Finding the Right Monitor

[Rick Cornish]

It's long-past time for me to replace my old Cinema Display with something better. I've settled on the following criteria:

• A 32" screen will "just* fit in my setup

• For running DP11 and Avid MediaComposer, I'm pretty sure I want 4k resolution (even though I don't cut video at 4k, I want the clarity)

• I want a monitor that has speakers (which I use only for system alerts, so they don't have to be great sounding)

• USB ports would be nice, but aren't a deal-breaker

• Even though I cut video, I don't need a calibrated screen

• Finding a good price would also be a plus, though the prices I've found all seem reasonable

Questions for the group…

• The screens I've found thus far that meet my criteria are both curved displays. I've never worked on one of those, so I'd be interested to know the plusses and minuses of that.

• All the monitors I've looked at have HDMI input, some have Display Port as well… which would be better to use? (My 2013 Mac Pro has both)

Here are two I've found thus far that seem to fill the bill:
Dell
Phillips

Any other suggestions/comments welcome. Thanks!

[HCMarkus]

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-U32R590- ... 95697&th=1

This Samsung one is on sale at Costco.com for $330 starting Nov 1. Just another data point to consider, I have-not used one.

[Rick Cornish]

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-U32R590- ... 95697&th=1

This Samsung one is on sale at Costco.com for $330 starting Nov 1. Just another data point to consider, I have-not used one.

Thanks, HCMarkus. I like the Samsung, though it doesn't have speakers. Might have to consider it, though.

[mikehalloran]

COVID completely dried up the market for bargain 4K monitors ($200–$300) which were 2 yrs old or older being marked down to clear the way for newer, better. All those people suddenly working from home and the cupboards are bare.

Adapters and cables for Display Port and HDMI to MDP (your Thunderbolt ports) are inexpensive. Unless you are an advanced gamer, the protocol doesn't matter with 4K no matter what the marketing departments want you to believe. You can plug in up to 6.

Except for TB monitors (5k, 6k,8k) HDMI is fine. USB ports only give you another hub. They should be active through HDMI, if not, use an MDP adapter and plug into one of your TB ports.

Lots of great monitors out there and yes, you do want 4K — there's a noticeable difference between those and 2K. I can see the difference between 4K and 5K because I've a pair of 4Ks flanking my iMac Pro but it's not all that noticeable.

Since you are looking to have one only, the stand base doesn't make much of a difference — if you do multiple monitors… (let's just say that I returned a pair of LGs with those long, curved bases because they hung over the edge of my desk). Many but not all bases are height adjustable. You want height adjustable if possible.

Except for height adjustable and a USB hub, this 32" flat screen appears to meet all your requirements @ $349 and if you sign up, they'll give you 10% off.

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-32ul5 ... hd-monitor

This is pretty much the same one but the stand is height-adjustable. It's out of stock at LG @ $379.99. In stock @ $377 at Amacon

https://www.amazon.com/LG-32UN550-W-Fre ... B08MV7B7WF


Since you're replacing an old Cinema display, in one sense, it doesn't matter too much what you get. The savings on your electric bill will pay for a new monitor pretty quickly.

[Rick Cornish]

COVID completely dried up the market for bargain 4K monitors ($200–$300) which were 2 yrs old or older being marked down to clear the way for newer, better. All those people suddenly working from home and the cupboards are bare.

Adapters and cables for Display Port and HDMI to MDP (your Thunderbolt ports) are inexpensive. Unless you are an advanced gamer, the protocol doesn't matter with 4K no matter what the marketing departments want you to believe. You can plug in up to 6.

Except for TB monitors (5k, 6k,8k) HDMI is fine. USB ports only give you another hub. They should be active through HDMI, if not, use an MDP adapter and plug into one of your TB ports.

Lots of great monitors out there and yes, you do want 4K — there's a noticeable difference between those and 2K. I can see the difference between 4K and 5K because I've a pair of 4Ks flanking my iMac Pro but it's not all that noticeable.

Since you are looking to have one only, the stand base doesn't make much of a difference — if you do multiple monitors… (let's just say that I returned a pair of LGs with those long, curved bases because they hung over the edge of my desk). Many but not all bases are height adjustable. You want height adjustable if possible.

