I have just fired up my M4 mini and 27" 4K monitor and had a look at FCP.
The display defaults to 1920x1080 and looks fine.
When I change it to 3840x2160 I find I need a magnifying glass to read anything!
So what resolution do you use and can you think of any disadvantage with sticking to 1920x1080?
Mac mini, macOS 15.4
It is quite normal to set it and forget it - or it is simply the default.
My 14" MBP defaults to 1512x982 - that is half of the pixels in both axes.
I just tried now setting it to its full native 3021x1964 and boy, things look soooo tiny :-)
It took me just seconds to put it back as default.
Note that even though the resolution is nominally 1512x982 (or in your cas 1920x1080), video display in apps like FCP does take advantage of the underlying pixels. That is why you can, for example set your FCP viewer to 100% and have it fit in the user interface completely.
I have my BenQ 27in set to one up from the default 1920x1080 (2560x1440) which I find a good compromise. If I need more screen area for a particularly complex timeline I'll bump it up to 4k which has, I agree, small text!
Don't forget you can increase the text size for some key apps (e.g. Finder, Mail, Messages,...) in the Accessibility>Display settings and also the Desktop icons.
If eyesight is less than perfect (me!) the best thing is to get a pair of glasses with focal distance to the screen!
My EIZO's native resolution is 2560 x 1440, which is what I always have it at. Like Larrie, it's just the right size where things aren't too small, but also aren't taking up more screen real estate than necessary.
I tried to test out your resolution but it wasn't available on my monitor.
The only one between 1080p and 4K was 2560x1440 which involved me leaning towards the screen.
Anyway I have just realised talking about the screen resolution is meaningless because it all depends on the size of the screen . . . 1080p on a 13" monitor would probably look as small as 4K on a 27".
It is fine.
I suppose this is the "retina" resolution - the size is like 1080 but fonts are drawn using the extra resolution; and video too is shown at full size.
I use two monitors with both set to 1920 x 1080.
I have my edit time line, transitions, effects, video waveforms, and viewers on the left screen and the file browser, titles, and lower third selections on the right.
That works fine for me.
Glad to hear you are not viewing the full 3840x2160 as it confirms to me that using 1920x1080 is not too far out.
The only real estate I now need to conserve is on my physical worktop . . . 3 minis and 4 monitors is getting a bit crowded.
Forgot to note (if it makes a difference), this is a 27" monitor.
I did briefly test a 4K, 27" monitor to see if I could use a higher resolution, but anything above 2560 x 1440 made the text too small. It was nice to fit more palettes on the screen for busy apps like Photoshop, DaVince Resolve, Affinity Designer and the like, but if ya' can't read it… 😉
Good idea, Ive just ordered a pair of these . . .
Thanks Luis. It's only 4 months since my 27" iMac packed in and I must have had that set lower than the native 5K but I had completely forgotten!
Yes, I checked that and also screenshots are the full 3840x2160 pixels.
I have a 24” LG Ultra Fine monitor set to 2560x1400. Seems to be a good balance between the different applications I use.
You must have good eyesight!
I suppose I would have been OK 50 years ago because I could focus down to around 3 - 4 inches and easily read the type of print you now get with Chinese items.
2048x1152
2048x1152 on a 27" 4K Viewsonic.
What screen resolution do you use?
