Text on Dell U2723QE Monitor with Mac Mini M2

[the.big.k]

I'm awaiting delivery of my Dell Ultrasharp U2723QE 27" monitor. I watched several reviews on YouTube and almost everyone seems to recommend the monitor.

Now that I'm reading about the way MacOS scales resolutions; I'm wondering if my monitor will display text too small or blurred. I'm upgrading from 27" iMac and hope I made the right choice.

Can someone let me know if the text looks good on UltraSharp 27" with Mac Mini M2? I'm mostly going to use it for coding and some daily productivity tasks. No gaming use intended.

Would really appreciate it if someone could post a closeup of how text looks on this monitor with MacOS. Thank you in advance.

 

[ufgatorvet]

I would like to see this too, in the same boat as the OP.

 

[thebart]

I have this monitor and an M1 mini. Unfortunately, I am not a reliable reviewer because I have poor eyesight.

Nevertheless, I think it is safe to say text will be too small at 4k. Most people do not run 4k native at 27". In Windows, you just scale up to whatever you like.

On Mac, the "default" is scaled 1440p resolution. I think text looks good this way. It is still too small for ME, so I use betterdisplay to create a bunch of intemediate hidpi resolutions. I am currently using 2144x1188. Text still looks good to ME. I turned off font smoothing with defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 0 as it is not needed. (It is off by default; I'd turned it on when I had a lower res monitor.)

The good news is this monitor seems to get along well with the mini. No flickering or not waking up issues as reported with other monitors. And it has ports galore. If you have another computer hooked up to it, it'll also act as a keyboard/mouse switcher. Very convenient.

As a display, it is... okay? It's a backlit LCD with no local dimming, so you know, it is what it is. I set the monitor to output P3 and set the mac to Apple RGB. This causes colors to be oversaturated but it looks good to me with good gamma and contrast. Since I'm not doing any color sensitive work, the over saturation isn't a problem

 

[gigatoaster]

for me it’s fine. Just disable HDR. I use it scaled at 1080p otherwise it’s too small.

 

[the.big.k]

Nevertheless, I think it is safe to say text will be too small at 4k. Most people do not run 4k native at 27". In Windows, you just scale up to whatever you like.

On Mac, the "default" is scaled 1440p resolution.

Thank you for your response.

As long as the text is not blurry and readable, I'm Ultrafine with it . I read a few reviews that the text is not as crisp on 5K monitors; but that's okay. Even if it's a marginal upgrade over my 2011 27" iMac; I'm happy.

BetterDisplay looks interesting. Need to check it out.

Agree with all the other points you mentioned. It's an entire port city on the other side of the display.

@gigatoaster - What display settings to you use?

 

[pshufd]

I have the 2 U2718Q and 1 U2720Q and have no reason to believe that the current models aren't pretty close. I had issues with scaled resolutions on the HDMI port of my M1 mini but have no problems at all with the ports on my Mac Studio. I think that they fixed the problems with the M2 chips with support for higher resolution so that upscaling and then downscaling work to support more quality resolutions.

 

[pshufd]

Agree with all the other points you mentioned. It's an entire port city on the other side of the display.

One reason why I only buy Dell Ultrasharps.

 

[the.big.k]

Update

I've received my Dell U2723QE and the text is indeed crisp; with the default settings. I didn't have to do anything and the display works really well. I wonder if I should have opted for 32" version; but this 27" model displays super sharp text with Mac Mini M2.

If you have questions, I'll be happy to help.

 

[thebart]

It's a good monitor! If only it were glossy and not matte.

For Pete's sake please start making glossy monitors a thing! Glossy makes your contrast and clarity instantly better at no additional monetary cost. Yes there's reflection but matte screen also has reflection, it's just blurry reflection. I don't know how that is better. People who game or do photo/video work already tend do it in light controlled environment, anyway

 

[pshufd]

It's a good monitor! If only it were glossy and not matte.

