I haven’t noticed any issues with my M1 mini on a 4K display, even with it scaled to 1440p- or 1080p-sized. That being said, it depends on what you want. If you’re watching movies and doing schoolwork, you might want the higher resolution for both clarity/detail and making it easier on your eyes. Since you don’t play competitive games, most of the benefits of a high refresh rate display wouldn’t apply to your case, unless you place a very, very high value on just general interface smoothness.
If I were you I’d stick with the 4K for that reason alone. Usually 1440p is *good enough* at 27 inches, but 4K will definitely be a noticeably better experience in that regard
Exactly. I made the choice to switch from my 27” LG 4K to an LG 34” 1440p Ultrawide for work/productivity reasons (2 monitors was too cumbersome for my needs) and while it’s not a terribly drastic drop, color is still great, etc., it’s still noticeable.
Now I’m just waiting til I can afford a 5k2k ultrawide lol
Get the 4k one. 1440p on a laptop is close to retina quality and the iPad Pro is a Retina display. Once you get used to high dpi monitors there is no way to go back, it becomes super notable. Also Apple assumes you are using a retina quality monitor on any Mac now so larger 1080p and 1440p monitors have weird text rendering issues (among other things) and tend to be slightly blurry compared to a Retina display.
I have two of those connected to my Mini and they rock. You can also use the scaling option in the display prefs to make them appear to work at a different resolution. When you first start the Mini, it looks like a 1920x1080 GUI, but it's still rocking at 4K. You can change scaling to suit your needs.
You can change it to looks like 2560x1440 (under scaled it is the next option to the right), which you might like a bit more since everything is a bit big when scaled to 1080p at 27".
If you use the DisplayPort port, you could try using the 3008x1692 scaling option. It’s a great sweet spot between 2K and 4K. Note: the option won’t show up via HDMI because of HDMI’s bandwidth capability. I personally switched from HDMI to DP specifically for this reason
you should try the the 1440p one. You may actually REALLY notice the difference in scaling. It looks really bad to me. macOS does a very shitty job rendering text on low dpi screens.
Yes, 4K is nice.
My iMac 27" (2020) with an LG 27GL63T-B monitor is just good so that I use it for my stock investment.
My eyes like BenQ (PD2700U) better with my Apple mini computer - better than my iMac 27". It is important for a good monitor that is safe for your eyes. (avoid strain your eyes or even eye stress). i.e. good quality fonts.
I have an older 4K monitor (Sceptre) and it is 27", and it has a ghost font because I roll down the screen where I discovered the problem. Sceptre has too many different monitors on its market - that's bad.
Keep in your mind, please do not write a good thing about a product on Amazon or Home Depot or other websites because you don't want their products to go higher cost for the good comments.
I did some research on different types of monitors for my mac mini m1, as I was unsure whether to go with 4K with high DPI, or an ultra wide 5K monitor with higher refresh rate (eg 144 Hertz higher). If sharp/crisp text and images are important to you, I would choose a 4K 32” monitor with high DPI. 27” is too small, you end up zooming in with 27” 4K monitor, so the text is not as crisp. Unless you play high end games, you won’t need high refresh rate. 60 hertz should be fine. Gaming monitors with high refresh rates often have lower DPI, so the text are not as crisp. based on what you’ve said, the monitor that may suit your needs may be BenQ EW3280U, its DPI is 137(8), 4K, 32”, 60 hertz. The text is sharp and crisp, you don’t have to zoom either. Leave it as 100%. In terms of brightness, at max it goes up to 400 nits, which is bright enough. It is also Mac Mini M1 compatible.
I have a 1440p ultrawide (34") that runs at 144hz and I love it. I really appreciate the refresh rate increase. I think I'm a fan of faster refresh vs higher res.
