Researching a new monitor and found a Great Value @m00npapi.eth instead

dev / collector / chef / ex-Twitter

chemical engineer in a previous life

thing #5 at @clanker

I'm upgrading from my almost 8 year old Dell U3415W UltraSharp 34" UQD which has been wonderful but I want something more modern!

Initially I strongly considered its beefy, newer version, the Dell 4025QW 5K ultra wide with 120hz display. But after much thought (as someone whose profession is working with text/code) I opted for sharper pixel density. This one only offers 140 PPI (pixels per inch) whereas the Retina standard by Apple is about 218 PPI. The 120hz refresh rate and hub were alluring at first but I wanted to experience sharpness at the desktop level.

So naturally I next looked at the Apple Studio Display. It checked all the right boxes except the uneasy feeling of being forced to use Thunderbolt as a display port. I can see myself moving over to Linux in the future and I didn't want to leave things to chance with weird hacks just because Apple didn't include standard video ports.

I looked at 5K 27" alternatives, considered the ASUS ProArt PA27JCV for a bit. Very accessible price point but it's kinda ugly and has no Thunderbolt, thus no single cable to do everything which is big for me as I plug in and out frequently with my MacBook. I currently supplement this on my old Dell with a KVM but it's one more point of failure and added cable clutter, even if managed correctly.

I almost gave up and was gonna wait another 6 months or so to see if anything hit the market and then I stumbled onto the BenQ PD2730S.

Checks enough boxes for me:
- 5K 27"
- quality manufacturer
- various ports
- Thunderbolt
- looks good enough

Bonus:
- KVM
- color accuracy

Will share some thoughts on it after maybe 3-6 months. It arrives this Friday!

I came across it!

What turned me off of it was the lack of Thunderbolt, which meant an unreliable one cable solution for my MacBook Air since USB C has lower bandwidth.

Do you use just one cable, or use a combination of video + data cables?

Creative partner to founders and growing brands. // Building visual systems that connect people, purpose, and place.
//
Head of Design @decentdao

I came across it!

What turned me off of it was the lack of Thunderbolt, which meant an unreliable one cable solution for my MacBook Air since USB C has lower bandwidth.

Do you use just one cable, or use a combination of video + data cables?

https://farcaster.xyz/stevedv.eth/0x8aa619d7

PS I just bought an ASUS Proart Display PA27JCV (another Studio Display competitor) and it’s killer.

I want to know what you end up buying 👀