Monitor - what to look for? (mac mini)

[thetechnobear]

just ordered a new mac mini... and wondering what monitor to get, and how to choose ?!

been using an 2012 iMac 27" , 2560 x 1440... which has been ok for me, no complaints

I think 27" is fine, should I be looking at QHD , UHD....

I don't really want to be being more than around 350euro...

(even in this price range, seems a fair number to choose from, but unsure about good they are.

I was looking at something like
Acer NITRO VG0 VG280K , 300euro - https://www.acer.com/ac/en/SI/content/model/UM.PV0EE.001

reasonable, or is there something I should specifically look for?


as I said, happy with my old imac display, so expectations are not that high...
however, I do alot of programming, so crisp text is important.



thanks for any suggestions....

 

[Conutz]

I generally go with Dell monitors. I've had a number over the years and I find that the quality and lifespan is great. I currently have a U2718Q that I run on my Mini (next to an Apple Thunderbolt Display).

The downside to the 27" 4k monitors is that at full resolution, the text tends to be really small. You can then either run at 50% scaling ("looks like 1920x1080") with apparently little or no performance hit, or somewhere in between which "may affect performance". I'm currently using one of the in between ones (looks like 2560x1440) and I'm quite happy with it in both MacOS and in Windows 10 in a Fusion 12 VM. I don't have any requirement for high graphics performance as most of my work is email, docs and coding.

So there is some trade-off with the 4k, but the higher resolution is great.

 

[arossco]

I answered a similar question on another thread ... the Thunderbolt monitor is effectively your 2012 iMac 27" without the computer !

"I am planning to connect 2 monitors to my M1 Mac mini - a new LG 27UL500 4K HD monitor, and my old 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display, using an adapter.

The Thunderbolt Display has camera and excellent speakers, and though it's not HD, is still looks great, with a resolution of 2560 x 1440. I picked it up second hand for a good price a year ago, and have been using it on my Mid 2012 MBP 15".

 

[Machspeed007]

Another consideration for a monitor nowdays would be the availability of a USB Hub.
If the monitor uses one of the Thunderbolt/USB-C connections it can act as an upstream link to the monitor's USB hub, so that is very handy with so few I/O ports on the new Macs.

 

[chumps]

I'm very happy with the 24" LG Ultrafine 4K. Retina resolution. Simple design. Mac hotkeys work. Bit spendy but has an extra Thunderbolt port for daisy chaining and 3 USB-C ports. Very nice color with wide gamut DCI-P3 support with good built-in profiles provided by Apple? It basically replaces my 5K iMac's display for me since the iMac's been ghosting on me for a while now.

 

[deeddawg]

Can't really suggest monitor specifics other than look at reviews and be sure you can easily return something if you don't like it.

What I can suggest is if you're used to 27" QHD (1440p), then look at the dot pitch / pixels-per-inch and seek monitors with similar dot pitch or pixel pitch. You'll be looking for something close to 108 pixels per inch or pixel pitch of 0.233 mm. I'm not convinced that 27" 4K is worthwhile - you're either stuck at a half-step 1.5x ratio to get the same desktop "size" as you're used to.

Some of the 34" LG ultrawides are also worth considering.

With the mini, I'd suggest planning to use HDMI as the interface to the monitor since that'll not take up one of the USBC/Thunderbolt ports.

 

[Zazoh]

I did this a few years ago, ended up buying a monitor for same price as Mini. LG Ultra fine from Apple. i tried two monitors from Amazon first, ended up returning both, couldn’t get text clear enough for me.

read reviews from Mini owners. Dell is popular too.

 

[Takuro]

The downside to the 27" 4k monitors is that at full resolution, the text tends to be really small. You can then either run at 50% scaling ("looks like 1920x1080") with apparently little or no performance hit, or somewhere in between which "may affect performance".

