Can I run this amazing monitor with my MacBook Pro? (1 Viewer)

[John Dirk]

Looks awesome, Ron. I buy from Micro Center all the time. They're a solid company with knowledgeable employees. You're in good hands. I'm usually not a fan of extended warranties but this purchase might have been an exception, even for me.

CONGRATS!!!

 

[DaveF]

I never ordered anything from Micro Center. They seem to be legit.

Micro Center is very legit. There’s one about 45 min from me. I did a lot of shopping there, in Before Times, when I built my HTPC. They’re great too when you’re desparate for some computer part and don’t want to wait a couple days for it to show up from Amazon. And their prices are competitive.

Great store to have in your area when you’re doing interesting computer shopping.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Looks awesome, Ron. I buy from Micro Center all the time. They're a solid company with knowledgeable employees. You're in good hands. I'm usually not a fan of extended warranties but this purchase might have been an exception, even for me.

CONGRATS!!!

I am completely against extended warranties. I never buy them. However, I was very nervous about this purchase after reading all the reviews on Amazon and on Samsung's site. A lot of these monitors have had issues after the return period and Samsung is supposedly very difficult to deal with on defects. This was kind of a no-brainer for me. The monitor is working beautifully so far.

Micro Center is very legit. There’s one about 45 min from me. I did a lot of shopping there, in Before Times, when I built my HTPC. They’re great too when you’re desparate for some computer part and don’t want to wait a couple days for it to show up from Amazon. And their prices are competitive.

Great store to have in your area when you’re doing interesting computer shopping.

I never heard of this company. I found them after doing a detailed search (for over 30 minutes) on retailers who were selling this Samsung monitor. The store is nearly an hour away which is another reason I knew nothing about them.

However, when I got to the store there was a line of people waiting to get in for the opening. When I walked inside, I was very impressed to see that it was quite a large store with an amazing amount of product. If and when this pandemic is over, I want to go back up there and spend an hour walking around the store. Seems like a candy store for computer nerds like us.

 

[John Dirk]

... Samsung is supposedly very difficult to deal with on defects.

I can vouch for that statement as well. I have a Samsung TV which was under warranty at the time. I tried moving it to access the rear and inadvertently damaged the coax connector. Samsung said they would cover it over the phone but when I arrived at their repair facility [50 mile drive for me] they refused, saying it was self-inflicted. Fair enough but why not say that over the phone and, never mind the fact I own 5 Samsung TV's as well as several IP cameras and even a washer/dryer combo. It needed a new video board but their estimated repair cost practically exceeded the original purchase price. I ended up ordering a matching video board off of eBay for $20.00 and repairing it myself.

This sort of soured me on Samsung support but the thing is, they make such good TV's.

 

[Dave Upton]

@Ronald Epstein I am glad you are happy with your new monitor. I just now saw this thread and while I have nothing against ultrawides, I find them to be a solution to a problem that doesn't exist outside of FPS gaming. I would have echoed @Sam Posten myself if I had a chance, just to suggest looking at the LG 48" OLED instead. I just set mine up a couple of days ago, and it's truly amazing (please ignore the mess - it's still being set up here and I haven't yet rearranged my desk).

No traditional IPS LED/LCD is ever going to match these contrast ratios, and I can watch 4K HDR content from my desk at the highest level of fidelity.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

@Ronald Epstein I am glad you are happy with your new monitor. I just now saw this thread and while I have nothing against ultrawides, I find them to be a solution to a problem that doesn't exist outside of FPS gaming. I would have echoed @Sam Posten myself if I had a chance, just to suggest looking at the LG 48" OLED instead. I just set mine up a couple of days ago, and it's truly amazing (please ignore the mess - it's still being set up here and I haven't yet rearranged my desk).

No traditional IPS LED/LCD is ever going to match these contrast ratios, and I can watch 4K HDR content from my desk at the highest level of fidelity.

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Thanks, Dave.

A few things about your LG...

First, that's not an Ultrawide. I am sure you are aware of that. I wanted an Ultrawide, absolutely. I had a 55" 4k TV as a monitor for a while and the biggest issue I had with a massive square monitor is the height. Really hurt my neck. As much as some people complain about widescreen monitors hurting their necks, I find that displays like yours pictured do that to mine.

Second, LG Ultrawide was the first choice. However, there are too many issues with Mac products properly connecting to them. In fact, one YouTube reviewer told me not to buy LG as he went through hell with the company trying to correct issues where the screen would often blank out.

