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What monitor to wait for for the nMP?

R

Ryan0751

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 4, 2013
186
164
So I have two Thunderbolt Display's connect to my nMP today.

I'm wondering what kind of display to move to. It seems like the 5K is just not really going to be an option anytime soon.

4K is kind of bizarre, with all of the MST issues, TN panels, sleep wake problems...

I wish a 27-28" IPS panel was available with 4K resolution (maybe full 4K?), 60Hz, SST over a single DP connection, and a scaling mode that looked really nice at 2550x1440 to compare to the existing TBD screens.

And under $1000 would be nice too.

Is this too much to ask for?
 
Ryan0751 said:
So I have two Thunderbolt Display's connect to my nMP today.

I'm wondering what kind of display to move to. It seems like the 5K is just not really going to be an option anytime soon.

4K is kind of bizarre, with all of the MST issues, TN panels, sleep wake problems...

I wish a 27-28" IPS panel was available with 4K resolution (maybe full 4K?), 60Hz, SST over a single DP connection, and a scaling mode that looked really nice at 2550x1440 to compare to the existing TBD screens.

And under $1000 would be nice too.

Is this too much to ask for?
Click to expand...

The new LG 31" 4K is a true 4K 4096x2160 IPS SST display that's due next week.
That's your best bet, but it's around £999.
 
N19h7m4r3 said:
The new LG 31" 4K is a true 4K 4096x2160 IPS SST display that's due next week.
That's your best bet, but it's around £999.
Click to expand...

I've been looking at that unit, but 31" is a little bit too large to have two of them.

Phillips announced a 40" panel as well (monitor, not TV). I wonder if at that size you could run 4K unscaled, and take the place of two 27" units.

I like the screen real-estate I have today, it's great!
 
Posted in a couple of other threads, the LG 31MU97 4K display is probably the best 4K alternative to the Thunderbolt at the moment except that the nMP doesn't seem to be able to support the 4096x2160 resolution. Size-wise, it's just a slightly wider than other 28" monitors, but unfortunately 4096x2160 is not a resolution the Mac expects, so it ends up being 3048x2160 centered between black bar on the left and right.

I think a very good choice for nMP users may be when Dell finally releases the P2415Q 24" 4K monitor, which is apparently an SST monitor. A 24" 4K monitor is exactly the right size to run in 2X retina mode. I tried the UP2414Q and really liked the screen quality but it had a lot of compatibility issues. There's very little details on the P2415Q other than the driver is available for download and they show it's an SST display. If it gets released soon, I'd opt for a pair of those as my ideal configuration.
 
edanuff said:
Posted in a couple of other threads, the LG 31MU97 4K display is probably the best 4K alternative to the Thunderbolt at the moment except that the nMP doesn't seem to be able to support the 4096x2160 resolution. Size-wise, it's just a slightly wider than other 28" monitors, but unfortunately 4096x2160 is not a resolution the Mac expects, so it ends up being 3048x2160 centered between black bar on the left and right.
Click to expand...

Oh it does? That's actually horrible. The current GPUs in the Mac Pro shouldn't have an issue with that resolution at all considering they can power 3 UHD/4K monitors.

I to see the LG 31MU97 4K as the best IPS display at the moment, and the fact that it won't use the full resolution in OS X is very disheartening.
 
N19h7m4r3 said:
The current GPUs in the Mac Pro shouldn't have an issue with that resolution at all
Click to expand...

I don't think it's a GPU limitation. It looks like an issue with the resolutions the monitor indicates to the computer are available.
 
edanuff said:
Posted in a couple of other threads, the LG 31MU97 4K display is probably the best 4K alternative to the Thunderbolt at the moment except that the nMP doesn't seem to be able to support the 4096x2160 resolution. Size-wise, it's just a slightly wider than other 28" monitors, but unfortunately 4096x2160 is not a resolution the Mac expects, so it ends up being 3048x2160 centered between black bar on the left and right.

I think a very good choice for nMP users may be when Dell finally releases the P2415Q 24" 4K monitor, which is apparently an SST monitor. A 24" 4K monitor is exactly the right size to run in 2X retina mode. I tried the UP2414Q and really liked the screen quality but it had a lot of compatibility issues. There's very little details on the P2415Q other than the driver is available for download and they show it's an SST display. If it gets released soon, I'd opt for a pair of those as my ideal configuration.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, that sounds like a great monitor. For me, anything over 24 with two is too big for me. I am going to wait an see what these are like. Good find.
 
Over on HardForum, someone found the manuals for the P2715Q and P2415Q posted on Dell's site. As expected, they are 3840x2160@60Hz IPS monitors with SST (and an optional MST setting). Given that the drivers and manuals are already online, it seems like we'll see these released before the end of the year.
 
edanuff said:
Over on HardForum, someone found the manuals for the P2715Q and P2415Q posted on Dell's site. As expected, they are 3840x2160@60Hz IPS monitors with SST (and an optional MST setting). Given that the drivers and manuals are already online, it seems like we'll see these released before the end of the year.
Click to expand...

That does sound like a candidate. It would be a step down for me though, running in 1080 at 2x hi-dpi mode is a lot less screen real-estate than 2550x1440. Plus it's smaller.

A tradeoff for the resolution...
 
If you're considering the LG 31MU97, better check the thread over in the peripherals forum first. With 4096x2160 rez, lots of headaches. Doesn't seem to play well at all with the nMP. Too bad, Really nice image at a good price.
 
I just popped into the local Microcenter. They had only 2 4K monitors to look at, the Samsung UD590 and the Dell UP3214Q.

The Samsung wasn't working, the Dell was hooked up to a Mac Pro, along with an Apple Thunderbolt Display.

I have to say I'm really torn on this 4k business.

