r/HiDPI_monitors

I've recently gone down the rabbit hole of HDPI monitors. Specifically the dual-mode 5k2k high refresh rate monitors. I am currently rocking a very old Asus VG248, and it's showing its age.

My main use case is productivity. I am a software engineer that uses a MacBook Pro (M5). However, I also do occasional gaming (Overwatch, AAA games) on a Gaming PC. So I am trying to find a monitor that fits both use cases, and the 5k/2k monitors seemed like the perfect fit.

I have been exploring many options, and I am honestly in indecision paralysis. I have narrowed it down to the ASUS XG27JCG (or perhaps a similar IPS monitor) and the LG UltraGear GM9 (Mini LED). I've heard IPS monitors are better for productivity due to less blooming and eye strain, but the miniLED seem to have better contrast.

Any recommendations on which one to pick between these two (or any others you recommend instead) for my main use-cases?

Appreciate your help!

I'm considering buying it, as it's going to start shipping today in Germany, and it looks to be a good option. Samsung displays are generally good and used by competitors, so I'm thinking to not wait for reviews? idk. Would be useful to hear your opinions.

With Apple recently dropping the 27-inch Studio Display XDR with 120Hz ProMotion and Thunderbolt 5, they officially discontinued the old 32-inch Pro Display XDR. Don’t get me wrong, the new 27" mini-LED panel looks incredible, but for those of us who genuinely need or prefer that extra 32-inch screen real estate, it leaves a massive gap in the lineup.

I’m really hoping Apple is working on a true 32-inch 6K ProMotion (120Hz) display to properly fill that high-end pro space. Now that we finally have Thunderbolt 5 bandwidth to actually drive 6K at 120Hz natively without aggressive compression, the technical limitations are basically gone.
How realistic do you think it is that we’ll see a 32" 6K 120Hz Apple display within the next 2 to 3 years?
If they do release one, my personal price prediction for here in Europe would easily be between 6500,00 €(incl Vat) to 7500,00 €

What do you think?

Is anyone intending to buy the Samsung Odyssey G80HS for their Mac?

I'd love to see it tested with an M4 Max Mac Studio or MacBook Pro.

For those who have been waiting for a 32" 6K display with 120Hz+, the G80HS seems to be the first real option. The key unknown for Mac users is whether the Mac and the G80HS will play nicely together at high resolution and high refresh rates over Thunderbolt => DisplayPort.

It would be particularly useful to know:

• whether macOS exposes the full 6144x3456 @ 165Hz mode, and if not 165, 120Hz
• whether sensible HiDPI modes appear
• whether BetterDisplay is needed for / capable of exposing modes
• whether 6K 165Hz or 120Hz works cleanly without falling back to a lower-quality color mode
• whether sleep/wake behaves, especially in a multi-monitor setup

I've used BetterDisplay to do a virtual test at 6K/120 Hz on an M4 Max Mac Studio that suggests the Mac HiDPI/compositor side is good to go, but it doesn't test the physical output path: USB-C/TB => DisplayPort, DSC negotiation, and cable/adapter.

This monitor is especially interesting for Mac productivity because it's the first 32" display combining 6K retina-class resolution with high refresh. It could be close to ideal for coding and office work if you want sharp text, lots of workspace, and smooth scrolling. Some of the criticisms I see of the G80HS - no USB-C, 350 nits, and matte coating - may matter less for productivity use, and the matte coating would be an advantage in many environments. In any case, it'll be a long wait for the perfect monitor!

Has anyone ordered one already (in Germany where it's available to pre-order perhaps) who will be able to try it out for us?

Just got my G27P, everything works fine, but i noticed a subtle grain in the image, like the ones you see on matte finish monitors, despite this one being glossy. It's more noticeable on white backgrounds, anybody noticed the same?

kinda shocked there wasnt already a thread here talking about this.

who knows if its gonna ship worldwide anytime soon or at all, but i figured you guys would want to know 5k 165hz+ miniled options apparently exist now.

So I see a few of you in here have the 27GM950B , I see no one talking about the upscaling to 5k especially gaming from like a 4k source.

Does it work well ?

Does it cause input lag ?

I want this monitor but I don’t want to render @5k for gaming and I don’t care for 1440p gaming, so if this feature works well I’m sold

I’m a software engineer working mostly on a MacBook Pro, and I’ve been going down the monitor rabbit hole for weeks now.

At first I was convinced I wanted a productivity monitor like the BenQ RD280UG because honestly it looks insanely comfortable for coding. The 3:2 ratio, 120hz, USB-C PD… it just sounds like such a good daily driver for someone spending 8+ hours reading code/docs.

But then I discovered the whole 5K high refresh category and now I’m completely lost.

Right now I’m hesitating between:

• Asus XG27JCG
• Samsung G80HF (Arriving soon in Europe)
• maybe waiting for the Philips Evnia 27M2D5901A

The Asus seems to be the most available/mature option right now. But only 15w power delivery and build quality seems miserable.

The Samsung honestly looks super promising.

And now Philips enters the chat with:

• 5K
• IPS
• 165hz
• USB-C PD + KVM
• 65w power delivery only but enough for mb pro ?
• cleaner design than most gaming monitors

Honestly the Philips might be the most balanced one for my use case, but there are basically zero real-world reviews yet.

Main use:

• coding
• reading/docs
• some YouTube
• a bit of LoL/AAA gaming here and there

Anyone else in the same situation right now? Feels like the “perfect” Mac + gaming IPS monitor finally almost exists… but every option still has one annoying compromise.

Hoping somebody can answer this:

I have an M5 Max which can handle 2 XDR 5K displays at 120Hz.

