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The situation is a bit ridiculous with only two viable options the Asus and Apple's display. I just bought a macbook for the first time and even with disabling font smoothing I can't get a non-blurry text on my external 4k monitors.

Praying Apple updates the studio display in the spring, otherwise I have to get the Asus even though it is pretty outdate in it's technology (no high refresh rate and a standard IPS)..
Are you saying that text on your ASD's is blurry? How come everyone else loves their ASDs? I'm asking because this is the first time I've heard this. Maybe you have the ASDs with nano-texture? I know that makes text blurry.
 
Are you saying that text on your ASD's is blurry? How come everyone else loves their ASDs? I'm asking because this is the first time I've heard this. Maybe you have the ASDs with nano-texture? I know that makes text blurry.

He says he has a 4K, not the ASD which is 5k.

As for me on a 4k 27" (lg something), I don't find the text blurry, but I stand rather for from the display (50cm or something)
 
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He says he has a 4K, not the ASD which is 5k.

As for me on a 4k 27" (lg something), I don't find the text blurry, but I stand rather for from the display (50cm or something)
50cm is still pretty close considering the recommendation for 27" for eye fatigue is (up to) 80cm.

To mitigate eye fatigue with research and programming on my MacBook, I sit about 80cm and also use the "Larger Text" display setting. This means I'm not actually getting native Retina resolution. But since it's 80cm I don't notice it.

Since I don't use native retina then maybe a cheaper non-Apple display around 130 ppi will suffice?
 
I have two 31.5" 4K displays I run at 2560x1440 and their text is sharp enough at ~70cm, but I picked both in part because they have excellent text sharpness.
 
50cm is still pretty close considering the recommendation for 27" for eye fatigue is (up to) 80cm.

To mitigate eye fatigue with research and programming on my MacBook, I sit about 80cm and also use the "Larger Text" display setting. This means I'm not actually getting native Retina resolution. But since it's 80cm I don't notice it.

Since I don't use native retina then maybe a cheaper non-Apple display around 130 ppi will suffice?

Maybe more than 50 cm, on the laptop only these days
 
That is crap what you are writing!
Apparently you misunderstood. 70-80cm (while using large font size). This is the standard way to mitigate eye fatigue. Along with other measures.


Btw, I realized it's better to keep the macOS 'Default' resolution and use 'Zoom in' (Safari) or increase app default font size as you can do in the Notes app. This maintains Retina. Using the "Larger Text" and "More Space" display option degrades Retina.
 
Apparently you misunderstood. 70-80cm (while using large font size). This is the standard way to mitigate eye fatigue. Along with other measures.


Btw, I realized it's better to keep the macOS 'Default' resolution and use 'Zoom in' (Safari) or increase app default font size as you can do in the Notes app. This maintains Retina. Using the "Larger Text" and "More Space" display option degrades Retina.
There's no such thing as "Retina" so it's impossible to "maintain Retina" or to "degrade Retina."

A retina display is one where the pixels are not individually distinguishable from a normal viewing distance. The generally-accepted rule of thumb is that the display must have a resolution of 60 pixels per visual degree to be a retina display. So whether or not a display is a retina display depends on its size, physical resolution, and how far away the viewer is viewing the display from, and has nothing to do with software settings.

What you're talking about in your post is using a "scaled resolution" vs. a non-scaled resolution. With a scaled resolution, the OS initially renders everything on-screen to a non-scaled virtual resolution and then takes that content and scales it down to the monitor's physical resolution.

Scaling an image down in this way necessarily results in some loss of detail and scaling artifacts, but if the display is a retina display (i.e., its resolution is high enough) then you're not really going to be able to notice a difference between a scaled resolution and resolution that isn't scaled, so it's simply not worth worrying about.
 
Are there any monitors comparable to the ASD with a mic, speakers, and webcam? When you take into consideration these things, the integration of everything in one makes the expense of an ASD easier to take.
 
Are there any monitors comparable to the ASD with a mic, speakers, and webcam? When you take into consideration these things, the integration of everything in one makes the expense of an ASD easier to take.
I think for those who don't have the ASD, the big question is when will Apple refresh the monitor? Will it be early 2025 or are they going to wait until 2026 with the rumored OLED roll out of the MBPs. Clearly no other manufacturer has been able to deliver a product as well rounded as the ASD. Others have superior panels, but at lower resolution. At the 5k resolution no other manufacturer has been able to tune the display and package it as well as Apple has. Even if they don't update with OLED, the improved nano texture and quantum dots technology on the MBPs would be a huge and welcome edition.
 
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At the 5k resolution no other manufacturer has been able to tune the display and package it as well as Apple has.
I think manufacturers have conceded the $1200+ 5K display market to Apple for now, rather than there being any technical or feature package complexity. The market share for $1200+ 5K displays is too small, the sales volume numbers don't work. 4K displays dominate and are arguably good enough for mass consumer, which is where the sales volume exists. Plus, these manufacturers may not be considered premium brands, so getting traction in the $1200+ display market is a challenge.
 
