2K or 4K external monitor for 2018 Mac Book Pro

Axofraniem wrote:

Thanks for all your replies. At the low end of the price range, what are the disadvantages in my case of going with a FHD or similar monitor. From what I understand, the sharpness can't be reproduced because the resolution is lower than that of the mac book pro. Thanks.

Many of Apple's Retina screens had pre-Retina counterparts, and in those cases, Apple doubled the number of pixels in each direction. For instance, 15" MBPs once had 1440x900 pixels (standard) or 1680x1080 pixels (hi-res). Then Retina models came along with 2880x1800 pixels. If you ran them in a Retina mode that sized things "like 1440x900" pixels, there were 4x as many pixels available for drawing a letter shape accurately, or filling in a photo area in detail.

If you're talking about a 24" 1920x1080, 24" 1920x1200, or 27" 2560x1440 pixel display, those will not have the pixel density needed to get the increased sharpness.

2018 MBPs – 226 to 232 PPI

24" M3 iMac – 218 PPI

24" 1920x1080 (FHD) monitor – 92 PPI

Another thing that may be a factor: macOS used to do sub pixel anti-aliasing to try to make fonts look better on low-PPI displays. I don't think macOS does this any more – so text on a 24" FHD monitor may not look as good under macOS as it once did (even putting the lack of Retina pixel density aside).

if almost all your work is textual, the 2k display will be perfectly adequate. if you chose a 4K display instead, graphics are rendered at that resolution, but text would be so tiny, you would have to turn on text scaling. which would give you something very similar to the resolution of a 2K display for text.

Your Mac doers not have a direct HDMI output. HDMI was invented for HD TV sets. At higher resolutions, it is quirky. it is not something to be embraced, but merely tolerated if there is no alternative.

DisplayPort is the preferred protocol for most displays, and Thunderbolt if the resolution goes really high.

For a 27" 4K display, you would probably want to run in

• Retina "like 2560x1440" mode – same-sized text as on a 2560x1440 monitor, but rendered in greater detail
• Retina "like 3008x1692" mode – smaller text, but more of it

rather than in

• Retina "like 1920x1080" mode – extra-large text
• Retina "like 3360x1890" mode – tiny text
• non-Retina 3840x2160 mode – really tiny text

Your computer outputs DisplayPort signals on its USB-C (USB, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt) ports.

Some monitors have USB-C or Thunderbolt 3/4 ports that let them

• Accept video from your computer
• Connect downstream ports (e.g., USB, Ethernet) to your computer
• Supply power to your computer, using USB-C Power Delivery

using a single cable. This can be very convenient If you have a notebook computer and are looking for a one-cable docking solution.

Other types of modern monitor inputs include

• DisplayPort
• Mini DisplayPort
• HDMI

You can get adapters and adapter cables to go from USB-C (DisplayPort) to any of these. When you're going from USB-C to one of the first two, it's pretty straightforward, because what the adapter is doing is bringing DisplayPort signals out on a more traditional connector. But a connections to traditional DP, mDP, or HDMI ports won't hook up downstream hub ports on the monitor, or provide charging power to your computer.

Axofraniem wrote:

Thanks for all your replies. At the low end of the price range, what are the disadvantages in my case of going with a FHD or similar monitor. From what I understand, the sharpness can't be reproduced because the resolution is lower than that of the mac book pro. Thanks.

Also:

Check that the monitor has an IPS panel (for wide viewing angles) and near-100% coverage of sRGB. If you see no mention of an IPS panel – or if you see mention of a TN one – the monitor might not have wide viewing angles. If sRGB coverage is poor (or not mentioned at all), basic color accuracy might not be very good.

ThunderBolt connection comes with a premium price-tag. Most displays do not want to pay the premium, unless it is really needed do go to very really resolutions.