Monitor Options for New Mac Pro

[woodhouse]

I wanted to see what everyone was thinking about regarding monitor options, perhaps get some advice.

I have a 2008 Mac Pro (2,1) with one of the original smallish cinema displays. Both the machine and the monitor are totally not cutting it anymore, to say the least.

I'm planning on buying one of the new Mac Pros upon release – whenever that may be

It seems like Apple has not even hinted at any sort of an upgraded monitor. Do I buy one of the current Thunderbolt displays?

I do web design, motion graphics, some 3D and some video editing professionally. As a hobbyist I do photography and music. So I want whatever I buy to work for me for the foreseeable future.

I find it very weird that Apple is touting the power of this new machine, but not offering a new monitor to go with it.

Is 4K overkill for my needs? Will the Thunderbolt monitor suffice? Do I wait to buy one of the Dell 4K displays? Thoughts?

 

[thekev]

For what the thunderbolt displays cost, I like NEC's options better at US pricing. Apple isn't likely to hint on this, but they haven't updated the thunderbolt display to match the imac. That surprised me. I suspect they'll eventually do something with it. What I like about a high display resolution is the ability to display so much of a photo of video frame on screen at 100%. There are still limits, but it's nice. 4K would help quite a bit there.

 

[STxMacUser]

Dell is coming out with a 24" 4K monitor for under $1,000.00 that I have been thinking about. Michael Dell was on CNBC yesterday and said that the 4K monitor is going to be incredible and you won't want to go back to a regular monitor once you have seen the 4K. So....consider a 4K monitor.

 

[woodhouse]

Yeah, I'm thinking 4k is definitely the way to go. The thing is, I can't afford a new mac pro AND one of the current 4k monitors. I'll have to wait for Dell's sub-$1000 28" 4k which is coming "early 2014", which, in all reality, will be about when the new Mac Pro actually arrives anyway....

 

[Cubemmal]

I already have two 27" TB monitors, so for the moment have a 24" HP in portrait mode in the middle (1900x1200) with them flanking, all waiting for the nMP. Unfortunately that puts the worst monitor in the center but I'll see how it goes. I develop software so having monitors in portrait mode works well.

I'm going to wait and see the 4k TB monitor whenever they release it. If it's around the same price ($1k) then I'll buy one for the center with the two older TB's flanking it. Which will be a challenge on my desk space I have to admit.

 

[wildmac]

Yeah, I'm thinking 4k is definitely the way to go. The thing is, I can't afford a new mac pro AND one of the current 4k monitors. I'll have to wait for Dell's sub-$1000 28" 4k which is coming "early 2014", which, in all reality, will be about when the new Mac Pro actually arrives anyway....

If that Dell one is good, I might get one, otherwise I'll be using the deal 24" Dells that I've been using for a few years now.

 

[STxMacUser]

Yes...I meant 28 inch Dell monitor. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the monitor that Apple ends up selling for the nMP. The under $1000 price for such a monitor is definitely hard to beat.

 

[theSeb]

Yes...I meant 28 inch Dell monitor. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the monitor that Apple ends up selling for the nMP. The under $1000 price for such a monitor is definitely hard to beat.

24" 4K is $1,499. The cheaper 28" with less features will be under $1000.

 

[robgendreau]

I guess if you can afford a 4k, why not.

But in the meantime, perhaps a 2560x1440 Korean monitor or two. There are quite a few decent ones out there for under $500. They run from ones with no dead pixel guarantees and more types of connections, to more bare bones ones with just dual DVI. I'm not keeping track of the connections that the nMP has, but Monoprice, eg, has one with Display Port and I'd guess TB>DP would work on it. These things are essentially like an iMac (my Monoprice is great except for backlight adjustment, which doesn't matter where I have it).

Rob

 

[VirtualRain]

For now, I plan to use my existing pair of 24" LED ACDs. I'll look to replace them in the spring or summer with a single nice 4K display. I'm hopeful that by then we will have some better choices around 30-32" that aren't $100/inch.

While 4K at 24" is near retina levels you won't gain any screen real-estate as you can't run native resolution and still read text or use chrome at that pixel density (183ppi).

4K at 28"-32" will allow you to run native res and still be usable (157-137ppi respectively). For comparison, the 27" LED ACD is 109ppi. I'm a bit wary of Dell's news of a cheap 28" 4K display. I'm not sure high pixel density and cheap are necessarily something to wish for. I'd prefer a high-quality 30"-32" display for $1500 if that's possible.

 

[deconstruct60]

....
I find it very weird that Apple is touting the power of this new machine, but not offering a new monitor to go with it.

They don't need to offer one with a Apple logo on it if it only more pure monitor you want. Apple is far more so in the docking station business than the monitor business. For more pure monitors they can sell them just like they sell printers and most other peripherals.

