32” 4K vs 32" 1440p - Which Is The Best For Mac?
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2024
- In this video, I will help you decide which monitor is the best for productivity and content creation on Mac computers. A detailed comparison between the 32" 4K (3840x2160) and the 32" 1440p (2560x1440p).
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The Best Monitors for MAC: www.nilsoncreative.com/best-monitors-for-mac
I made a list of the best monitors you can buy for Mac computers! You can check it out by clicking the link above.
I will be adding more monitors over time! If you have any suggestions, let me know.
I recommend the BenQ P2700U for its excellent color accuracy. Photos on the iPad or iPhone and this monitor all show the same color. It is promoted by BenQ specifically for photographers. It has HDR, HDMI, DP, Mini-DP (both in and out), and a KVM-Switch for two PCs, although the latter is a little inconvenient to use: USB and Video Input must be selected independently. It has an USB hub with three USB 3.0 ports.
@@olafschluter706 Thanks for the recommendation. It looks like a good option, I will check it out!
By far the best explanation I have found regarding 4K vs 1440p. Using the comparison images summed it all up. Thanks so much. I have been looking for a review like this for the last year.
Thank you!
what did you end up getting?
This video was a perfect explanation with fantastic examples to demonstrate the differences in scaling. Well done and thank you!
Thank you! I appreciate it
Precisely!
For the past 2 years I had constant overheating issues with my MacBook Pro 16 (2019). I have it connected to 32" 4K display and set to the 2nd last scaling option (3360x1890). Only now when I checked in the system report do I see that all this time I've actually been working with an almost a 7K resolution (6.7K). In fairness, when I work I don't have any issues. Only when I use parsec to connect to my Window PC (parsec screen set to 1080p) and play games, then I get extreme thermal throttling after 10 minutes. My mouse starts lagging with a 3 second delay even when switching tabs back to macOS. I have to point a desk fan directly to the back of the MacBook just for it not to overheat. Now when I set my resolution to native 4K and use parsec.... not a single issue. Who would have thought that setting the scaling to lower than 4k was actually doubling the internal screen resolution. I had no idea that my system was working with an almost 7k resolution under the hood for the past 2 years. FML. Thank you so much for this video.
finally a reviewer that doesn't assume everyone wants a gaming monitor, thank you!
I've been trying to figure out what monitor/resolution I should get and your explanation is by far the best I've found. Spent all day reading through other articles and watching other videos but you made a complex topic simple to understand. Thanks!
Thanks a lot! Glad I could help
what you choose? I am also struggling to get a good external monitor of my macbook M1 and macbook pro 2015. can you help me please
The only thing that is missing in this video is a IRL photo comparison of how the pixel look and how the text look (if is too blurry in the 1440)
2:19 and yet here I am using 28" 4K monitor in its full (native) resolution and super happy with it and all the realestate.
Definitely not for everyone
I wish macOS had UI scaling so I could run native 4K. But it’s too small for me to see
Your explanation was incredible! Finally, I've decided that for my workflow a 4k monitor would better suit my needs. Thanks a lot!
Glad I could help!
Dude. This is a great video. You answered every single question I've been asking in my head.
I'm working with macs for more than 20 years and I didn't know that... Thanks a lot.
I'm running a 32" 4k screen at native resolution (no scaling). It's similar to using the "More space" option on the MacBook in-built retina display. Initially it looked a bit small, but I quickly got used to it and now it doesn't bother me at all. I've also used a 27" 4k screen with scaling (Looks like 1440p), which still looked good, although obviously you lose some sharpness and screen real estate. Previously I had a 27" 1440p screen, which felt alright at the time, but once you've tried a 4k screen there's no going back to native 1440p.
Same here! 4k is addictive.
Ola, o que voce me indica então? tenho um MacBook Pro m1, e utilizo muito para digitar contratos, queria algo na mesma qualidade do Mac, um monitor de 27' 2k ou 4k?
@@DIEGOMARCONRAMIRES Get the 27" 4k screen and set display scaling to "Looks like 1440p". MacOS renders the image at twice the resolution (5k) and then scales it down to the native resolution of the screen (4k). This results in much sharper text than on a native 27" 1440p screen.
