# Buying Monitor for use with Macbook Pro 2012 13"



## FaulknerPhotography (Nov 1, 2015)

Hi guys, I'm looking into buying a monitor for my photo editing - I'm currently using my Macbook Pro & really need something bigger  

Questions:

Will a 4K screen work with my 2012 Macbook - is a 4K worth it...do I need it?
Can anyone recommend a particular model?  Currently looking at spending less that $1k
What is the most important thing i should be looking for in a monitor?
Do I need to upgrade the graphics card that came with the laptop?
I'm mainly using LR6 and a little bit of Photoshop for merging panos mostly...

Any help you could offer would be great - I live on an island and can't get into stores to check them out - so any information would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you
Kirsty


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## clee01l (Nov 1, 2015)

Yes, unless you have a particularly old MBP, a 4K monitor can be used.  Do you need it? IMO no.  If you have a RetinaMBP then any hi-resolution monitor will do the job.  I have in addition to my rMBP a 27" iMac set up as dual display with an ASUS PB278Q (2560X1440) I've used the ASUS with my rMBP.  An Apple Cinema Display will match nicely, but at a premium price.  I've been told the ASUS uses the same display technology as the iMac. It is about half the price of an Apple Cinema Display. 

For me 2560X1440 at 27" is about as hi resolution as I want to go. Menus are extremely small at that resolution and difficult to read for these aging eyes.  Look for a monitor that has a built in DisplayPort/Thunderbolt port. As a second choice, the HDMI port will do, but depending upon you vintage MBP, an adapter might be required. A dedicated monitor calibration tool is very useful because you will want to tune the color in both monitors to match as closely as possible.  You should probably update your OS to 10.11 (ElCapitan) because you will want to take advantage of the OS improvements for HiDPI displays and dual monitors.


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## FaulknerPhotography (Nov 1, 2015)

Thanks Clee - you're responses, as always are very informative! 

So i think I'll steer clear of the 4K monitors for now - I've read a few things that say the text in PS and others can be teeny tiny & I really don't know if I need to upgrade the graphics cards - and really don't want to! 
I'll definitely be getting a calibration tool as well.  Spyder seems to be worth getting...??
Im leaning towards the Dell Ultrasharp U2713 - but will keep researching for now!  

Thanks again
Kirsty


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## Tony Jay (Nov 1, 2015)

Hi Kirsty.

My take on monitor suitability revolves around what you are doing with your photography.
If one is printing then my strong suggestion is to go with a wide gamut monitor (Eizo, NEC Spectraview, Dell) that, with current technology, approximates the AdobeRGB colorspace.
If all that one does is prepare images for web display then a, considerably cheaper, monitor with a gamut that encompasses the sRGB colorspace will be fine.

Obviously, whichever monitor one gets, calibration is important.
FWIW both Eizo and NEC allow hardware calibration via LUT's and the edge-to-edge consistency of pixels is excellent.
Dell panels are potentially very good as well but I am less knowledgable about this manufacturer.

Tony Jay


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## FaulknerPhotography (Nov 2, 2015)

Thanks Tony - I will be using for both web & printing.  

So if I find one that does both the sRGB and AdobeRGB that should be more suited to my needs?  I have a feeling that the Dells I'm looking at do this, but will have to double-check.  

Thanks for your input - much appreciated
Kirsty


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## Replytoken (Nov 2, 2015)

Tony Jay said:


> Obviously, whichever monitor one gets, calibration is important.
> FWIW both Eizo and NEC allow hardware calibration via LUT's and the edge-to-edge consistency of pixels is excellent.
> Dell panels are potentially very good as well but I am less knowledgable about this manufacturer.
> 
> Tony Jay



I would concur with Tony's recommendations.  Dell QC can be hit or miss and I have found reviews here to be useful when trying to better evaluate specific models:  http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews.htm .  The Eizo CS240 is a nice unit for under $1k USD, and like NEC, Eizo often bundles calibration software and/or hardware with some of their models.


Good luck,

--Ken


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## FaulknerPhotography (Nov 3, 2015)

Thanks ReplyToken, I'll check it out!
Cheers
Kirsty


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## artmaltman (Nov 8, 2015)

I think that the first 13" MBP to comfortably handle 4k monitors at 60z is the 2015 model.  Apple has some online specs about this.  Lack of dedicated VRAM and GPU has been a constraining issue until this year.  Overall I think the advice above is spot on.  Using wide gamut introduces many issues, such as whether your software is color managed, and whether you are looking at your sRGB JPEG output in sRGB (like most people will) or wide gamut.  NEC and EIZO are considered the highest quality.  For Dell, you can just check Amazon: some love it, some find quality problems.  Purist will say always do all your editing in Adobe RGB and then convert to sRGB for output.  For most people I think the advice above is correct: unless you plan to print to an Adobe RGB printer, you can keep your workflow chain in sRGB.


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