For Pete's sake please start making glossy monitors a thing! Glossy makes your contrast and clarity instantly better at no additional monetary cost. Yes there's reflection but matte screen also has reflection, it's just blurry reflection. I don't know how that is better. People who game or do photo/video work already tend do it in light controlled environment, anyway

Matte monitors are more popular with business customers and glossy with consumers.

This is why Apple had an option back in at least the 2008 MacBook Pro 17. I chose the matte screen as I prefer it for work. Glossy is nicer for watching videos. I think that the Ultrasharp line is more geared to productivity uses compared to their more consumer-oriented lines (the P and S lines).

 

[thebart]

Matte monitors are more popular with business customers and glossy with consumers.

This is why Apple had an option back in at least the 2008 MacBook Pro 17. I chose the matte screen as I prefer it for work. Glossy is nicer for watching videos. I think that the Ultrasharp line is more geared to productivity uses compared to their more consumer-oriented lines (the P and S lines).

I don't think any of Dell's monitors are glossy. Same with other brands. Only Apple has the right idea. I don't expect all or most monitors to be glossy. I get the need for matte. It's the complete lack of choice, outside of few niche, hard to find, and expensive models, that i find baffling.

All in one PCs with touch tend to have matte screens bc apparently the matte coating doesn't play well with touch layer? And they look better despite being generally low res (1080p)

 

[pshufd]

I don't think any of Dell's monitors are glossy. Same with other brands. Only Apple has the right idea. I don't expect all or most monitors to be glossy. I get the need for matte. It's the complete lack of choice, outside of few niche, hard to find, and expensive models, that i find baffling.

All in one PCs with touch tend to have matte screens bc apparently the matte coating doesn't play well with touch layer? And they look better despite being generally low res (1080p)

My 2009 and 2010 iMacs have glossy screens.

I can't remember if my 2014 iMac has Matte or Glossy.

 

[rpmurray]

My 2009 and 2010 iMacs have glossy screens.

I can't remember if my 2014 iMac has Matte or Glossy.

As far as I know the only option Apple has to glossy for iMacs is the Nano-texture glass.

 

[pshufd]

As far as I know the only option Apple has to glossy for iMacs is the Nano-texture glass.

That's the really recent stuff. The 2009 and 2010 are glossy. I think that the MacBook Pros back in the 2007-2008 timeframe (at least) had glossy as the default and matte as an option.

The Apple MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 17-Inch (Santa Rosa) features a 2.4 GHz "Core 2 Duo" processor (T7700), with two independent processor "cores", a 4 MB shared "on chip" level 2 cache, an 800 MHz frontside bus, 2.0 GB of 667 MHz PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM, a 160 GB (5400 RPM) hard drive with "Sudden Motion Sensor" technology, and an 8X dual-layer DVD�RW/CD-RW SuperDrive. It also includes a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor with 256 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM and dual-link DVI functionality, and a 17" widescreen "matte" or "glossy" CCFL-backlit 1680x1050 TFT active-matrix display (a higher-resolution 1920x1200 display also is available by custom configuration). -- Everymac.com

 

[Corefile]

I am still using a Dell P2715Q that I bought for $295 back in 2016. Now using it on a Mini 2023.

 

[betman]

Update

I've received my Dell U2723QE and the text is indeed crisp; with the default settings.

What resolution are you using to deliver such crisp text?

Also, how are you connecting it to the Mac Mini?

 

[theMarble]

I think that the MacBook Pros back in the 2007-2008 timeframe (at least) had glossy as the default and matte as an option.

From '06 to '08, with the pre-unibody Pro's it was matte by default, with glossy being a higher end CTO option.
From '09 to '12, glossy was the default, with matte being the higher end option.

 

[pshufd]

From '06 to '08, with the pre-unibody Pro's it was matte by default, with glossy being a higher end CTO option.
From '09 to '12, glossy was the default, with matte being the higher end option.

It's kind of funny that they switched but I suspect consumer demand changed to glossy and they knew that business users would pay more for matte.

 

[Longplays]

I'm eyeing the this display with a 2019 MBP 16" Core i7.

