Monitor Recomendations - rMBP

[Turbo-G]

Hi,
I'm looking for some external monitor recommendations, for my 2012 15" rMBP.

I was holding out for an updated Apple Thunderbolt Display, but it seems unlikely we'll be getting one soon?!

My Mac gets used for web browsing, photography, small amount of coding and occasional gaming. Main requirements are:
- 27" + display
- HDMI or Thunderbolt connectivity (ease of docking with USB accessories)
- USB 3.0 ports
- High resolution, e.g "retina" like
- Non-matte screen - I prefer glass like displays
- No real budget, but wouldn't want to spend more than £400 if not an Apple display

Thanks in advance.

 

[branddaly]

I think you'll struggle to find a thunderbolt enabled screen of that size for less than £400.
I just purchased the LG 34UM95-P. It is superwide, 3440 x 1440, but it provides Thunderbolt connectivity (a requirement for me so that I could use the monitors USB ports, and dock my rMBP with a minimum of wires), however it blows away your budget as its around £570.

 

[lamboman]

Few questions:

• Why are you limiting your budget to £400 if non-Apple? The Thunderbolt Display is horrific value for money, you can get something like a LG 34UC97 for roughly the same money or as stated above by branddaly, a 34UM95 for far less, and lose nothing (has Thunderbolt etc).
• Why do you want Thunderbolt? The only real use case I can see for Thunderbolt is to daisy chain a Thunderbolt drive to it, but you already have two Thunderbolt ports.

£400 budget doesn't quite stretch to the great monitors out there at the moment. I'd stretch further and look at the LG 3440x1440 models or the BenQ BL3201PT if you're desperate for hi-DPI.

 

[Turbo-G]

Guess I'm willing to pay a bit more for the aesthetics of an Apple display (assuming a revised model looks like the current model, albeit slimmer like current iMac range).

I can easily spend more, if there is something better I should be spending my money on.

Thunderbolt connectivity is nice, as the monitor can be used as a docking station, assuming it has USB ports.

Thanks

 

[Turbo-G]

I think you'll struggle to find a thunderbolt enabled screen of that size for less than £400.
I just purchased the LG 34UM95-P. It is superwide, 3440 x 1440, but it provides Thunderbolt connectivity (a requirement for me so that I could use the monitors USB ports, and dock my rMBP with a minimum of wires), however it blows away your budget as its around £570.

Looks good, what are your thoughts on it? Does the curved display make much difference?

 

[lamboman]

Unless Thunderbolt doesn't add a significant cost, I'd not bother spending the extra money. The extra hassle of an additional USB connector is worth the hassle for me

The 34UM95 isn't curved, however the likes of the Dell U3415W and LG 34UC97 are. I've got an Acer X34 myself, same curved panel as the Dell and the LG, and it's utterly fantastic, however I've never used a flat model so can't really make a meaningful comparison.

 

[Turbo-G]

Looking at the tech specs, Apple states the following:

"Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on up to two external displays, at millions of colors"

Does that mean if running a single external display, I'll be limited to 2560x1600? Or would I be able to push more pixels? Looking at the specs of the curved LG, it has a resolution of 3440x1400.

 

[lamboman]

It's combined. Your machine does support 3440x1440.

 

[branddaly]

Looks good, what are your thoughts on it? Does the curved display make much difference?

as per Lambomans comments, its not a curved monitor, (LG 34UC97 is, but that is really pricey). It also is matte, rather than a glass like display.

However I really like the size, though I would prefer it to be curved, sometimes the far edges seem too far away. The thunderbolt port is great, as I only have the two ports to connect, and I'm really liking the usb hub, though I'm already out of ports (3 ports, so 1 for keyboard (which has another 2 ports), one for external HDD, one for camera, and then on the keyboard, one for my mouse (will be recovered eventually when I move to a trackpad), and one for my Garmin ANT+ ).

The colour reproduction is good, no major blacklight bleed, though I have the brightness very low, otherwise I find it too bright. Pixel destiny is good. Starwars trailer in 21:9 are awesome.

The size has been brilliant for running labs at home... being able to have 6 console windows open and visible is great, and part of my justification for buying this monitor. Yes I could do it with more monitors, but then that is more power supplies and more cables.

Of note, there is no room for the printer any more, it will have to be moved when I have a filing cabinet to put it on. My Ergotron arm has a 75mm Vesa, the monitor is 100mm, so I'll need to get an adaptor. The cable for the camera is obviously dangling on the desk.

 

[Turbo-G]

What resolution do you have that running at?

 

[branddaly]

That's running at 3440 x 1440.

 

[Turbo-G]

Bit of a thread revival

Picked up an LG 27UD88-W http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27UD88-W-4k-uhd-led-monitor paired with my 2012 (Gen 1) rMBP.

Having had a bit of a play with both HDMI and Display port connectivity, I can display the maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160 in scaled mode, but only running at 30 Hz. Also, the text and icons etc are far too small, so unusable really.

2560 x 1440 scaled seems to be the best compromise in terms of usable resolution. Via Display port, I could display at 59 Hz, however text etc looked a bit blurry.

Via HDMI at the same resolution, the text looked crisper, but only displayed at 30 Hz.

Also, on both inputs, I can't seem to get sound to play, only via MBP speakers - any thoughts here?

Any help / suggestions would be appreciated... I'm assuming it is my trusty old MBP holding me back here in terms of resolution and display frequency? What are the optimal settings I should be looking for here?

Thanks

 

[LiE]

Likely your MBP support for 4k https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT206587

 

[Turbo-G]

Thanks for that, thought that would be the case.

It's due an upgrade this year anyway, so I'll keep it at 2560 x 1440 for now.

Worked out what is happening on the sound front - the monitor doesn't have speakers despite it having volume control, and showing up as an output from the mac.

It turns out this is referring to headphone volume! LG could have made this clearer in the menu / user manual.

 

[SupraWez]

The LG 34" UltraWides are very nice, not a fan of curved and the flat panel variants have come down a bit now