Juraj could you name your top three monitor choices for color critical work, as of this writing?
I second this. Been looking at the LG ultrafine 4k made for macs. Really dig the design and picture quality
Ultrafine 4K for Mac is only two models though, old 21.5", and newer 24". Both are really small for any CGI work.
If you mean Ultrafine 5K for Mac, in 27", that is excellent monitor with few caveats:
- You need nVidia 2xxx or upcoming 3xxx card because to get 5K, you need DSC compression via DisplayPort and then USB-C to DP cable to connect it (it natively uses Thunderbolt which won't work for PC GPU connection).
- Hack-install bootcamp drivers to be even able to select brightness and color-space. It's 500 NITs, 99perc. DCI-P3 panel, so without native control in Windows...that's trouble. This workaround might not work forever, but it does right now.
And finally to my personal recommendations: Any price level? Since I recently bought RazerBlade laptop with 144HZ refresh rate... I've become addicted to refresh rate. Not for gaming, for work! It's fucking brutal, it's amazing beyond measure. Everything is so
smooth. Scrolling websites, rotating 3D models. Just moving your cursor around the screen. It's glorious. So with that said, my ideal monitor is:
- 4K+ Absolute must. At least 130 PPI (in 32", it's ok, not great, not terrible), ideally 160+ PPI (which alligns with 27", very crips, nice). We can only dream on Apple's 220PPI...oh well.
- 120/144HZ Right now, the only 4K/120-144HZ monitors on market are in 27" size and most of them will come in Q4 towards the end of year. EVE Spectrum will be one of them using the LG panel. Other right now on market look bit too gamery...
- 99+ perc. of DCI-P3. Corona is not color-managed right now, but won't be without forever. All the content consumption will be moving away from purely sRGB we are right now. Like 90perc. of mobiles support wide-gamut colors and that's where people watch content.
- IPS and IPS-like (Samsung LPS, Sharp's IGZO, AU-Optronics AHVA-IPS,..). I already described why VA panels in monitors (to not be confused with high-end TV VA panels) don't quality for any color-critical work...or any work at all.
I am not writting unrealistic things like OLED screen or 1000-zone FALD IPS because we simply aren't getting that (or not any soon (1-2 years) or cheap (will be 4k+ Euro).
So right now I don't like any monitor on market anymore. 4K/60HZ just doesn't make me happy anymore :- ). I would buy the Eve Spectrum in 27"/4k/144HZ. You will need Turing (DisplayPort compression DSC) or Ampere (both DSC and HDMI 2.1) GPU to drive such monitor though, Display port 1.4b alone without DSC or HDMI 2.0 don't feature enough bandwidth.
Now 32"/4k/120-144HZ...most of those will come in Q1 2021. Seems like LG had trouble with such panel, and Innolux likewise, don't know of anyone else who was planning such panels.
If you need something really good right now in 32" size, 4K res and 60HZ, I still stand by BenQ models. 3220U for newer look, wider gamut,etc.. older 3200U for budget conscious. Or one of the top LG ones ( LG 32UL950-W or older 32UD99-W ) in ultra-fine category (not to be confused with ultra-fine for Mac, which are different).