Except for height adjustable and a USB hub, this 32" flat screen appears to meet all your requirements @ $349 and if you sign up, they'll give you 10% off.

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-32ul5 ... hd-monitor

This is pretty much the same one but the stand is height-adjustable. It's out of stock at LG @ $379.99. In stock @ $377 at Amacon

https://www.amazon.com/LG-32UN550-W-Fre ... B08MV7B7WF


Since you're replacing an old Cinema display, in one sense, it doesn't matter too much what you get. The savings on your electric bill will pay for a new monitor pretty quickly.

Mike—as always—thank you! I appreciate your insight into what’s going on in the market and what tech is appropriate for what I need.

The LG you found looks great and so does the price. Based on your experience, I’ll need to do some measuring tomorrow to see if that wide stand base will fit around everything else that’s on my desk. If I can’t find a way to fit it in, I may have to go with the Philips.

I just realized I’ll also need to track down a webcam, as I’ve been using the built-in iSight camera in the Cinema Display. (I know—talk about dinosaurs!)

Thanks again for taking the time to reply on this. I always value your input.

Cheers…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[mikehalloran]

There are plenty of sub $100 4K web cams out there. Very easy to set up. Caution: some are promising framing and auto-focus, those functions are handled by 3rd party apps, not the MacOS.

https://www.bestreviews.guide/mac-webcam

I have the Brio and my users tell me the sound is very good but only slightly better than the mics in my iMac Pro so I stopped using it. The Logitech app was just too twitchy for me when I tried to control frame size—it may be better now. I never returned it and should give it another chance to see if Logitech improved the app. I was saving it for my wife to use in her classroom but that need went away.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5 ... UTF8&psc=1


I bought this for one of my users so I see it weekly over Zoom calls where you don't really need much more. Outstandingly not bad for $20 or $16 renewed (whatever that means). The little tripod that comes with it is useless.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08SB ... =UTF8&th=1

[Rick Cornish]

Thanks again, Mike. I ended up ordering this one. With coupons and discounts, I got it for under $30.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0994GNNPC/ ... UTF8&psc=1

BTW: I’m planning on ordering the LG monitor with the adjustable stand. Thanks again for suggesting it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[mikehalloran]

Thanks again, Mike. I ended up ordering this one. With coupons and discounts, I got it for under $30.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0994GNNPC/ ... UTF8&psc=1

BTW: I’m planning on ordering the LG monitor with the adjustable stand. Thanks again for suggesting it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

That light reminds me of an old style slide projector. Let us know how it and the monitor work for you.

[James Steele]

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-U32R590- ... 95697&th=1

This Samsung one is on sale at Costco.com for $330 starting Nov 1. Just another data point to consider, I have-not used one.

Wow! Perfect timing. Since I got the new graphics card, I’ve been wanting to upgrade from my one 30” Cinema Display. This looks like just the ticket and I’m a Costco member also!

[James Steele]

This Samsung one is on sale at Costco.com for $330 starting Nov 1. Just another data point to consider, I have-not used one.

How do you know it’s going on sale? It’s probably in that mailer that came the other day that I tossed in the recycling. Time to go digging! I found it on their site at the old price but the pic they have of it shows it’s in a white case which is probably no-go for me.

https://www.costco.com/samsung-32%22-cl ... 12595.html

[mothra]

Its a 28" but the one I got last year to go with my new Mac mini is still under $300 at Best Buy (think this is a 'deal' it's normally $380).
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-ur ... Id=6386391

I think when I bought it, it was on sale for $269 or something last July. The funny part is, I tried getting a ViewSonic monitor because Ive used those for years, Best Buy had none in the store so I grabbed the Samsung. Fast forward six months later, now I work for ViewSonic and it turns out the office is actually right across the street from that Best Buy..

A word of warning about 4K resolution though.. It looks NICE, believe me, but not so nice when you realize you have to sit about 2-3" away from your screen just to read your desktop icons. I can fit sooooooo much Logic Pro info on one screen now, but its impossible to read anything on screen unless you're sitting with your face on top of it. Scaled to 2K is the perfect balance of screen real estate and text size though for me, but then you run into the conversion from 4K to 2K not being an even split so it tends to make the GPU work harder. A 5K scaled to 2K should be perfect (my Mac is actually upscaling my monitor to 5K before scaling it back down hence the GPU hit), a 4K needs to scale to lowly 1080p to keep it smooth and liquidy.

