rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

I have an older Mac Mini that will not support 4K. I am looking at- 'BenQ GW2765HT 27" 16:9 IPS Monitor".
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1078513-REG/benq_gw2765ht_27_led_screen.html/?ap=y&gclid=CjwKCAiAqt7jBRAcEiwAof2uK1Q2qyAY1OGJ-gWV-dF6hwrfpKu1YpxL7lL0US_gu56MjrEhEVWxoBoCkUEQAvD_BwE&lsft=BI%3A514&smp=Y

It is IPS 1440 and fits my budget. I am wondering if this would be a good monitor for photo editing/post processing. I am retired and now consider myself to be a casual hobbyist. Decades ago, I was involved in high end color prepress. I now view images less critically than in the far past, but would like a better monitor than 720 TV I am currently using.

Any feedback is welcome.

Thanks

Dik

I see it has 100% sRGB color gamut, fine for web but if printing your own stuff, might be worth spending more for a wide gamut monitor.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

saxman71 Loc: Wenatchee

More knowledgeable people will probably chime in, but I think it will be a huge improvement over your current setup. A TV doesn't make a great monitor.

Dik

I'd go for this one, but deal ends today:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1282883-REG/viewsonic_vp2771_27_wqhd_professional_monitor.html/?ap=y&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp-Xq8ufo4AIVSwOGCh1RHwZ7EAYYASABEgIAf_D_BwE&lsft=BI%3A514&smp=Y

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

Been looking at the 27" Benq for several months now and almost hit the add to cart button a few times, but there are too many user reviews claiming light leak around the edges and when you put a uniform gray image on the monitor, the color is not the uniform gray. Really tough to calibrate and trust a monitor without uniform color.

Vladimir200 Loc: Beaumont, Ca.

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I don't have a lot of experience with monitors but, just over the Christmas holidays, I wanted to add a 4K external monitor to use with my laptop and purchased this one that was on sale for a few days:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=lg%2027mu88-w&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps
Why I'm writing back to you is that if you do decide to get a monitor that "is" 4K, then you'll need a resolution of 3840 x 2160. Since your Mac is older, you may want to consider buying a monitor that will fit your "future" needs, i.e. when you upgrade your laptop/desktop that will support 4K........just sayin'.

rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

Thanks for the valuable feedback. I am amazed at how many defective monitors are sold that fall within my budget parameters. Looks like I need to expand my budget.

dwermske

I might be missing something, but if your older Mac Mini won't support 4K, are you inferring that the video card in the Mac Mini won't support 4K? Or that your monitor won't support 4K? If your Mac Mini won't support 4K, then upgrading your monitor won't help. It seems that the graphics card in the new Mac Mini will support 4K however. It might be reasonable to consider a iMac 23". You get a new monitor and computer at the same time but only if your old Mac Mini won't provide the video resolution you are looking for.

rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

Possibly the boys and girls at Best Buy and local Micro Center store are misleading me. They are stating that my Mac can handle 1440 but not 4K. I will talk to Apple Support.
Thanks

rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

What I have been attempting to determine - what is the highest resolution monitor type that my old mac can support. Everything seems to indicate that is can support up to 1600p (vert lines), so upgrading from 720p (1280 x 720) to QHD (2560 x 1440 ) should be a substantial improvement. 4k is 2160p vert and will not be supported.

So until the ol' mac dies.... A QHD monitor should make me happy until I have to buy a new mac.

Thanks to all who helped with ideas and those who prompted me to look a little deeper.

Bipod

IPS is really imporant if more than one person is going to be viewing the monitor,
becuase it increases viewing angle. For a single-user, the increase in power consumption
and initial price may not be worth it. Only IPS-PRO (introduced in 2004) increases contrast
and clarity--but its very expensive and so -- as far as I know-- onlyused in industrial
and medical applications.

Three issues that were not discussed: screen size, dynamic range and color calibration.

Screen size is as important as resolution (particularly if your visual acuity with correction is less
than 20/20). Even 20/20 vision only resolves about 1 minute of arc. Since the user has has to sit a
comfortable reading distance from a monitor--not stick his nose right up to it--increasing the resolution
of a small screen does no good: the user won't see more detail.

LCD/LED monitors do not have black blacks. Turn out the room lites, and your "black" screen glows.
Not usually a problem with color images, but in B&W it's annoying if B doesn't look B. (It used to
on CRTs and plasma displays).

Your (I assume) LCD/LED TV probably has "dynamic range". This means it turns down the LED
illuminator for dark scenes. Not much help for photos--but LCD/LED monitors don't even do that.
It's too bad OLED is so expensive.

Color calibration requires a colorimeter of some kind. Special ones are made for Macs and PCs.
Perception of color varies from person to person (partly genetic, partly cultural), so you need
hardware to do the job right.

No monitor is entirely satisfactory--and east no affordable one--and no two are exactly the same.
Monitors for PCs can usually be found a thrift stores and garage sales -- I don't know about for Macs.
If you try a bunch of different monitors, eventually you'll figure out which shortcoming annoys you
the least.