Hai Alex I have another tip that will improve your display. Also not sure if you will see this, I have a 144hz display and a M1 mackbook pro. The pixel anti-aliasing on the monitor looked a bit rough especially when coding the symbols and letters looks 'rough' and 'edgy' so I went digging and found out the Mackbooks display has built in HiDPI that helps smooth the edges of anything displayed. Get the "Better-Display" app for your Mac and on the taskbar of the app you will see various display settings for your Mac and the external monitor. At the monitor settings you will have a option that says HiDPI and when you activate it then you will see a beautiful difference on your external display where everything looks well rounded off like the Mac's display, also a great app because you can change the refresh rate and brightness and resolution of both displays at the top right corner of your taskbar, so no need to go into the OS settings to change Mac-display or external-display settings
You couldn't reach 144Hz with the Thunderbolt cable because the USB-C port on the monitor isn't a Thunderbolt port, it's probably a "simple" USB-C port with a lower bandwidth (guessing 10 or 20 Gbit/s). On the other hand, with the DP cable 1.4 you can get around 32 Gbit/s of bandwidth, so it's no problem reaching higher refresh rates (since it's a 2K monitor you could go higher, that depends on the panel itself obviously, on a 4K resolution you'd be limited to 120Hz) Hi from Italy🇮🇹👋
but on my acer 34 ultrawide with full functional usb-c, it does variable 48-180hz just via simple usb-c cable, even 2k 240hz on another 27 inch oled, both work like DP cable but without any adapter.
What I don't understand is how you always create the exact videos I need exactly when I need them. I find it equal parts unsettling and extremely handy...
I largely prefer a higher DPI display than a higher refresh rate for coding. The text clarity is much more important to me than refresh rate, especially when coding is 95% static content, the other is when you scroll documentation. I wouldn't trade my three Dell U2723QE for lower quality panels but with higher refresh rate.
if the apple 5k display were to be 120hz though I would take that in a heartbeat. Two of them running on scaled 1440p mode for ultra crisp text and smooth scrolling? awesome One benefit of the high refresh rate for text is that when scrolling you can still follow a line with your eyes, it doesn't blur until the scrolling stops like on a 60hz screen. But it's a less important trait than high DPI like you said though, I agree.
I use a dual monitor setup with my Mac book pro. Both are 32 Inch 4K 60hz monitors, and I find screen real estate much more important for development than refresh rate.
@@AZiskon a note regarding monitor angle, heard that on one of andrew huberman vids - looking up is actually better for focus and alertness then looking down. Can confirm from own practice and it feels better having the monitors higher, tilted down towards my face.
@@Danicnns u think it was worth it? I have a 240hz 2k screen laptop I got for $500 more than my sisters m1 air 13" with 60hz 6k but also 256gb ssd and 8gb ram. (Mine is 1tb / 32gb)
For the past 3 years (from the launch of m1 up until the launch of m3 max) I used my m1 MacBook Air at my desktop setup with a 144hz monitor. This is mainly because since I switched to Mac with the m1 MacBook Air launch my pc was only used for gaming, but having the 144hz gaming monitor, I had the exact experience you did (yeah you can see the pixels, but it’s so smooth). Imma be honest tho i can’t tell the difference between 120 and 144
I didn't know this is an issue at start. I've been using my MBA M1 with Gigabyte M27Q monitor at 170hz. With its built in KVM switch, I can swap between my PC and MBA with a touch of a button and sharing the peripherals.
How do you connect your PC and MBP to the Display? I have the same setup tho, but with hdmi I don’t get anything over 60hz since the MBP doesn’t has the 2.0.
Do you feel like the color and text clarity is good on your M27Q with the MBA? I have the same monitor, and when connected to my PC, the screen looks fine. However, when i connect my MBA to the M27Q, the color and texts looks disgusting.
I notice lower text dpi on non Apple displays. That bugs me way more than having to switch to a gaming desktop. An ultrawide is fine for productivey. High refresh gaming is a 27" over 200fps.
3:33 you see the pixels because the monitor has a lower ppi than the macbook screen. well to your defense this is only a side note cause you did a video about hz
I use 42" lg c2 oled . 4k and 120hz, great for coding, plenty of screen real estate. You can get it working with macs by using a cablematters usbc to 8k hdmi adapter and emailing them to ask for the mac firmware
Nice! Heavier GPU usage while plugged in is no big deal and it reverts to screen of laptop frequencies when unplugged. Perfect scenario for the best experience. I’ve been searching monitors for Mac for days so thanks for this!!
The reason the thunderbolt 4 cable does not work is on the m2 MacBook airs it only comes equipped with thunderbolt 3. And it appears that monitor only outputs usbc not thunderbolt.