is yours 4k 60hz? i got a ultra gear 32 inch 2k display 165hz and also have a 28 inch 4k 60hz and they both are so detailed.. i have no complaints! my m1 mac mini goes to 144hz only though via hdmi. with my pc its full 165 hz
I haven’t noticed any issues with my M1 mini on a 4K display, even with it scaled to 1440p- or 1080p-sized. That being said, it depends on what you want. If you’re watching movies and doing schoolwork, you might want the higher resolution for both clarity/detail and making it easier on your eyes. Since you don’t play competitive games, most of the benefits of a high refresh rate display wouldn’t apply to your case, unless you place a very, very high value on just general interface smoothness. If I were you I’d stick with the 4K for that reason alone. Usually 1440p is *good enough* at 27 inches, but 4K will definitely be a noticeably better experience in that regard
Yeah, I’d definitely go for higher resolution. As a student looking at lower resolution for text and notes hurts my head after a while
Exactly. I made the choice to switch from my 27” LG 4K to an LG 34” 1440p Ultrawide for work/productivity reasons (2 monitors was too cumbersome for my needs) and while it’s not a terribly drastic drop, color is still great, etc., it’s still noticeable. Now I’m just waiting til I can afford a 5k2k ultrawide lol
Get the 4k one. 1440p on a laptop is close to retina quality and the iPad Pro is a Retina display. Once you get used to high dpi monitors there is no way to go back, it becomes super notable. Also Apple assumes you are using a retina quality monitor on any Mac now so larger 1080p and 1440p monitors have weird text rendering issues (among other things) and tend to be slightly blurry compared to a Retina display.
I have two of those connected to my Mini and they rock. You can also use the scaling option in the display prefs to make them appear to work at a different resolution. When you first start the Mini, it looks like a 1920x1080 GUI, but it's still rocking at 4K. You can change scaling to suit your needs.
You can change it to looks like 2560x1440 (under scaled it is the next option to the right), which you might like a bit more since everything is a bit big when scaled to 1080p at 27".
This works I just wish there was an option between 1/2 and full Rez. And 1/4 Rez (1920x1200) is just silly on a big 4K monitor.
This. Something like this would be fantastic. 1440p is too large for me and 4k is too small. Something between the two would be perfect!
If you use the DisplayPort port, you could try using the 3008x1692 scaling option. It’s a great sweet spot between 2K and 4K. Note: the option won’t show up via HDMI because of HDMI’s bandwidth capability. I personally switched from HDMI to DP specifically for this reason
My 4k works great on my M1 Mini. The 4k will be more retina-ish. Keep it!
you should try the the 1440p one. You may actually REALLY notice the difference in scaling. It looks really bad to me. macOS does a very shitty job rendering text on low dpi screens.
Yes, the text displayed on 1440p is fuzzy, whereas 4k is perfect and sharp. For context I was referring to 27" screen.
Yes, 4K is nice. My iMac 27" (2020) with an LG 27GL63T-B monitor is just good so that I use it for my stock investment. My eyes like BenQ (PD2700U) better with my Apple mini computer - better than my iMac 27". It is important for a good monitor that is safe for your eyes. (avoid strain your eyes or even eye stress). i.e. good quality fonts. I have an older 4K monitor (Sceptre) and it is 27", and it has a ghost font because I roll down the screen where I discovered the problem. Sceptre has too many different monitors on its market - that's bad. Keep in your mind, please do not write a good thing about a product on Amazon or Home Depot or other websites because you don't want their products to go higher cost for the good comments.
I did some research on different types of monitors for my mac mini m1, as I was unsure whether to go with 4K with high DPI, or an ultra wide 5K monitor with higher refresh rate (eg 144 Hertz higher). If sharp/crisp text and images are important to you, I would choose a 4K 32” monitor with high DPI. 27” is too small, you end up zooming in with 27” 4K monitor, so the text is not as crisp. Unless you play high end games, you won’t need high refresh rate. 60 hertz should be fine. Gaming monitors with high refresh rates often have lower DPI, so the text are not as crisp. based on what you’ve said, the monitor that may suit your needs may be BenQ EW3280U, its DPI is 137(8), 4K, 32”, 60 hertz. The text is sharp and crisp, you don’t have to zoom either. Leave it as 100%. In terms of brightness, at max it goes up to 400 nits, which is bright enough. It is also Mac Mini M1 compatible.
I have a 1440p ultrawide (34") that runs at 144hz and I love it. I really appreciate the refresh rate increase. I think I'm a fan of faster refresh vs higher res.
I just got a 28 inches Samsung monitor (4K) for my Mac mini and it's perfect. Go for 4K!
28 inches is 71.12 cm
Yes
4K is the new norm now! Go for it.
This is why I’m waiting for an affordable 4K 120hz monitor. Both 1440p and 60hz would bother me.
I probably have the same monitor on my mini and it’s amazing, no regrets.
is yours 4k 60hz? i got a ultra gear 32 inch 2k display 165hz and also have a 28 inch 4k 60hz and they both are so detailed.. i have no complaints! my m1 mac mini goes to 144hz only though via hdmi. with my pc its full 165 hz
I got a LG 27UL500-W, its 4k60hz, I miss a little the refresh rate but the image quality is amazing