WEBVTT

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You have a desk, you have a Macbook.

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But why not a monitor?

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Okay, we're not all millionaires.

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There are a load of other options out there, but they're all ugly.

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And it's a problem for us design obsessed Mac users.

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It can be a big challenge to find a good monitor to set up at a nice desk, at home,

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or work, or at home for work. So I'm going to go on a journey

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to see if I can find a monitor that can feel at home beside all my other Apple devices.

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This predicament is really confusing because Apple has made a range of beautiful monitors before.

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Demonstrating the future of LCDs, the Apple Cinema and Studio displays

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were offered in a range of different sizes at prices that shrunk slightly as the technology matured.

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Their last branded monitor, the Apple Thunderbolt display,

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priced at $1,000, was perfectly suited for laptop deskers,

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sporting an IO hub at the back and a MagSafe connector to charge your laptop.

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But in 2016, after putting that screen to pasture,

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Apple was fine to just throw their hands up in the air and stock Apple stores with this,

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the LG Ultra Fine Display. It's available with either a 27-inch 5K panel

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or 24-inch 4K one. But just look and feel it.

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This is almost a moto rocker situation, unbecoming of what Apple users

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would like to have on their desks. With charcoal plastics,

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a weirdly thick forehead bezel to hold a webcam,

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it's a monitor that almost gets there in so many respects,

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but never completes the journey. With the wonderful high-resolution 5K panel from the iMac,

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it could be a fantastic Macbook companion like the old Thunderbolt screen,

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but there's just so much missing, like nice materials,

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an Ethernet port, SD card reader, or even any USB-A ports,

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all things that would have made this a fantastic and useful screen.

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So what happens when we leave the Apple Store and look at the hundreds of other options

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out there in the monitor sphere? There's gotta be something nice.

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What I'm looking for is a monitor with good industrial design,

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good cable management, and support for USB-C,

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all for less than $800. And after looking through all the options,

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I've arrived at these three.

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Now, the first option I wanna show comes from Razer.

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Despite being gaming focused, this monitor is really stunning.

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The back is clad in fabric. The stand, though quite heavy,

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has integrated diffused RGB light that tastefully glows against the desk.

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Cable management looks like a set of spillways that the bright green cables flow down.

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If you have a space gray Macbook and matching keyboard and mouse,

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this will look great on your desk.

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As it is a gaming monitor, it does retain those priorities,

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like temporal resolution over spatial resolution. This monitor is only 1440p, not 4K.

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This one, the latest model, has a 165 Hertz refresh rate,

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and it'll set you back $800, but a 1.44 Hertz model is also available

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for $1 to $200 less if on sale.

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And that one offers 15W of charging over USB-C.

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That's a mere trickle compared to the 96W, the big 16-inch MacBook Pro charger outputs,

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but better than this newer model that doesn't charge at all.

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This Razer is still kind of expensive, and if it's money you wanna save,

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might I suggest the MSI Modern Monitor?

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It's 24 inches and 1080p, which is the largest I would recommend anyone go

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at this resolution. The panel is nothing to write home about,

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and the cable management could be a little bit better with a hole in the stand or something.

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Also, this logo, kind of meh.

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But it costs around $160, and at that price,

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it's very hard to find something this attractive that includes a USB-C input.

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Though, it doesn't come with a USB-C cable, so you're going to have to find one

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that supports DisplayPort, which is harder than you think.

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How am I supposed to know it's DisplayPort? Do I just have to test all these?

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It too will only send a 15W trickle to your laptop.

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Perhaps the most exciting thing about this monitor is the potential for color.

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A few months ago, MSI posted a short animation to Facebook

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previewing five familiar looking options.

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And when I asked MSI about it, they didn't have much information other than to say

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that they're in the process of releasing other colors and that the post was to gauge interest.

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So please let them know your interest in the different variants because that'll be great.

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If you're looking for an ultra-wide, the Samsung CJ791 is really compelling,

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which unfortunately I don't have here. It supports Thunderbolt 3

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with an extra port for daisy chaining. It is quite attractive

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and has really decent cable management. Priced at $700, sometimes less on sale,

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I haven't been able to find a more compelling ultra-wide.

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So these monitors are all good, but there is one that stands out among the rest,

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providing what I think is the most attractive package

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at a decent price. And it's this, the Dell Ultra Thin 27-inch monitor.

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Now most of Dell's monitor designs are competently generic,

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but with an MSRP of $550 or on sale in the $400 range,

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I don't think you'll find a more attractive companion

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for your Mac book. Yes, it's only got 1440p resolution.

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I kind of wish it was at least UHD, but it is quite bright

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at up to 400 nits brightness, 600 if you use the HDR mode under HDMI.

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This is truly the spiritual successor to the old LED cinema display.

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I love how the ports are tucked behind the stand ARM and that the cables can neatly be fed through it.

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I love how you can connect your Mac with one USB-C cable

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and provide 45 Watts of power. I love that there are two USB-A 3.0 ports

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for peripherals and drives. If I had a Mac book that I wanted to set up on my desk,

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this would be the monitor I'd get, no doubt. In fact, the design is so good

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that I think it's worthy of the Fruit Logo sticker itself.

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There are rumors that Apple might have a less expensive

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consumer-oriented monitor in the pipeline, or not.

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And without powerful Apple's ARM-equipped laptops are now,

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there's less reason than ever to buy a desktop instead of a more convenient Mac book.

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It's just too bad it can't be an Apple made, attractive,

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perhaps even colorful screen, just like the iMac we all know and love.

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But in the meantime, at least to my taste,

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all we have are these.

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Thanks for plugging your DisplayPort-compatible USB-C cable into this Mac Address.

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Make sure to like and subscribe. And if you think you know of any monitor

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more attractive than the options I presented, sure, you can put them in the comments below.

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I'm curious what you'll come up with.