It's because you don't get much benefit from anything higher than 30fps for video. When it comes to scrolling, you're interacting with the computer, so it will feel more responsive at higher frame rates.
it's because FPS doesn't really make sense for compressed video, you're not consuming a sequence of individual frames, you're consuming a compressed video stream, where the each "frame" in the compressed video is an impressionistic description of what used to be in the uncompressed video. Whereas the web is actually drawn frame by frame, so adding more frames not only makes it smoother, but it's the only way to make it smoother, there's no interpolation possible for rendering the web
Try watching a 24fps movie (most motion pictures) on a 30Hz monitor. Or even a 60Hz one. Well actually I bet you have already done it many times, right? Have you noticed how panning is jerky in movies when you watch them on a PC or Mac? Have you noticed that jitter when the spaceships move? It's because we are trying to watch a 24fps movie on a 60Hz monitor! So the computer alternates between displaying a movie frame 2 times, then 3 times, and so on, to fit 24 frames into 60. This produces a "jerk" 12 times per second, and most people can see it very easily. The solution we have at this point is to have 120Hz monitors, so every frame of a 24fps movie is displayed 5 times before the next frame is shown. As 24x5=120, every frame is displayed for exactly the same amount of time, and the movements looks perfectly smooth. On the same 120Hz monitor, a 30fps movie will also be smooth (every frame is displayed 4 times), as will a 60fps video (every frame is displayed twice). So the reason we need 120Hz is not because 30fps is not good enough for video, it's because our perception is good enough to notice the jerkiness of alternating between 2 and 3 frames during panning. We are not demanding more fps to scroll web pages more smoothly. It's just that there is currently no better solution for a very simple thing: smooth playing of 24, 30 and 60 frames per second movies on the same monitor.
@@alextgordonNo idea you mean. Even compressed videos have a fixed fps, and depending on the compression level the impressionist description you are talking about is not perceptible (press pause during the above video: you are now watching an individual frame. Is it "impressionist"?). Even if it is, a low fps compressed video is going to be as jerky as webpage scrolled at a low fps. There is no difference, and people will perceive the low fps in both cases.
@6536 ugh, I don't use computer screens to watch movies and TV shows. They have not enough dynamic range, even in the CRT days, and definitely not enough size. (Put a computer CRT next to a TV CRT to see what I mean). HDR is coming to the desktop but people still use tiny 15-inch or laptop-size monitors for some reason and the screen on the iPhone is even more excellent but even more small. And then you've only touched at the edges of the frame rate issues with computer screens - TV content comes in a mix of formats, from 24 to 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps, and depending A LOT on the software side you might not even be able to display 50i and 60i at all because interlaced video is some kind of kryptonite to computers. But even that ignores the complete loss of gray-to-gray timing that happened when the computer world embraced LCDs, so even with the "right" frame rate matching the video source (how do you do that btw, keep switching video modes regularly?), you'll still get smearing for moving objects. The sense of realism is lost. Try pointing a real video camera at a moving object and plugging it in to a CRT TV to compare what "video realism" strives for. Oh and when computers switched to LCD around 2005, the colour reproduction washed out. Why do you think it is that every website around that time started using strong primary colours? Logos and graphics around the world went flat and bold. All the delicate subtle shading of the previous 2 decades was chucked out because it looked too weak on the fancy new flat screens.
I don't know exactly what it is, but even the lowest MacBook Air screen just looks so much better than any of the gaming monitors I have ever plugged them into. Better DPI? More even backlighting? Better colour calibration? Maybe all of the above.
Yet people watch movies, videos and TV, and have done so since forever at 24-30 FPS! The reality is that 120Hz is for flexing. If you are a creator or coder; 95% + of the time, you do not need more than 60Hz. Also, your eyes cannot see more than 60FPS, so anything higher is perception, and that is subjective per person.
@@andyH_EnglandActually you do need more than 60Hz to watch videos, and it's because of the various framerates we still currently use. I watch videos sometimes, and the reason I purchased a 120Hz monitor is because I hate the jitter that occurs when you watch a 24 frame per second movie on a 60Hz monitor. This jitter can be perceived by a vast majority of people, it's not at the upper limit of perception. Because 60 is not a multiple of 24, your PC or Mac is going to display a movie frame for 2 or 3 monitor frame, resulting in horrible jitter/jerk during panning (12 times per second, which is easy to see), because the way to fit 24 frames into 60 is to display the first frame twice, the second frame 3 times, and you start again. The solution is to have a monitor with a framerate that is a multiple of 24, so 24, 48, 72, 96 and so on would work. But then you want to watch a 30 fps or 60 fps TV movie on your monitor, and that does not work at all. The solution is to use a 120Hz monitor, because 120 is divisible by both 24, and 30, and also by 60! Watching movies in 24, 30 and 60 fps on a 120Hz monitor is smooth, and you can't achieve this effect with anything less than 120Hz. So the reason why a creator or anyone would want a 120Hz monitor is not because you flex or you want to pretend that you can see things that are outside of human perception. The reason is that 24 fps video is jerky on a 60Hz monitor, and it's very obvious to most people. As a lot of very high quality content is created in 24 fps (motion pictures), it makes sense that being able to watch it on your PC or Mac is a legitimately desirable feature.
Cable didn't work because there isn't enough throughput (Gbit/s) to support charging the laptop plus displaying the high res and high refresh rate. It prioritises the charging and dials down the refresh rate. Had same issue with 4k 120hz monitor. Solution is to have two cables :( One for charging and one for display port.
I am a little confused where the thunderbolt 4 cable came in. You purchased a usb-c to display port cable? I have a macbook pro and I need a monitor that uses thunderbolt. I would like to have 1 cable for charging my laptop and data. Thank you
I'm about to get a UW 120hz monitor, for a macbook air m2 and I'd like to keep my current full hd 60Hz monitor. Is it possible to get 120 hz on the new monitor and also use the old one at the same time? All docking stations/hubs that I've checked only support in their specs high refresh rate with a single monitor
It's kinda stupid and convenient that the apple solution to ui and text scaling is sell you an over priced monitor with a ridiculously high resolution. Had to ditch a 27" 1440p monitor for my M2 mini and replace with a 24" 4k monitor to read text without my eyes going funny. If you can't use M2 mini properly without a 2k monitor, it's literally the most stupid solution in history... At least for customers
I have a question about this monitor: is the text blurry? I have an issue where I can see individual pixels when looking at code/text, and if the monitor doesn't display text well, it puts a lot of eye strain. Unfortunately, that limits me to the LG 5k and Apple Studio Display, and would like to see if there are alternatives.