Apple needs a more affordable TB docking station monitor more so than a 4K monitor. There are going to be gobs of folks pitching 4K monitors over the next 3 months. The pricing is going to rapidly change over the next 12 months. Apple can wait with relatively few ill effects till after the dust settles to offer something in the 4K space and learn from their competitors mistakes. In the mean time, the 4K monitors they resell will have decent margins to make Apple happy. Dell , Asus, etc. are selling customized Sharp monitor designs for some of the UHD monitors. Apple can just skip the middle-man design effort and just sell the Sharp one directly upon the Mac Pro roll-out.


The other short term technology transition that may be contributing is TB v2. It isn't suppose to go to volume production to 2014. Apple may be using they whole allotment from Intel at this point just for systems. [ The Mac Pro is extremely likely sucking in 3 TB controllers per systems so even low units sales of system isn't quite so low from a TB component perspective. ]

When the iMac rolled out with no TB v2 that may put a hiccup in the "refactored iMac" TB docking station/monitor design. Apple might wait till it picks up TB v2 to revise.

Is 4K overkill for my needs? Will the Thunderbolt monitor suffice? Do I wait to buy one of the Dell 4K displays? Thoughts?

The $1,000 28" Dell 4K isn't likely going to have a wide color gamut. It will likely have mainstream color. If your commercial web design , motion , and video work is/isn't color critical that may play a role. There is going to be a reason why the 28" model is about $400 less expensive than the 24" model.

The price of the 4K monitors will likely be around what could get a current resolution, high gamut , and modern color calibrator for.

 

[wildmac]

The $1,000 28" Dell 4K isn't likely going to have a wide color gamut. It will likely have mainstream color. If your commercial web design , motion , and video work is/isn't color critical that may play a role. There is going to be a reason why the 28" model is about $400 less expensive than the 24" model.

Well, motion and video, yeah, you are gonna need better monitors (as well as for photo-editing) but I do have to laugh and web designers I've seen that spend insane amounts of time and $$$ doing websites that the end users are viewing on standard garbage consumer monitors...

 

[phobos]

I wanted to see what everyone was thinking about regarding monitor options, perhaps get some advice.

I have a 2008 Mac Pro (2,1) with one of the original smallish cinema displays. Both the machine and the monitor are totally not cutting it anymore, to say the least.

I'm planning on buying one of the new Mac Pros upon release – whenever that may be

It seems like Apple has not even hinted at any sort of an upgraded monitor. Do I buy one of the current Thunderbolt displays?

I do web design, motion graphics, some 3D and some video editing professionally. As a hobbyist I do photography and music. So I want whatever I buy to work for me for the foreseeable future.

I find it very weird that Apple is touting the power of this new machine, but not offering a new monitor to go with it.

Is 4K overkill for my needs? Will the Thunderbolt monitor suffice? Do I wait to buy one of the Dell 4K displays? Thoughts?

If I were you I would also consider maxing out the newest iMac adding a second display for it and a good RAID system. It'll be cheaper than the MacPro and it would also be a really really capable machine.

I use a late 2012 iMac with a setup I'm describing and the newer ones are so much better GPU wise and a little bit better CPU wise. So think about it before going all out on a new Mac Pro

And since you have a 2008 Mac Pro which is very very capable I would also upgrade the CPU, GPU add an SSD or two and you would have a pretty nice setup. You could also use both machines for your renders and it would easily reach the render speeds of the new Mac Pro

 

[wildmac]

If I were you I would also consider maxing out the newest iMac adding a second display for it and a good RAID system. It'll be cheaper than the MacPro and it would also be a really really capable machine.

I use a late 2012 iMac with a setup I'm describing and the newer ones are so much better GPU wise and a little bit better CPU wise. So think about it before going all out on a new Mac Pro

??? A maxed out iMac is $2700, so you are going to get a second monitor, and a good RAID, for under $300?....

 

[brand]

I have a 2008 Mac Pro (2,1) with one of the original smallish cinema displays.

The 2008 Mac Pro was a 3,1 not a 2,1. If you had a 2,1 then it was not a 2008. If you had a 2008 then it was a 3,1.

 

[woodhouse]

Okay, well my current machine's date is neither here nor there. I purchased it in early 2008 but its manufacture date is 2007. I was asking about monitors.

 

[phobos]

??? A maxed out iMac is $2700, so you are going to get a second monitor, and a good RAID, for under $300?....

Obviously not but if you want two displays for the Mac Pro and a bigger internal ssd you can easily see the price is getting way higher than a fully maxed out iMac.

 

[wildmac]

Obviously not but if you want two displays for the Mac Pro and a bigger internal ssd you can easily see the price is getting way higher than a fully maxed out iMac.

But you are also getting a lot more power too (assuming you need it).

Well, much does depend on what gear you already have, and of course what your needs are as well.

Still, this highlights the point that power and features will cost you, and the only real variable is what hardware you already have.

(Heck, if my MP was capable of running Mavericks, I'd be on the sideline right now anyway, but it's a 1,1 so I need to do something.)

 

[deconstruct60]

..... but I do have to laugh and web designers I've seen that spend insane amounts of time and $$$ doing websites that the end users are viewing on standard garbage consumer monitors...

