Why I RETURNED my 4k Monitor // MacOS Scaling Explained!

So what resolution works best on a 23"/24" monitor? The iMac 24" says it is 4.5k. I know LG makes a 23" monitor for Mac but I'm nor sure about the resolution. Any suggestions for this size? It sounds like for a 27" you are recommending either 5k or 1440. Is this correct?

Thanks. How about integration, does it turn off when MacBook is sleeping, and does it wakes up when you want it? Auto brightness, controlling the brightness from the keyboard, it does not have those right?

So what resolution have you set for your 2k monitor in display settings? is it set to 2k resolution?

Man you are the legend. I was looking for a monitor that would be able to work with my PS 5, Macbook pro m1 14” and Lenovo legion 7i laptop. I believe 1440p 27” monitor is a sweet spot. Thank you

The video is so misleading. Just purchased 27" 4K display, and my Mac studio had absolute zero trouble with scaling.

what about the 49" oled G9 or the new 57" Neo G9

Love this insight, struggling with pixel density myself, found this very helpful!

Congrats! well done video on a confusing subject... your main problem is running intensive GPU work on a base model M1 chip that may also not have enough unified memory but yes this does get expensive and you have manged to save a heap of money both on the computer and the monitor

Thank you so much for this video. You've saved me a great deal of time.

If it scales it up to 5k then back to 1440p, isn’t that what the 5k 27 inch retina Apple displays do anyways? So to get max performance you should get a 110ppi monitor?

I use 4k 32" (140ppi) display with my M2Pro Mac mini and I never runs any performance issue with any scaling resolution. I like 6k like scaling resolution like Apple Pro Display XDR use, it is scaling up to 6016 by 3384 pixels when use 3008x1692 real estate. This mode best for working with photo file with lot of megapixel at Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, also very comfortable to work with page layout publishing like program like Adobe InDesign. If I need less space it is ok switch to 2k or even 1080 resolution, it is show larger text, for menus and texts, I use this resolution too. And I said second time there is any performance issue at all.

When coding with 1440p on macOS you can 100% see the lack of sharpness and it is quite frustrating. For image/colors is fine, for coding heck no

1440p scaled from 5k on a Mac still looks better than native 1440p monitor. You can clearly see it, but you can pretend you are not seeing this but it is there :)

THANK YOU! you just made up my mind on whether i should stick to PC or go for a beauty little mac studio... But if that means throwing away my 4k monitor then it's getting all out of hand for my pocket. Thank you for this!

wow.. I didn't know this. my wife wants me to research her new monitor for Mac mini M2. I am almost buying 4k monitor but after seeing this video... I would recommend 1440p or 32inch 4k monitor.

What do i do if i have a 1080p display? Which resolution should I make it to?

This is the most stupid video I've ever seen. You can customize the scaling factor. My 28 inch 4k monitor is at 2112x1188 and my 32 inch 4k monitor is at 2304x1296. Both are HiDPI. They look perfect.

The best option is to turn a old iMac Retina 5K in to external monitor
example - iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)

So are you saying I should return the 27" 4k Dell P2723QE I just bought? I was going to use it for mac m1

This confirms that this is more like a lottery, unless you have a lot of free time and enthusiasm.

Which 1440p monitor do you recommend you have two in your description. The second was in $13 cheaper and has a black stand which looks like yours is too. So guess I'm going with the second link!

THANK YOU!!! Just got my monitor yesterday and I was so confused why it was giving me so many issues! You explained this amazingly!!

This rabbit hole went deep. For anybody reading. Get the 4k if you have a mac studio. It looks way better.

So what is best monitor for macos?

Nicely done

I was about to make a mistake but thank God I've found your video. I finally purchased two 27 inch - 1440p monitors with 144hz and it is just perfect. 110ppi, they run smooth and I have tons of space. Thanks a lot!

Does the same case apply when it comes to 32 inch? Is 1440 better than 4K for Macs when it comes to 32inch?

Man I was not getting a good answer to this anywhere on the internet I looked lol. Wish I found your video before I got my LG 5K might have saved some bucks! The LG 5k is beautiful though. That Apple "retina" really does spoil you. But you brought up a good point, people don't sit with their nose on their monitor, so do you really see the pixels? I work with a 27" 1080P monitor all day and I sit far enough back I don't notice them. But at home I can browse the internet on 5K goodness.. lol

Can somebody tell me if mac mini m2 pro would be good with xiaomi 27' 4k display? Planning to buy this combo ... thanks

This is exaclty what i have been looking for
I also tried to downgrade to 1440P buyt i notice the quality drop and my eye could no co-operate with that
so i swith back to 4k and just del with the performancxe lag
now i knew what i need is a 5k monitor, thank you

conclusion dont buy apple

🤡🤡

🤔does this also affects windows users? Is this just how scaling and resolutions works? Or is this just on mac computers

Great broke down you deserve every like

Brother for Portable Monitor which would be best (13" - 1080p) or (16" - 1440p)...?

Love From Bangladesh...❤❤❤

Bro this video is gold. I have been looking into monitors trying to decide what ppi to get and none of the resources gave a proper reasoning for their suggestions except your video. Thank you

This video saved me, I can't find a way thank you enough, but THANKS!

Just found this video…not sure if you know there is a free Mac program that solves a lot of these sort of screen scaling issues. Have you tried SwitchResX? It gives you way more control and options on your screen settings…it’s been around since retina displays.

moral of the story : {stay away from macs}

This video was the most useful video I’ve watched this year and avoided me a lot of trouble. Now I can get the correct monitor. Thank you.

I just got that exact 4k monitor to use with my 14 inch macbook pro M2. I mostly use figma so I'm not too concerned about GPU

Who the f runs Blender on Mac (or any 3D modeling app). I am all about Apple but for 3D and gaming, just no. Get a good PC.

You shouldn’t use a MacBook for blender, it will be better for you to get or build a PC with an Nvidia RTX graphics card, Macs are just bad for rendering, they have very weak GPU even compared to AMD.

great explanation I use the same setup with my mac studio, but I scale a little bit down because I more easy to read for me to 2048 x 1152, mine is a cheaper one Gigabyte 27'' 2K

There is an app called 'Better Display' it handles the scaling. Works great for me.

You returned the wrong piece of gear.

great video!! thank you. i have a question which monitor do you recommend for a 2023 macbook air: the dell S3221QS or dell SE3223Q? because based on your video, i have a doubt about the ppi resolution and which one will be better. i don't want big large letter :)

Hey Hunter king, do you also play shadow fight ?

I’m new to all this, I just got a Mac mini m2 and a Benq 4k monitor and now i think I should of got the 1440p monitor. Did you have to go into settings and choose 1440p scaling when you got your 1440p monitor?

I almost bought not one, but two 27" 4k monitors for a dual monitor setup on my Mac mini until this moment. THANK YOU. Now I'm searching for 1440s.