Choosing a programming monitor for MacOS is sadly not an easy task, unless you have a lot of Money in this case just buy the Studio Display, there you go saved you the whole article.

Monitors I have tried:

• Asus Art Monitor: ProArt PA348CGV
• Asus Art Monitor: ProArt PA278CV
• BenQ’s Programming Monitor: RD280U
• Apple’s Studio Display

That’s quite the list, and they are all good monitors, what did I want from a programming monitor anyway?

• One Cable Setup via Thunderbolt or USB-C, this is needed because I have 2 Macs, one for work, and one for myself
• Text Clarity, I think this is self explanatory
• Able to adjust brightness, ideally with MacOS Shortcuts, this is good for your eyes
• Good Ergonomics

Things that a programmer doesn’t need:

• 120HZ and fast reaction time, this might be surprising but for me even though I was a Top 200 Valorant Player with insanely fast monitors. I don’t need 120HZ. Programming is different from using a phone or playing a game where a lot of things are moving. The only thing that could move is windows or scrolling, but I use Neovim BTW, so there is no animations at all.
• Satisfying Macs Requirement for retina and non-retina. There is this whole Discussion about MacOS Scaling, but I have had 4k Monitor, 5k Monitor, 1440p Monitor and it didn’t make a difference at all. I have a M1 Max, and at most you are going to suffer a 3% Performance Loss when using graphically intensive applications
• Ultra Wide or multiple displays, I have never seen one use them well, usually they only have Spotify on the right side and at most they are Frontend Developer who want Chrome on the right side to see the changes they make, but I think you can just do it as well with singular focus and alt+tab

Asus ProArt PA348CGV

This is a 32 inch 3440x1440 monitor, because of the resolution it satisfies the Mac Requirement of being a non-retina Display. But I would consider it ultra-wide, that’s why after a while I wanted go back to 27 inch, the nice thing about this monitor was 120HZ.

Asus ProArt PA278CV

A 27 inch 2560x1440 Monitor, that also satisfies non-retina. It also has a one cable setup, but the text clarity since it’s only 1440p is not ideal. Still this is a great budget monitor that I would use on a tight budget.

BenQ RD280U

This Monitor was made specifically for Programmer and came out recently, it looked very promising. It has a specific 3:2 ratio, that means you have more space on the bottom which I got accustomed to very quickly. I actually enjoyed that monitor, it had 4k, one cable setup, ergonomics, even adjustable brightness and a Dark Mode Preset for Programmers. There is just one catch the Software was completely broken, the brightness would bug out all the time, and man this monitor was very ugly and looked like a throwback to the 2000’s. If the Software was better and you don’t mind that it’s ugly, you could buy it, but I think if you want a 4k Monitor just get a Dell U2723QE UltraSharp. It’s cheaper and looks better.

Apple Studio Display

The Apple Studio Display is a 5k 27 inch Monitor, it has very shitty ergonomics unless you get the height-adjustable option for 400€ more. Obviously it also has a one cable setup and integrates very well with MacOS.

There is also the option of getting a Nano Coating for 200€ more, even though it will be good for bright rooms like mine, it will make the Text hazier, in this case why did I buy a 5k Monitor again?

The Text Clarity of the Apple Studio Display is unmatched. People like to shit on Apple for their prices and the Studio Display was not an exception. I am just going to say that Samsung tried to compete with Apple. The Samsung ViewFinity S9 was supposed to be the budget Studio Display, but Samsung failed gloriously. The build quality is worse, as is the display, and on top of that you get the biggest piece of shit bloatware someone could have asked for: Tizen OS. Now you can watch Netflix on a Monitor???

Seriously who thought that this would be a good idea.

And they really tried to price it at 1600€.

So Apple once away gets away with no competition, thanks Samsung.

In this case the Apple Studio Display Pricing is justified because it’s a one of one, a 5k all in one solution for MacOS, with unmatched Text Clarity, best Monitor speakers I have ever heard, integrated webcam, best integration with MacOS.

It’s expensive but when I sit in front of a Display all day, I might just get the best thing.

When the display came I had a Monitor Riser ready because I thought I would need it but I hated the look of it, so I researched Monitor Ergonomics again, the Monitor is actually supposed to be slightly tilted and the top of your monitor should be at eye height. The standard studio display is perfect height for me. Lucky me!

As I said in the beginning, if you have the Money go for the Studio Display, if I was to get a cheaper one it would be the Dell Ultrasharp I mentioned.