It’s definitely more pixelated than the MacBook screen, so I needed to sit further away. If I wanted the fidelity to match my screen, I’d go for the LG 5k
Monitor market is so messed up rn, everything is way to expensive. The day that i can get a 120hz 4k oled 27inch monitor under $500 ill be all over it.
@@catto-from-heaven your analogy doesnt work because oled monitors are expensive due to slow technical advancements (compared to tvs and phones), while luxury cars like Rolls Royce will always be pricey due to their brand and craftsmanship.
yeah I won't use anything less than 120hz, the faster the easier on the eyes, less your eyes can detect, less headaches. I'm using a 50" 4k tv that does 4k 120hz on HDMI, just need an upgraded hdmi cable that can handle 4k 120hz. If your going USB-C or thunderbolt, the cable also needs to be able to handle the speeds.
Last week, I set up my MBP with 1440p 240hz. It’s nice and smooth, but the picture quality isn’t anywhere near as good as the laptop screen even with 3rd party programs helping out. Apple needs to get their act together and release some 120+hz displays.
I'm curious if more people experience this, or if it's specific to your hardware combination. Your post has me worried, because I have yet to upgrade to Sonoma, and my M1 Macbook Air with Ventura is currently displaying in 120Hz with no problem at all.
@@jpdemer5 yeah that's true but worth it imo. The only issue I have with my new monitor is it is really way too bright lmao, and the dark areas are still lit with backlit (since it's not an OLED this is ok but the next one to get is an OLED then). It's really good for HDR supported games. Also RTX auto HDR is coming out to make non-HDR games HDR compatible, although no idea how good it will be. Also mine is 21:9 and 1440p, really good for watching movies in native 21:9 aspect ratio. Some monitors are selling for $700-800. If you consider that monitors usually last at least a decade, this is worth it imo if you are not renting or don't plan to move.
I love using external monitor with MacBook when coding and also use it docked mode but deep down I always worry that this could damage or deteriorate my MacBook battery life over time.
If a mere USB-C -to- DisplayPort cable is pretty good, then would a Thunderbolt -to- DP cable be substantially better with combined resolution and refresh rate?
I have 4k thunderbolt cable from apple but i wasn't able to reach more than 120 hz, then I tried with HDMI to HDMI mini cable and was able to get 175hz
@@OybekDaniyarov good one. try this one Silkland USB C to DisplayPort 1.4 Cable 2M Thunderbolt 4/3 to Display Port [8K@60Hz, 4K@144Hz, 2K@240Hz] 5K 32.4 Gbps Type C to DP 1.4 Cable Compatible for MacBook Pro M1 M2 M3, Mac Mini, XPS
The problem is the leftover bandwith from the Thunderbolt dock is not quite enough for 1440p 144hz. You might need to use a special setting or terminal. But 60 to 120 hz (or 90 ot 75) is much bigger than 120 to 144.
HI Alex.. Being watching your videos from a long time now, here from Australia. In love with your content, specially the scripts. I'm also in the market for an external monitor for my M2 MacBook Pro. Cheers..!!
I know what u mean.. have been using an external ultra-wide monitors for 2 years now and it feels really good honestly.. cant go back to the macbook monitor now
Hi Alex, I would recommend you to give a try to one of these beasts: LG UltraWide 40WP95XP-W, 39.7" or Dell UltraSharp U4021QW, 39.7". It works as HiRes display on MBP and as LoRes on MBA. There are not so many reviews on RUclips by using they with MacBooks. But I can share with you my experience, if you would like. And your LG 4k would be look like very nice in pivot mode next to one of these 40''. PS: they are both 75Hz capable.
Can you compare between MacBook Pro m2 pro and MacBook Pro m3 pro chip performance by using software development works like web, mobile application and machine learning tasks
Hi, what USBs dock did you used? I have a MacbookPro M3pro and I am looking to get a hub to connect via DisplayPort and do 120Hz (and have some extra ports and LAN), but most of them dont give me info about the max Hz.
I first thought that the Thunderbolt 4 from the Apple can only support for 60Hz refresh rate like they said on their website (i know the Thunderbolt 4 can support a lot more than that) this is nice to know that it can push more than 60Hz, but the question is can it support multiple high refresh rate monitor on the MacBook Pro? Because I'm planning to get one for my computer science degree in college and I've found a very great deal on the M2 Max, so I know that should I just get the 60Hz monitor or a high refresh rate one (I'm planning to use 3 of them btw)
I have 2K 144Hz acer monitor, and via the DP->typeC cable, I made it work at 144Hz with my MBP 2019. Moreover, I bought a split device that allows me to switch between gaming PC and MBP. Works fine
I return a 244hz 2K i can’t with vs code, my old one was a 4K so was a big downgrade, at least 2K 34”. Now im looking for a 4K 27” 144hz oled if possible
i have a macbook air m2 (base model) and i reached 144hz at 1440p (3440 x 1440 monitor) only with a usb-c to displayport cable. If i use a docking station, the max refresh rate i was able to reach is 120hz (even using a 4k 120hz docking station)
most of monitor’s best/full spec could be achieved only from Display Port (usually latest DP 1.4), some also includes latest HDMI (2.1) with bigger bandwidth to support both high resolution and high refresh rate, and type c connector usually “only” supports display alt mode ontop of data transfer (connecting keyboard and mouse if it’s kvm supported) or charging (if it supports power delivery too), so it doesnt support very large bandwidth to unleash its full spec, and its definitely not thunderbolt also so yeah, not enough bandwidth. it might not even be usb type c gen 3.2 or gen 3.1
im using a predator X34gs ultra wide 3440x1400 display with 180hz, using a thunderbolt4 connector. i can get 144hz max on the mba connected to this monitor. you should check the onboard settings of the monitor.