Ah, the speed of turning on after sleep the MacBook with Viewsonic is like iMac 5k 2017.
Not having used that iMac, is that good or bad? My LG 5k resumes from sleep a little slowly with several "bonks" (black screens) on both the monitor and my MBP before everything settles down. Would love to get rid of those with my next 5k monitor(s). The Apple Studio Display is not an option for me just on principal given how crappy the ASD webcam is.
 
Here are some picture from the India show of the ViewSonic monitor

2007067848.jpeg
2007067846.jpeg
 
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Just to update things a bit, here's a thread that covers the ASUS ProArt 5K 27" monitor, amongst others, with links to some good reviews.

5K, 6K or 8K: new Asus ProArt monitors

As for the new 5K Viewsonic display that's been mentioned, looks like AliExpress has a page on it (and can ship to the United States?). Look over it closely; under Specifications it gives a contrast ratio of 1,000:1 and brightness 300 cd/m (which I think is the same as nits), but click View More and drop down to keep reading, and you'll see contrast ratio given as 2,000:1 and 'high' brightness of 400 nits. Says it has a Mac Color Mode and is Apple friendly. Their website lists it now at $1,400 but 30% off so $980.

The ASUS ProArt 5K 27" display is around $800. I wonder whether the Viewsonic has any competitive advantages to justify its higher price?
 
Here are some picture from the India show of the ViewSonic monitor

2007067848.jpeg
2007067846.jpeg
Thanks - it looks like Asus, Viewsonic and possibly Benq and others are all using the same 5K panel, as they all do HDR400. This one is a full Thunderbolt 4, unlike others though.
Is there is any confirmation whether this one is matte or glossy? Hard to tell from these photos.
 
Thanks - it looks like Asus, Viewsonic and possibly Benq and others are all using the same 5K panel, as they all do HDR400. This one is a full Thunderbolt 4, unlike others though.
Is there is any confirmation whether this one is matte or glossy? Hard to tell from these photos.

According to the Aliexpress link it has a Matte screen. It also has KVM and built-in speakers but no webcam.
 
According to the Aliexpress link it has a Matte screen. It also has KVM and built-in speakers but no webcam.
Thanks, that's a bit of a show stopper for me. There seems to be no 27", 5K glossy screen at present beyond the Studio Display. Hope this changes at CES.
 
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Just to update things a bit, here's a thread that covers the ASUS ProArt 5K 27" monitor, amongst others, with links to some good reviews.

5K, 6K or 8K: new Asus ProArt monitors

As for the new 5K Viewsonic display that's been mentioned, looks like AliExpress has a page on it (and can ship to the United States?). Look over it closely; under Specifications it gives a contrast ratio of 1,000:1 and brightness 300 cd/m (which I think is the same as nits), but click View More and drop down to keep reading, and you'll see contrast ratio given as 2,000:1 and 'high' brightness of 400 nits. Says it has a Mac Color Mode and is Apple friendly. Their website lists it now at $1,400 but 30% off so $980.

The ASUS ProArt 5K 27" display is around $800. I wonder whether the Viewsonic has any competitive advantages to justify its higher price?

ViewSonic mentioned in that link that they color calibrate each unit. Each monitor is provided with its color calibration report. I believe this is the only 5k monitor providing that.

We need to see if there is any difference in the matte quality.
 
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Thanks, that's a bit of a show stopper for me. There seems to be no 27", 5K glossy screen at present beyond the Studio Display. Hope this changes at CES.
I also prefer glossy screens to matte.

That being said, IIRC, Apple's secret sauce is to directly bond (read: glue) glass directly to the LCD screen, with no air gap, so there aren't any extra air-glass interfaces to cause reflections. So even though the glass screen is glossy, it is also pretty low-reflection.

I doubt any other vendor will do this.
 
I noticed that the aliexpress link is for VG2781-5K while the India model is VP2788-5K. There could be some differences in the specs, so we should wait to see what is announced at CES along with what specs it will have.

Visually I noticed that the Aliexpress monitor has physical controls at the bottom right below the display, while the image from India doesn’t show any controls. Also, I see some differences at the back of the display from the side view, including differences in the stands. The Aliexpress version overall looks nicer and better featured.
 
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I noticed that the aliexpress link is for VG2781-5K while the India model is VP2788-5K. There could be some differences in the specs, so we should wait to see what is announced at CES along with what specs it will have.

The VG2781-5K is an older model released in early 2024. It has HDMI and DisplayPort inputs while the VP2788-5K has Thunderbolt 4. There is at least one forum member who bought one and they comment on their experiences in this thread around June.
 
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