Monitor Opinions

[Shamino (David C.)]

@tidbits41

I seem to be getting the message that on a 4k monitor, text will be somewhat blurry (due to 160ish ppi), but on a native 1440 monitor, sharp and crisp? Do I have that correct?

That’s not what I would worry about. If you’re not using GPU-intensive apps, then don’t worry about it.

Note that Apple isn’t doing simple scaling from 1440p to 4K - that would produce blurry images. macOS will instead render your desktop at 2x the apparent resolution (that is, 5K) and will downscale the result to your 4K display’s native resolution. So you should get a very high quality image.

A 1440p display with no scaling will render content at exactly that resolution, but note that all text is anti-aliased anyway. So there will always be a slight amount of fuzziness, but you want that because jagged edges look even worse.

Note a zoom-in on the corner of my menu bar (on a 1920x1200 display with no scaling):

@tidbits41

Hard to wrap my head around somehow one is advised against using a 4k monitor 100% due to the fruit itself.

All UI’s are designed around a particular DPI. Apple has been supporting 110/220 for quite a long time. Before that, 72 dpi screens were typical.

Microsoft’s UIs use much bigger objects, so they look good on a 4K display without scaling. At the expense of losing precious screen real-estate on lower resolution screens (like the three 1080p screens I use with my work laptop).

Note also that Apple doesn’t sell a 27" 4K screen. They use other resolutions that are designed to look good with 2:1 retina scaling. I wrote about this back in May.

• Desktop displays
  • A 24" iMac has a 4.5K resolution - 218 ppi
  • A 27" Studio display is 5K - 218 ppi
  • A 32" Pro Display is 6K - 218 ppi
• Laptop displays
  • MacBook Pro: 16" at 3.5K or 14" at 3K - each 254 ppi
  • MacBook Air: 13" at 2.5K or 15" at 2.8K - each 224 ppi

And let’s face it, there’s nothing magical about “4K” for a computer display. It is popular because manufacturers can use 4K panels designed for use in televisions and get the economies of scale that come with it, but there are better options for computer screens.

@MyBlueSky

My inexpensive, plain LCD Dell 27” 4k monitors display text laser-sharp on my M1 mini — I am very happy. In macOS Sonoma display settings, I have both monitors set to 1920 by 1080 resolution.

That’s the 2:1 retina scaling. Your physical pixels are about 160 ppi, but the objects are the size you would see on an 80 ppi display without scaling. A bit larger than many people prefer, but if you’re happy with it, I won’t try to convince you otherwise.