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The ideal work/coding resolutions and sizes for macOS that I would suggest if you are going down this rabbit hole. 24 inch 1080p 24 inch 4k (2x scaling) 27 inc

The ideal work/coding resolutions and sizes for macOS that I would suggest if you are going down this rabbit hole. 24 inch 1080p 24 inch 4k (2x scaling) 27 inch 1440p 27 inch 5k (2x scaling) 32 inch 6k (2x scaling) Other sizes are going to either look bizarre or you’ll have to deal with fractional scaling. Given that 4k is common in 27/32 inches and those are cheap displays these kinds of problems are expected. I have personally refused to accept in the past that 27 inch 4k isn’t as bad as people say and got one myself only to regret buying it. Get the correct size and scaling and your life will be peaceful. I would recommend the same for Linux and Windows too tbh but people who game might be fine with other sizes and resolutions.

jbellis 6mo ago
So MacOS supports only a handful of low dpi resolutions and high dpi must be an integer multiple of one of those?
- wmf 6mo ago
  It doesn't have to be but it's really designed to run at exactly 2x scale.
  - stefanfisk 6mo ago
    What makes you say that? Unless I am mistaken, it’s only the Pro models who run at 2x by default.
danny8000 6mo ago
32" 4k display at fraction scaling of 1.5 (150%) is fine for my day-to-day work (Excel, VS Code, Word, Web browsing, Teams etc.). It delivers sharp enough text at an effective resolution of 2560x1440 px. There are many 32" 4k displays that are affordable and good enough for office workers. I work in a brightly lit room, so I find that monitor brightness (over 350 nits) is the most important monitor feature for me, over text sharpness, color accuracy, or refresh rate.
smcleod 6mo ago
For me it would be 16-27" 4k is fine, but and as you go up to 32" I'd be wanting 5 or 6k ideally as it's quite noticable for text (even when high DPI scaling is working and across operating systems).
tern 6mo ago
Yup, 27" 4k with a Mac is truly awful. Don't do it. Get a 5k display.
- extr 6mo ago
  Disagree completely. Works great for me.
- pholbrook 6mo ago
  If you're running the 4k display at 1440p, I'd agreed. But I run two 4k 60hz displays on a 16" MacBook Pro work laptop at 2880x1440 effective resolution and it looks fine to me. Yes, it doesn't look as good as the Studio Display I have on my personal Mac. But even though I have the MacBook Pro screen right next to the 27" monitors, I just don't notice the difference as I switch between them all day long. I'm not saying there is no difference. But I suspect how one reacts to it is highly dependent on the person. I wear glasses that aren't perfectly focused for either screen, but they're good enough to get the job done - and mostly importantly, I get to use my two 4k 27" monitors to give me the same effective resolution as a Studio Display at far less money than two Studio Displays.
shiroiuma 6mo ago
I have dual 27" monitors, both at work and at home. At work, they're 4K monitors, because that's all they have in this size for some reason (LG if it makes a difference). At home, my own monitors are ASUS ProArt 1440p monitors. I run Linux in both places. I really like my 1440p monitors at home more than the 4K monitors at work. At work, I'm always dealing with scaling and font size issues, but at home everything looks perfect. So I think you're onto something here: 1440p just seems to be a better resolution on a 27" panel.
extr 6mo ago
If you actually care about this stuff you are going to run something like https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay which easily allows for HiDPI @ 4K resolution, it does not "look bizarre" or "require fractional scaling". This is what the OP is about. I do the same thing, I run native res w/ HiDPI on a 27" 4K screen as my only monitor, works great.
- smcleod 6mo ago
  Unfortunately BetterDisplay cannot set HiDPI @ 4K on the M5 machines - that was the first thing I tried.
  - extr 6mo ago
    Sure, and that is the real tragedy here. The person I'm replying to is just pointing out that native support for high res sucks, which is true, but the real problem is what limits there are on 3rd party support.
mkl 6mo ago
27" 4k is totally fine on Windows 11 (not a gamer). Everything is sharp at 150% scale.
- polyterative 6mo ago
  Windows does ha not have this issue.
  - mkl 6mo ago
    That's what I'm pointing out. The person I replied to thinks it does: "I have personally refused to accept in the past that 27 inch 4k isn’t as bad as people say and got one myself only to regret buying it. Get the correct size and scaling and your life will be peaceful. I would recommend the same for Linux and Windows too tbh but people who game might be fine with other sizes and resolutions."

