what you can get in a Monitor (including laptops). But of course it comes with a hefty price.

Nothing replaces a decent external speakers or headset experience of course, but if you are just using a monitor audio for "general" audio needs (not high fidelity or the richness to hear the Lordofthestrings bow string's vibration or the maestro impressions on a Steinway's piano's keyboard etc., especially in the classics let's say..) there is little choice other than Apple's monitors (if you want an all inclusive).

Though Apple's latest offerings are maybe a little heavy on the bass (as the focused target market demands), they provide a decent audio experience more than the others.

For the price tag and for general audio needs...the LG does the job for what it is.

 

[phrehdd]

Coming from an Apple Thunderbolt Display Monitor to the LG 27UL850-W, I can honestly say that the LG 27UL850-W's audio "sucks" onions in comparison.

But...then again, for monitor audio output for "general" applications...the LG 27UL850-W is...just ok.

Apple (from my opinion) has probably the best audio experience for what you can get in a Monitor (including laptops). But of course it comes with a hefty price.

Nothing replaces a decent external speakers or headset experience of course, but if you are just using a monitor audio for "general" audio needs (not high fidelity or the richness to hear the Lordofthestrings bow string's vibration or the maestro impressions on a Steinway's piano's keyboard etc., especially in the classics let's say..) there is little choice other than Apple's monitors (if you want an all inclusive).

Though Apple's latest offerings are maybe a little heavy on the bass (as the focused target market demands), they provide a decent audio experience more than the others.

For the price tag and for general audio needs...the LG does the job for what it is.

I do agree that Apple can and does put out many products with more* than reasonable sound and MBP are impressive unto themselves where audio is concerned considering the location in the laptop.

For me, I use a Benq PD2700U and 3 options for audio - AirPods, Sennheiser cable/bluetooth over ear cans and a pair of Peachtree M24 powered speakers. Each serve me well for different venues. I consider the Benq speakers nothing more than good for hearing beeps and similar.

 

[LeavingImac]

Lots of you think that LG & Asus have terrible customer service.
Is Dell really better (not from what I can find online)?
Is there any company out there that offers quality and service (near the level of Apple?)
Apologies for my lack of knowledge… I’ve been in the Apple system since 1986 …. And now just looking for a quality monitor (under $600) for a new Mac mini m1….

 

[LeavingImac]

How about LG 27un880 …performance w. Mac mini m1?

 

[steve217]

Thanks to all for the great info - has been really helpful! Now I'm down to 4 new monitor choices to hook up to a new mac mini m1:
1. LG 27ul850-w ... <snip/>
Any feedback on the monitor with LEAST problems/best-results would be much appreciated

I have that LG 27UL850-W and have been pleased with the display and ports.

One quirk, is that it sometimes doesn't not wake when my Mac mini m1 does.

I have learned that if I press Ctrl-Command-Q and then escape (mimicing a sleep request) and then wake the machine immediately by hitting the space bar, the monitor will light up.

It almost doesn't bug me anymore when I have to do that. Better than unplugging and plugging the USB-C cable. Kind of a salute.

 

[loby]

I have that LG 27UL850-W and have been pleased with the display and ports.

One quirk, is that it sometimes doesn't not wake when my Mac mini m1 does.

I have learned that if I press Ctrl-Command-Q and then escape (mimicing a sleep request) and then wake the machine immediately by hitting the space bar, the monitor will light up.

It almost doesn't bug me anymore when I have to do that. Better than unplugging and plugging the USB-C cable. Kind of a salute.

Have you updated the firmware? There is one firmware update for the monitor, but you have to plug in a USB-A cable to USB-C (or a USB-A) to get the monitor to update. Check out the LG website for the update. After updating the firmware, no issues with the monitor. The firmware is a 2020 (I think February or March) update.

 

[steve217]

Have you updated the firmware? There is one firmware update for the monitor, but you have to plug in a USB-A cable to USB-C (or a USB-A) to get the monitor to update. Check out the LG website for the update. After updating the firmware, no issues with the monitor. The firmware is a 2020 (I think February or March) update.

Thanks for the suggestion.

But I'm really at peace now with this monitor. I've finally got everything sleeping rationally and I don't want to upset the balance. Those firmware updates can be real rabbit holes sometimes.

If the keyboard sleep/wake sequence I described above is all I have to do to wake the monitor, then it's a small price to pay.

 

[ludmiloff]

Thanks to all for the great info - has been really helpful! Now I'm down to 4 new monitor choices to hook up to a new mac mini m1:
1. LG 27ul850-w
2. LG 27UP850
3. ASUS ProArt PA279CV 4K
4. Dell S2722Qc

Any feedback on the monitor with LEAST problems/best-results would be much appreciated

1. LG 27UL850-w - worked quite well with my Mac mini M1, have had a terrible click sound on wake up, and the red color was awful. Definitely a no go for me. I suggest LG 27UP850-W or Dell.

 

[headlessmike]

I added my old 23" Apple Cinema HD Display to the list. It may be archaic at this point but still works brilliantly. My specific display is one of the later ones with a higher brightness and contrast ratio. I use it as my secondary display to a 27" Thunderbolt Display, previously with an M1 mini and now with an M1 Pro MacBook, in both cases connected with a passive adapter to the HDMI port.

 

[ashrhmn]

Hello, I am planning to get LG 27UL850-w. Can anyone confirm if texts have any blurriness or scaling issues on this monitor? This is the only reason I am making the switch.

 

[justanothergeordie]

I’ve not revisited this thread since I first posted about my LG monitor around a year ago. I can only give you an experience from my personal perspective. This monitor has been excellent for me.

Some positives:
+ excellent 4K picture quality, a big step up from my old 1440 iMac and not a hugely noticeable step down from the 5K iMacs I've used before
+ brightness is good, I prefer my screen very bright and whilst this isn't as bright as a 5K iMac it's bright enough
+ colours are good
+ text is very sharp
+ contrast is great

Negatives, though these are things I knew before I bought it:
- can't control screen brightness from keyboard unless using MonitorControl app (which does a good enough job)
- speakers are terrible
- no webcam so have to hook up an external which is a bit messy
- so called USB hub doesn't work for me, I connect the LG to my M1 Mini via USB C and that's meant there's not enough power to realistically use the other USB ports but not a problem as I have a good USB hub anyway

The positives far outweigh the minor negatives when you consider the price compared to say the Apple Studio Display. If you are considering this monitor I'd definitely recommend it.

 

[loby]

Hello, I am planning to get LG 27UL850-w. Can anyone confirm if texts have any blurriness or scaling issues on this monitor? This is the only reason I am making the switch.

No issues. Use it with my MacBook Pro 2021 and M1 Mini

 

[Omnivore]

Does anyone have experience with the BenQ SW240? Need a cheap monitor for photo and video editing. Should work with multiple devices including the Mac mini M1.

The BenQ SW240 only has 94 PPI so I understand it's going to be non-Retina but I'm fine with that (1920x1200 on 24.1 inches). However, the question is whether 94 PPI works even though 110 PPI is desirable for non-Retina?

I guess the only difference is that the text and interface elements are bigger, which is fine by me. It will be too small for me with 1440p on 27-inch, which is the recommended PPI for non-Retina. 4K on 27-inch is unfortunately too expensive for the same type of monitor (which I would scale to 1080p anyway).