Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engineering?

Posted by 3oH2y869 on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @11:39AM
from the ask-hn dept.

Hi HN, I am in the market for a new monitor and would like to ask you guys for some recommendations.

My requirements are:

- Good for frontend work. High DPI, high resolution. Not excessively blurry, or retina-like. Good color representation.

- Single monitor setup.

- Be able to see 3 screens side by side comfortably, with my coding screen at minimum 16px font size

- Around 1-1.5k.

- Can be driven by a Macbook Pro

I am currently comparing a Dell 43" 4K Ultrasharp screen (dell u4323qe) vs a LG 40" Ultrawide 5kx2k (lg 40wp95c-w). I don't have any experience using an ultrawide vs a very large screen so feedback around that decision (or recommendations of other monitors) would be very useful.

( 17 comments | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by wmf on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @12:14PM (#36683122)

Your only high-DPI choices are the Dell 6K or Apple 5K. For normal DPI I would recommend either a 43" or a 38" (which is the same width but less tall). I would not recommend medium-DPI options like the 40".

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by 3oH2y869 on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @01:04PM (#36683893)

Would you recommend this over an ultrawide? Is ultrawide DPI lacking?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by wmf on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @02:59PM (#36685703)

I use a 38" ultrawide and I'm happy with it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by I_am_tiberius on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @03:54PM (#36686437)

With an M1/2 macbook?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by wmf on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @04:25PM (#36686755)

No, with an Intel MacBook Pro.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by I_am_tiberius on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @04:35PM (#36686883)

Ok, as far as I know the DPI problem starts with M1 macs, meaning the text rendering looks terrible if DPI is < 150.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by stephenr on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @04:55PM (#36687103)

AFAIK it’s nothing to do with Intel/Arm swap over.

macOS in recent years dropped support for antialiasing because Apple (+ the UltraFines they sold) displays are all[1] high dpi.

The other issue with a PPI of 150 is you’ll likely end up needing to use a non-evenly scaled resolution to get things “sized” right, so even basic things like a 1px line won’t be crisp, because it won’t be rendered as 1 solid pixel.

1: Yes I know the 24” 4K isn’t quite the same “high dpi”.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by I_am_tiberius on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @05:39PM (#36687602)

ok thanks. makes sense.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by 3oH2y869 on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @06:24PM (#36688081)

Is there any fundamental guidelines one can follow as far as PPI goes so that the monitor doesn't look miserable? I am looking for something reasonably large and quality that doesn't break the bank.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by wmf on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @06:50PM (#36688292)

You want 100-130 dpi or over 200 dpi. Avoid the bad zone in between (which includes most monitors on the market).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by 3oH2y869 on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @09:52PM (#36689575)

Thank you so much for your helpful responses. At 100dpi how does the monitor look compared to the Macbook retina screen? Does it look fuzzy?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by 3oH2y869 on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @06:16PM (#36688000)

What do you mean by normal vs medium DPI? Which ultrawide are you using?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by wmf on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @06:52PM (#36688306)

All 38" monitors are the same panel with different ports. I had good luck with the Dell one but some sleep/wake problems with an LG model.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by I_am_tiberius on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @02:19PM (#36685102)

There's also the Samsung Viewfinity S9 (5k) which is going to be available starting August/September.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by stephenr on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @04:10PM (#36686587)

40” @ 5120x2160 is ~139 PPI. 43” @ 3840x3160 is ~102 PPI.

Neither of these is “High DPI” by any stretch of the imagination.

If you want high dpi (particularly with macOS) you essentially need to aim for ~220PPI, the further you drop below that the worse it will be.

Personally I think the best bang-for-buck on a high dpi display is the Dell 32” 6K. I got mine for around $100 more than what Apple sells the 27” 5K (with the fancy glass and adjustable stand options) here.

If you can live with 27” there are a few choices of 5K available now/soon.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by 3oH2y869 on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @06:18PM (#36688017)

Unfortunately that is way outside of my budget. At 1.5k, what monitors would you recommend? I would like a larger one.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: High DPI Productivity Monitor for Front End Engin... by culopatin on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @08:25PM (#36688941)

A used 27in 5K LG. They have quality issues though so it could be a gamble. I've seen them in FB for 500-600

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