The 32" Dell was definitely nice and big, but threw off quite a bit of heat, and it's most certainly not a pretty looking piece of hardware.

But more surprising was the image quality and the way OS X handled the resolutions.

With both monitors connected (TDB and the Dell), you could only tell OS X to optimize settings for one display or the other. If I said optimize for the TBD, it would force the Dell to use a different scaled resolution, and vice versa.

The Dell is native 3840x2160, and the best I could get OS X to display was 3008x1692. I have to say, the text and icons looked "ok", but it looked "soft". On the TBD, sure you can see pixels up close easier, but it's dead sharp at 2550x1440.

All of these issues are really leaning me to just keeping with my 27" TBD's until the technology matures a bit more.
 
Sounds like the Thunderbolt display really might be your best bet. It's certainly among the best for display quality and Mac compatibility. After trying a number of different 4K monitors at different sizes and price points, I think I've got a pretty good picture of what's in store for the 4K world - it's pretty much what you have today with the 4K IPS displays like the LG and the Dells, just with hopefully lower prices and better compatibility with OSX in the future. For 5K displays, it's what you see on the new iMac, either as a 3rd party monitor with unknown levels of compatibility with existing Macs (like Dell's upcoming 5K monitor) or whatever 5K monitor Apple introduces in the future, that most people expect not to be compatible with existing Mac models. I've come to the conclusion that if you're optimizing for true retina display experience rather than screen real estate, that the no-compromise solution is either 24" 4K and 27" 5K. Everything else is going to be good, but not perfect.
 
I'm running a Dell 30" at 2560x1600 from my 2012 (cMP). Would the Phillips 40" monitor give me more resolution or less resolution but more screen area?
 
Well, it uses two DisplayPort connections, so what's going to probably happen is that it either is going to look like two 2560x2880 monitors or four 2560x1440 monitors. Either of those configurations is easily driven by a nMP. I'm not sure what happens with the menu bar though.

Also from Dell, the P2415Q and P2715Q product info pages are up. Neither is available to order yet, but they physically look identical to the UP2414Q and UP2714Q except with the revised specs.
 
edanuff said:
Also from Dell, the P2415Q and P2715Q product info pages are up. Neither is available to order yet, but they physically look identical to the UP2414Q and UP2714Q except with the revised specs.
Click to expand...

Let's hope these are everything we want at a decent price. At the rate info is becoming available, I'm guessing availability sooner than later.

I'm wondering if you could run 4K native on the 27" and still read text?

I'm leaning towards a pair of 24" though.
 
All I want is ...

  • A nice 27"
  • Doesn't-have-to-be-retina
  • Glossy or non-matt
  • Aluminum framed display
  • Designed for desktops, not laptops with a silly vestigial power connection
  • More than three USB ports!
  • Thunderbolt

Basically a TB monitor without the laptop and with more USB ports

I'm using two TB displays with an older Cinema presently. They work fine, I'd be OK with other monitors too if they just didn't have the matt overlay.
 
I ordered an LG 34UC97 21:9 ultra-wide curved Thunderbolt 2 monitor and should be receiving it tomorrow. I'll post impressions once I get it up and running. I'm currently running an ATD which is great but I could really use more horizontal workspace.
 
I looked at the LG 34UC97 in the store. If you were not looking for 4K and were going to spend $999 on a new Thunderbolt display, I'd seriously recommend looking at this first. The 3440x1440 isn't going to strain any decent GPU and it's going to give you more screen real estate than a Thunderbolt display. Great color and very good build quality.
 
I got my LG 34UC97 from Amazon today. It had awful, awful, AWFUL backlight bleeding/dark screen non-uniformity. It was not at all subtle. Thinking this surely had to be a defective copy, I drove down to Micro Center and picked up another 34UC97. It was just as bad as the first; plus, Thunderbolt-to-USB multiplexing didn't work on the Micro Center monitor. Oh well; back to my trusty ATD I go.

Samsung is supposed to be releasing a 21:9 34" monitor (without Thunderbolt unfortunately) early next year. Samsung's monitor will have a VA panel as opposed the IPS one in the LG display which will certainly help with backlight uniformity. Heck, I'd have been more satisfied with either LG panel if they'd have performed like any run-of-the-mill TN panel. They were BAD.
 
kfscoll said:
I got my LG 34UC97 from Amazon today. It had awful, awful, AWFUL backlight bleeding/dark screen non-uniformity. It was not at all subtle. Thinking this surely had to be a defective copy, I drove down to Micro Center and picked up another 34UC97. It was just as bad as the first; plus, Thunderbolt-to-USB multiplexing didn't work on the Micro Center monitor. Oh well; back to my trusty ATD I go.

Samsung is supposed to be releasing a 21:9 34" monitor (without Thunderbolt unfortunately) early next year. Samsung's monitor will have a VA panel as opposed the IPS one in the LG display which will certainly help with backlight uniformity. Heck, I'd have been more satisfied with either LG panel if they'd have performed like any run-of-the-mill TN panel. They were BAD.
Click to expand...

What about a pair of the Dell UP2414Q 24" 3840x2160 displays? $1500 a pair at Amazon with very well rated IPS panels.
 
VirtualRain said:
What about a pair of the Dell UP2414Q 24" 3840x2160 displays? $1500 a pair at Amazon with very well rated IPS panels.
Click to expand...

Well, I made use of all of the ports on my ATD and couldn't as elegantly do that with the Dells -- the LG offered a good solution for that. I also don't really like the idea of having a display bezel in the dead center of my field of vision. The 21:9 form factor really appeals to me -- if I could get a high-quality monitor in that aspect ratio I'd be willing to sacrifice some of the features of my ATD, but two 16:9 4K displays next to one another isn't appealing enough to me to make other sacrifices.
 
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