Rise of the HiDPI Displays

enc0re

Limp Gawd
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It looks like 2023 will be the year HiDPI comes to Windows! I’m excited! It’s taken way too long. As I make this thread, Samsung and Dell have announced HiDPI displays. Let’s use this thread to collect information on what else is coming now that the competition has begun.

Dell UltraSharp 32 6K Monitor (U3224KB)
Samsung ViewFinity S9 5K Monitor (S90PC)

HiDPI usually refers to displays with >200 PPI (pixels per inch). Apple uses the marketing term Retina, although technically they use it to mean PPD (pixels per degree), making it distance dependent.

HiDPI can bring two advantages:
  1. Individuals pixels cannot be seen by the typical eyeball. This is especially nice for displaying text or pictures.
  2. Certain HiDPI ranges allow perfect 2x scaling. This eliminates fuzziness on macOS (which is vector based) and potential layout weirdness on Windows (which is bitmap based).
Below are some resolutions that are HiDPI, and legacy resolutions for comparison. While they are often referred to as 5K, 6K, etc; those terms have become less meaningful as manufacturers have started nonsense such as referring to 5120x1440 as 5K. I think it’s more useful to talk about MP (megapixels) for how much information can be shown and PPI for how sharp it is.

2560x1440(2K) at 27”. 4MP. 109 PPI. [This is close to the PPI for which Windows(96) and macOS(109) were originally designed. So you’d probably run this at 1x scaling.]
3840x2160(4K) at 27”. 8MP. 163 PPI.
3840x2160(4K) at 32”. 8MP. 134 PPI.
5120x2880(5K) at 27”. 15MP. 218 PPI.
6016x3384(6K) at 32”. 20MP. 216 PPI.

It’s going to take burly GPUs to push this many pixels. Doubly so once the first manufacturer brings us a high refresh rate, HiDPI display. Here’s to hoping!
 
Yeah it's nice to see more options in this category, even if the rest of the specs are still pretty crap like poor HDR support and 60 Hz only despite the Dell coming with a DP 2.1 connection.

These are more useful for MacOS. Windows 11 handles my 4K display just fine.
 
Yeah it's nice to see more options in this category, even if the rest of the specs are still pretty crap like poor HDR support and 60 Hz only despite the Dell coming with a DP 2.1 connection.

These are more useful for MacOS. Windows 11 handles my 4K display just fine.
For sure. The whole category has a long way to go.

That being said, I think there's a good use case on Windows already. Let's say I'm editing a photo. 12MP is pretty much the minimum size these days, with even smartphone cameras often going to 48MP. I'd rather do that on a 20MP display than a 8MP display.
 
I'm drooling over these... I'm going to have to decide between high refresh 4k or these... Probably will go for higher refresh 4k, but I've been on 60hz 4k since 2014.
 
The higher the DPI the better whilst my 20/20 vision is still holding out. Wish there were more 5K options, seems to be the most neglected aspect ratio on the market.
 
I want a 38-40" ultrawide HiDPI microLED 1000+ nits HDR 144+Hz display. Not sure we have a display interface to push that many pixels at 144+Hz with HDR today. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. DisplayPort 2.0/2.1 may be able to do it but not sure.
 
It looks like we have a new HiDPI entrant that's available before either Dell or Samsung are shipping:

Kuycon G27X. 27" 5K (5120x2880; 218 PPI), 520/590 nits, 8-bit FRC, IPS in a familiar design. $750-850 depending on stand option.

Never heard of this Chinese brand but there are online reports of people actually using it. Some were unhappy about quality control.
 
It looks like we have a new HiDPI entrant that's available before either Dell or Samsung are shipping:

Kuycon G27X. 27" 5K (5120x2880; 218 PPI), 520/590 nits, 8-bit FRC, IPS in a familiar design. $750-850 depending on stand option.

Never heard of this Chinese brand but there are online reports of people actually using it. Some were unhappy about quality control.
That looks like a knockoff Apple Studio Display. Likely using the same panel too.
 
I'm all for increases in image quality, but dropping back to 60Hz etc. would be a no go for me. Not to mention, gaming at these resolutions is something we are a ways out on being able to do adequately.

HiDPI + HFR (+ HDR) would be glorious. I suspect we’ll have to wait for Apple to show the rest of the industry the way.

But in the age of DisplayPort 2.1/USB4, someone else could step up.
 
HiDPI + HFR (+ HDR) would be glorious. I suspect we’ll have to wait for Apple to show the rest of the industry the way.

But in the age of DisplayPort 2.1/USB4, someone else could step up.
I need more size too. A 27" primary monitor isn't going to cut it for most that are looking for bleeding edge IMO. Hell, I don't think I could go back to a 34" ultrawide. I need a 32"+ 16:9 or 38"+ 21:10 at this point :D
 
I need more size too. A 27" primary monitor isn't going to cut it for most that are looking for bleeding edge IMO. Hell, I don't think I could go back to a 34" ultrawide. I need a 32"+ 16:9 or 38"+ 21:10 at this point :D

Same. I really don't want to drop below a 38-40" display.
 
