LG UltraFine 4K 24″ (Mac) vs. LG 34WK95U-W 34″ Monitor
For a while now I’ve been using an LG UltraFine 4K monitor with my Apple MacBook. However I’ve wanted to have a little more desktop space and was able to get a 34WK95U-W at a discount, so I thought I would share the differences between these two high pixel density monitors.
Comparison:
– Higher pixel density on the UltraFine
– Clearing sounding speakers UltraFine, but 34WK95U-W might be louder and still better than the built in 14″ MacBook’s
– Ultrafine 4K is slightly brighter, and the semi-gloss screen is slightly more premium
– More USB ports on the UtraFine, but 34WK95U-W has more inputs
– UltraFine wakes from sleep faster
– Thunderbolt on the UlatrFine allows daisy-chaining to another 4K monitor
– Native Apple controls for volume an brightness on the LG UltraFine although you can use MonitorControl with the 34WK95U-W
– Some people are annoyed by the fan noise on the 34WK95U-W, but I couldn’t hear it
– About 1.5x more desktop space on the 34WK95U-W
– 34WK95U-W is almost twice the price
Overall, some people might be better off getting two UltraFine 4Ks instead of a single 34WK95U-W, since it’s almost twice the price, but I got my used and I already use the monitor on my MacBook as a second display as well as Touch ID and the webcam, so having 3 monitors was just too clumsy and took up too much space. I tend to work on just 2/3rds of the UltraFine, as I find two windows optimum as a programmer. But the extra third allows me to have space for email or a video without having to constantly cover my main work.
I had to do a few things to get my 34WK95U-W to work at high DPI resolutions.
– Update the monitor firmware using the LG OnScreen Control software downloadable here.
– Using the display menu on the monitor itself, change the Display Port version to 1.4. Again it wouldn’t show up as a 5120×2160 monitor without doing this.
More tips can be found on this MacRumors thread. I did not need to use SwitchResX or BetterDummy in order to run at 3840×1620 resolution.