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

#1

Post by 3oH2y869 » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 3:39 PM UTC

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.

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

#2

Post by wmf » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 4:14 PM UTC

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".

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

#3

Post by 3oH2y869 » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 5:04 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #2

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".

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

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

#4

Post by I_am_tiberius » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 6:19 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #2

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".

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

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

#5

Post by wmf » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 6:59 PM UTC

3oH2y869 wrote: post #3

wmf wrote: post #2

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".

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

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

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

#6

Post by I_am_tiberius » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 7:54 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #5

3oH2y869 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

With an M1/2 macbook?

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

#7

Post by stephenr » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 8:10 PM UTC

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.

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

#8

Post by wmf » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 8:25 PM UTC

I_am_tiberius wrote: post #6

wmf wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

With an M1/2 macbook?

No, with an Intel MacBook Pro.

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

#9

Post by I_am_tiberius » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 8:35 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #8

I_am_tiberius wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With an M1/2 macbook?

No, with an Intel MacBook Pro.

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

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

#10

Post by stephenr » Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 8:55 PM UTC

I_am_tiberius wrote: post #9

wmf wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, with an Intel MacBook Pro.

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

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”.