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March 15th, 2021 04:00

P2721Q, MacBook Air M1

Hey,

I was thinking about getting a new external monitor for my MacBook Air M1. From what I can tell, the Dell P2721Q 27" 4K USB Type-C monitor seems like a good choice.

I would like to get 4K at 60Hz through USB Type-C, so that I can use the MacBook as a "one-cable-setup" .

From what I have read on this forum/page and also others, some people say that it's a great choice and it works, while other say they get nothing but issues with the P2721Q-M1 duo (screen flickering, 4K only at 30Hz, can't get RGB output) . Does anyone (by any chance) use the P2721Q monitor with the M1 successfully and could describe their setup (what cable, setting, etc.), they use to get 4K at 60Hz?

9 Legend

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14K Posts

March 15th, 2021 09:00

@Luka777777778  I would very strongly advise against using any 27" 4K display on any macOS-based system.  The reason is that Apple designs macOS for two categories of displays: standard (100-110 pixels per inch) and Retina (200-220 ppi).  A 27" 4K display results in a pixel density of 163 ppi, which falls right between the two types of displays that Apple designs for, and therefore makes it an equally bad fit with both of the available options.  If macOS treats this display as standard, then on-screen elements will look much smaller than intended, and probably smaller than will be comfortable to use.  If macOS treats it as Retina, then things will look LARGER than they should, and thus reduce your effectively available workspace.  It's true that macOS does offer "Scaled" options to address these middle ground cases, but that involves rendering an image meant for either a standard or Retina display and then using post-render GPU scaling to blow up or shrink down that rendered image.  As you might expect, that doesn't look as good as rendering for the target display pixel density in the first place, but macOS won't render natively for 163 ppi, and that post-render scaling can introduce artifacts that will be especially noticeable on text.

So I would say that if you specifically want 4K resolution, get at most a 24" display, which is 183 ppi.  That's not quite Retina, but closer by enough to make a noticeable difference.  Or if you want a 27" display, then get either a 2560x1440 display (108 ppi, within standard range) or a 5K display (217 ppi, within Retina).

Notice that on Apple's own iMacs, 4K resolution is only used on an even smaller 21.5" display (204 ppi), while their 27" iMacs run either 2560x1440 or 5K resolution.

Moderator

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27.5K Posts

March 15th, 2021 04:00

Hi, Please Direct/Private Message the Service tag / Express Service code / Order Number in the text format for which you need assistance.
 
Start your research by reading through the existing U2720Q threads on the Apple Forum. If one is not found that helps, consider starting a new thread out there to get opinions from other Apple users.

March 16th, 2021 02:00

Thank you for this great explanation! Kinda in tune with the minimalist way macOS is designed to work on specific hardware only... So I guess my only option is to go with a 27' 1440p monitor, since a 27' 5K is practically impossible to get (apart from the LG "official-macOS" one, which is really expensive).

9 Legend

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14K Posts

March 16th, 2021 07:00

@Luka777777778  Happy to help.  Yes, 27" 5K displays aren't benefiting from economy of scale yet, that's for sure.  But if you want to go with 27" 1440p, then look at the Dell P2720DC or U2721DE.  The main differences between the two is that the latter includes built-in Ethernet that becomes available to your laptop when connected to the display over USB-C if you'd find it useful to have Ethernet connectivity available when plugging into your display, and it also includes a 3.5mm audio output jack for speakers -- although the P2720DC can be used with a USB soundbar given that you'll be using a Mac as a source (as opposed to a game console, which wouldn't support USB audio).  It appears that at least in the US Dell Store, the P2720DC is out of stock at the moment, which might be due to the global semiconductor shortage that's affecting the PC industry and even the car manufacturing industry because it's difficult to get electronics at the moment.  The U2721DE is still available as of this writing, but it's a bit more expensive.

March 19th, 2021 04:00

Ok, many thanks! I will explore my options .

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