MP 7,1 What are you using for displays?

[avro707]

Mac Pro mid-2010:

LG Ultrafine 5K @ 5120x2880 on Thunderbolt 3 (Gigabyte Titan Ridge 2 flashed)
Apple LED Cinema Display 27" @ 2560x1440 with Display Port to mini Display Port adaptor.

The LG I just got today and on first impressions it is beautiful! Also happy I got the flashed Titan Ridge 2 cards for both 5,1 Mac Pros. They are working perfectly.

I have a Dell 4K display for my Mac Pro 6,1 and that Dell is just terrible, it has poor colour, and really isn't a quality display at all, it's probably good for general office work, word processing and email but nothing much else. I tried the LG 5K with it and that works perfectly too. Wishing the LG was available at the time.

 

[choreo]

I'm late to this party, but I have been using three NEC Professional Reference monitors for years with Mac Pros. When I got my 2019 7,1 in July of 2020, I bought (3) new replacement NEC PA271Q-BK 27" Monitors. The main reason I like the NEC's is because of the Spectraview II calibration software - always gives me a perfect color match across all three screens.

I understand that recently Sharp bought 66% controlling interest in NEC... not sure what the ramifications will be? The monitors I have are now currently sold out at B&H and Adorama, but still show up on the new Sharp/NEC website? Hope they continue the line.

 

[marstan]

I'm late to this party, but I have been using three NEC Professional Reference monitors for years with Mac Pros. When I got my 2019 7,1 in July of 2020, I bought (3) new replacement NEC PA271Q-BK 27" Monitors. The main reason I like the NEC's is because of the Spectraview II calibration software - always gives me a perfect color match across all three screens.

I understand that recently Sharp bought 66% controlling interest in NEC... not sure what the ramifications will be? The monitors I have are now currently sold out at B&H and Adorama, but still show up on the new Sharp/NEC website? Hope they continue the line.

Yes, I am in the same boat but have been using a NEC LCD2690 for 11 years; with Spectraview and hardware calibration it is still very good for color work although not for text. I was going to upgrade with a NEC but noticed their general unavailability, no doubt because of the Sharp acquisition. I have ordered an EIZO CS2740 instead; of course it is hardware calibratable and the Color Navigator software appears to be just as good as NEC's Spectraview. Even if NECs were available I would still have gone with the EIZO because they have a 5 year warranty and they are just the best out there as far as I can tell.

 

[choreo]

Yes, I am in the same boat but have been using a NEC LCD2690 for 11 years; with Spectraview and hardware calibration it is still very good for color work although not for text. I was going to upgrade with a NEC but noticed their general unavailability, no doubt because of the Sharp acquisition. I have ordered an EIZO CS2740 instead; of course it is hardware calibratable and the Color Navigator software appears to be just as good as NEC's Spectraview. Even if NECs were available I would still have gone with the EIZO because they have a 5 year warranty and they are just the best out there as far as I can tell.

Yes, hard to beat EIZO if you have the funds. The (3) NEC's I bought were about $1150 each on sale... so made quite a bit of difference on my budget. I still have a NEC LCD2690 that I use for tethering, but it uses an older technology panel - I don't think it is even LED backlighting - it is noticeably less sharp than the newer models that I purchased. Text is not a problem on my newer displays.

 

[marstan]

That is a good price on the NECs; that's about what I paid for the LCD2690. You are right, that old model uses fluorescent backlighting not LED. There may be one positive to that old backlight tech, though, and that is it may not use PWM for brightness control for those bothered by it. EIZOs are expensive but I only need one and I tend to keep things a long time. I expect to be shocked (in a good way) by the performance of the EIZO and will realize that I should have upgraded much sooner. I just hope there is no performance hit from running the 4K at a scaled resolution on my old video card.

 

[avro707]

I had a 2010 IMac at work with a 4K screen attached. It worked at 4K resolution but slowed down the machine which was fairly high spec. The 4K screen was nothing fancy. The previous second screen was a 30” Apple which I preferred.

 

[marstan]

I had a 2010 IMac at work with a 4K screen attached. It worked at 4K resolution but slowed down the machine which was fairly high spec. The 4K screen was nothing fancy. The previous second screen was a 30” Apple which I preferred.

But that machine was not spec'd to drive a 4k display while also driving its own internal one. [see Apple tech spec on both the 21.5" and 27": "Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560 by 1600 pixels) on an external display"]

 

[jerrygladh]

My Samsung died dramatically yesterday. I’m hoping to revive it. But what are new MacPro users using? Any to avoid? I may have to make an emergency purchase today.

If you do color critical work, go hardware calibrated.
I use Eizo CG:s, its worth it...

Jerry

 

[Taylor Walraven]

20"  Cinema Display, 27"  LED Cinema Display, and a 27" LG 4K LED Monitor.