I using 2 4k144Hz monitors with my MacBook Pro 14 on basic m2 pro. Both via type-c USB4 (XV282K - 65watt and M28U - 25watt). MacBook closed and always charged
i think the main problem here about refresh rate & DPI its on the awful Mac optimization for non propietary brands. If you make some adjustments with programs that tests different resolutions and refresh specs like "Better Display" or so.
I have a monitor with 144 Hz but it is a full HD resolution. For 4k at 144Hz I understand that it is more related with the port version and the cable quality. And yes. It is smooth.
You are using unsupported monitor/resolution on Mac, so it uses GPU to try to scale the resolution but it will still look like poop because Apple simply does not support 'PC resolutions and ppi'.
@@YousefHaidary Apple and budget does not go together. :) LG makes official 3rd party Mac monitors all 5K models. As it's possible to simply buy an older used Apple model / iMac.
I connect my MBA13 M1 to Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo through Cal Digit TS4 dock. And pretty often I face with annoying flickering 🥲 However I'm not even running it on it's nominal refresh rate which is 240hz only 120
The problem is that IPS and VA so slow for 144 and upper. Real speed of pixel switch from white to black should be faster then 6.9ms which we need for 144Hz, but IPS/VA can't do it. That's why we see a tail of black window on white background when we drag it left/right. TN has more speed and better for gaming, but not so good view angles and color as IPS/VA.
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Hai Alex I have another tip that will improve your display.
Also not sure if you will see this, I have a 144hz display and a M1 mackbook pro. The pixel anti-aliasing on the monitor looked a bit rough especially when coding the symbols and letters looks 'rough' and 'edgy' so I went digging and found out the Mackbooks display has built in HiDPI that helps smooth the edges of anything displayed.
Get the "Better-Display" app for your Mac and on the taskbar of the app you will see various display settings for your Mac and the external monitor. At the monitor settings you will have a option that says HiDPI and when you activate it then you will see a beautiful difference on your external display where everything looks well rounded off like the Mac's display, also a great app because you can change the refresh rate and brightness and resolution of both displays at the top right corner of your taskbar, so no need to go into the OS settings to change Mac-display or external-display settings
@@okuhtttfthanks for the tip
@@AZisk hai its something! thank you
You couldn't reach 144Hz with the Thunderbolt cable because the USB-C port on the monitor isn't a Thunderbolt port, it's probably a "simple" USB-C port with a lower bandwidth (guessing 10 or 20 Gbit/s). On the other hand, with the DP cable 1.4 you can get around 32 Gbit/s of bandwidth, so it's no problem reaching higher refresh rates (since it's a 2K monitor you could go higher, that depends on the panel itself obviously, on a 4K resolution you'd be limited to 120Hz)
Hi from Italy🇮🇹👋
nice. thanks for that
so so true , fixed the issue on my m2 with
USB Type C Cable to DP 1.4 8K60Hz M/M
but on my acer 34 ultrawide with full functional usb-c, it does variable 48-180hz just via simple usb-c cable, even 2k 240hz on another 27 inch oled, both work like DP cable but without any adapter.
@@Picaltie M1 or m2?
@@Picaltie M1 or M2 ?
What I don't understand is how you always create the exact videos I need exactly when I need them. I find it equal parts unsettling and extremely handy...
I largely prefer a higher DPI display than a higher refresh rate for coding. The text clarity is much more important to me than refresh rate, especially when coding is 95% static content, the other is when you scroll documentation. I wouldn't trade my three Dell U2723QE for lower quality panels but with higher refresh rate.
totally agree
if the apple 5k display were to be 120hz though I would take that in a heartbeat. Two of them running on scaled 1440p mode for ultra crisp text and smooth scrolling? awesome
One benefit of the high refresh rate for text is that when scrolling you can still follow a line with your eyes, it doesn't blur until the scrolling stops like on a 60hz screen. But it's a less important trait than high DPI like you said though, I agree.
use bitmap fonts, they're pixel perfect unless your font engine is complete dogass
why not both
Because having both requires insane amount of bandwidth and buses and I/O to accommodate this bandwidth are just rolling out slowly. @@martinsmith2948
I use a dual monitor setup with my Mac book pro. Both are 32 Inch 4K 60hz monitors, and I find screen real estate much more important for development than refresh rate.
watching this on my 6 years old windows laptop on 144hz that was 1800$ ....
which machine?
@@AZisk acer predator helios 500 2018 model
I sold my windows laptop for a MacBook air
@@AZiskon a note regarding monitor angle, heard that on one of andrew huberman vids - looking up is actually better for focus and alertness then looking down. Can confirm from own practice and it feels better having the monitors higher, tilted down towards my face.
