New 4k monitor?

[cdcastillo]

Just wanted to get a few opinions about using a 4K TV as an external monitor for a Macbook pro 13" from 2015.

About a month ago I got invited to a breakfast to commemorate "physicians day" and in the celebratory giveaway I won a Hisense 43" 4k smartTV. I picked it up this past wednesday and until this morning it had been sitting in my living room inside its box.

I don't want a TV on the bedroom. I already have a 52" 4k TV on my living room. I couldn't think what to do with the hisense. Then it ocurred to me: on my desk I had a 21 inches LG HD (1080p) display that I use as an external monitor for my MBP13, and I thought to replace it with the new smartTV in my workstation.

I'm a neurophysiologist/neurologist/internist and don't need to edit video (at least I haven't edited video more than once in the last 2 years), and my photography needs are limited to sharing pics snapped with my Xs and printing/scanning documents wirelessly with my Canon G300, HP multifunctional or from an app on my phone. I don't need neither special color calibration, nor more than the 60 HZ response the TV provides: I mostly use my mac for reading/interpreting paraclinical studies (EEGs, EMGs, evoked potentials, PSGs, etc), slack, music, and the usual office stuff (mac rumors forums, scientific paper reading, web browsing, email, creating and filling PDF documents, scheduling, clinical files, etc.).

Next semester I'll start teaching a college pregrad course on the national university (to 4th-year med students), I don't think my computer use/needs will change that much.

I plan to give it a try this weekend and maybe next week, to see how I cope with having the gargantuan monitor so close to my face (I sit about half a meter from the monitor in my current setup).

Is it a waste of a perfectly good smartTV? Maybe, but I don't need a smartTV and I could use a bigger monitor than my current 21". Is it not perfectly color calibrated? Perhaps, I think I won't notice it. Will I get used to this big of a display?, I really do not know.

What do you guys think? Anyone out there with insights on using a big smart TV as an external display for your macs (advantages or caveats)? Thanks!

Addendum: Just now I've noticed a diference between the mac's display temperature and the TV (night shift is on and apparently doesn't affect the 4K TV). Will see how I feel about it. The 1080 LG monitor did change with night shift.

 

[Successful Sorcerer]

Since you're not looking for certain technical specifications only your own opinion matters. I can imagine you have tot turn your head a lot when sitting so close, other than that I really like large monitors (never used something bigger than 32" though).

 

[cdcastillo]

So, besides the higher cost (which in my case does not apply 'cause it was a gift) and the difficulty of being so close to the TV (turning the head frequently), there seem not to be other important caveats?

I will see how it works out during the week.

 

[- rob -]

I'd pay attention to the PPI pixels per inch count on the display. I tried some bigger displays but found it affected small font size too much. If you're that close to the monitor, I don't think you get a lot out of screens larger than 27" anyway.

 

[TopherMan12]

I've been using a 43" 4K TV as a monitor for a while now. I actually bought a rolling stand to mount the TV onto so it will sit on the floor in front of my desk instead of taking room on the desk. It helps to put a little distance between yourself and the screen. Overall, I it works fine for me.

Here is a pic of my TV/stand

Better look at the stand in the amazon listing:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0734CZQKF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[cdcastillo]

I've been using a 43" 4K TV as a monitor for a while now. I actually bought a rolling stand to mount the TV onto so it will sit on the floor in front of my desk instead of taking room on the desk. It helps to put a little distance between yourself and the screen. Overall, I it works fine for me.

Here is a pic of my TV/stand

View attachment 879227

Better look at the stand in the amazon listing:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0734CZQKF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Great idea! Thanks!

 

[jz0309]

I used a 43" 4k TV as the monitor at work ~ 2-3 years ago, only at 30Hz, but it was working just fine for me for office stuff (excel, ppt etc), this was on a dell xps13 ...

 

[cdcastillo]

I used a 43" 4k TV as the monitor at work ~ 2-3 years ago, only at 30Hz, but it was working just fine for me for office stuff (excel, ppt etc), this was on a dell xps13 ...

Thank you, this is simmilar to what I'd be doing (excel, keynote, pages, pdf documents, web browsing, etc). The TV has 2 HDMI ports that support 60-120 Hz and 2 that support 30 Hz, I do not really think it makes a difference, but chose the 60 Hz anyhow.

Also, I found the TV speakers much more than adequate for listening to music, sometimes I don't wear my headphones.