Suggestion of Monitor for MacBook Pro 16"

Chazzozz on 28/04/2020 - 09:08

I'm going to be upgrading my home office soon and that means I'll be getting a MBP 16". Sadly, my trusty old pair of Asus 24" 1080p displays, although still working perfectly, will just not cut it any more and it's time to also replace them, too. Have any OzBargainers done something similar and can offer their advice on which monitors (or single, larger monitor) would be suitable? I certainly don't have the budget (or right hipster beard…) to go with the Apple Pro Display so I'll need an alternative.

In past years I've found the Dell Ultrasharp range to be very good, but it seems there's a plethora of quality models available these days. I'd prefer something with USB-C but that's not a deal-breaker. I definitely want to go 4K. A pair of 24" is what I've been used to for some time, however if someone can suggest a larger size I'd consider going for just one monitor instead.

Computing Computer Peripheral LCD Monitor

Comments

  • lunchbox99 on 28/04/2020 - 09:19

    What is the issue with making the resolution of your existing external monitors 1:1 native (ie 1920x1080)? Obviously it will look fuzzy if you use some intermediate resolution (like the default Macbook pro ratio is different - 16:10 not 16:9).

    • Chazzozz on 28/04/2020 - 11:31

      I toyed with the same idea but the monitors are at least 8 years old and can’t do any better than 1080p. My current MBP 13” doesn’t have trouble driving them, and the res difference isn’t all that jarring, but when I do upgrade I want something that will handle the extra pixels gracefully. That plus their age means it’s a good time to finally upgrade.

      • lunchbox99 on 28/04/2020 - 11:37

        Fair enough. New monitors probably worth it then!!

        I wanted to work outside the other day and pulled an old 24" Dell ultrasharp out of the garage (couldn't be bothered moving 3 I have upstairs). I was shocked that it was so old that it didn't have hdmi or DP, it only had DVI, vga, s-video, composite and component!! Dell 2407 WPF https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/dell-ultrasharp-2407w…

  • Ryanek on 28/04/2020 - 09:42

    What is your budget? The best would be the LG UltraFine 4K. The important thing is to get a monitor with 85KW charging so that you just need the one cable.

    • Chazzozz on 28/04/2020 - 11:35

      After having a look around at reviews I see the LG models (24” and 27”) pop up quite regularly. I could afford two 24” at a stretch but it looks like a 27” might be better value in the long run. It would just take some adjusting to get used to it. I see that some USB-C monitors have in-built split-screen, which looks like a really cool idea, I’m just not certain how well it works in real-world application.

  • stirlo on 28/04/2020 - 11:18

    27 inch is the sweet spot for me. 24 is too small these days and 32 is to large to be close to.

  • blonky on 28/04/2020 - 12:15

    The LG Ultrafine 27" 5K is the same panel that Apple uses in their 5K iMac and Apple display (not the new $10k one)

    I had the same problem moving to Apple in that no other monitors looked good anymore - to get that "retina" look you want a high DPI of around 220dpi+, good brightness (at least 400nits) and colour accuracy (DCI-P3 97%+ or high Adobe RGB)

    I settled for 2x AOC U2790PQU 27" 4K, not quite the brightness or colour accuracy I wanted but for the price ~$350 each they were a good compromise

  • Murdrum on 29/04/2020 - 18:32

    My office has 2x Samsung USB-C monitors: https://www.samsung.com/sg/business/business-monitors/busine…
    They cause me frustration almost every day. Especially since switching from a Windows laptop to MPB 16".

    OSX does not support DisplayPort Multi Stream Transport (MST), so these monitors can not be Daisy chained.

    OSX forgets which monitor goes in which position when it wakes up. Maybe because the monitors look the same.

    The monitors will not run without flickering unless the MBP is externally powered.

    Good luck finding a suitable setup. The LG UltraFine's probably work perfectly. But $1k for a 24" monitor seems mad.

    • Chazzozz on 29/04/2020 - 20:01

      Thanks for the advice. I was intrigued that Samsung seemed curiously absent from all the review sites I looked at. I agree that $1k is a lot to spend but I’m finding that 4K monitors with native USB-C support are not going to be cheap. The above-mentioned AOC monitors look like a great option but aren’t USB-C, which I’m starting to lean towards. I’m able to get a discount through a work rewards program so I can probably get the 24” sub-$900.

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