@@Danicnns u think it was worth it? I have a 240hz 2k screen laptop I got for $500 more than my sisters m1 air 13" with 60hz 6k but also 256gb ssd and 8gb ram. (Mine is 1tb / 32gb)
For the past 3 years (from the launch of m1 up until the launch of m3 max) I used my m1 MacBook Air at my desktop setup with a 144hz monitor. This is mainly because since I switched to Mac with the m1 MacBook Air launch my pc was only used for gaming, but having the 144hz gaming monitor, I had the exact experience you did (yeah you can see the pixels, but it’s so smooth). Imma be honest tho i can’t tell the difference between 120 and 144
I always use type-c to DP cables. Thanks for useful video 😂
I didn't know this is an issue at start. I've been using my MBA M1 with Gigabyte M27Q monitor at 170hz. With its built in KVM switch, I can swap between my PC and MBA with a touch of a button and sharing the peripherals.
How do you connect your PC and MBP to the Display?
I have the same setup tho, but with hdmi I don’t get anything over 60hz since the MBP doesn’t has the 2.0.
@@sintrix3017 I am using the MBA M1. PC to monitor using DP, MBA to Monitor via usbC.
Do you feel like the color and text clarity is good on your M27Q with the MBA? I have the same monitor, and when connected to my PC, the screen looks fine. However, when i connect my MBA to the M27Q, the color and texts looks disgusting.
have you tried using the ipad pro as a second monitor since it’s also 120hz like the macbook pro and shares the same resolution
I notice lower text dpi on non Apple displays. That bugs me way more than having to switch to a gaming desktop. An ultrawide is fine for productivey. High refresh gaming is a 27" over 200fps.
3:33 you see the pixels because the monitor has a lower ppi than the macbook screen. well to your defense this is only a side note cause you did a video about hz
use better display for mac to use HiDPI
I use 42" lg c2 oled . 4k and 120hz, great for coding, plenty of screen real estate. You can get it working with macs by using a cablematters usbc to 8k hdmi adapter and emailing them to ask for the mac firmware
Could u please tell What’s ur configuration of Air M2.
Nice! Heavier GPU usage while plugged in is no big deal and it reverts to screen of laptop frequencies when unplugged. Perfect scenario for the best experience. I’ve been searching monitors for Mac for days so thanks for this!!
Bro, I can't even afford a mac but i love to watch all your videos ❤
Glad you like them!
I get 165 hz using my m2 macbook air and a usb c to dp cable
Does it support 240hz? I'm using an Alienware monitor with my Windows PC, but I want to switch it to a Macbook Air M3.
Had the same problem with my Asus Zephyrus, needed a USB C to Display port for enough bandwidth to reach max HZ.
The reason the thunderbolt 4 cable does not work is on the m2 MacBook airs it only comes equipped with thunderbolt 3. And it appears that monitor only outputs usbc not thunderbolt.
I am running a Mac mini M2 Pro with an 24" AOC 165 Hz 1440p screen Thunderbolt to Display port cable with variable refresh rate. Awesome!!
It’s so weird how the internet thinks “30fps is fine for video” but now we demand 100, 120, 150 for scrolling around the web
It's because you don't get much benefit from anything higher than 30fps for video. When it comes to scrolling, you're interacting with the computer, so it will feel more responsive at higher frame rates.
it's because FPS doesn't really make sense for compressed video, you're not consuming a sequence of individual frames, you're consuming a compressed video stream, where the each "frame" in the compressed video is an impressionistic description of what used to be in the uncompressed video. Whereas the web is actually drawn frame by frame, so adding more frames not only makes it smoother, but it's the only way to make it smoother, there's no interpolation possible for rendering the web
Try watching a 24fps movie (most motion pictures) on a 30Hz monitor. Or even a 60Hz one. Well actually I bet you have already done it many times, right? Have you noticed how panning is jerky in movies when you watch them on a PC or Mac? Have you noticed that jitter when the spaceships move? It's because we are trying to watch a 24fps movie on a 60Hz monitor! So the computer alternates between displaying a movie frame 2 times, then 3 times, and so on, to fit 24 frames into 60. This produces a "jerk" 12 times per second, and most people can see it very easily. The solution we have at this point is to have 120Hz monitors, so every frame of a 24fps movie is displayed 5 times before the next frame is shown. As 24x5=120, every frame is displayed for exactly the same amount of time, and the movements looks perfectly smooth. On the same 120Hz monitor, a 30fps movie will also be smooth (every frame is displayed 4 times), as will a 60fps video (every frame is displayed twice).
So the reason we need 120Hz is not because 30fps is not good enough for video, it's because our perception is good enough to notice the jerkiness of alternating between 2 and 3 frames during panning.
We are not demanding more fps to scroll web pages more smoothly. It's just that there is currently no better solution for a very simple thing: smooth playing of 24, 30 and 60 frames per second movies on the same monitor.
@@alextgordonNo idea you mean. Even compressed videos have a fixed fps, and depending on the compression level the impressionist description you are talking about is not perceptible (press pause during the above video: you are now watching an individual frame. Is it "impressionist"?). Even if it is, a low fps compressed video is going to be as jerky as webpage scrolled at a low fps. There is no difference, and people will perceive the low fps in both cases.
@6536 ugh, I don't use computer screens to watch movies and TV shows. They have not enough dynamic range, even in the CRT days, and definitely not enough size. (Put a computer CRT next to a TV CRT to see what I mean). HDR is coming to the desktop but people still use tiny 15-inch or laptop-size monitors for some reason and the screen on the iPhone is even more excellent but even more small.