For the inputs, Im just using DisplayPort (with a USB-C to DP cable) because I can finally. Was using the built in HDMI at first, but with the Intel GPUs you only get 30Hz at 4K so I figured go with DP because its got more bandwidth. This monitor replaced a 32" 1080 Samsung TV which only had HDMI so might as well use the fancy DP input now that I have one.

[mikehalloran]

Its a 28" but the one I got last year to go with my new Mac mini is still under $300 at Best Buy (think this is a 'deal' it's normally $380).
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-ur ... Id=6386391

I think when I bought it, it was on sale for $269 or something last July. The funny part is, I tried getting a ViewSonic monitor because Ive used those for years, Best Buy had none in the store so I grabbed the Samsung. Fast forward six months later, now I work for ViewSonic and it turns out the office is actually right across the street from that Best Buy..

A word of warning about 4K resolution though.. It looks NICE, believe me, but not so nice when you realize you have to sit about 2-3" away from your screen just to read your desktop icons. I can fit sooooooo much Logic Pro info on one screen now, but its impossible to read anything on screen unless you're sitting with your face on top of it. Scaled to 2K is the perfect balance of screen real estate and text size though for me, but then you run into the conversion from 4K to 2K not being an even split so it tends to make the GPU work harder. A 5K scaled to 2K should be perfect (my Mac is actually upscaling my monitor to 5K before scaling it back down hence the GPU hit), a 4K needs to scale to lowly 1080p to keep it smooth and liquidy.

For the inputs, Im just using DisplayPort (with a USB-C to DP cable) because I can finally. Was using the built in HDMI at first, but with the Intel GPUs you only get 30Hz at 4K so I figured go with DP because its got more bandwidth. This monitor replaced a 32" 1080 Samsung TV which only had HDMI so might as well use the fancy DP input now that I have one.

Selecting any other Color Profile than the default should make the GPU hit go away. There are a few old threads on this. The Default is 10 bit and if you don’t need that, why use the resources?

My eyes are too old to view 4K and 5K monitors at full resolution. They still look nicer when reduced than older 2K or 1080, IMO.

[Rick Cornish]

For the inputs, Im just using DisplayPort (with a USB-C to DP cable) because I can finally. Was using the built in HDMI at first, but with the Intel GPUs you only get 30Hz at 4K so I figured go with DP because its got more bandwidth. This monitor replaced a 32" 1080 Samsung TV which only had HDMI so might as well use the fancy DP input now that I have one.

Selecting any other Color Profile than the default should make the GPU hit go away. There are a few old threads on this. The Default is 10 bit and if you don’t need that, why use the resources?

My eyes are too old to view 4K and 5K monitors at full resolution. They still look nicer when reduced than older 2K or 1080, IMO.

This is good info. Thanks, gents!

[mikehalloran]

If you search Color Profile, you'll find the old threads but here are the instructions:

Go to System Preferences/Displays/Color and uncheck Show profiles for this display only. Select any other Color Profile than the Default.

This has been an issue since El Capitán; everything to do with the 10 bit default color profile. DP is not the only app affected.

You will likely see a slight color shift when you do this but it's certainly not an issue for DP, Finale or any of the apps where most users will notice this. If you are doing work that requires critical color balance, you are using monitors and GPUs where this issue does not apply and 10 bit is the right profile.

[Rick Cornish]

If you search Color Profile, you'll find the old threads but here are the instructions:

Go to System Preferences/Displays/Color and uncheck Show profiles for this display only. Select any other Color Profile than the Default.

This has been an issue since El Capitán; everything to do with the 10 bit default color profile. DP is not the only app affected.

You will likely see a slight color shift when you do this but it's certainly not an issue for DP, Finale or any of the apps where most users will notice this. If you are doing work that requires critical color balance, you are using monitors and GPUs where this issue does not apply and 10 bit is the right profile.

Excellent. My new screen will be here Wednesday and this will be the first thing I look at.

Mike—do you agree that Display Port will provide greater bandwidth (faster refresh rates) than HDMI on an Intel box like mine?