Partner has an M4 Pro which can't. It can do 2 XDR 5K at 60hz, however, trying to get the second display to show up requires workaround with dummy HDMI etc which is a faff.

Question is can a dock with dual TB5 like the Ivanky Fusion Ultra negate that? Would the fact it handles X displays on the chain somehow allow both displays at 60hz or is this wishful thinking until/if Apple allow 60Hz when connecting to 2 displays on a chip incapable of 2x 5K 120?

My thinking is the dock itself might negotiate 5k 60 for both displays when faced with a M series chip which can't do full fat 5K 120.

Appreciate any help.

Hi,

I bought 2 dual 5k MA270s monitors. I have a Caldigit TS4 dock and an Air M4. Will I be able to run both these dual monitors at 70hz?

Also would you advise daisy chaining or plugging both separately in to the dock with two thunderbolt 4 cables? I am thinking if it is going to make any performance difference whatsoever....

I am upgrading from 2 x Dell 2716DGS.

Finally can anyone confirm if BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2 LED should sit nicely on it, I think it is USB-c so it should just go into the back...

I'm a small screen guy. Just don't like 27 inch that much. Especially losing your mouse cursor because the screen's so big.

A short history of my high res monitors:

2015

Dell Office Monitor - 23.8 inch, 300 nit, 4K, 185 ppi

2017

Apple iMac Intel - 21.5 inch, 600 nit, 4096x2304 (4K+), 220 ppi

2020

LG Ultrafine - 23.8 inch, 600 nit, 4K, 185 ppi

2024 (returned because didn't like white border)

Apple iMac M1 - 23.5 inch, 500 nit, 4.5K, 220 ppi

So currently I'm using my super bright iMac (wish it were a little bigger) and Ultrafine (wish I could use 200% scaling)

But there doesn't seem to be anything to replace them in the future. My ideal monitor would actually be the new Apple iMac, but with black borders. Or even better, a small 4K OLED

Why are there no premium smaller monitors coming out? Surely not everyone likes 27 inches.

I'm looking to purchase two 6K 32" monitors for work and really disappointed with what is available.

The LG seems to have a lot of complaints about durability and quality. The ASUS seems not much better, and I really dislike the thick bezel with the ugly logo plastered in the middle.

The LG looks perfect aesthetically with thin bezels and no logo and just wish it was higher quality and a bit brighter.

The Samsung 6K monitor just came out and what on earth are they thinking with only 350 NITS?!

Are there any 32" 6K monitors on the horizon with TB5 input and decent NITS of at least around 600. It's like everyone decided to make the same mediocre 6K monitor. 🤣

Would love to find a 32" 6K monitor that is either OLED or mini-LED or higher end LCD that is bright enough.

Hey all, planning to consolidate my office setup into a single 32” external display. Need help deciding on specs and models.

My setup:

MacBook Air M5 (base chip, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD)

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 dock handling all peripherals

Use case: web development, content management, WordPress, browser-heavy productivity work

No gaming, light video editing, no color-critical work

Spec questions I’m trying to figure out:

Is 4K (3840×2160) enough at 32”, or should I be looking at 5K/6K for proper Mac PPI? I know 27” 4K has scaling issues on macOS — does 32” 4K avoid that, or am I still compromising?

Is 60Hz fine for productivity, or worth paying premium for 120Hz/144Hz? My current monitor is 27” 144Hz 1440p and honestly I never notice the refresh rate doing my type of work. But curious if I’m missing something.

Appreciate any input from folks running similar Mac productivity setups. Trying to avoid overpaying for specs I won’t actually benefit from.

Thanks

I'm full time software engineer, I spend 8-10h reading text (code) each day. I'm usually working with dark mode.

Asus PA27JCV is 35% cheaper than BenQ MA270S and I wonder if glossy display and macos integration make up for it?

Occasionally I'm doing some video color grading (mainly for IG) but I plan to use my MacBook Pro display as clean feed and hope to get away with that.

https://preview.redd.it/knvf7joufw0h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f418b4489a810db85f1aeb01501c002c4048e95

https://preview.redd.it/i0ukcjoufw0h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2f5369feb9d95c0ba6e1189357284eb8be38c95

https://preview.redd.it/47awojoufw0h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc149c9ac0c46c581d0d2fb2b6e82f3c7c342c58

I've had those following lines pattern that appear for 15-20 min and fade away.

Firmware update needed ? Anyone met this issue ?

Hi there!

I just bought a 16-inch MacBook Pro M5 Pro and I'm looking for 2 screens for a dual screen setup. I did 10+ years with my last Macbook Pro and screens, so I'm willing to invest. I was thinking about up to 1500 euros (1750 dollars) per screen.

Main use: professional work (copywriting, web design, AI work), will be looking at those screens for +10 hours a day : ) I occasionally game through GeForce Now.

I'm considering 2 x the BenQ MA270S, but maybe I'm missing some other options out there? These are my requirements:

• 27-inch display
• 5K resolution
• Wide color / P3 support is a strong plus
• Good sRGB mode / color accuracy
• Good panel uniformity matters
• At least 400–450 nits brightness
• Glossy of semi-glossy, not matte
• High pixel density
• Excellent macOS scaling
• Sharp, comfortable text rendering for long writing and reading sessions
• Strong MacBook Pro compatibility
• Thunderbolt or USB-C connectivity
• Thunderbolt daisy chaining is a strong plus
• VESA mount support and good ergonomics: will be using VESA arm
• Black or dark bezel

Main disadvantage of the MA270S: the 70Hz refresh rate if I use it for gaming ...

If someone has a take on this, I'd be very grateful!