That is changing. Nexus 7, iPad Air , and other display premium tablet devices actually sell in noticeably large numbers and aren't garbage. There is an even faster race to higher quality displays in mobile phones since at the moment it is one of the few differentiating factors. ( Leveling and reversing the playing field on iPhone. ). Sure there is a massive legacy installed base that has 'garbage' monitors but the number of folks who can see is going up (even if it is down in the single digit percentages).

But yeah it is used by some to pad out the expenses for a not very large short-intermediate term gain.

 

[wildmac]

That is changing. Nexus 7, iPad Air , and other display premium tablet devices actually sell in noticeably large numbers and aren't garbage. There is an even faster race to higher quality displays in mobile phones since at the moment it is one of the few differentiating factors. ( Leveling and reversing the playing field on iPhone. ). Sure there is a massive legacy installed base that has 'garbage' monitors but the number of folks who can see is going up (even if it is down in the single digit percentages).

But yeah it is used by some to pad out the expenses for a not very large short-intermediate term gain.

Fair point.

However, I'd also argue that much of the modern web design is taking better advantage of HTML5 so the massive gamuts are still not quite the issue (unless you are designing web games or something like that).

But for the OP.. I would wait if possible to see what the specs (and reviews) of that new Dell 28" 4k is, and see if it's good enough for what he needs.

 

[Rich.Cohen]

I presently have a 30" (2560 X 1900), a 23" (1920 X 1080) and a 15" (1024 X 768) on my Mac Pro. When I get my nMP I will retain that configuration till mid-late January. I'll see what is announced at CES. At that point I plan to get a 4K display to replace the 30".

I create large engineering drawings (actually Entity Relationship Diagrams) and I need as much screen space as possible with big pixels for my old eyes, but those diagram are static, so I don't need high performance or even good color quality. My main monitor is about 2' from my eyes.

I'd like a monitor about 45" in size so I can read the fine print with, ideally, a displayport 2 connection so it can handle 60 Hz signals. I understand that an HDMI 2 would also meet this requirement. At present nothing out there seems to fit my needs. My fall-back is the Seiki 50" 4K. It limitation is that it only has and HDMI 1.4 connection which limits it to 30 Hz. On the other hand it is relatively cheep, about $800. Maybe they'll announce an improved version with HDMI 2 in January.

I don't do much gaming and I don't watch many videos. If necessary I can do that on the 23" monitor.

 

[theSeb]

I presently have a 30" (2560 X 1900), a 23" (1920 X 1080) and a 15" (1024 X 768) on my Mac Pro. When I get my nMP I will retain that configuration till mid-late January. I'll see what is announced at CES. At that point I plan to get a 4K display to replace the 30".

I create large engineering drawings (actually Entity Relationship Diagrams) and I need as much screen space as possible with big pixels for my old eyes, but those diagram are static, so I don't need high performance or even good color quality. My main monitor is about 2' from my eyes.

I'd like a monitor about 45" in size so I can read the fine print with, ideally, a displayport 2 connection so it can handle 60 Hz signals. I understand that an HDMI 2 would also meet this requirement. At present nothing out there seems to fit my needs. My fall-back is the Seiki 50" 4K. It limitation is that it only has and HDMI 1.4 connection which limits it to 30 Hz. On the other hand it is relatively cheep, about $800. Maybe they'll announce an improved version with HDMI 2 in January.

I don't do much gaming and I don't watch many videos. If necessary I can do that on the 23" monitor.

I think that the Dell 28" 4K monitor will be perfect for your needs (and mine). Dell has said that it will be under $1000.

 

[wildmac]

I think that the Dell 28" 4K monitor will be perfect for your needs (and mine). Dell has said that it will be under $1000.

I'll be using my dual 24" Dell Ultrasharps that are at least 5 years old now, but when they die, that Dell 28" is very tempting..

 

[Rich.Cohen]

I think that the Dell 28" 4K monitor will be perfect for your needs (and mine). Dell has said that it will be under $1000.

No. That monitor is too small for me. I can barely read the fine print on my current 30" monitor. Sometimes I have to lean into the screen. For my eyes, I'd like slightly larger pixels and more of them. My current monitor delivers 2560 pixels in about 25 inches or about 100 pixels per inch. A 45" 4K (3840 X 2160) monitor would have about the same pixel density. A 50" 4K would have about 10% bigger pixels, about 92 per inch. I made a cardboard mock-up of the 50" Seiki and it will fit on my desk, but I may have to tilt my head a bit to see the menu bar.

 

[deconstruct60]

My main monitor is about 2' from my eyes.
....
I'd like a monitor about 45" in size so I can read the fine print with, ... My fall-back is the Seiki 50" 4K.

2' from a 45-50" monitor is in Mr. Magoo land. Those are as likely uncorrected eyes as much as old eyes. Relatively poor rendering is likely part of the issue for more so than the need to make the individual pixels larger. Don't really need to go to pixel doubling to get to better rendering.

Incrementing the monitor size every 4-5 years by 2-3" as get older isn't solving a problem... it is just kicking the can down the road.