Affordable alternatives to the Apple Pro XDR monitor?
Discussion
I have been considering changing my monitors for a while now.
They are a pair of 24” frameless Dell IPS panels, with a resolution of 1080p.
I use them every day for work, and I also use them for my hobby of photography. Being IPS panels the colours are fine and accurate, but I’ve known from day one that they weren’t the best with regards to resolution.
I’ve had people wax lyrical to me about how nice and sharp text looks on a monitor with high resolution, so even for work something better would be an upgrade, and certainly when tweaking my photos in Lightroom.
I went into the Apple Store the other day and thought whilst I was in there I would look at their monitors. I saw the 32” Apple Pro Display XDR and literally stopped in my tracks.
The image quality was like nothing I have ever seen in my life. It was absolutely insane. I just stood there and stared at it. I had no idea it was possible for a monitor to display such images.
Then unfortunately I noticed it was £4600… or £5500 if you want it with the non reflective glass.
https://www.apple.com/uk/pro-display-xdr/
It made me realise that my monitors were crap.
So my question is, what sort of monitor can I get that will give me a big bump in image quality without costing £4600? Preferably up to £1000 ish.
I see there are a few 32-42” Dell/LG/Samsung 4K IPS displays for about £500, but how good might these be in reality?
Thanks
They are a pair of 24” frameless Dell IPS panels, with a resolution of 1080p.
I use them every day for work, and I also use them for my hobby of photography. Being IPS panels the colours are fine and accurate, but I’ve known from day one that they weren’t the best with regards to resolution.
I’ve had people wax lyrical to me about how nice and sharp text looks on a monitor with high resolution, so even for work something better would be an upgrade, and certainly when tweaking my photos in Lightroom.
I went into the Apple Store the other day and thought whilst I was in there I would look at their monitors. I saw the 32” Apple Pro Display XDR and literally stopped in my tracks.
The image quality was like nothing I have ever seen in my life. It was absolutely insane. I just stood there and stared at it. I had no idea it was possible for a monitor to display such images.
Then unfortunately I noticed it was £4600… or £5500 if you want it with the non reflective glass.
https://www.apple.com/uk/pro-display-xdr/
It made me realise that my monitors were crap.
So my question is, what sort of monitor can I get that will give me a big bump in image quality without costing £4600? Preferably up to £1000 ish.
I see there are a few 32-42” Dell/LG/Samsung 4K IPS displays for about £500, but how good might these be in reality?
Thanks
Won’t get anywhere close.
If you get an OLED monitor, it might have that pop, but it won’t have that resolution.
If you want the resolution you can get this for £2.2k
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-ultrasharp-32...
But that doesn’t have dimmable zones so the contrast ratios won’t be as good.
I’m not going to lie, it’s overkill for a hobbyist.
Also you have to be sure your hardware will drive that sort of resolution.
On a budget dual OLED 4k 27 inch monitors might get you close. I think they are 163ppi so nowhere near the 218ppi of the Apple display, but given whats out there, that will be as good as it gets on a budget.
4k 32 inch monitors will be about 140ppi. To my eyes, they look noticeably pixellated.
If you get an OLED monitor, it might have that pop, but it won’t have that resolution.
If you want the resolution you can get this for £2.2k
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-ultrasharp-32...
But that doesn’t have dimmable zones so the contrast ratios won’t be as good.
I’m not going to lie, it’s overkill for a hobbyist.
Also you have to be sure your hardware will drive that sort of resolution.
On a budget dual OLED 4k 27 inch monitors might get you close. I think they are 163ppi so nowhere near the 218ppi of the Apple display, but given whats out there, that will be as good as it gets on a budget.
4k 32 inch monitors will be about 140ppi. To my eyes, they look noticeably pixellated.
Edited by wyson on Thursday 6th June 06:23
Good point about hardware.
My hardware is a 2022 MacBook Air M1 which apparently can output to an external monitor at 6K 60hz. I guess this should be fine for driving a 4K or 6k external monitor?
I don’t necessarily have to have a bonkers £2000 screen, but something that will give me a very pleasing bump in resolution. At the moment I can see how pixelated text is on my Dell monitors, when compared to looking at a document on the MacBook screen (as a comparison)
One last question: I see a few Samsung or LG 4K IPS monitors in 42” or thereabouts, and they basically look like TV’s with the TV bit removed. These will be fine I presume?
My hardware is a 2022 MacBook Air M1 which apparently can output to an external monitor at 6K 60hz. I guess this should be fine for driving a 4K or 6k external monitor?
