THE BEST 4K displays

Whether you do top-end image editing or just want to bask in high-res glory, Keith Martin tests three of the best 4K displays

There’s nothing quite like a large, high-resolution display, especially if you work with graphics. 4K monitors have been around for a while, and some of the latest models are showing the benefits of this maturity, but the price drops we’ve seen for these screens over the last couple of years have slowed. They’re great for serious work, but they’re not cheap.

A 4K monitor usually has a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels, a scale that falls into the “Ultra High Definition” (UHD) class. You can drive a 4K monitor from pretty much any Mac made in the last three or four years, although running at 60Hz rather than 30Hz can present a challenge. See apple.co/29ZPMM9 for more details.

The “4K” label doesn’t define the physical size of the display, which is why in this test we’ve included a 27-inch model alongside two enormous 32-inch screens. Technically, none of these are actual Retina-class displays, but the “smaller” screen packs in an impressive 163 pixels per inch.

At this level you could choose to work with Apple’s “larger, sharper” displayscaling tricks, or run as a large, finegrained desktop. Two of the models we look at use IPS technology and one uses VA. See “Things to Consider” opposite for what this means in practice.

One of the monitors in our test boasts a built-in webcam, and one can automatically dim and even blank the monitor if nobody is in front of it for a while. But remember these are extras. Whether you’re a professional graphic designer or someone with wider-ranging requirements, if you’re looking for a good 4K monitor then you’ll be demanding a lot from the display itself. That’s why we’ve made image reproduction quality our overriding priority.