Does the Dell's built-in RJ45 ethernet port work with the Mac?

 

[Saberon2014]

I'm eyeing the this display with a 2019 MBP 16" Core i7.

Does the Dell's built-in RJ45 ethernet port work with the Mac?

Yes it works perfectly

 

[dimme]

Dell U2723QE owners running @ 1440, how do you find text and fine lines. And issues when scrolling?
Thanks

 

[stradify]

It seems to me that Matte and Nano Texture are terms describing the same process by which the Matte effect is obtained. Is if there's something Apple does that's different from the Matte finishes like we see on the new 5K monitors from Dell & Samsung?

 

[hipeboy]

Hi everyone,

I'm running a Dell U2723QE in conjunction with my good old buddy MBP 13" Retina from early 2015.
Connecting it with a miniDP/Thunderbolt to DisplayPort cable.
The resolution is set to 4K @ 60 Hz with HiDPI (2x like Retina) using EasyRes or BetterDisplay apps.

DELL U2723QE:
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (2160p/4K UHD 1 - Ultra High Definition)
UI: 1920 x 1080 @ 60.00Hz

Everything is working fine. The text is sharp and the scrolling is smooth.
The only thing that I would love to improve is the color of the Dell compared to the MacBook Pro Retina display.
Colors are much paler on the Dell monitor and at the same time I feel more fatigue in my eyes if I spend some time reading articles, news, etc. something that doesn't happen when I use the MBP built-in screen.

Do you guys have any recommendations regarding the settings on Dell side and also any ICC profile to use on MacOS side? I don't expect to have a 1:1 similarity in terms of colors between the two screens, but at least to be as close as possible and reduce eyestrain.

Thanks in advance.

 

[thebart]

Hi everyone,

I'm running a Dell U2723QE in conjunction with my good old buddy MBP 13" Retina from early 2015.
Connecting it with a miniDP/Thunderbolt to DisplayPort cable.
The resolution is set to 4K @ 60 Hz with HiDPI (2x like Retina) using EasyRes or BetterDisplay apps.

DELL U2723QE:
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (2160p/4K UHD 1 - Ultra High Definition)
UI: 1920 x 1080 @ 60.00Hz

Everything is working fine. The text is sharp and the scrolling is smooth.
The only thing that I would love to improve is the color of the Dell compared to the MacBook Pro Retina display.
Colors are much paler on the Dell monitor and at the same time I feel more fatigue in my eyes if I spend some time reading articles, news, etc. something that doesn't happen when I use the MBP built-in screen.

Do you guys have any recommendations regarding the settings on Dell side and also any ICC profile to use on MacOS side? I don't expect to have a 1:1 similarity in terms of colors between the two screens, but at least to be as close as possible and reduce eyestrain.

Thanks in advance.

First, is there a particular reason you are running at such low res? Try 1440p

Second, do you do color sensitive work? If not, and you just want more vibrant colors, try setting the Dell to output DCI p3 and your Mac to Apple RGB

 

[hipeboy]

First, is there a particular reason you are running at such low res? Try 1440p

Second, do you do color sensitive work? If not, and you just want more vibrant colors, try setting the Dell to output DCI p3 and your Mac to Apple RGB

Thanks for the reply.

Personal preference. I would say I do prefer the 1080p HiDPI on the 27" Dell monitor much more than the 1440p (which is a downscaled 5K resolution on a 4K monitor).

I followed your recommendations and enabled the Apple RGB output on MacOS and then set the Color/Preset Mode to DCI-P3 in Dell monitor. Colors are now more vibrant and much more similar to what I get on the MacBook Pro 13" display. For now, I'm very with the image quality improvements. Thanks again @thebart for your tips.

Planning some more mods:

• Change Apple's 128GB SSD to a NVME 1TB (Sintech adapter + SK Hynix Gold P31)
• StainGate: Clean the Retina screen. Bought this kit: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203762039278
• OpenCore Legacy Patcher to then install the latest MacOS Ventura