And then you've only touched at the edges of the frame rate issues with computer screens - TV content comes in a mix of formats, from 24 to 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps, and depending A LOT on the software side you might not even be able to display 50i and 60i at all because interlaced video is some kind of kryptonite to computers.
But even that ignores the complete loss of gray-to-gray timing that happened when the computer world embraced LCDs, so even with the "right" frame rate matching the video source (how do you do that btw, keep switching video modes regularly?), you'll still get smearing for moving objects. The sense of realism is lost. Try pointing a real video camera at a moving object and plugging it in to a CRT TV to compare what "video realism" strives for.
Oh and when computers switched to LCD around 2005, the colour reproduction washed out. Why do you think it is that every website around that time started using strong primary colours? Logos and graphics around the world went flat and bold. All the delicate subtle shading of the previous 2 decades was chucked out because it looked too weak on the fancy new flat screens.
I don't know exactly what it is, but even the lowest MacBook Air screen just looks so much better than any of the gaming monitors I have ever plugged them into. Better DPI? More even backlighting? Better colour calibration? Maybe all of the above.
Glossy panel.
Just bought an Acer 34 inch 180hz 1000R too, wonderful for coding on mac
Very nice!
I use the Sony inzone m9 for gaming and coding and design and it is wonderful.
Great video!!! It seems that everyone who experiences higher refresh rates cannot go back to punny 60hz.
thx. i wonder if airs will be moved to 120 soon
Yet people watch movies, videos and TV, and have done so since forever at 24-30 FPS! The reality is that 120Hz is for flexing. If you are a creator or coder; 95% + of the time, you do not need more than 60Hz. Also, your eyes cannot see more than 60FPS, so anything higher is perception, and that is subjective per person.
@@andyH_EnglandActually you do need more than 60Hz to watch videos, and it's because of the various framerates we still currently use. I watch videos sometimes, and the reason I purchased a 120Hz monitor is because I hate the jitter that occurs when you watch a 24 frame per second movie on a 60Hz monitor. This jitter can be perceived by a vast majority of people, it's not at the upper limit of perception. Because 60 is not a multiple of 24, your PC or Mac is going to display a movie frame for 2 or 3 monitor frame, resulting in horrible jitter/jerk during panning (12 times per second, which is easy to see), because the way to fit 24 frames into 60 is to display the first frame twice, the second frame 3 times, and you start again. The solution is to have a monitor with a framerate that is a multiple of 24, so 24, 48, 72, 96 and so on would work. But then you want to watch a 30 fps or 60 fps TV movie on your monitor, and that does not work at all. The solution is to use a 120Hz monitor, because 120 is divisible by both 24, and 30, and also by 60! Watching movies in 24, 30 and 60 fps on a 120Hz monitor is smooth, and you can't achieve this effect with anything less than 120Hz.
So the reason why a creator or anyone would want a 120Hz monitor is not because you flex or you want to pretend that you can see things that are outside of human perception. The reason is that 24 fps video is jerky on a 60Hz monitor, and it's very obvious to most people. As a lot of very high quality content is created in 24 fps (motion pictures), it makes sense that being able to watch it on your PC or Mac is a legitimately desirable feature.
Cable didn't work because there isn't enough throughput (Gbit/s) to support charging the laptop plus displaying the high res and high refresh rate. It prioritises the charging and dials down the refresh rate. Had same issue with 4k 120hz monitor. Solution is to have two cables :( One for charging and one for display port.
I am a little confused where the thunderbolt 4 cable came in. You purchased a usb-c to display port cable? I have a macbook pro and I need a monitor that uses thunderbolt. I would like to have 1 cable for charging my laptop and data. Thank you
The display firmware needs to support it, some manufacturers don’t have good support. Sometimes at high refresh rate some monitors would lose HiDPI.
I'm about to get a UW 120hz monitor, for a macbook air m2 and I'd like to keep my current full hd 60Hz monitor. Is it possible to get 120 hz on the new monitor and also use the old one at the same time? All docking stations/hubs that I've checked only support in their specs high refresh rate with a single monitor
It's kinda stupid and convenient that the apple solution to ui and text scaling is sell you an over priced monitor with a ridiculously high resolution.
Had to ditch a 27" 1440p monitor for my M2 mini and replace with a 24" 4k monitor to read text without my eyes going funny.
If you can't use M2 mini properly without a 2k monitor, it's literally the most stupid solution in history... At least for customers
I had the same experience. 1440p on Mac just looks bad.
What are the laptop specs? Thanks
I have a question about this monitor: is the text blurry? I have an issue where I can see individual pixels when looking at code/text, and if the monitor doesn't display text well, it puts a lot of eye strain. Unfortunately, that limits me to the LG 5k and Apple Studio Display, and would like to see if there are alternatives.
It’s definitely more pixelated than the MacBook screen, so I needed to sit further away. If I wanted the fidelity to match my screen, I’d go for the LG 5k
Monitor market is so messed up rn, everything is way to expensive. The day that i can get a 120hz 4k oled 27inch monitor under $500 ill be all over it.
120hz 4K oled is super premium stuff!
"Car market is so messed up rn, everything is way too expensive. The day that I can get a Rolls-Royce Phantom under 10k$ I'll be all over it"
@@catto-from-heaven your analogy doesnt work because oled monitors are expensive due to slow technical advancements (compared to tvs and phones), while luxury cars like Rolls Royce will always be pricey due to their brand and craftsmanship.