32” is my preferred size too. I would love HFR and HDR.

Realistically, I’ll probably pick up the next decent HiDPI 32” display regardless of HFR/HDR. Let’s hope Dell comes through strong. Apple’s Pro Display XDR is nice, but I can’t spend $5K on a 4-year-old display.
 
32” is my preferred size too. I would love HFR and HDR.

Realistically, I’ll probably pick up the next decent HiDPI 32” display regardless of HFR/HDR. Let’s hope Dell comes through strong. Apple’s Pro Display XDR is nice, but I can’t spend $5K on a 4-year-old display.
The Apple Pro Display XDR type of display with 120Hz+ would be an instant buy for me. $5k is A LOT of coin for a display though.
 
The Apple Pro Display XDR type of display with 120Hz+ would be an instant buy for me. $5k is A LOT of coin for a display though.
I use a MacBook Pro at work, which is like a small version of exactly that. Better even, since the Pro Display does its thing with regular LEDs where the MBP uses mini LEDs. Best screen I’ve ever laid eyes on. 32” of that on my desktop would be incredible.
 
I use a MacBook Pro at work, which is like a small version of exactly that. Better even, since the Pro Display does its thing with regular LEDs where the MBP uses mini LEDs. Best screen I’ve ever laid eyes on. 32” of that on my desktop would be incredible.
My MBP 16" M2 Max has absolutely horrible response times though. It's amazing for HDR but in motion looks crap. It has response times that can't handle 60 Hz let alone 120 Hz so I feel Apple needs to do much better for their desktop display sizes.
 
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My MBP 16" M2 Max has absolutely horrible response times though. It's amazing for HDR but in motion looks crap. It has response times that can't handle 60 Hz let alone 120 Hz so I feel Apple needs to do much better for their desktop display sizes.
That’s a bummer. Mine being a work computer I do work stuff on it and haven’t noticed. I watched a short HDR clip on it just to see the screen pop and that was cool. 1600 nits peak.

When do you notice it? Gaming? Movies?
 
Still worse than Dell UP3218K which has 7680x4320 resolution and ~33MP
 
Still worse than Dell UP3218K which has 7680x4320 resolution and ~33MP
I feel like that one is one refresh away from greatness. Only being able to connect one computer and having to use two DP cables to do it strikes me as the sort of thing that can cause annoying problems. And of course is totally unsuitable if you work on Windows and macOS.

But add one or two DP2.1, USB4, or HDMI 2.1 ports and I would seriously consider buying. Low brightness and no HFR be damned.
 
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I feel like that one is one refresh away from greatness. Only being able to connect one computer and having to do use two DP cables to do it strikes me as the sort of thing that can cause annoying problems. And of course is totally unsuitable if you work on Windows and macOS.

But add one or two DP2.1, USB4, or HDMI 2.1 ports and I would seriously consider buying. Low brightness and no HFR be damned.
It's unfortunate that Dell never refreshed it. I guess not a large enough market to justify further investment.
 
I really don't have many displays that are higher density other than the panel on my Surface Laptop at work and my Framework. All my personal monitors are either 1440p or 1080p. That being said, the higher densities are very nice and 11 handles the upscaling of text and icons very well. 7 wasn't great at it. 10 I think does a decent job. I can only imaging what 6 or 8k will look like.
 
That’s a bummer. Mine being a work computer I do work stuff on it and haven’t noticed. I watched a short HDR clip on it just to see the screen pop and that was cool. 1600 nits peak.

When do you notice it? Gaming? Movies?
It's pretty easy to notice in motion. Try moving for example a Finder window slowly on the laptop screen and then on a faster external display. On my 4K 144 Hz Samsung G70A text remains largely legible whereas it becomes harder to read on the laptop because there's a lot of blur.

This will translate to everything from YT videos to gaming etc. Thankfully in normal use we are often watching static text on screen so for desktop use it's acceptable. It does highlight how the Ennostar made mini-LED displays are excellent at HDR but terrible at motion.
 
That spec sheet has a lot going on I like. Only weirdness is that while it has a mini DP 2.1 port, the TB4 port lists DP 1.4 with DSC.

Maybe that only means that it’s backwards compatible with TB3 sources. But it could mean that the TB4 port doesn’t support 10-bit. As always, we’ll have to wait for reviews.

I’m hoping to get a HiDPI 32” monitor first half of this year, and I think the Dell has just moved into pole position.
 
The highest DPI I have is 2160p in 15.6" in a Thinkpad P50. I hate it. Too much stuff that doesn't scale.
 
The highest DPI I have is 2160p in 15.6" in a Thinkpad P50. I hate it. Too much stuff that doesn't scale.
At 200% scale you should get nice integer scaling in unsupported applications so this should not be a big issue unless you use different scale factor.
In either case probably best to use grayscale font rendering rather than ClearType. Its not like its needed anyways and for unsupported bitmap scaled applications subpixel font rendering makes no sense.
 