I don’t necessarily have to have a bonkers £2000 screen, but something that will give me a very pleasing bump in resolution. At the moment I can see how pixelated text is on my Dell monitors, when compared to looking at a document on the MacBook screen (as a comparison)
One last question: I see a few Samsung or LG 4K IPS monitors in 42” or thereabouts, and they basically look like TV’s with the TV bit removed. These will be fine I presume?
They will look pixellated.
Personally I wouldn’t want to sit infront of something that big to do work. I’d find all that head swivelling uncomfortable, but some people here seem to like them.
But yes, they will work.
Also you keep mentioning IPS, one of the reasons why the Apple display looked so good is because it has dimmable backlight zones. You won’t get the same pop with a normal IPS screen with a uniform backlight. You will need an OLED panel.
Personally I wouldn’t want to sit infront of something that big to do work. I’d find all that head swivelling uncomfortable, but some people here seem to like them.
But yes, they will work.
Also you keep mentioning IPS, one of the reasons why the Apple display looked so good is because it has dimmable backlight zones. You won’t get the same pop with a normal IPS screen with a uniform backlight. You will need an OLED panel.
Edited by wyson on Wednesday 5th June 21:41
wyson said:
They will look pixellated.
Personally I wouldn’t want to sit infront of something that big to do work. I’d find all that head swivelling uncomfortable, but some people here seem to like them.
But yes, they will work.
Also you keep mentioning IPS, one of the reasons why the Apple display looked so good is because it has dimmable backlight zones. You won’t get the same pop with a normal IPS screen with a uniform backlight. You will need an OLED panel.
Sorry, my mistake about IPS. I mentioned it as I was led to believe it was a standard for colour accuracy, which is quite important to me, but now I realise it’s just a term for the display tech, such as LED, or OLED etc. Thanks for the correction.Personally I wouldn’t want to sit infront of something that big to do work. I’d find all that head swivelling uncomfortable, but some people here seem to like them.
But yes, they will work.
Also you keep mentioning IPS, one of the reasons why the Apple display looked so good is because it has dimmable backlight zones. You won’t get the same pop with a normal IPS screen with a uniform backlight. You will need an OLED panel.
Does that mean I should ignore any of the Dell/LG/Samsung monitors that are listed as IPS? Better to have OLED?
The only reason I find it much better to have a big screen, or 2 x 24” screens is to get space for documents. It is quite common for me to have Outlook visible at all times to keep an eye on my calendar and incoming mails, plus having a couple of documents open that I’m working on. One to be typing in and one open for reading/reference/info.
I find that a lot more screen space is better than constantly swapping between windows and documents due to only being able to see one or two at a time.
It upto you, IPS is decent but will look washed out compared to an OLED display which lights up individual pixels.
Apples display sets a very high bar.
Some people like wide aspect displays, you can get 5k versions which will have even more pixels, if you want to open lots of windows side by side.
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/dell-ultrasharp-u4...
If you go for Dell, if you get something with their Ultrasharp branding, it will be relatively colour accurate, display a wide colour gamut, have decent backlighting out of the box.
LG uses Ultrafine branding for their premium colour accurate panels.
Not sure about Samsung’s range.
As ever, you get what you pay for, and you have to be realistic about what you can get for £1k vs £5k. Monitors with Apple’s ‘retina’ resolution are exceedingly rare. Those that exist will cost a packet.
Apples display sets a very high bar.
Some people like wide aspect displays, you can get 5k versions which will have even more pixels, if you want to open lots of windows side by side.
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/dell-ultrasharp-u4...
If you go for Dell, if you get something with their Ultrasharp branding, it will be relatively colour accurate, display a wide colour gamut, have decent backlighting out of the box.
LG uses Ultrafine branding for their premium colour accurate panels.
Not sure about Samsung’s range.
As ever, you get what you pay for, and you have to be realistic about what you can get for £1k vs £5k. Monitors with Apple’s ‘retina’ resolution are exceedingly rare. Those that exist will cost a packet.
Edited by wyson on Thursday 6th June 06:26
As you’re on macOS already, have you considered an iMac instead ? I have the 24” model with an M1 chip.
The screen is 4.5k and visually stunning. It’s thinner and better looking than any monitor. I also have a MacBook Air with the M3 chip and when it’s open near my Mac you can control both with the same keyboard and mouse which is pretty cool.
I was going to get a comparable 4k monitor to pair with the iMac but quickly realised you’d have to spend more than the iMac, to get a monitor as good as the iMac. Instead I retained a 31.5” monitor which is great for work.
