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Officially giving up on the Mac Mini 2018 + 4K monitor dream
- Thread starter Tigerman82
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Sapphire Nitro Vega 64 inside a Sonnet eGFX Box.
I did end up going whole-hog and am now using the dual 5K monitors with it, just fine.
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Thanks. Are the iiyama's with glossy screen or reflecting like the LG5K?
May I ask you what kind of work you are doing with the MacMini?
I’m using 3x LG 32” 4K with a Razer eGPU and Vega 64. Works great.
It's just like looking at a 27" iMac. There's no (or minimal) antireflective coating. The bezels around the screen are very thick, but since they're completely flush with the active area, the whole thing is one continuous flat surface, which makes it quite attractive.
I use the Mac for software development and the appeal of Retina for me is basically to have a lot of code editors and terminals on screen that are all super readable because of the wonderful fidelity of 12pt font rendering @ 220 DPI.
I do some game/graphics work, but honestly the Vega64 is probably a bit overkill. I only used it for the Mac Mini because I pulled it out of a PC tower I already had.
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Is that native 4K or are you running in 1440p scaled mode?
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Nothing, running Catalina.
[automerge]1570995227[/automerge]
Native 4K.
Thanks for your replies. Regarding eGPU: am I right that only Blackmagic supports a "TB3-output" in order to run the LG 5K monitor?
And to you, screen elements aren't too small? I prefer things on the smaller side personally, but I am hearing mixed things from people about whether native 4K at 32" is feasible or not. Unfortunately don't have a way to check on my own in-person as none of the electronics stores by me carry a 32" 4K monitor.
Owning a Dell P2415 24" 4k monitor, I can say that text is actually readable on 4k, even with older eyes / worn glasses. But you wouldn't want to do that for prolonged periods of time. Running scaled at 2x (i.e. virtual 1080p) is a strong relief and - from what I have read so far - simple 2x scaling is making little to no problems (unlike uneven fractions, e.g. when scaling to 2560x1440 etc.).
Going for bigger monitors (such as 40") to run 4k native while keeping it easily readable, results in other problems: The monitor starts to become so big that you have to move your head significantly more while working (making it a less relaxed way of working), as it is not possible to have the whole monitor inside your field of view at normal working distance. Moving it further away would impair readability again.
Also, with huge monitors it starts to make a difference whether you look at the center of the screen or at the edges (again at normal working distance on a standard desktop). The distance from your eyes to the screen differs noticably on those extremes, leading to your eyes having to refocus each time you change the area you're looking at. This makes it a strenuous experience (maybe with younger eyes you don't really notice, but if you already have some miles on your body ...).
For this very reason I returned a flat 34" monitor and went for a curved one (despite the various problems those monitors have, such as light bleeding in the edges) and am very happy with it ever since. So my recommendation is to take a close look at a curved monitor if you intend to go big (as Apple's glasses - which could alleviate this problem - will probably need some more time).
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Body ergonomics aside, 4K (3840x2160) at 1:1 on a 40" monitor does not even look particularly good, because since the panel is so big it ends up being low-DPI. Sharpness no better than a cheap 15" 1280x1024 monitor from the mid 2000s.
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That's kind of the crummy spot I'm in right now. Native 4K needs such a big monitor that it ends up being pretty low DPI. So maybe I just get a 24" or 27" K and run in 1080p pixel doubled?
The only choice I feel like I wouldn't be making a compromise on would be a 5K 27" display. I do enjoy the 27" size, and 1440p looks nice but it's sharp enough with regard to text for me. But... $$$.
Right now I am using a 1440p monitor at 27" and text is a bit too blurry for my liking (I have great vision). 4K at 32" is only like 20-some DPI higher than what I have now, so I don't know that it'll look much better (assuming I sit the same distance from the monitor).
A good site:
3840x2160 32 inch is 138 DPI
2560x1440 27 inch is 108 DPI
This is quite a big difference, but I agree not like going to retina 2x.
Out of interest in what files do you see blurriness on the 1440p screen? If it is Preview PDFs, this has been a persistent bug for years. Apparently now fixed in Catalina.
I just wonder if Apple releases an updated MacMini that can run the new 6K monitor (without eGPU).
Yeah, I'm not sure only getting a 30DPI increase justifies the cost of a 32" 4K monitor for me. If I'm going to spend the money for a new monitor, I'd hope to get more than that-- even if it means opting for a smaller screen, since I value sharpness over workspace size. I already make a lot of use out of multiple desktops, so not a big problem for me.
How about a 34” UW monitor with 3.5 - 4.5k then? I find those a nice compromise between physical screen size and pixel resolution, with a comfortable dot pitch size.
The older 3.5k monitors have become comparably affordable these days, if you can live with Thunderbolt-2 instead of TB3/USB-C. And as a 3.5k monitor can be driven by a 2012 mini w/o problems, it should be even less of a problem for a 2018 mini.
yeah i agree. That's why i opted for the 21.5" Ultrafine 4K. very happy with it.
the graph shows the old Ultrafine 4K, the new one is 3840x2160 at 23.8", like the dell.
i've seen a couple of small 4K screens and i think they're good, the 24". 183 still falls at being able to run at highDPI. 138, not so much. And running native, stuff just gets small.
Yep, I think my choice at this point is between getting one of the UltraFine displays. Which is fine by me. Both of them look great to my eyes.yeah i agree. That's why i opted for the 21.5" Ultrafine 4K. very happy with it.
the graph shows the old Ultrafine 4K, the new one is 3840x2160 at 23.8", like the dell.
i've seen a couple of small 4K screens and i think they're good, the 24". 183 still falls at being able to run at highDPI. 138, not so much. And running native, stuff just gets small.
Yeah. Ideally for me would be a 32 inch 5K display.yeah i agree. That's why i opted for the 21.5" Ultrafine 4K. very happy with it.
the graph shows the old Ultrafine 4K, the new one is 3840x2160 at 23.8", like the dell.
i've seen a couple of small 4K screens and i think they're good, the 24". 183 still falls at being able to run at highDPI. 138, not so much. And running native, stuff just gets small.
Which makes me think why this size and resolution is not on commodity monitors yet.
I got macbook pro 2018 connected to LG 27UK850-w. In my opinion the quality is good enough. Colors, resolutions. It's pretty fine. Connected via USB-C
Right now I'm about to get mac mini 2018, i5 16gb. Any chance there could be some issues?
Also - just so I won't do another post - the problem with remote magic keyboard and trackpad with Wi-Fi 2.4Ghz still exist?
Right now I'm about to get mac mini 2018, i5 16gb. Any chance there could be some issues?
Also - just so I won't do another post - the problem with remote magic keyboard and trackpad with Wi-Fi 2.4Ghz still exist?