I'm uninterested.

I "just" want OLED, 4k, 32", 120Hz, 75-80%+ Rec2020, 100% AdobeRGB, HDR600 (minimum, preferably 1000, but I'd settle for 600 at this point). Preferably with SDI-12G, but unfortunately every manufacturer is "reserving" that port only for displays that cost $20k. Jerks.

I wouldn't mind 5k or 6k, in fact I'd welcome it, but if it compromises any of the above, then I'm no longer interested. It also just doesn't make sense to me to shell out big money for IPS anymore, unless it's dual layer and has HDR1000 certification.
 
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I'm uninterested.

I "just" want OLED, 4k, 32", 120Hz, 75-80%+ Rec2020, 100% AdobeRGB, HDR600 (minimum, preferably 1000, but I'd settle for 600 at this point). Preferably with SDI-12G, but unfortunately every manufacturer is "reserving" that port only for displays that cost $20k. Jerks.
I wouldn't mind 5k or 6k, in fact I'd welcome it, but if it compromises any of the above, then I'm no longer interested. It just doesn't make sense to me to shell out big money for IPS anymore, unless it's dual layer and has HDR1000 certification.
I agree on the not wanting to shell out big money for IPS, but I think we're years away from having a high PPI/high refresh rate OLED. It seems as if everything on the market is a stop-gap solution while we wait for OLED to become mainstream.
 
I agree on the not wanting to shell out big money for IPS, but I think we're years away from having a high PPI/high refresh rate OLED. It seems as if everything on the market is a stop-gap solution while we wait for OLED to become mainstream.
Technically the entire list I gave exists now, except it’s $2500 and only 60Hz. Or alternatively 1440p but 120Hz.

4K, 120hz, 32”, OLED has been promised by multiple manufacturers for next year. I reasonably believe we’ll get them considering the changes to get us there are minimal and the display manufacturers have already made the investment costs in manufacturing.
 
I think we all want a HiDPI, HFR, HDR monitor. But at most we can get two at the moment, so priorities depend on our use cases.

The only HDR computer displays I use so far are a MacBook Pro and my iPhone 12. What surprised me is that they can display HDR and non-HDR content at the same time, as opposed to my TV which goes into a separate HDR mode. Here is a screenshot from an article about the Pro Display XDR that illustrates the effect. Finder preview on the left is showing an HDR video thumbnail, while Preview on the right is showing a screenshot thereof, which forces it into SDR.
APC_2758.jpg

Is this something that most HDR displays do or is it an Apple-specific trick?
 
I think it’s a combination of specialized controllers in the display that MacOS software can interface with and the fact that MacOS is fully color managed. It’s something that can only be done with integration.

Because I don’t think I can grab a C2 as an example and have MacOS address it that same way, though I don’t have one to test with (I assume we all would’ve heard if you could).

The other more subtle trick is that the Display Pro XDR can have a portion of the screen play back in 23.98, 24, 29.97, or 48Hz to perfectly match playback of video sources in a portion of the screen with the rest of it still refreshing at 60Hz. Again pointing at specific controller hardware that can only happen through integration.
 
I think we all want a HiDPI, HFR, HDR monitor. But at most we can get two at the moment, so priorities depend on our use cases.

The only HDR computer displays I use so far are a MacBook Pro and my iPhone 12. What surprised me is that they can display HDR and non-HDR content at the same time, as opposed to my TV which goes into a separate HDR mode. Here is a screenshot from an article about the Pro Display XDR that illustrates the effect. Finder preview on the left is showing an HDR video thumbnail, while Preview on the right is showing a screenshot thereof, which forces it into SDR.

Is this something that most HDR displays do or is it an Apple-specific trick?
Windows has no issues doing this if you run it in HDR mode. Do note that in HDR mode, even on MacOS you will be in the wrong colorspace for sRGB content so how well the OS handles mapping matters. MacOS does a good job but its HDR is basically entirely non-adjustable and only works right on the built in or Apple displays. As an example, I cannot run the combination of 150% scaling, HDR and high refresh rate at the same time with my 4K 144 Hz display because MacOS scaling handling is pure insanity and its external display handling loves to break DSC support.
 
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For sure. The whole category has a long way to go.

That being said, I think there's a good use case on Windows already. Let's say I'm editing a photo. 12MP is pretty much the minimum size these days, with even smartphone cameras often going to 48MP. I'd rather do that on a 20MP display than a 8MP display.
I am a pro photographer. I agree. All my photographs have higher resolution than my monitor lol. Images don't look as crisp.
 
The other more subtle trick is that the Display Pro XDR can have a portion of the screen play back in 23.98, 24, 29.97, or 48Hz to perfectly match playback of video sources in a portion of the screen with the rest of it still refreshing at 60Hz. Again pointing at specific controller hardware that can only happen through integration.

I didn't know that. Really? (Not to be rude). How does it even vary refresh rate across the screen? That's insane!
 
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