The screen is 4.5k and visually stunning. It’s thinner and better looking than any monitor. I also have a MacBook Air with the M3 chip and when it’s open near my Mac you can control both with the same keyboard and mouse which is pretty cool.
I was going to get a comparable 4k monitor to pair with the iMac but quickly realised you’d have to spend more than the iMac, to get a monitor as good as the iMac. Instead I retained a 31.5” monitor which is great for work.
steveatesh said:
OP have you considered the Apple Studio Display? 5k resolution, 27” extremely crisp text and good colour. Any good?
https://www.samsung.com/uk/monitors/high-resolution/viewfinity-s9-27-inch-5k-resolution-ls27c902pauxxu/Samsungs version of the Apple Studio Display with 218ppi resolution, a bit cheaper £999.
As far as I know, right now the Dell and Samsung are the only 2 alternatives to Apples retina displays that will match their resolution.
PC monitors seem to ape the TV market, I reckon the next widespread high res displays will be 8k once TV’s with that resolution become the norm.
218ppi Retina monitors are very niche. It probably costs a bomb to develop the circuitry and that investment can’t get amortised across volume sales, hence the high prices.
Edited by wyson on Thursday 6th June 09:13
joropug said:
As you’re on macOS already, have you considered an iMac instead ? I have the 24” model with an M1 chip.
The screen is 4.5k and visually stunning. It’s thinner and better looking than any monitor. I also have a MacBook Air with the M3 chip and when it’s open near my Mac you can control both with the same keyboard and mouse which is pretty cool.
I was going to get a comparable 4k monitor to pair with the iMac but quickly realised you’d have to spend more than the iMac, to get a monitor as good as the iMac. Instead I retained a 31.5” monitor which is great for work.
I love the iMac, but it just doesn't fit my use case. I find a MacBook far more convenient as I often use it out of the house, and if I'm just sat doing a few emails or something like that I'll sit in my kitchen rather than my office for a change of scenery.The screen is 4.5k and visually stunning. It’s thinner and better looking than any monitor. I also have a MacBook Air with the M3 chip and when it’s open near my Mac you can control both with the same keyboard and mouse which is pretty cool.
I was going to get a comparable 4k monitor to pair with the iMac but quickly realised you’d have to spend more than the iMac, to get a monitor as good as the iMac. Instead I retained a 31.5” monitor which is great for work.
I know I can use the iMac simply as a screen for the MacBook, but it seems a waste to buy an entire iMac to use as a screen!
What I will say is that the iMac itself is a silly bargain. £1399 for a desktop computer like that is bonkers. M3, 24" 4.5k display etc.
Mont Blanc said:
I love the iMac, but it just doesn't fit my use case. I find a MacBook far more convenient as I often use it out of the house, and if I'm just sat doing a few emails or something like that I'll sit in my kitchen rather than my office for a change of scenery.
I know I can use the iMac simply as a screen for the MacBook, but it seems a waste to buy an entire iMac to use as a screen!
What I will say is that the iMac itself is a silly bargain. £1399 for a desktop computer like that is bonkers. M3, 24" 4.5k display etc.
Yeah that’s why I went for it - I was going to get the Apple mini but with that I had to buy two monitors which will be miles off compared to the iMac, a webcam , mic, speakers , keyboard and mouse. The iMac came in way cheaper, I went for the mid tier one that had more USB, Touch ID keyboard and num pad, plus Ethernet port in the power brick. I know I can use the iMac simply as a screen for the MacBook, but it seems a waste to buy an entire iMac to use as a screen!
What I will say is that the iMac itself is a silly bargain. £1399 for a desktop computer like that is bonkers. M3, 24" 4.5k display etc.
Firstly your current 1920x1080 screems are pretty low resolution these days & it's not surprising that text looks jagged - but it's not really a fair comparison against the physically smaller screen of your laptop. Resolution is important but so is screen size as if two screens have the same resolution then the larger one will have a lower pixel density - the number of pixels per inch - & will therefore look less sharp at the same viewing distance. That's why you need to be careful going up to 32" screens or larger as they may not look as sharp as you would hope.
You aren't going to match a 6K display unless you spend the money; however I would suggest two 27" 3840x2160 displays would give a considerable increase in screen image quality over your current screens. I'd look at the Dell Ultrasharp model (£550):
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-ultrasharp-27...
Remember that at zero display scaling a document will appear half as large on the screen (1920/3840) so it's common to run at increased scaling - I have it set to 150% so that text isn't too small to read, but that depends on how good your eyesight is.
