Ultrawide Monitor

[JCoe13]

A few years back, I got a 24" LG Ultrawide monitor. Eventually downsized my desk setup and sold the monitor. Now that I have room for a desk and with WFH, I'm looking to clean up my setup and get an Ultrawide monitor again, preferably 34". In the last few years, it's hard to believe USB-C with PD hasn't become a standard in most displays.

Anyone have any suggestions based on the following:

• 34"ish Ultrawide
• Curved or not, I don't have a preference
• USB-C input with power delivery

Don't really care about 4k vs 1080p or refresh rate since I'm not gaming or doing anything too serious. Would rather take it easy on the budget and stay under $500. The monitor I got a few years back was only $350, but it looks like it was never updated to give PD over USB-C.

 

[06tb06]

I bought an LG 32" (32UL500-W) just recently for $299. There's an updated model that uses a single USB-C cable with power delivery up to 96W I'm pretty sure. It's got all the nice perks that you could ever want for ~$300.

Don't really care about 4k vs 1080p or refresh rate since I'm not gaming or doing anything too serious.

My display is native 4K resolution, but I have the scaled resolution on both my Mac and PC at 200%. Therefore visually it looks like 1080p but much sharper and clearer. It's comparable to the built-in Retina display on Macs.

 

[JCoe13]

I bought an LG 32" (32UL500-W) just recently for $299. There's an updated model that uses a single USB-C cable with power delivery up to 96W I'm pretty sure. It's got all the nice perks that you could ever want for ~$300.



My display is native 4K resolution, but I have the scaled resolution on both my Mac and PC at 200%. Therefore visually it looks like 1080p but much sharper and clearer. It's comparable to the built-in Retina display on Macs.

Thanks. I tried looking for that updated version but having a hard time. I'd still prefer to stick with ultrawide over a 32" regular screen to have more horizontal real estate over vertical real estate.

 

[Basic75]

I'd still prefer to stick with ultrawide over a 32" regular screen to have more horizontal real estate over vertical real estate.

If you run the 34" at the normal native 3440x1440@1x the real estate is horizontally a third more than a normal 27" with either 2560x1440@1x or 5120x2880@2x. If your eyes are good enough to run the 32" at the normal native 3840x2160@1x then you will have more real estate horizontally and vertically compared to both the 27" and the 34". You might of course need some scaling, with the blurring that it brings, on the 32" since its 140ppi don't fit well to the 110ppi or 220ppi that are the only resolutions macOS is built for.

 

[JCoe13]

Hm, that's something to consider... Right now I'm working with 2 24" monitors and it just makes my desk feel so busy. Wanted to just get rid of that middle bezel and do ultra wide on a budget, even if I lose a few inches or lose out on some quality.

 

[MacGizmo]

LG 34" Ultrawide 5K/2K:

• 5120 x 2160 Resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate, 5 ms (GtG) Response Time, Thunderbolt 3 / HDMI / DisplayPort 1.4 / USB Type C Inputs, Built-In Speakers.
• 1200:1 (Typ) Contrast Ratio, 450 cd/m2 Brightness, 178 degree/178 degree Viewing Angles (CR≥10), 10-Bit (8bit+A-FRC), DCI-P3 98% Color Gamut (CIE1931), 0.0518 (H) x 0.1554 (V) mm Pixel Pitch.

I love the 5120 x 2160 resolution, the Thunderbolt connection to the Mac, and the extra USB-A ports on the back. Unlike all the other LG displays, there are no logos on the front of the display, if that sort of thing means anything to you.

The only downside I've come across in the month or two I've had it is that the Mac's keyboard shortcut keys (volume, brightness) don't work out of the box with the monitor. Thankfully, the free/open source app Monitor Control solves the problem. And, the speakers are "basic" at best – but I expected that and a cheap pair of $29 speakers from Best Buy solved it for me.

 

[mBox]

So it's looking slim to none as far as using any Wide display with the Mac Pro 2013
My dual Apple Cinema 30s are getting so old (no they are old ).

