need macbook r/air/pro and monitor recommendation

[limton]

Hi all,

I need help in choosing a suitable macbook (12"-13") and also a suitable 24"-27" monitor for my daily use.

i only do office and multimedia with it, ie word, excel, powerpoint, safari, itunes with my mac, i dont game or do any video editing on it.

i plan to connect a keyboard, trackpad and 24"- 27" display on it so that when i am in the office i can have a "dock" set-up. the display need not be a 4k display, but it has to be at least retina display with nice colours that pop.

i dont like fan noise and i need a reasonably powerful machine so that my workload (with the monitor plugged in) does not cause the fans to kick in during my day to day work.

PS. i dont mind getting a macbook with fans, but i hope it doesnt kick in everyday....

 

[Stephen.R]

the display need not be a 4k display, but it has to be at least retina display

At 4K, even a 24" is below the PPI of Apple's/LG's "retina" displays, but it's close enough to not be a problem in my opinion.


I'm pretty happy with my Dell P2415Q's (running 2 of them from a 2018 Mac mini primarily, but I occasionally also drive them from a 2018 MBP15 when the Mini is e.g. being serviced)

I don't have any experience (besides picking them up in a store to compare weights) with any of the Mac laptops below 15" so I can't comment on that - but the Mini's iGPU does fine with a single 4K display so I imagine any of them would be fine in that regard.

 

[limton]

let me try to rephrase my question, is the 2017 macbook pro nontouchbar be able to drive a quad HD monitor for office work without the cooling fans kicking in?