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The *COMPLETE* list of 27" 5K Displays?
- Thread starter i486dx2-66
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Thanks OP for this.
Assuming this is an exhaustive list, I'm disappointed that so many years after the release of the first 5K iMac, manufacturers haven't released more of those. I'd also like to have PPI consistency between my laptop and an external 27" display (which is more than enough, no need for 32").
Assuming this is an exhaustive list, I'm disappointed that so many years after the release of the first 5K iMac, manufacturers haven't released more of those. I'd also like to have PPI consistency between my laptop and an external 27" display (which is more than enough, no need for 32").
Love this spreadsheet, but any chance it could be a google doc or something easier to read? Thanks!
You ought to include in your list the refurb Studio Display from Apple for $1,359:
At that price, there is really no point in getting a 5K Ultrafine which only saves you $60. Apple factory refurbs are indistinguishable from brand new, they have the full warranty, and AppleCare available. There is no downside to Apple refurb other than that they come in plain boxes.
Refurbished Apple Studio Display, Standard glass, Tilt adjustable stand
A big, beautiful window into new worlds, Studio Display draws you in from the moment you turn it on. It has a slim, all-screen design. And it’s packed with a phenomenal set of features so everything you do springs to life with gorgeous color and spectacular detail.
www.apple.com
At that price, there is really no point in getting a 5K Ultrafine which only saves you $60. Apple factory refurbs are indistinguishable from brand new, they have the full warranty, and AppleCare available. There is no downside to Apple refurb other than that they come in plain boxes.
This is what is striking about the Studio Display. Initially you balk at the price…then you start looking around for an alternative and find there aren’t many and you’re usually giving up something for it. Look at an Apple refurbished Studio Display—indistinguishable from new, as someone already mentioned upthread—and the alternatives to it look even worse.
I'd like to keep it here, if possible... I've unfortunately seen way too many otherwise excellent technical threads on other forums that become nearly worthless after external linked resources change or disappear.
I was going to make the table directly in my post, which would be ideal as then all of the text is searchable. But it seems like there is a forum limit at 10 columns... The only other thought I had was to split it into two halves? 🤷♂️
Refurb is a bit of a slippery slope... If we compare "apples to apples", the refurbished LG is only $905 with a 90-day guarantee on Amazon. $450 savings over Apple refurb is considerable, and brings the LG right back into the value lead. Obviously "refurbished" means different things to different people (or companies), and Apple tends to have a better reputation for this... but you could have three refurbished LGs for the price of two refurbished Apple Studio displays.
Used prices would also be a good comparison, here the LGs sell frequently on eBay for the upper $300s / lower $400s price range, which is remarkable. But used prices are a highly variable supply/demand situation, so I'm hesitant to add that to the table?
The LG is also frequently available NEW at the $1099 price point. I haven't figured out if these are sales, or how LG clears out the older models as they keep updating it (who knew there were 8+ versions of this monitor??). But $1099 is a common price for them.
I will confirm that the HP screen is matte. I have several of them that I bought as refurbs from HP. Nice screens.
After looking at 27" screens for the last 14 years (and a 24" Sony GDM FW900, w00t) for years before that... Im moving to the new 32" Dell 6K. Just need to wait for a sale and price drop to $2500 or so =)
I will be honest that the Kuycon is my top choice just because I want a glossy display.
Main issue at the moment is my 1070 ti cannot drive a 5K display except at 6-bit color per reports. I may replace my PC with a newer one with a better GPU, but I don't really have to from a performance perspective. So thinking I might just accept 4K and go 32" so I can run it at 1080p HiDPI while still having a large workspace.
Main issue at the moment is my 1070 ti cannot drive a 5K display except at 6-bit color per reports. I may replace my PC with a newer one with a better GPU, but I don't really have to from a performance perspective. So thinking I might just accept 4K and go 32" so I can run it at 1080p HiDPI while still having a large workspace.
I imported a LG 27MD5KL from the US off of eBay last year (at significant cost, but still cheaper than a new ASD by at least $500) and so far I've been extremely disappointed with it:
- Ugly reddish tint (difference is very significant next to my old 2014 iMac 5K, which has developed image retency issues over the years but still has nice colours otherwise)
- Plastic chassis feels hollow and cheap
- Stand is wobbly and completely worthless (though thankfully it comes with an alternate VESA mount backpanel)
- Speakers are HORRIBLE TRASH
- Unlike the ASD it won't do native resolution over plain USB-C (it's capped to 4K unless the input is true Thunderbolt) which limits its compatibility with non-Apple hardware (how ironic that the Apple one fares better about that...)
It is genuinely pathetic that for a long time, this massively overpriced piece of garbage was the only option for a standalone 5K monitor.
Back when I bought it, refurbished ASDs weren't available yet, and now I am bitterly regretting not having waited for that.
Although my real wish is for a manufacturer to release a decent 5K monitor that's not just limited to a single USB-C/TB input. Cause as nice as the ASD appears to be, that's still a very annoying limitation. A display of this price should have more inputs, like c'mon.
