27-34" GUI monitor recommendations?

Hi guys,

I'm moving from a 27" iMac over to a Mac Pro 5,1 and need a GUI monitor to replace what the iMac's screen did for me. The screen on the iMac has been an absolute delight to work with, so I'd like to find a replacement that matches up to the experience if possible.

I'm looking for something between 27-34", and preferably not a 4k screen as I'd rather the processing power of the computer goes into processing, rather than running a higher-res screen than I have any need for.

I'm open to different options (super-wide screens, or curved screens if they're worthwhile having). But the thing I'm most concerned about is having a really nice GUI screen for Resolve (and to a lesser extent FCPX and Premiere).

Any suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Mark

Hi guys,

I'm moving from a 27" iMac over to a Mac Pro 5,1 and need a GUI monitor to replace what the iMac's screen did for me. The screen on the iMac has been an absolute delight to work with, so I'd like to find a replacement that matches up to the experience if possible.

I'm looking for something between 27-34", and preferably not a 4k screen as I'd rather the processing power of the computer goes into processing, rather than running a higher-res screen than I have any need for.

I'm open to different options (super-wide screens, or curved screens if they're worthwhile having). But the thing I'm most concerned about is having a really nice GUI screen for Resolve (and to a lesser extent FCPX and Premiere).

Any suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Mark

Be aware that certain menus in Resolve will look different in 1920x1080 to 2156x1440. Sliders change to numbers, words get abbreviated. It's not a big deal but you'd notice the change if coming from an iMac. I think you'd notice a change going to a matte screen too.

I'm a huge fan of the 27" Dell UltraSharps, which are 2550x1440. To me, the Resolve interface appears to be perfectly suited for this size and aspect ratio.

Check this out...

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... n_led.html

or this one...

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/contro ... &A=details

Hi guys,

I'm moving from a 27" iMac over to a Mac Pro 5,1 and need a GUI monitor to replace what the iMac's screen did for me. The screen on the iMac has been an absolute delight to work with, so I'd like to find a replacement that matches up to the experience if possible.

I'm looking for something between 27-34", and preferably not a 4k screen as I'd rather the processing power of the computer goes into processing, rather than running a higher-res screen than I have any need for.

I'm open to different options (super-wide screens, or curved screens if they're worthwhile having). But the thing I'm most concerned about is having a really nice GUI screen for Resolve (and to a lesser extent FCPX and Premiere).

Any suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Mark

Personally I'm using a good old Apple 30inch Cinema Display (calibrated to "match" my grading monitor, of course). They're super cheap (400$ used) and 2560x1600 is great for the Resolve interface. The 27inch Apple Cinema Displays (LED or Thunderbolt, same panel) are great too, and cheap. Yes they are not the best monitors, but I like having an Apple monitor to match my Mac Pro tower. Since you like your iMac screen, my recommendation would be to save some $ and buy a used Apple 27inch Cinema Display since it will pretty much look the same. Both the 30inch and the 27inch tend to go warm/yellow as they age,
so definitely plan on calibrating them (I use iDisplay Pro). My friend had a brand new Asus 27inch connected to his 2012 Mac Pro and the colors were way off (blue and magenta) and I ended up calibrating it for him anyway, even if new. It made a big difference! Well worth the money.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing ... 524&sr=8-1

If you live in a big city, there's always a few on Craigslist too, and you can take a look at them before buying.

I'd second Marc's comment about the Dells. For a new setup I recently added a couple of UP2716D wide gamut monitors, and they're now working well. That said, initially I was disappointed as they have terrible uniformity issues when uniformity compensation is turned off. Poor uniformity is typical for many wide gamut displays, and the UC is permanently disabled in the modes such as its native sRGB emulation, making them barely fit for any purpose unless colour blind.