@@tuntitommosille muito obrigado pela dica
Totally with you. I am using 2x 32” at their native 4k resolution. Size is just fine, not too small. I just love the amount of screen real estate it gives. These 2 screens give me the same screen real-estate as 8 1080p monitors, totally fabulous. I did try native 4k on 27” and 28” monitors too, but at those screen sizes I agree, it is too small for me and I would need to scale, but at 32” it works well, and man, that screen real-estate, just loving it. 👍😀
Thanks - Been watching lots of these videos to decide on a screen rez for my M2 mac mini, and yours was the most straightforward and clear 👍
What specs did you get?
@@prakhar1144 I ended up with the DELL U2723QE 👍
Please make a similar comparison for 27" monitors
absolute best video on this topic. Everyone else just rambles on and on. Thanks, I'll buy a 4K monitor now
Appreciate the feedback!
Best explanation I have run across. Thank you.
Thanks a lot!
What a video !!! Marvelous. Perfect explanation . This video deserves an award
Thank you!
I have great results using a 32" Dell UltraSharp 4K monitor, scaled to 1440p with my M2 Mac Mini.
appreciate this video...made a complicated topic easier to understand. i would like to see the memory usage between 1080p scaled vs 1440p scaled on the 4k monitor and comparing it to the native 1440p native monitor.
Approximately 0.8 gb of RAM. I saw it in another video on RUclips.
this was the most helpful comparison I've found! thank you!
32" is a fairly "blocky" at 1440p.
32" is a fairly "squinty" at 4k.
32" isn't ideal for either. I think you want 27-28 inch for 1440p ~or~ 38-40 inch at 4k (2160p).
Excellent video and information. And I've watched a lot on the subject.
Thank you! I appreciate it
The performance issues are actually not a concern at all. Apple adds that message for legal reasons since the system is working slightly harder. For most modern systems however it’s less than a 1% performance change when others have actually tested it. Some really old systems might see small hit but that should be very rare.
Keep in mind Apple by default uses scaling now on their laptops and they still perform perfectly.
I have two 32” 4K displays and both are run at 3000 (6000) retina wide scaled mode which is the optimal DPI for that size and they work exceptionally.
it can be a concern for intel macbook users.. i have an intel macbook pro from summer 2018 and when using scalled resolutions on my 4K display the performance of the animations/ui is terrible, lags and frame drops everywhere, even with the simpliest tasks and interactions.. if you have an apple silicon mac i hope that all of that goes away and everything is smooth as it should..
Unfortunatelly not... M1 Ultra with a 4K 32 inch monitor. Everything works okay.. but everytime if you want to work really fast you will see some performance issues and some kind of light bugs in the ui and cursor movements. My solution was to buy a Studio Display that solved all of my issues 🙆🏼♂️😇
@@bencejanovits1827 , yep, it overtaxes your GPU. It does indeed depend on your machine if it creates issues, but whether you recognize it or not in the performance, the GPU is being pushed harder than it would using a monitor with the proper ppi.
Most likely the case with Intel CPU, with Apple Silicon now; this is no longer a concern. Been running 4K 32" on my M1 Pro day one.
@@tinymito hey, I have macbook air m1 and I am looking to buy 27 inch monitor with 4k resolution. Will that cause any issue and hence I should buy 1440 resolution or 4k will work fine?
I agree with previous comment, definitely the best explanation of a very confusing subjet!, thanks for your time and information!
Very succinct and good comparisons with explanations.
One of the better videos out there for certain. Thank you.
what about the real estate of a 27-inch 4k monitor, will I get the same screen real estate as 32-inch 4k(1440p scaled), because 32-inch 4k is 500$ more expensive compared to 27-inch 4k?? Thanks for answer!!
Hey, watch my video about the Apple Studio Display Review, I show some examples of 32 vs 27 (1440p scaled)
Excellent presentation, with tons of information! Keep it up.
Much appreciated!
