Thoughts on using 3 32 inch lg ultrafine with mac studio vs 3 apple studio display?

[bodhisattva1123]

Hey Guys, currently moving up from my late 2012 imac with 2 tb displays to a mac studio with 3 displays. I'm contemplating 3 32 inch lg ultrafine 4ks vs 3 mac studio displays. Not about the money but more because I'd much rather have 3 32's over 3 27s and I'm not going go spend 18k for 3 pro displays lol.

What do you guys think? Is this going to look bad on mac os with 32 inch 4ks? Should I just go with the 27 studio displays instead? I'm confused about the scaling with 4k 32 inch vs 5k 27. Hope that makes sense. Ik it seems confusing.

 

[ronm99]

I think that is a subjective issue, and you would really need to look at the monitors side by side to decide what you think. My setup is currently a 5K iMac with a second monitor that is a 4K 43” Dell monitor that I use for development. I love the much bigger screen, but I do really notice the lower quality text on it. A 32” 4K monitor would have denser pixels, so it would look better than my 43”.

A rough estimate of PPI would be:

Studio Display: 5K / 27 = 185
32” LG: 4K / 32 = 125
43” Dell: 4K / 43 = 93

For myself, I would not trade my 43” for a second studio display. I love the large display too much for when I’m doing development. But I do find myself using the 27” monitor most of the time when I’m not doing development, so there definitely is a trade-off.

 

[bodhisattva1123]

thanks this helped me understand much better. I think I'm in agreement with you even though I haven't seen them side by side I would love to have the larger displays, I just don't know how much the resolution difference would bother me. I'm looking at the lg 32 ul950 w. Any chance that you've used this one before? 32 inch 4k for about 1300, that would save almost 1000 bux vs buying 3 27 studio displays. I'm leaning towards that for sure

​

 

[enricoclaudio]

I just finished setting up my Mac Studio with a pair of LG 32UN880-B Ultrafine 4K. While they look great, they are not at the same level of my 2017 iMac 5K so after a few hours decided to place an order for a pair of Apple Studio Displays. One of the LGs will stay and the other, which is still in the return window, is going back to Costco.

 

[ronm99]

thanks this helped me understand much better. I think I'm in agreement with you even though I haven't seen them side by side I would love to have the larger displays, I just don't know how much the resolution difference would bother me. I'm looking at the lg 32 ul950 w. Any chance that you've used this one before? 32 inch 4k for about 1300, that would save almost 1000 bux vs buying 3 27 studio displays. I'm leaning towards that for sure

​

If you really value the extra real estate of a bigger monitor, you will probably be happy with the LG monitors. I have the two different monitors side by side, so I really notice the difference in quality. But if all monitors were the same, you wouldn’t have anything to compare to, and a 32” 4K screen is still pretty nice to look at.

And even with the noticeable quality degradation of my 43” Dell, I wouldn’t trade it for a (much more expensive) Studio Display. I really like having the large screen.

 

[bodhisattva1123]

If you really value the extra real estate of a bigger monitor, you will probably be happy with the LG monitors. I have the two different monitors side by side, so I really notice the difference in quality. But if all monitors were the same, you wouldn’t have anything to compare to, and a 32” 4K screen is still pretty nice to look at.

And even with the noticeable quality degradation of my 43” Dell, I wouldn’t trade it for a (much more expensive) Studio Display. I really like having the large screen.

I think I'm with you on that, I may just end up buying all of them just to compare and return the ones I don't want.

 

[bodhisattva1123]

I just finished setting up my Mac Studio with a pair of LG 32UN880-B Ultrafine 4K. While they look great, they are not at the same level of my 2017 iMac 5K so after a few hours decided to place an order for a pair of Apple Studio Displays. One of the LGs will stay and the other, which is still in the return window, is going back to Costco.

View attachment 1984491

looks good man, gonna be awesome with the 2 studio displays. I wonder how the 880 and 950 compare? Probably really similiar.

 

[ronm99]

One other thought to save a few bucks … if you do decide to go with the higher resolution 5K monitors, you could get one studio display, and two LG 5K 27” ultrafine monitors to save yourself some money. My understanding is that the displays are similar quality. You pay an extra $300 for the studio display to get better speakers and a better(?) webcam and you only need those for one of your displays.

 

[enricoclaudio]

looks good man, gonna be awesome with the 2 studio displays. I wonder how the 880 and 950 compare? Probably really similiar.

Don't get me wrong, the 880 is an amazing display. I had one paired with my 27" iMac 5K for a year and really like it but I was using it as a secondary display. My main display was the iMac 5K and now that it's not in front of my anymore, I really miss it. Also, these 32" displays are just too big for me as I sit less than 2.5 ft from the screens. This is one of those cases where bigger is not better.

 

[bodhisattva1123]

One other thought to save a few bucks … if you do decide to go with the higher resolution 5K monitors, you could get one studio display, and two LG 5K 27” ultrafine monitors to save yourself some money. My understanding is that the displays are similar quality. You pay an extra $300 for the studio display to get better speakers and a better(?) webcam and you only need those for one of your displays.

that's

One other thought to save a few bucks … if you do decide to go with the higher resolution 5K monitors, you could get one studio display, and two LG 5K 27” ultrafine monitors to save yourself some money. My understanding is that the displays are similar quality. You pay an extra $300 for the studio display to get better speakers and a better(?) webcam and you only need those for one of your displays.

that's also a good idea also. I was thinking of something along those lines also. Although I know myself and not having the uniformity would trigger my ocd I think lol.

 

[bodhisattva1123]

Don't get me wrong, the 880 is an amazing display. I had one paired with my 27" iMac 5K for a year and really like it but I was using it as a secondary display. My main display was the iMac 5K and now that it's not in front of my anymore, I really miss it. Also, these 32" displays are just too big for me as I sit less than 2.5 ft from the screens. This is one of those cases where bigger is not better.

that's true too, I was thinking 32 may be a little too big because I sit close as well

 

[bodhisattva1123]

View attachment 1984568


This is how I have my set up now with the imac and 2 thunderbolt displays. I have them all on monitor arms and I actually don't use a desk,I have a modified ergotron workfit p that I wall mounted. So I think you're right I sit really close too. I'm thinking if I put 3 32s you're right it might be too big. I'll probably just have to bite the bullet and order them all so I can see how it works out. I'm feeling like I may have to go with the 27s if I'm going to keep them mounted like that idk. I appreciate you guys helping me out.

 

[bodhisattva1123]

That's not an imac pro it's a late 2012 maxed out imac. I just put a carbon fiber skin on the bottom.