On a side note, if your monitor does not natively support HiDPI scaling (basically, what a Retina Display does) or you want to set some custom HiDPI resolutions, check this out this script. It's a life-changer:

GitHub - xzhih/one-key-hidpi: Enable macOS HiDPI and have a native setting.

Enable macOS HiDPI and have a native setting. Contribute to xzhih/one-key-hidpi development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Tried it out with different monitors including Dell ultrawides, which other solutions, like SwitchResX, failed to enable HiDPI mode for. With this script, I haven't noticed any real performance hit. And I'm running at a HiDPI 80% scale, which I'd assume is about as inefficient as you can get, since the computer has to render everything at 160% resolution of what my monitor actually supports before down-scaling it. Text is super crisp.

As far as a monitor suggestion goes, this one is way outside your price range, but it's what I'd get. It's one of the rarer monitors that's both 5K and ultrawide. You can find them Open Box on eBay for about $900, which is probably still beyond your budget though.

LG 34BK95U-W UltraFine 34" 21:9 5K 2K (5120 x 2160) Nano IPS LED UltraWide Monitor, 600 cd/m² HDR, Thunderbolt 3 / USB Type-C Inputs Black

IMPECCABLE COLOR More accurate color and a broader contrast ratio combine to deliver truly high-end picture quality. High dynamic range (HDR) makes bright and dark portions of the image even more so, while Nano IPS controls color better, covering 98% of the DCI-P3 color space with support for 1....

www.amazon.com

 

[Tafkaeken]

I have ordered the new Mac mini, anyone using the 4K LG27UL500/5050/600/650/850 and can tell me how it is to work with on a Mac? I like LG and they are all readily available at local store for pick up.
My computer right now is a pre retina air 2011 so I guess pretty much will look great compared to that. I do however also use a iPad Pro with 120Hz so I wonder if I am getting disappointed with the LG?

 

[imdog]

If you get a 4k m

On a side note, if your monitor does not natively support HiDPI scaling (basically, what a Retina Display does) or you want to set some custom HiDPI resolutions, check this out this script. It's a life-changer:

GitHub - xzhih/one-key-hidpi: Enable macOS HiDPI and have a native setting.

Enable macOS HiDPI and have a native setting. Contribute to xzhih/one-key-hidpi development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Tried it out with different monitors including Dell ultrawides, which other solutions, like SwitchResX, failed to enable HiDPI mode for. With this script, I haven't noticed any real performance hit. And I'm running at a HiDPI 80% scale, which I'd assume is about as inefficient as you can get, since the computer has to render everything at 160% resolution of what my monitor actually supports before down-scaling it. Text is super crisp.

As far as a monitor suggestion goes, this one is way outside your price range, but it's what I'd get. It's one of the rarer monitors that's both 5K and ultrawide. You can find them Open Box on eBay for about $900, which is probably still beyond your budget though.

LG 34BK95U-W UltraFine 34" 21:9 5K 2K (5120 x 2160) Nano IPS LED UltraWide Monitor, 600 cd/m² HDR, Thunderbolt 3 / USB Type-C Inputs Black

IMPECCABLE COLOR More accurate color and a broader contrast ratio combine to deliver truly high-end picture quality. High dynamic range (HDR) makes bright and dark portions of the image even more so, while Nano IPS controls color better, covering 98% of the DCI-P3 color space with support for 1....

www.amazon.com

LG calling that monitor 5K is sort of misleading. Its resolution is 5210x2160, compared to the typical 5K resolution of 5120x2880. It wouldn’t even be considered a Retina display as its a mere 163ppi, compared to 218ppi on the 5k iMac (which is the lowest ppi of any Retina screen Apple has ever made).

I just purchased the M1 Mac mini and am looking into which monitor to get, I really wanted that one as it’s a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the standard LG UltraFine 5K they made in collab with Apple, but I was disappointed in how big of a difference there is in resolution. Maybe I have to check it out in person but that ppi number is a huge difference. Do you know if you’re able to do that HiDPI scaling on that LG 5k2k ultrawide?