Neither. For 4K, get a 27" screen, if text quality is important to you on macOS. 4K at 32" gives a pixel density of 138, which IMO is too low for good quality text on macOS. Ironically, Apple's own 2560x1600 30" Cinema HD Display is 100.6 ppi and provides perfectly sized text IMO, so a 5K 5120x2880 screen would be perfect at 29-30" (instead of 27").
Ola amigo, eu tenho um Mac Pro M1, testei dois monitores DELL u2722d e u2722de, ambos de 27'' QHD, ficou perfeito, uso muito para redigir contratos no PAGE, e navegação na internet, porem, eu não comprei devido o preço alto, voce me indica qual tela? com preço mais baixo, com boa qualidade?
I've been looking for exactly this video. There are many "mac scaling issues" videos on youtube, but none which make such a good comparison or show so many examples of what the different scaling options look like in practice. Thank you very much for that!
I was thinking of buying an LG 5k monitor which is 27" (but not as ridiculously overpriced as the one from Apple) because I was afraid of the scaling not working out well on anything that is not 5k. But after watching your video, I decided to buy a 4k 32" monitor from BenQ which costs the same but has so many more useful features and ports (and actually looks a lot better too). I have a M2 Max chip with maximum GPU cores, so any performance issues should be negligible...but I wanted to see what it will actually look like. Thank you for helping me with this choice 🙂
The lack of different scaling examples is the main reason why, I decided to put this video together. I’m glad so many people are finding it useful!
Thanks for this information. I am considering purchasing a M2 Mac Studio and this description is very helpful.
I'm in a similar situation - how are you finding the performance issues? I'm using an M1 Air and concerned the performance hit will be too much.
@@shanegriffiths scaling eat ~0,8gb of ram
That was an amazing explanation, thanks man!!
The BEST video I’ve seen on this subject.
Thanks! Hands down the best showcase of this topic!
Excellent!!. By far the best explanation I have found regarding 4K vs 1440p. Thank you.
Thank you
Best explanation I have seen regarding this issue in the internet!! Great work!1
Thank you!
Your explanation is so good and clear. Thank you !!
Awesome explanation, thank you. Finally I’ve bought 34” ultrawide and that’s basically good enough. However, better PPI is always better for sharpness.
4K 28” is perfect for me. 144Hz of course. Connected using a high speed USB-C cable. Which also charges the laptop. Keyboard and mouse connected to monitor’s USB hub. Plug one USB-C cable and everything works.
If you have the budget, go 5K 27”. If not, 1440p 27” is the best way. If you do design work, don’t buy 4K 27” for a Mac, the performance will drop, the lines will shimmer.
Thank you for this very comprehensive video.
Thank you so much, I was setting up mine 4k and needed this so bad. 100% spot on
Finally, now I understand. Thank you for this video.
My testing shows a less than desired sharpness when using scaled resolution on a 4K monitor in comparison to running at native resolution or half of native resolution, i.e., 1920x1080 on a 4K (3840x2160) monitor. However, at 1920x1080, everything on the screen appears too large on a 27 inch or larger monitor. Utilizing a 2K monitor may be the best bet for the Mac if it is desired to use a 27 inch monitor and cost is a consideration. I use the 24 inch LG Ultrafine 4K monitor as a second monitor operating at 1920x1080. Text is as sharp as the text that appears on my 27 inch 2019 iMac and font and window size are very reasonable in comparison to what would appear on a 27 inch monitor operating at the same resolution. Bottom line: Macs are made for 5K monitors when the monitor size is 27 inches. Everything else is a compromise.
Ola, o que voce me indica então? tenho um MacBook Pro m1, e utilizo muito para digitar contratos, queria algo na mesma qualidade do Mac, um monitor de 27' 2k ou 4k?
Well explained, now I understand better. Thanks! For me, when working on spreadsheets, based on your demo, I prefer 1080 resolution for a 4K monitor, where I will see less content, but at least I will clearly see the larger size numbers. I thought 5K monitors were the only option for Macs these days, but now I understand that it all depends on the power of your machine. In my case, I use a MacBook Pro m3 Pro and I expect it to provide the necessary power. Plus, I'll finally be able to justify the expensive M3 PRO chip I paid for.