- Ugly reddish tint (difference is very significant next to my old 2014 iMac 5K, which has developed image retency issues over the years but still has nice colours otherwise)
- Plastic chassis feels hollow and cheap
- Stand is wobbly and completely worthless (though thankfully it comes with an alternate VESA mount backpanel)
- Speakers are HORRIBLE TRASH
- Unlike the ASD it won't do native resolution over plain USB-C (it's capped to 4K unless the input is true Thunderbolt) which limits its compatibility with non-Apple hardware (how ironic that the Apple one fares better about that...)
It is genuinely pathetic that for a long time, this massively overpriced piece of garbage was the only option for a standalone 5K monitor.
Back when I bought it, refurbished ASDs weren't available yet, and now I am bitterly regretting not having waited for that.
Although my real wish is for a manufacturer to release a decent 5K monitor that's not just limited to a single USB-C/TB input. Cause as nice as the ASD appears to be, that's still a very annoying limitation. A display of this price should have more inputs, like c'mon.
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As a glossy display fan, I feel your pain. I presume that we are talking 60Hz - Can your graphics card do 5K 8-bit at a reduced refresh rate?
well that’s fine, the problem is when they’re making it an Apple display knockoff replacement instead of an alternative. the problem with fake AirPods is that they are inferior to the real thing.
If you really want native resolution over plain USB-C, then you can try 5K with a custom timing set to 39Hz.
So what is a good 27”-30” screen that looks like the imac 5k screen and works with pc so we can game with higher refresh rates than 60/70hz?
Thanks for the post, very interesting!
Thanks for the post, very interesting!
That's an even worse compromise. 60Hz is the absolute minimum requirement for a usable display.
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OP list should include a column for input ports. That's a pretty important detail.
I might propose building a simple web app for this table. Doing this would bring a few benefits:
If this is of interest I could try cobbling something together. I'm more of a native dev but have done web stuff in the past.
- This would allow it to be hosted on GitHub, which is free and in no danger of disappearing any time soon
- It would make it easy for other users to make forks (personal copies) of the table to further reduce risk of disappearance
- It'd enable collaborative editing and change tracking
- The web app could offer options to sort the table, choose which columns are visible, etc to acommodate for what users find most important in their display shopping
- It could be hosted at an easily memorable subdomain (e.g. "5kdisplays.github.com")
If this is of interest I could try cobbling something together. I'm more of a native dev but have done web stuff in the past.
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@kitsunesoba - Thanks for the offer, but I think it sounds like overkill? Creating this list was more of a data gathering curiosity... with only two proven viable displays actually available for sale, and most looong discontinued, the number of people who would benefit from that kind of filtering is going to be very small... and with this few of displays, over nearly a decade of 5K panel existence, I'm not sure there is any benefit to change tracking, forking, etc? A concise post here in the forum, with all of the data here in the forum co-located with the discussion of that data, ensures its existence for the people who need it most.
In truth, for most 27" 5K monitor buyers, the decision flowchart is actually quite simple:
1) Did I find something locally / cheap / used?
Yes -> Go with that one.
2) Am I handy with electronics?
Yes -> 5K iMac conversion
3) Am I willing to gamble?
Yes -> Kuycon G27X
4) Am I willing to wait?
Yes -> Samsung ViewFinity S9
5) Is cost the biggest factor?
Yes -> LG UltraFine 5K
6) Apple Studio Display.
In truth, for most 27" 5K monitor buyers, the decision flowchart is actually quite simple:
1) Did I find something locally / cheap / used?
Yes -> Go with that one.
2) Am I handy with electronics?
Yes -> 5K iMac conversion
3) Am I willing to gamble?
Yes -> Kuycon G27X
4) Am I willing to wait?
Yes -> Samsung ViewFinity S9
5) Is cost the biggest factor?
Yes -> LG UltraFine 5K
6) Apple Studio Display.
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Depending on your needs, it can be an acceptable tradeoff if you have to choose between resolution, color depth, or refresh rate. Gaming would be a mess of course, but things like photo editing would certainly be better with a higher color depth.
Whoops - had that one confused with another. Thanks for that, I'll edit my post to avoid confusion. 👍
Thunderbolt 3/4 lacks the bandwidth to truly support 5K resolutions with deeper color depths at higher than 60Hz refresh (even with DSC, it can only do so at lower color depths).
The early 5K PC displays (HP, Dell, Iiyama, etc.) all required dual DisplayPort inputs because DisplayPort at the time could not drive the monitor at even 60Hz over one cable (each DP input drove half the display, hence the need for two inputs). This made them somewhat of a hassle for PC owners and market acceptance remained very low so the OEMs eventually stopped selling them. As an aside, this is why Apple developed a custom timing controller for the iMac 5K and this killed Target Display Mode (since, again, you could not drive the iMac 5K display at 5K over a single TB input cable).
Since LG's 5K panel was used with and for Macs, LG had no incentive to make it more than 60Hz. The new BoE 5K panel that is believed to be used in the Samsung S9 will likely also be a 60Hz panel since it offers Thunderbolt connectivity, as well, but it does also have DisplayPort inputs, so it might offer higher refresh rates via DP. We will have to see the specs when they finally get around to shipping it.
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