Display Tales
When the iMac 5K died on me last year, I’d been using iMacs for over a decade, so shopping for a display was a very distant memory. That situation changed when I replaced it with the M1 MacBook Air, but I decided to compromise: after spending a couple of months with the Macbook’s screen running solo (and sprinklings of Sidecar), I bought a 2K Asus ProArt display. The resolution was nothing to write home about, but the colour was good (REC 709+SRGB), the price was right, and the idea was to wait and see: as in, what will Apple eventually release? Well, now we know.
I haven’t seen the Studio Display in person, but I’m sure it’s just as stunning as that iMac 5K I stared at for 5-6 years. A 5K Retina resolution is a sight to behold, and I loved that screen. But…it also fell apart. Long before the computer portion of the iMac gave up the ghost, its display became problematic: first, yellow “blotches” made any solid colour appear uneven; then, a faint purple frame appeared around the entire screen; when rebooting the machine, I’d see the Dock, burnt-in on the grey background, despite always running a screensaver (1). That’s a lot of issues I’d never experienced before with any other display—iMac or external. So given all of the above, plus the fact that the Studio Display uses the same IPS backlit LED tech; plus the $2000 CAD price tag; plus a camera and speakers I’d never use; plus another $400 CAD to get height adjustments (which I would use/need)…it didn’t take me very long to realize that, as pretty as it was, it wasn’t for me.
The other 5K option would’ve been the LG Ultrafine: same old tech, almost as expensive, but with older IO—it hasn’t been updated in years. So I turned to 4K instead, and I looked at BenQ, Dell… and finally settled on the ProArt PA279CV—the 27” 4K version of the one I was already using. Why rock the boat?
Unlike the 2K which connected via HDMI or DisplayPort (I was using DP through a CalDigit Thunderbolt hub), this model features a single USB-C connection (2) for video, data (there’s a 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 hub built-in), and 65W power. I’d read that I might need to jump through firmware hoops to get the USB-C working on an Apple Silicon Mac, but they must’ve updated the latest units at the factory because it all worked without a hitch: I connected the included cable and the Air recognized both the display and the hub. Everything nice, and sharp, and…err…BIG.
This is where I need to mention Apple’s relationship with resolutions that fall outside what it supports for its devices. I already knew about the lack of HiDPI support on screens below 4K: on the previous 2K model, most of the apps had a decidedly Windows 98 appearance. What I didn’t know, however, was how a 4K display would be interpreted out of the box: the Mac defaults at 1920×1080. On a 27 in. I swear, the icons were so huge I thought they were secretly planning to eat me. Ridiculous.
So I switched the resolution to the display’s native 4K….and down went Alice, deep into the rabbit hole of an itty bitty, almost pointillist version of macOS. Just as ridiculous. Off to the Web I went. There, I read all about the technical reasons behind this behaviour, and about scaled resolutions, and how the OS has to render in-between sizes on the fly, which potentially impacts performance. Long story short: after much experimentation, I’ve now settled on 3008×1692, which is one of the five main options proposed in the Display prefs panel (the one just before native 4K). There’s a slight hit on text rendering, (3) but it’s a good compromise in terms of UI size and available real estate. Performance is fine, and I’m perfectly happy so far.
…
Will the PA279CV ever be featured in the design wing of the Smithsonian? Hell no. There’s enough dull plastic here to build a floating island in the middle of the Pacific. Plus, that name. But the screen rotates, tilts, and goes up and down; the stand features basic cable management, so it looks clean; I’m getting that single cable connection, I’m happy with the sharpness, I’m comfortable with the colour range; and while the brightness isn’t noteworthy (350 nits), it’s fine for my studio space (4). The monitor is pedestrian, but functional—enough to enjoy looking at the content of my screen again, which is what I sorely needed. Just a window. With the added resolution I’m even using the MacBook in clamshell mode now, most of the time (I was never a fan of dual-screens…I never know where to put anything).
Now, what if this panel turns purple in five years? Well, I’ll be slightly miffed…but I’ll get over it.
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I didn’t even think burn-in was still possible tbh.
It also includes those other connection options.
Slightly less sharp. But it’s barely noticeable.
Not for HDR or DCI-P3 which are listed in the specs. I use a custom setting based on REC-709.