For macOS I think 4K at 24 inch would be the best, such as the LG ultrafine 24. It's a shame that they don't produce them anymore.
24 inch is waaaay to tiny of a display
24 is the best size that ever was out..@@yanjae310
@@yanjae310 Not if you use hidpi. It'll be like fhd, just wayyy sharper
Excellent explanation. My use case is exactly the same with yours. I go with the 4K option. Many thanks for your efforts.
Honestly I use the 1692 setting on my 4k 32 inch monitor and its plenty sharp and solid for me. Text looks much better and I have more space than a native 1440p monitor.
Also I dont think using native 4k is truly out of the question. If you work close to the monitor and are comfortable using hotkeys to adjust scaling for websites and text you can make it work. That is too much effort for some people but some people prioritize that clarity and screen space.
This is such a contentious topic and its hard to help people make a choice because so many people are throwing out their own personal preferences as the truth. Its hard to make a choice unless you see them in person but I highly recommend people not listen to all the people complaining about 4k on mac and give it a try first. I am 100% sure and happy with my choice.
I use a 1440p 32 inch and it looks amazing. It is a VA panel though. I don't see pixels being 60cm away from the screen when I use it.
Thank you. I bought an MSI 4k. Curved I can’t wait for it to get here. Just running contracts, spreadsheets, and reading,
Very useful information, because I am saving up to buy a MacStudio and I really need the proper monitor.
Thanks for the clear explanation.
Mac scaling was an issue back in the Intel days, but nowadays, with the Apple Silicon chips, the difference if marginal, maybe 1% slower at most.
up
I have a 27" 4k monitor at 2048x1152 (HiDPI) scaled with the app BetterDisplay. Very sharp text, Retina display for my eyes, no problem whatsoever.
Thank you for this! Coming from windows I was so confused why my macbook defaults to half resolution, but that's just basically the UI only.
Best video so far. Could you make 27" 4K vs 32" 4K?
Finally someone summed it up for me! Thanks
I got better color and clarity on my 1440P monitor once I downloaded Better Display and also changed hdmi to a Type C to Display Port connection which solved the pixelation issue.
Dude... I'm so happy I found this video! I struggle to get my 1440p ViewSonic Monitor to work with my Macbook Pro.
Now I know why I have so many problems. Thank you for this video.
You’re welcome man! Hope you got it sorted.
Great breakdown!! Thanks for this video. Really helps me understand a lot more how Mac scaling works.
You’re welcome!
The concern about performance hit when using scaled resolution is valid when you are using Intel hardware. But it's totally fine when you are using Apple Silicon-based machine (except the lowest M1, you might see some occasional hiccup with that)
True, Apple Silicon-based machines performs quite well, most people won’t notice any difference.
I saw dgeradation of performance with scaling while working with 3d - blender. Animation playback get performance hit. And this was with macbook screen - more space vs default. It is niche and maybe with more high end config and newest blender version and metal updates degradation is minimal, but it’s still there it logical - scaling up and then down is extra work and if it’s real time 3d rendering it’s not easy task too. Myself use 1440p 25 and 27 screens (have couple of workspaces) and my next / dream is 40 inch 4k screen.
Not if you're using your computer as a workstation (eg. 3D, video editing etc). Even web browser rendering will get a hit on very complex sites.
Thanks for explaining.
I've been looking for a solution myself since purchasing the M2 Mac Mini last month.
I have a Q32QC Gigabyte monitor (1440p, VA). Everything seems to be ok, videos, photos, icons, etc.
But the text in the browser, in Excel, Word, basically everywhere, is so terrible that I can no longer control myself.
And the view could be bright.
Out of desperation, I even thought about Apple Display, but I prefer 32 and the price is killing me.
To sum up, what monitor 32 will not destroy my eyesight in fonts? Working on MS Office, www and that's it.
32” is fine but I recommend you getting at least 4K resolution if you’re gonna be using it for Word, Excel etc
This is a very helpful video. I just got my first Mac, a 14" MBP M3 Pro 12/18 with 36gb ram, and hooked it up to my 38 and 34 inch ultrawides (3840x1600 and 3440x1440) and was very disappointed with the text clarity. It seems like a 32" 4K monitor would be a better experience.
