Whenever I see a mountain lately, I run to the top of it so I can sing the praises of my 31.5-inch Dell UP3218K 7680 x 4320 8K computer monitor.
I'm a software engineer by trade, so I am looking at code all day long, plus lots of web searching and other text-heavy computer use.
I thought the LG UltraFine 5K and Apple XDR Pro Display were "good enough for my eyes" since I couldn't see the pixels.
Compared to the XDR (same size) the text on the 8K screen is WAY WAY sharper. Even though I thought the 218ppi XDR (basically same as 27" 5K monitor) was crisp before I saw the 280ppi Dell, I immediately realized it totally wasn't.
I can feel the eye strain difference, too. The lower res monitor is just fuzzy. I can't see the pixels individually, but when I slide my chair from the Linux box with the 8K to my Mac with the lower-PPI 5K display (sold the pricy XDR immediately after seeing the 8K panel next to it), I can see the fuzziness at the edges of text.
So I am kicking myself for not getting this much earlier. The Dell is ancient, came out years ago and requires 2 DisplayPort cables.
I am not an ophthalmologist so I can't speak to what this will mean for my long-term eye health, but I can say that my eyes are significantly less tired at the end of the day, and I never have to use the computer glasses I bought a couple years ago (the kind that are like reading glasses but for a little farther distance). I was using those a lot before, since my middle-aged eyes are indeed deteriorating.
BTW, for a few weeks I had the 8K Dell and the 6K Apple displays side by side. They are the same physical size, and the text was just about exactly the same size. Most of the people I asked to come look at them agreed the 8K display "looked better" or "looked sharper".
There is also the factor of Linux vs Mac font rendering. I am using Pop OS with 200% UI scaling on the Linux. I kinda wanted to compare them side by side in macOS, but I don't have any Macs that can drive the weird 2-cable Dell. So that could also be part of the difference, but I think it is basically just that 280ppi is way, way better than 208ppi.
I'm a software engineer by trade, so I am looking at code all day long, plus lots of web searching and other text-heavy computer use.
I thought the LG UltraFine 5K and Apple XDR Pro Display were "good enough for my eyes" since I couldn't see the pixels.
Compared to the XDR (same size) the text on the 8K screen is WAY WAY sharper. Even though I thought the 218ppi XDR (basically same as 27" 5K monitor) was crisp before I saw the 280ppi Dell, I immediately realized it totally wasn't.
I can feel the eye strain difference, too. The lower res monitor is just fuzzy. I can't see the pixels individually, but when I slide my chair from the Linux box with the 8K to my Mac with the lower-PPI 5K display (sold the pricy XDR immediately after seeing the 8K panel next to it), I can see the fuzziness at the edges of text.
So I am kicking myself for not getting this much earlier. The Dell is ancient, came out years ago and requires 2 DisplayPort cables.
I am not an ophthalmologist so I can't speak to what this will mean for my long-term eye health, but I can say that my eyes are significantly less tired at the end of the day, and I never have to use the computer glasses I bought a couple years ago (the kind that are like reading glasses but for a little farther distance). I was using those a lot before, since my middle-aged eyes are indeed deteriorating.
BTW, for a few weeks I had the 8K Dell and the 6K Apple displays side by side. They are the same physical size, and the text was just about exactly the same size. Most of the people I asked to come look at them agreed the 8K display "looked better" or "looked sharper".
There is also the factor of Linux vs Mac font rendering. I am using Pop OS with 200% UI scaling on the Linux. I kinda wanted to compare them side by side in macOS, but I don't have any Macs that can drive the weird 2-cable Dell. So that could also be part of the difference, but I think it is basically just that 280ppi is way, way better than 208ppi.