Mac Mini M1 Monitor Madness

Flink_Poyd · April 2023

I'm upgrading my 21" iMac to an M1 Mac Mini so I now need a monitor. After the usual GoogleTube search of review videos Im still non the wiser as Im out of the loop with monitors.

Budget is £200, new or used, and 24" or 27" which is where the confusion is setting in. A lot of the monitors are touted as "gaming" with a resolution at 1440p but that seems to have scaling issues when used with a Mac for some reason so Im buggered if I know what to look for now.

24" 1080p? 27" 4K? Something else?

This is going to be used for the usual browsing stuff and for the display on my *ahem* studio desk.

Suggestions and advice are welcomed and needed.

I used to be the bloke people would ask advice from on stuff like this.........

octatonic · April 2023

I've been using Dell and MSI here.
Dell S2721DS would be a good option.

I have a Dell P24xxx as my second monitor (main one is a 4k MSI) and it has been great.

Flink_Poyd · April 2023

octatonic said:

I've been using Dell and MSI here.
Dell S2721DS would be a good option.

I have a Dell P24xxx as my second monitor (main one is a 4k MSI) and it has been great.

As usual the amount of conflicting info just makes my head spin. On the Mac Mini sub reddit and on YouTube theres equal amounts of "dont get 4K, dont get 1440p" for different reasons.

Does it give many resolution options? This seems to be another rabbit hole on its own with the Mac Mini/Silicon crowd.

Axe_meister · April 2023

I've used my MacBook with 4K, 1440p and ultra wide with no issues at all.

Flink_Poyd · April 2023

Axe_meister said:

I've used my MacBook with 4K, 1440p and ultra wide with no issues at all.

My sons got a gaming monitor so I'll test it on that, 27" 1440p. Seems like it's to do with Apples Retina specs for DPI. 110 and 220 DPI is the sweet spot so a 24" 1080p or a 27" 1440p seem to fall in that range. Their own Retina monitors are something like 5K and 6K which leads to the weirdness. You can use whatever monitor you want but they then have to be upscaled/down scaled which uses resources from the GPU from what I can gather.

jasonbone75 · April 2023

Whatever you end up doing use this: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay

It fixes the scaling nonsense in almost any setup/combination you can imagine.

Flink_Poyd · April 2023

jasonbone75 said:

Whatever you end up doing use this: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay

It fixes the scaling nonsense in almost any setup/combination you can imagine.

Ta. Ive seen that mentioned but Id rather just get a monitor that works rather than "forcing" it to work as its a base model M1. Theres a few Thunderbolt Cinema displays on ebay so I might just go for something like that. Ive got a few quid coming in from *gasp* crypto cashback so I might even up my budget if needed.

jasonbone75 · April 2023

For me there was no other choice because I had the displays already. Turning it on was like a breath of fresh air! The difference is startling.

As you say, won't be necessary if you get something native to Apple but for everything else it's a life-saver.

Philtre · April 2023

I use a Mac Mini M1 and a PC. I bought a Dell 27 inch 4k monitor that can share one keyboard and mouse and switch between PC and Mac - https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-ultrasharp-27-4k-usb-c-hub-monitor-u2723qe/apd/210-bcxk/monitors-monitor-accessories - it's very nice and 4k works well at 1920x1080 double scaling (equivalent to retina).

stonevibe · April 2023

I have this one on my Mac mini M1 and it works perfectly

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-27-inch-Monitor-Display-Response/dp/B08XMSYZHD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=S80CFOHX2NF&keywords=Lenovo%2BQ27q-1L%2B27%2BInch%2BWide%2BQuad%2BHD%2B(1440p)%2BGaming%2BMonitor%2B(IPS%2BPanel%2C%2B75Hz%2C%2B4ms%2C%2BHDMI%2C%2BDP%2C%2BAMD%2BFreeSync)%2B-%2BTilt%2BStand%2C%2BIron%2BGrey&qid=1682419968&s=computers&sprefix=lenovo%2Bq27q-1l%2B27%2Binch%2Bwide%2Bquad%2Bhd%2B1440p%2Bgaming%2Bmonitor%2Bips%2Bpanel%2B75hz%2B4ms%2Bhdmi%2Bdp%2Bamd%2Bfreesync%2B-%2Btilt%2Bstand%2Biron%2Bgrey%2Ccomputers%2C79&sr=1-1&th=1

Flink_Poyd · April 2023

I ended up going for this

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/27-iiyama-g2740qsu-b1-qhd-ips-freesync-monitor-2560x1440-75hz-1ms-80m1-250cd-m-dp-hdmi-usb-20-speake

Ticked all the boxes for budget, size etc. The only problem was when I set everything up there was a green line of pixels to the far right of the screen, I initially thought it was borked and had a few emails with support (who were great BTW). After many googles and swear words it turns out it was because it was running at 75hz. Swapping to 60hz thankfully solved the problem.

Jonathanthomas83 · May 2023

jasonbone75 said:

Whatever you end up doing use this: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay

It fixes the scaling nonsense in almost any setup/combination you can imagine.

This is brilliant, thank you, @jasonbone75! I've never heard about it before! :-)

jasonbone75 · May 2023

Jonathanthomas83 said:

jasonbone75 said:

Whatever you end up doing use this: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay

It fixes the scaling nonsense in almost any setup/combination you can imagine.

This is brilliant, thank you, @jasonbone75! I've never heard about it before! :-)

Glad you found it! It is the only time I remember sighing with relief when I activated a bit of software because I had tried everything else up to then. It shouldn't be needed but apple be apple and each day we grapple with the bullshit tricks they play!

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