After a day of use, I am very happy with this widescreen monitor. I would have preferred even more curve on the sides but at least this Samsung offers a bigger curve than the LG or DELL would have (I believe 1800R).

 

[Dave Upton]

Thanks, Dave.

A few things about your LG...

First, that's not an Ultrawide. I am sure you are aware of that. I wanted an Ultrawide, absolutely. I had a 55" 4k TV as a monitor for a while and the biggest issue I had with a massive square monitor is the height. Really hurt my neck. As much as some people complain about widescreen monitors hurting their necks, I find that displays like yours pictured do that to mine.

Second, LG Ultrawide was the first choice. However, there are too many issues with Mac products properly connecting to them. In fact, one YouTube reviewer told me not to buy LG as he went through hell with the company trying to correct issues where the screen would often blank out.

After a day of use, I am very happy with this widescreen monitor. I would have preferred even more curve on the sides but at least this Samsung offers a bigger curve than the LG or DELL would have (I believe 1800R).

We're on the same page - definitely not an ultrawide. I have tried several ultrawide displays and find them too thin vertically - funny how we are all different.

If someone made an OLED ultrawide that would be a lot more compelling, but I am just done with conventional LED/LCD now that I have OLED on my laptop screen and all my displays. It's like going back to a SD CRT from an HD display when I use conventional monitors now.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This screen is a QLED which I suppose is an offshoot of OLED, but I was never certain.

 

[JohnRice]

This screen is a QLED which I suppose is an offshoot of OLED, but I was never certain.

QLED is just an LED/LCD with greater color gamut, and it can (and usually does) have greater dynamic range, but it's still an LCD panel. Completely different from OLED.

 

[JohnRice]

We're on the same page - definitely not an ultrawide. I have tried several ultrawide displays and find them too thin vertically - funny how we are all different.

I tend to agree. For years I used dual 16:10 monitors instead of 16:9, but when I went to greater real estate with WQHD, the 16:10 option disappeared. Vertical space is a real benefit on our shipping computer, so one monitor is rotated vertically.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

QLED is just an LED/LCD with greater color gamut, and it can (and usually does) have greater dynamic range, but it's still an LCD panel. Completely different from OLED.

Thanks for the clarification, John. Not into Samsung displays so I never knew what that branding actually meant.

 

[Thomas Newton]

I never heard of this company. I found them after doing a detailed search (for over 30 minutes) on retailers who were selling this Samsung monitor. The store is nearly an hour away which is another reason I knew nothing about them.

I've heard of Micro Center before – even visited one in the Boston area. I think that I may have bought my PowerMac mini-tower there. They struck me as a legitimate retailer, but their store wasn't in a convenient location, so I didn't visit it very often.

The only other retail stores in the area that carried much in the way of any Mac software were CompUSA and Computer CIty. So there was plenty of opportunity for online stores to sell both Macs and boxed Mac software.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I've heard of Micro Center before – even visited one in the Boston area. I think that I may have bought my PowerMac mini-tower there. They struck me as a legitimate retailer, but their store wasn't in a convenient location, so I didn't visit it very often.

The only other retail stores in the area that carried much in the way of any Mac software were CompUSA and Computer CIty. So there was plenty of opportunity for online stores to sell both Macs and boxed Mac software.

The store I went to was not in a convenient location...at least for me. Convenient for others, I suppose.

It was wild that I found it. Nobody had this monitor. Almost made me suspicious as to why they had it. However, once I was inside the store and grasped the wealth of merchandise they were offering I felt a lot better about where I was purchasing from.

I do miss CompUSA and Computer City. Those were the days.

 

[Thomas Newton]

For years I used dual 16:10 monitors instead of 16:9, but when I went to greater real estate with WQHD, the 16:10 option disappeared. Vertical space is a real benefit on our shipping computer, so one monitor is rotated vertically.

The last time I looked, Dell had one 30", 2560x1600 pixel monitor left. I'm not sure if any one else even sells that type of monitor any more. This is similar to the situation with standalone 5K monitors, where only the 27" LG 5120x2880 pixel monitor might be left.

A 30" 5K (5120x3200) monitor might be the best of both worlds, but so far I have not heard of any.

 

[John Dirk]

I do miss CompUSA and Computer City. Those were the days.