jbellis 6mo ago

So MacOS supports only a handful of low dpi resolutions and high dpi must be an integer multiple of one of those?

wmf 6mo ago
It doesn't have to be but it's really designed to run at exactly 2x scale.
- stefanfisk 6mo ago
  What makes you say that? Unless I am mistaken, it’s only the Pro models who run at 2x by default.

danny8000 6mo ago

32" 4k display at fraction scaling of 1.5 (150%) is fine for my day-to-day work (Excel, VS Code, Word, Web browsing, Teams etc.). It delivers sharp enough text at an effective resolution of 2560x1440 px. There are many 32" 4k displays that are affordable and good enough for office workers. I work in a brightly lit room, so I find that monitor brightness (over 350 nits) is the most important monitor feature for me, over text sharpness, color accuracy, or refresh rate.

smcleod 6mo ago

For me it would be 16-27" 4k is fine, but and as you go up to 32" I'd be wanting 5 or 6k ideally as it's quite noticable for text (even when high DPI scaling is working and across operating systems).

tern 6mo ago

Yup, 27" 4k with a Mac is truly awful. Don't do it. Get a 5k display.

extr 6mo ago
Disagree completely. Works great for me.
pholbrook 6mo ago
If you're running the 4k display at 1440p, I'd agreed. But I run two 4k 60hz displays on a 16" MacBook Pro work laptop at 2880x1440 effective resolution and it looks fine to me. Yes, it doesn't look as good as the Studio Display I have on my personal Mac. But even though I have the MacBook Pro screen right next to the 27" monitors, I just don't notice the difference as I switch between them all day long. I'm not saying there is no difference. But I suspect how one reacts to it is highly dependent on the person. I wear glasses that aren't perfectly focused for either screen, but they're good enough to get the job done - and mostly importantly, I get to use my two 4k 27" monitors to give me the same effective resolution as a Studio Display at far less money than two Studio Displays.

shiroiuma 6mo ago

I have dual 27" monitors, both at work and at home. At work, they're 4K monitors, because that's all they have in this size for some reason (LG if it makes a difference). At home, my own monitors are ASUS ProArt 1440p monitors. I run Linux in both places. I really like my 1440p monitors at home more than the 4K monitors at work. At work, I'm always dealing with scaling and font size issues, but at home everything looks perfect. So I think you're onto something here: 1440p just seems to be a better resolution on a 27" panel.

extr 6mo ago

If you actually care about this stuff you are going to run something like https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay which easily allows for HiDPI @ 4K resolution, it does not "look bizarre" or "require fractional scaling". This is what the OP is about. I do the same thing, I run native res w/ HiDPI on a 27" 4K screen as my only monitor, works great.

smcleod 6mo ago
Unfortunately BetterDisplay cannot set HiDPI @ 4K on the M5 machines - that was the first thing I tried.
- extr 6mo ago
  Sure, and that is the real tragedy here. The person I'm replying to is just pointing out that native support for high res sucks, which is true, but the real problem is what limits there are on 3rd party support.

mkl 6mo ago

27" 4k is totally fine on Windows 11 (not a gamer). Everything is sharp at 150% scale.

polyterative 6mo ago
Windows does ha not have this issue.
- mkl 6mo ago
  That's what I'm pointing out. The person I replied to thinks it does: "I have personally refused to accept in the past that 27 inch 4k isn’t as bad as people say and got one myself only to regret buying it. Get the correct size and scaling and your life will be peaceful. I would recommend the same for Linux and Windows too tbh but people who game might be fine with other sizes and resolutions."