Using a TV as an External monitor

Working from home has created a need for extra monitors and a need for more screen real estate.

I have an iMac Pro. As a second monitor, I have plugged in a 2014 Samsung LCD UHD/4K Television. I have been using this for around 2 months now and the experience has been very good, or rather Excellent.

In general, you can plug any Mac, old, or new, into any TV.

Use a 4K /UHD TV (3840 X 2160 pixels)

For best results, you want to be using a UHD TV. (Otherwise known as a 4K TV). The maximum resolution of all 4K TVs is the same. It is 3840 X 2160 pixels. So from a resolution perspective, it won't make any difference which 4K TV you own, old, or new, they all have exactly the same resolution. The screen size of 48", 52" or 65" makes no difference to the resolution. They all have the same number of pixels.

Don't buy an 8K TV. (8K UHD (7680 × 4320)

As of August 2020, no Mac can use this resolution, so you won't improve anything by having this higher resolution. Also, there are literally no TV broadcasters using this resolution yet. You would be paying a huge premium to future-proof your TV. Better wait. The price of 8K TVs will eventually drop to the price of a 4k TV today.

Cable

In general, you can plug any Mac, old, or new, into any TV, old or new. You just need the right cable to connect the two.

Depending on the Mac you own, you may need to buy the correct cable to connect the Mac to the TV. Usually the TV end will have an HDMI socket, and if you are using an iMac Pro, you will need the other end to be a a USB - C (Otherwise known as a Thunderbolt-3) connector

These Mac models have Thunderbolt 3 ports:

• MacBook Pro introduced in 2016 or later
• MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later
• iMac introduced in 2017 or later
• iMac Pro (all models)
• Mac mini introduced in 2018
• Mac Pro introduced in 2019

If you have an older MAC form those above, your cable may need a different connector. You can see what you need here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201736

Resolution

Your Mac might automatically set the resolution of of your UHD TV to 1080p (1920×1080 px; also known as Full HD or FHD). You should manually change this via Settings==>Displays==>Scaled to 3840 X 2160. You can also hold down the option key while clicking "Scaled" to see a longer list of available resolutions.

TV size

UHD TVs generally come in sizes from 48" and upwards. There is little point in having a UHD TV smaller than 50", as you won't see much difference when watching movies, compared to an older HD 720p (1280 X 720) or 1080p (1920 X 1080) TV.

I have tried both 48" and 65" UHD TVs. Both were great, but I prefer the 65" size, because it gives me more real-estate. Bear in mind, that if web pages or documents seem too large, you can always adjust the character or font size or use the zoom function.

Sitting distance.

When using a 4K TV for watching movies, the recommended viewing distance is equal to the screen size. In other words for a 65" TV, you would sit 65" (162 cm) away. However, when using it as a computer monitor for internet browsing, email, documents, photos, and spreadsheets, I find the ideal distance is half that, i.e. around 32" or 81 cm.

Quality

I am using the 65" Samsung TV to surf the internet, read the news, check the stock markets, watch YouTube videos, check email, do file management, use applications like Excel, Word, Calendar, Photos, Maps, utilities, Twitch, Adobe, Twitter,, Zoom and FaceTime. For all of the aforementioned, the TV screen is perfect. The 65" display is much better than the tiny 27" Retina 5K (5120‑by‑2880) display that is part of the iMac Pro. This is due mainly to the fact that you can hardly see the text on the iMac at maximum resolution. It's just too small.

Games

If you play fast moving action games, a TV monitor is not for you. You will notice a lag. As a general rule the TV refresh rate is going to be at 30 hertz (frames per second) instead of the minimum of 60 FPS you need.. (I'm not sure if that's a slow Mac or a TV restraint. All TVs claim to have a 60 or 120 FPS refresh rate, but when connected to a Mac, I can't get past 30 at the UHD resolution. It's 60 FPS at the lower resolution, but there is still a lag, so I would not use a TV as a monitor for gaming. 30 Hertz or 60 Hertz makes no difference for all other applications including watching movies. It's just the reaction time from pressing a key to shooting in a game is annoying, even if it is only micro-seconds. You won't notice this outside of a game. The mouse reacts instantly in all other types of applications.