You aren't going to match a 6K display unless you spend the money; however I would suggest two 27" 3840x2160 displays would give a considerable increase in screen image quality over your current screens. I'd look at the Dell Ultrasharp model (£550):
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-ultrasharp-27...
Remember that at zero display scaling a document will appear half as large on the screen (1920/3840) so it's common to run at increased scaling - I have it set to 150% so that text isn't too small to read, but that depends on how good your eyesight is.
There are some nice OLEDs out there at a similar price point to the Apple Studio Display, but even with the latest gen3 panels you may find text not as crisp as on the Apple Studio Display due to Apple's text rendering implementation on its own device, and of course the (limited) spectre of burn-in.
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/alienware-32-4k-qd...
But the other options tend to be the Dell Ultrasharp or LG Ultrafine
https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/apple-studio...
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/lp/dell-ultrasharp-moni...
https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/ultrafine/
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/alienware-32-4k-qd...
But the other options tend to be the Dell Ultrasharp or LG Ultrafine
https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/apple-studio...
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/lp/dell-ultrasharp-moni...
https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/ultrafine/
Yes, Apple stuff isn’t particularly happy scaling to 4k. It wants ‘normal’ old skool 93 to 100ppi (like your current 1080p 24 inch monitor) or Retina, 218ppi.
I tried my Macbook Pro in Currys PC World and actually thought 1440p at 32 inches looked better than 4k so went with that resolution.
Did you consider dual 24inch 4k monitors? Those might be pixel dense enough not to look fuzzy.
27inch 4k on the Mac looked OK.
I tried my Macbook Pro in Currys PC World and actually thought 1440p at 32 inches looked better than 4k so went with that resolution.
Did you consider dual 24inch 4k monitors? Those might be pixel dense enough not to look fuzzy.
27inch 4k on the Mac looked OK.
Edited by wyson on Thursday 6th June 11:40
I didn't realise Macs were so crap at handling non-Apple screens; here's a couple of links roughly describing the issues:
https://appleinsider.com/inside/macos/tips/what-is...
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/391622/w...
There are lots more hits for the issues users are having. Trust Apple to suggest the solution is spunking £6k on a display.
https://appleinsider.com/inside/macos/tips/what-is...
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/391622/w...
There are lots more hits for the issues users are having. Trust Apple to suggest the solution is spunking £6k on a display.
Mr Pointy said:
I didn't realise Macs were so crap at handling non-Apple screens; here's a couple of links roughly describing the issues:
https://appleinsider.com/inside/macos/tips/what-is...
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/391622/w...
There are lots more hits for the issues users are having. Trust Apple to suggest the solution is spunking £6k on a display.
There are some tweaks to make non-Apple screens look better, but I've found them too compromising so have stuck to 30" Cinema Display and now the 27" Studio Display.https://appleinsider.com/inside/macos/tips/what-is...
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/391622/w...
There are lots more hits for the issues users are having. Trust Apple to suggest the solution is spunking £6k on a display.
The 'default' setting on the Studio Display (with HiDPI mode - a sort of resolutions scaling). However, the anti-aliasing 'magic' also makes 1080p and 720p resolutions look very good.
There's a more detailed summary here...
https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/wiki/Ma...
This is a screenshot of the same area in 'native' 5K and 'default' (difference can be seen on the full-size version when cilicked)...
Native 5K
Default
Edited by mmm-five on Thursday 6th June 12:14
After a recommendation on here I bought one of these and for productivity it is fabulous.
https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/ultrawide/40wp95c-w...
Pricey but cheaper than Apple's XDR monitor (£1200)
The downside is that sometimes it Apple's temporal dithering can cause it to flicker...
https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/ultrawide/40wp95c-w...
Pricey but cheaper than Apple's XDR monitor (£1200)
The downside is that sometimes it Apple's temporal dithering can cause it to flicker...
My employer is an HP house and got me one of these:
https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=1b9t...
4K, 27” for around £500. Very good colour accuracy for the price, guaranteed zero dead pixels and usb-c docking so easy to connect/disconnect between my MacBook Air M1 and work PC laptops.
Ideally with a Mac you would go 5k due to the way Mac scaling works but 4K still works well.
https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=1b9t...
4K, 27” for around £500. Very good colour accuracy for the price, guaranteed zero dead pixels and usb-c docking so easy to connect/disconnect between my MacBook Air M1 and work PC laptops.
Ideally with a Mac you would go 5k due to the way Mac scaling works but 4K still works well.
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