I have dell 2719H 27inch monitor 1920x1090, should I buy mac mini m2? I want to use it for coding
In the youtube index overview image you refer to these as 2K and 4K screens. Why do you call 2560 resolution for 2K? 2K normally refers to a standard 1080 screen (1920 x 1080/1200). 2450x1440 is defined as QHD so please use this, not 2K :)
Been using both M1 and Intel MacBook, I can say that there's no noticeable change in performance with scaled resolution, and I use weird scaled resolution on my 4k monitor.
there is a performance loss with m1 macbooks too? i have an intel one and scalled ui performance is terrible. is it the same with newer apple silicon ones?
@@stephano671 I've been using an M1 MacBook since launch on a 4k monitor scaled to 1440p and haven't noticed any performance issues whatsoever.
Thank you!!! Straight to the point, no bla bla bla explaining a thousand things. You nailed it 👍🏼
Thanks a lot! I appreciate it 👊
Great video, thank you! What about the refresh rate? Many of these 1440p displays can go up to 120 Hz or even passed that. But most of the 4k screens are capped at 60 Hz. Even if the 4k display (scaled to effective 1440p) is sharper, the smoothness of the 120 Hz of the native 1440p display might make up for that depending on personal preference.
That’s a good point! Refresh rate can be another factor to determine which monitor is the best for your needs.
Excellent explanation, well done. Do these rules apply to a 27 inch monitor?
Very helpful video. Thanks!
Glad I could help!
yeah thanks. it helps me alot to choose what to buy. thank you again
I have a 4k monitor. I've been running at 2560x1440 but it's just not as sharp as the default option suggested on the Display settings on Mac, which is 1920x1080. Problem is it's just too big which is a shame, because it looks noticeably crisper than 1440p!
Excellent review! Thanks!
I don´t speak English, but when the video is good, you can understand perfectly. Thanks a lot! I'm going to buy LG UL500-W, it' is a good option?
Glad I could help! It seems like a good budget option.
I was looking at a Dell 4k 27" monitor. This video wouldn't apply to a smaller monitor in terms of scaling, correct?
Great, thanks! Now I'm definitely sure I'd prefer 4k monitor for mac and use it in 1080p mode
Glad I could help!
Thanks
Great video❤
I appreciate your suggestions from this video. I now realize that a 32" 1440p with USB C is far more important to me than my need to have a 4k monitor. Thus I'm buying a 1440p since the 4k 32" options with USB C are way out of my price range at this time. Keep up the good work.
Thank you! Glad I could help.
Have you found that in 27"? A 1440p with USB C under $300 with great quality?
1440p is perfect at 27", on 32" it's not enough pixels to look very sharp so i would go for 2160p at 32", obviously depends on how far away you are, if you're not so close to the screen it might be ok
Thanks for the very hands-on and usable comparisons! can you link to which LG 4k 32" monitor you are using in the video? And can you recommend it in general?
Hey, I would like to ask a question: Will 4K scaled to 1440p on a Mac have worse screen quality than native 4K resolution on Windows?
So just take 5K/6K retina monitors (lg md5kl 27, samsung viewfinity s9 27, dell ultrasharp 27/32, apple pro xdr 32, apple studio display 27, I guess those are all the options)
What 4k model is that? I currently have the same 2k models. But looking for a good match in a 4k. This one looks good. So, again, which one is it?
4k at 1080 it is just my tired eyes!! Thanks a lot for the video, it really helped me!!
Great explanation, but not the results I was hoping for. I've been using a 4k monitor scaled at 1440p, and everything works great, except Photoshop. For whatever reason Photoshop doesn't scale, so since the actual resolution is scaled to 5k (as you explained), Photoshop displays at 5k, or at least the resolution of the image does. I've never understood why an image that had a greater resolution than my monitor would be smaller at 100%, but this appears to be why. I was hoping maybe switching to a 1440p monitor would be the answer since I'd be at it's native resolution, but you've pointed out that might not be the way to go.