In their custom colour settings mode the Dell UC is also disabled if you adjust anything other than brightness, but that's the only adjustment necessary to get them to 120cd/m and to calibrate with an xrite i1 display pro to 99.5% or higher sRGB, definitely helped by being wide gamut. Now that they're calibrated they are nice to work with and give a great image. A downside if you do consider wide gamut is that calibrating will be incorrect unless you have a valid correction matrix (data for the correction software) corresponding to the monitor backlight technology. With the correction software I use for example, even after importing xrite manufacturer corrections, I needed to obtain a correction matrix from a different source, and of the two claimed to be for the UP2716D, one gave a clearly faulty result. From using a variety of test images imported into a project timeline, the other matrix appears to result in a valid calibration, or a believable one at least.

If you don't have a calibration tool yet, I'd also highly recommend the xrite i1 display pro as a very fast and capable unit. Even if offered one for free, do not use a Spyder (e.g. Spyder 5) as they are a disaster in comparison, and claimed to be unable to handle any type of monitor using GB backlight technology along with having "extremely innacurate spectral correction" (sic) for other more common technologies. Ref: Yumichan, Dell forum link below. I also own a Spyder and it is super slow. The i1 vs spyder is like a Porsche compared to this



These articles and discussions were illuminating when exploring the topic of wide gamut and worth reading regardless of your vendor choice.

https://photographylife.com/how-to-cali ... t-monitors

http://en.community.dell.com/support-fo ... t/19666786

Having researched further after getting the Dells and before nailing the calibration, I'd consider Eizo's CG range, though the cost is rather higher and there have been reported issues with those too.

Good luck! Choosing a monitor and achieving accurate calibration at the budget end is a minefield (which seems to be anything below at least $5K if not rather more for each piece of glass), but satisfying once you have it sufficiently figured out.

Strictly speaking for GUI, I find it nearly impossible to even recommend a 4K screen to people after getting accustomed to the paper like crispness of a 5K display which in my opinion is easier on the eyes over a long period of time vs. lower resolution. So obviously I recommend the LG 5K Display while it is still $974 before the price gets boosted back to $1300 on Apple's site on March 31.

This is assuming 20/20 vision.

My LG monitor is working fine at 4096x2160...

kc

------------------------------------------------

Resolve Studio v12.5.5

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core i7 4930K @ 3.40GHz 26 °C
Ivy Bridge-E 22nm Technology
RAM
64.0GB DDR3 @ 1000MHz (9-11-11-31)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P9X79-E WS (LGA2011) 29 °C
Graphics
31MU97 (4096x2160@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (NVIDIA) 49 °C
Storage
2794GB Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 (SATA) 27 °C
2794GB Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 (SATA) 27 °C
2794GB Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 (SATA) 26 °C
1863GB Western Digital WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 (SATA) 27 °C
238GB Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB (SSD) 29 °C
238GB Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series (SSD) 19 °C
238GB Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB (SSD) 26 °C

Strictly speaking for GUI, I find it nearly impossible to even recommend a 4K screen to people after getting accustomed to the paper like crispness of a 5K display which in my opinion is easier on the eyes over a long period of time vs. lower resolution. So obviously I recommend the LG 5K Display while it is still $974 before the price gets boosted back to $1300 on Apple's site on March 31.

This is assuming 20/20 vision.

Yeah that monitor is amazing and I agree that 5K looks much better than 4K under MacOS, BUT you can't run that monitor on a MacPro 5,1 ... doesn't matter which GPU... that monitor needs Thunderbolt 3 to support 5K over a single cable...

Hi,

I'm in the exact same situation and never thought this will give me such a headache!

I really like the screen of my iMac (2560x1440) and want something similar.
I tried one of the Dell Ultrasharps, the U2715H. I found it horrible with lots of highlight clipping in different colors.
That might have been from a bad batch of monitors as it was on sale, but it looked really bad in comparison with the iMac's screen. I liked the monitor for it's serious and minimalistic design though.
Maybe you should try the U2717, which is the successor of the U2715.

I also used DisplayCal with my i1 Display Pro probe to help the monitor to come close to my reference.
This should be part of the installation, too.

Let me know if you like it!

Hi,
I use an Acer B326HUL 32" 2560x1440 for the GUI.
Pixelsize matches perfectly with the two Acer 24" Full-HD Monitors standing left and right of the GUI-Monitor.

I hope it helps.
Peter