 

[yycguy]

I had the 27" apple cinema for about 12 years and then upgraded to the LG 32UN880-B 32in UltraFine 4K about 8 months ago. I love it and wish I had 2. Cost me a grand CDN, had a great stand and is not flimsy like some of the other ones out there. Charges and displays my macbook and MS Surface work computer. Solid choice.

 

[DennisdeWit]

Bought a MSI Prestige PS341WU last week. It’s a 5K2K monitor and has a ppi of 163. I really like the sharpness of the text and the colors look great too. Works fine with macOS and USB C after you flash the firmware to FW0.30.

 

[mBox]

LG 34" Ultrawide 5K/2K:

Will this work at full res on a Mac Pro 2013 D700?

 

[ascender]

Its the 34" 5K Ultrawide from LG which I had and thought it was a brilliant monitor for use with Macs. Highly recommended!

 

[mBox]

Its the 34" 5K Ultrawide from LG which I had and thought it was a brilliant monitor for use with Macs. Highly recommended!

I am not finding anything with this monitor hooked up to a 2013 Mac Pro. If anyone has any experience, please do tell.

 

[anson42]

I have a 34" Samsung CJ791 Thunderbolt monitor that's almost 3 years old now. Time flies! The native resolution is 3,440 x 1,440 and it has a 100Hz refresh rate. The monitor is also a Thunderbolt/USB-C and USB-A hub and delivers 85W power to my MBP and display duty through a single Thunderbolt cable as one would expect. I have a USB-C Ethernet adapter plugged into the back of it.

Other than the LG mentioned earlier I'm amazed there aren't many ultrawide Thunderbolt options on the market. I love this monitor and my next monitor some day will also be an ultrawide, perhaps with greater PPI. No complaints from me so far other than due to the curve it handles VESA mounting with an included adapter that makes mounting it a bit awkward but it was something I only had to do once and then forget about it.

As you would expect with a Thunderbolt option, the monitor is still over $500 today. I got mine for $700 but have not really seen the price drop too far from it's original MSRP of USD800. Amazon has it for $629 at the moment, which IMO is a decent price for this monitor. I'd buy it again at that price, for sure.

 

[flapflapflap]

34 inch 5K2K LG monitor user here as well. It's a great monitor. It was on the chopping block when I first ordered my ASD, which I'm still waiting for, but I also use a windows machine for client work and it looks like there's no elegant solution for switching back and forth between my Mac and Windows machines on the ASD, so the ASD will need to be REALLY GOOD in order to replace this ultra wide. I would also likely need 2 ASD's to have sufficient screen real estate for my needs.

 

[sylwiusz]

I have a 34" Samsung CJ791 Thunderbolt monitor that's almost 3 years old now. Time flies! The native resolution is 3,440 x 1,440 and it has a 100Hz refresh rate. The monitor is also a Thunderbolt/USB-C and USB-A hub and delivers 85W power to my MBP and display duty through a single Thunderbolt cable as one would expect. I have a USB-C Ethernet adapter plugged into the back of it.

Other than the LG mentioned earlier I'm amazed there aren't many ultrawide Thunderbolt options on the market. I love this monitor and my next monitor some day will also be an ultrawide, perhaps with greater PPI. No complaints from me so far other than due to the curve it handles VESA mounting with an included adapter that makes mounting it a bit awkward but it was something I only had to do once and then forget about it.

As you would expect with a Thunderbolt option, the monitor is still over $500 today. I got mine for $700 but have not really seen the price drop too far from it's original MSRP of USD800. Amazon has it for $629 at the moment, which IMO is a decent price for this monitor. I'd buy it again at that price, for sure.

Is it possible to connect two computers to two Thunderbolt ports of CJ791 and switch between them - video and usb - kind a like KVM? Or is second 15W Thunderbolt port just output to another display or disk?

 

[anson42]

Is it possible to connect two computers to two Thunderbolt ports of CJ791 and switch between them - video and usb - kind a like KVM? Or is second 15W Thunderbolt port just output to another display or disk?

Yes. The CJ791 has the Thunderbolt port that I use with a MBP and two other video inputs: HDMI and DisplayPort. The annoying part is there aren't discrete buttons to directly access an input but a menu option that when selected will auto select the next active input. It does not have KVM ability to allow sharing keyboard/mouse (via USB) when selecting a different display.