That said, I realize if I simply view an image at 150% rather than 100%, I'll get the correct view, and it's still the same image being displayed over the same amount of pixels I would at 4k.
Quick note :
MacOs made most monitors blurry in native resolution.
Unlike windows, or much better option : Ubuntu/Linux - which render perfectly & very sharply for me.
Amazing explanation, I have one questions though
When I want to watch a movie/show at 4k will it run at 4k or 1440p? if I am using a 4k 27 inch monitor scaled to 1440p like you said in the video
The scaling only affects UI elements, your content like movies or pictures will not be affected. Same goes for games.
nice video! right now im using 24 inch 1080p and the "space" is enough for me, but i want clearier image, and i was thinking about to get 27 inch 4k. so what i think is, when im happy with 1080p scaling, i will be happy with 4k too or not (without the need of performance loss /scaling)?
Hi you need 27/5k or 27/2k.21.5 inch 1920×1080 this sizes native size of mac os😊
Really useful thanks.
What about ultra wide monitors?
Today I tested 4k monitor Samsung LS32BM700UPX with Mac M1 pro with the middle and the 4th resolution option and it was very readable at more than arms lenght while providing more lines of text than 1140p
Great video. Super informative. But I still struggle to make my desicion on the matter..
I want a 27 monitor that I can use for work (work in e commerce) so image quality and sharpness is important.
At the same time I want to be able to hook it up to my ps5 (so 144hz + is a must).
4K monitors with 144hz are still very expensive.
What do you think man? Worth saving up? Or is 1440p IPS 144hz a great option for both work & ps5 gaming?
It’s a difficult decision, if you don’t have enough money then start with 1440p. That’s what I did at the beginning.
and most of us would happily pay less for a 1440p if Apple had left the font rendering as it was, becasue it would make the 1440p much better. Still not as crisp as a 4k , but much much better
The kindness in these comments is overwhelming. Thank you all!
absolut perfect explanation of scaling under macOS! thank you my friend!!
Thank you very much!
Something is not right in the Bjango article, I have a Dell 27 2k (109 PPIs) and it looks so terrible compared to my second monitor LG 27 4k (163 PPIs) .. according to the table from Bjango, Dell should be a better monitor, right? But in practice it's so bad .. 2k resolution works fine on Windows or Linux but Mac can't handle it in his weird scale system
Hey, the article is right. The word “better” here is referred to how MacOS scaling works. For example, the 27” 2K is “better” because you won’t have problems with scaling as the monitor will run at the native resolution (1440p), you won’t experience problems like moiré and other issues showed in the article, plus the screen real estate is going to be the one recommended by Apple for the 27” size (which is 1440p). Now in terms of image quality, resolution and sharpness the 4K is a better display and it’s going to look better. The problem with 4K here is that if you scale it to 1440p to match your 27” 1440p monitor, you might experience scaling issues and some of the problems showed in the article. Now if you scale your 4K monitor to 1080p instead (1:1 scaling) it means that you won’t have any of those problems except for the screen real estate which is going to be smaller.
I bought the 4K one few days ago for $800 is processing , I was wondering comes within Mic on the monitor or not
I really wish there was a video like this but for Windows 11 and PC space. I have both a mac and PC and I can't decide between a 2K or 4K 27" monitor for gaming and game development.
I am using a 4 K monitor. If you are using the native resolution, the fonts and everything are very small and you have to scale it up anyways to make them usable. If you have to scale them up, why not just go ahead and use 1440 p ?
Exactly, the short answer is sheeps follow the herd. Don´t be a sheep.
Neither is ideal but 4K would be the most sound decision regardless of the scaling issues, 92 ppi in 2024 when people are most likely used to their 300+ ppi phone displays will be ROUGH.
The sweet spot would be downsizing to 24 or 27 inch max and get 1440p.
I now have an Asus 4K 32", i can tell it's better than the other monitor i have, Asus QHD 27"
Native resolution on a 32" 4k monitor looks fine tbh. It's 27" at 4k that's unusable.