Exactly! Nothing against Best Buy but it kind of bothers me that they were the ones to survive over the years as they were easily the weakest of the bunch when it came to actual product knowledge. In a previous life I worked for a computer retailer called Compu-Add which suffered a similar fate as the others in that era. I guess enthusiasts get the short end of the stick in pretty much all areas since, by definition, there will always be more of "the masses" than there are of us.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yes, Micro Center has been around for quite a while (and legit as others said). They get mentioned by popular tech reviewers like Linus.

My first experience w/ them was buying a 1st(?) gen Intel Celeron CPU + mobo kit on some major bargain deal (back in the late-90's) that I ran overclocked (a whole lot) for a bunch of years in my 2nd(?) DIY PC build -- that PC never failed, but was just eventually retired. Forget whether that store was in Jersey or Long Island.

There's one near a Costco ~2.5 miles from me in Brooklyn now... though I didn't realize that (because it's kinda hidden away by the warehouses on other side of the BQE) until a couple years ago when a friend brought me there to pick up some soldering tools for my DIY headphone amp...

_Man_

 

[Sam Posten]

I said I wasn't gonna add anything further but I got dragged in =)


To be fair, I had the same complain as Ron worries about when using my new LG 48CX as a monitor: TOO big and exhaustion looking up into the corners.

BUT I bought it knowing that it was going to be dicey and I had a secondary use for it, replacing the 55" OLED in my gaming environment. Going down from 55" to 48 reduces eyestrain -slightly- in this case as I now no longer exhaust looking into corners on FPS games PLUS it is 120hz compatible with VRR which will be super important on Xbox 1X and PS5. I'll have to replace my receiver to make that happen and @Robert_Zohn has me on the list for a cheapy (ha!) denon receiver 960 when they next come in stock.

BUT I don't think the solution is any better going ultrawide. My experience with several of them was soul crushing. You literally cannot see details in anything but your central cone of vision and you need to move your head and neck to go to those wider extremes too. And using side by sides has significant quality and QoL improvements even on Mac OSX, docking apps against full screen apps is getting better every release.

Everyone is different tho and has differing priorities so I don't know if his experience maps to others well. I personally tried a few ultrawides and now this 48" 4K, and went back to a 27" monitor for PC application and gaming. I don't think going bigger than 32" 16x9 will work for me. I use twin side by side 24s for my work machine and think that's the best solution for most people who want more screen real estate for office and entertainment use. For gaming tho I dunno.

Ron's happy with his choice tho so that's all that matters. Sorry if throwing my two cents in once again is distracting. I never want to be the guy who makes people unhappy with their choices and I hope I have not here.

 

[Thomas Newton]

I guess enthusiasts get the short end of the stick in pretty much all areas since, by definition, there will always be more of "the masses" than there are of us.

I can think of many companies who fell by the wayside. The list tends to reinforce your point.

Sorely missed: Tower Records, Tweeter, Borders, Sears. Sears started out as the Amazon of its day – and in modern times, was a go to place for hardware. I never was a mechanic, but I enjoyed browsing through the wide selection in the hardware department. It went both ways, as Sears was my preferred place for buying tools that I actually did need.

Missed: Lechmere, CompUSA, Computer City, Friendly's (ice cream and other food)

Somewhat missed: Waldenbooks, Circuit City. Circuit City is a "somewhat" due to its role in the DIVX fiasco. If that had succeeded, we could all be renting MAR movies rather than owning OAR ones.

Not missed: Highland Superstores, Fretter. I'd take Best Buy any day over either of these. Add K-Mart to the list. It failed to keep up with Target and WalMart. Worse is the possibility that the K-Mart / Sears deal may have contributed to pulling Sears towards the same drain that K-Mart was circling.

Stores for enthusiasts still exist. It's just that the cost of real estate may favor selling some goods online – from a physical warehouse, or in the form of electronic downloads. Sort of like a full circle to the days when people would mail-order things from Sears catalogs, except that now that the Internet delivers the catalogs, and sometimes the products.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I use three 24" monitors running 1920x1080 at work. The bezels have never bothered me.

 

[Thomas Newton]

I use three 24" monitors running 1920x1080 at work. The bezels have never bothered me.

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It occurs to me that if you rotated the central monitor to portrait position, you'd still have a (4920 x 1080) area that stretches all the way from the far left, to the far right. But now the center would be 1920 pixels tall – a possible gain for Web browsing and word processing use.