@@MS-rb5ok Don't call the market messed up then, because the problem is not the market
@@catto-from-heaven stop yapping
I've used my 13" M2 with an OLED C2 42" at 1440p@120hz... It was really nice 😄
yeah I won't use anything less than 120hz, the faster the easier on the eyes, less your eyes can detect, less headaches. I'm using a 50" 4k tv that does 4k 120hz on HDMI, just need an upgraded hdmi cable that can handle 4k 120hz. If your going USB-C or thunderbolt, the cable also needs to be able to handle the speeds.
Last week, I set up my MBP with 1440p 240hz. It’s nice and smooth, but the picture quality isn’t anywhere near as good as the laptop screen even with 3rd party programs helping out.
Apple needs to get their act together and release some 120+hz displays.
What do you do with so many laptops after testing them?
After upgrading to Sonoma My mac mini m1 only shows 60hz, no more 120hz. Sometimes I really hate Apple. It is so annoying.
I'm curious if more people experience this, or if it's specific to your hardware combination. Your post has me worried, because I have yet to upgrade to Sonoma, and my M1 Macbook Air with Ventura is currently displaying in 120Hz with no problem at all.
I like your videos, you're for real, thank you!
I appreciate that!
Alex awesome video as always. Just ordered my m2 MBA Best Buy sale
My monitor had a thunderbolt connection and it supported 144hz out of the box on my MBA, it also charges it while sending video
Costs more than $400, though.
@@jpdemer5 yeah that's true but worth it imo. The only issue I have with my new monitor is it is really way too bright lmao, and the dark areas are still lit with backlit (since it's not an OLED this is ok but the next one to get is an OLED then). It's really good for HDR supported games. Also RTX auto HDR is coming out to make non-HDR games HDR compatible, although no idea how good it will be. Also mine is 21:9 and 1440p, really good for watching movies in native 21:9 aspect ratio. Some monitors are selling for $700-800. If you consider that monitors usually last at least a decade, this is worth it imo if you are not renting or don't plan to move.
I love using external monitor with MacBook when coding and also use it docked mode but deep down I always worry that this could damage or deteriorate my MacBook battery life over time.
I use Aldente to limit the charge.
Hello, is it the MacBook Air with the m3 chip ?
I have a 49” curve. It only runs 6-hz from the thunderbolt and it will run 120hz from display. I haven’t tried hdmi but its a thing with the display
If a mere USB-C -to- DisplayPort cable is pretty good, then would a Thunderbolt -to- DP cable be substantially better with combined resolution and refresh rate?
good question. i don’t know whether the usb-c cable is using usb or thunderbolt under the hood to provide the displayport side enough bandwidth.
@@AZisk I have a usb-c to display port cable. It is working fine for m1 air with 1440p 165hz.
Thank you so much! Best video review on this topic. How do you record your voice? It sounds amazing...
Mine 40 inch ultrawide monitor is 160 hertz and MacBook max m3. I’m using 4K 1.8 thunderbolt to USB c cable. The cable is the key
I have 4k thunderbolt cable from apple but i wasn't able to reach more than 120 hz, then I tried with HDMI to HDMI mini cable and was able to get 175hz
@@OybekDaniyarov good one. try this one Silkland USB C to DisplayPort 1.4 Cable 2M Thunderbolt 4/3 to Display Port [8K@60Hz, 4K@144Hz, 2K@240Hz] 5K 32.4 Gbps Type C to DP 1.4 Cable Compatible for MacBook Pro M1 M2 M3, Mac Mini, XPS
@@tacorevenge87 You are legend! Thank you, appreciate your response. 🙏🏻 I will try it out
The problem is the leftover bandwith from the Thunderbolt dock is not quite enough for 1440p 144hz. You might need to use a special setting or terminal. But 60 to 120 hz (or 90 ot 75) is much bigger than 120 to 144.
Always use DP cable for the maximum refresh rate.
you should also use a high polling rate mouse to have faster position information from your mouse.
Alex you smashed it out of the park again. 👍 Apple has always humbly excelled in this niche.
HI Alex.. Being watching your videos from a long time now, here from Australia. In love with your content, specially the scripts. I'm also in the market for an external monitor for my M2 MacBook Pro. Cheers..!!
Awesome, thank you!
Kindly please let me know maximum refresh rate of M3 Macbook pro
I know what u mean.. have been using an external ultra-wide monitors for 2 years now and it feels really good honestly.. cant go back to the macbook monitor now
Hi Alex, I would recommend you to give a try to one of these beasts: LG UltraWide 40WP95XP-W, 39.7" or Dell UltraSharp U4021QW, 39.7". It works as HiRes display on MBP and as LoRes on MBA. There are not so many reviews on RUclips by using they with MacBooks. But I can share with you my experience, if you would like. And your LG 4k would be look like very nice in pivot mode next to one of these 40''. PS: they are both 75Hz capable.
Can you compare between MacBook Pro m2 pro and MacBook Pro m3 pro chip performance by using software development works like web, mobile application and machine learning tasks
Which is best for a programmer: 144Hz or 5K?
Can you use the hub to and still
get 144hz?
Hi, what USBs dock did you used? I have a MacbookPro M3pro and I am looking to get a hub to connect via DisplayPort and do 120Hz (and have some extra ports and LAN), but most of them dont give me info about the max Hz.
The display is why the mbp is a must
Alex, your puns are LETHAL!
Any suggestions for a 4k usb c monitor with height adjustment that's 24-27 inch in size?
Alex, could you please share the link of the new monitor?
Sure, here: amzn.to/3wxFZcY
I first thought that the Thunderbolt 4 from the Apple can only support for 60Hz refresh rate like they said on their website (i know the Thunderbolt 4 can support a lot more than that) this is nice to know that it can push more than 60Hz, but the question is can it support multiple high refresh rate monitor on the MacBook Pro? Because I'm planning to get one for my computer science degree in college and I've found a very great deal on the M2 Max, so I know that should I just get the 60Hz monitor or a high refresh rate one (I'm planning to use 3 of them btw)
Can you test the ASUS PG27AQDP later this year as it's a 1000 nits OLED at 480Hz
I’ve been connecting 2019 intel iMac to a 144hz of dell gaming monitor running 144 hz for ages.
I have 2K 144Hz acer monitor, and via the DP->typeC cable, I made it work at 144Hz with my MBP 2019. Moreover, I bought a split device that allows me to switch between gaming PC and MBP. Works fine
Plug in direct, ity may be the Thunderbolt dock's limitations scaling back to 120
I return a 244hz 2K i can’t with vs code, my old one was a 4K so was a big downgrade, at least 2K 34”. Now im looking for a 4K 27” 144hz oled if possible
i have a macbook air m2 (base model) and i reached 144hz at 1440p (3440 x 1440 monitor) only with a usb-c to displayport cable. If i use a docking station, the max refresh rate i was able to reach is 120hz (even using a 4k 120hz docking station)
Hi Alex, how can I join your channel membership?
most of monitor’s best/full spec could be achieved only from Display Port (usually latest DP 1.4), some also includes latest HDMI (2.1) with bigger bandwidth to support both high resolution and high refresh rate, and type c connector usually “only” supports display alt mode ontop of data transfer (connecting keyboard and mouse if it’s kvm supported) or charging (if it supports power delivery too), so it doesnt support very large bandwidth to unleash its full spec, and its definitely not thunderbolt also so yeah, not enough bandwidth. it might not even be usb type c gen 3.2 or gen 3.1
completely unrelated but, your eyes are so mesmerizing.
you always name these episodes wrongly... "Like a baby's hind", "smooth and sexy", "like butter at 144 Hz"
Alex, you should consider 4K 60 FPS uploads man!
im using a predator X34gs ultra wide 3440x1400 display with 180hz, using a thunderbolt4 connector. i can get 144hz max on the mba connected to this monitor. you should check the onboard settings of the monitor.
I using 2 4k144Hz monitors with my MacBook Pro 14 on basic m2 pro. Both via type-c USB4 (XV282K - 65watt and M28U - 25watt). MacBook closed and always charged
There is more to the Mac-Display than only high refresh rate. Actually it has variable refresh rate and is always using the refresh rate thats needed.
i think the main problem here about refresh rate & DPI its on the awful Mac optimization for non propietary brands. If you make some adjustments with programs that tests different resolutions and refresh specs like "Better Display" or so.
For Mac games I recommend Dungeon Keeper, it's hella fun and a classic
2k 1440 resolution hurt my eyes though. I could see pixels with letters.
Where did you mount the mic??
just above my head
Full variable 48 to 175 Hz from my MacBook over an usb-c-to-DisplayPort-cable to my Evnia 34”.
3:30 - One of my bigger complaints with MacOS. It *does not* play nice with external monitors. lol.
This new? My M1 Mini is running at 3440x1440@165Hz over TB to DisplayPort 1.4
nice!
I just keep thinking about a window in the right side and you have to access the menu bar lol
I have a monitor with 144 Hz but it is a full HD resolution. For 4k at 144Hz I understand that it is more related with the port version and the cable quality. And yes. It is smooth.
I actually had issues with my eyes when I used my promotion and then went back to my ultra wide. I thought my pc was lagging at first lol
Rocking 2x JLinks 1440p 165hz monitors here on my MBA. They work at 120hz NO issues at all :)
any issues?
Hi Alex! How sharp does this 34 feels comparing to your 27 4k LG ? Was wondering if i can switch to ultrawide from 27 4k 144hz and still work on a mac
the LG’s are much cleaner and sharper
i wish i could turn back time and present you with the LCD AOC 240hz (lower res: 2k) 0.5ms response time, 27" monitor for some 200 ish bucks
The monitor link to amazon take me to Other monitor not the one in the video. Could you verify and leave me the monitor model number?
You are using unsupported monitor/resolution on Mac, so it uses GPU to try to scale the resolution but it will still look like poop because Apple simply does not support 'PC resolutions and ppi'.
is there a specific external monitor that plays well with macbooks and is semi-affordable?
@@YousefHaidary Apple and budget does not go together. :) LG makes official 3rd party Mac monitors all 5K models. As it's possible to simply buy an older used Apple model / iMac.
I was running my 2x 4k screens at 30hz for nearly a year before I noticed.
I connect my MBA13 M1 to Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo through Cal Digit TS4 dock. And pretty often I face with annoying flickering 🥲
However I'm not even running it on it's nominal refresh rate which is 240hz only 120
The problem is that IPS and VA so slow for 144 and upper. Real speed of pixel switch from white to black should be faster then 6.9ms which we need for 144Hz, but IPS/VA can't do it. That's why we see a tail of black window on white background when we drag it left/right. TN has more speed and better for gaming, but not so good view angles and color as IPS/VA.
Oled! ;)
Both new IPS and VA panels can do way faster than 6.9ms refreshes. I think the best panels can do something like 2ms refreshes.
I can’t notice refresh rates. Only ppi
WE can even see the Pixels ! You got robbed