What monitors are you using for Finale?

[Davidabb]

Apologies if this doesn't belong here.

What monitors are you all using for Finale? I had a cheap one at work that made the staff lines look all fuzzy. Do I really need to spend $1k on a monitor that has iMac resolution or are there better alternatives?

TIA!

[motet]

Unless something was wrong with it or it was very old and thus had ultra-low resolution, it probably wasn't your monitor that made staff lines fuzzy, but rather your display settings.

A standard 1920 x 1080 monitor should look fine. My monitor 1200 pixels tall, a little taller than average, which I find helps fit more on the screen. Most monitors can be rotated 90 degrees. There are of course higher-resolution monitors with larger screens. You can fit more things on the screen, but either the images are smaller or you're moving your head around. It's a matter of taste, though. Try different ones before you buy if you can. But no, you don't have to spend $1,000.

[ttw]

I use a matched pair of HP V28 4K monitors that were on sale (2 for 1, thus the matched pair) a few years ago. They have multiple resolutions.

I also use an HP Omen gaming desktop (without desktop video or mouse or the like, just big memory, fast i9 CPU, and big fast hard disks.)

It's worth looking into sales from HP (or Dell or Costco or similar places, Amazon, Walmart...) to get a nice system at a good price. (I replace about every 5 years as things go bad; I also buy new cars every 20 years.)

I like two monitors as I can place Finale across both monitors, either a long string of measures or disjoint measures. Sometimes I can use a single monitor for FInale and the other for reading PDfs. I haven't had problems. (I do have Finale on an analogous Omen laptop to keep things as much the same as possible.)

[BuonTempi]

What monitors are you all using for Finale? I had a cheap one at work that made the staff lines look all fuzzy. Do I really need to spend $1k on a monitor that has iMac resolution or are there better alternatives?

On MacOS, the pixel density is crucial. If you use a display with a low pixel density, then text and vectors will look fuzzy or blocky. This is because MacOS no longer uses 'sub-pixel rendering', which is a method of increasing sharpness by using the individual RGB sub-pixels in a particular way. (It's computationally expensive, and there may have been patent issues.)

Mac Laptop displays (and the 5K iMacs) have a pixel density of 218 pixels per inch. (Some are even more!) A desktop display will sit further away than a laptop, so you won't need it quite as dense, but I'd suggest no less than c. 150ppi.

A 4K display at 27" has a density of 163ppi. At 32", it's 137ppi. So, getting a bigger screen for the same pixels is actually worse.
A 1920 x 1080 display at 24 inches is 92ppi, which is going to look terrible. You can get 32-inch displays with that resolution, which will have a lower pixel density than the original Mac in 1984!!

I have the Apple Studio Display, which is 5K at 27" (218ppi), and it is amazing. Not only is it very bright, but I can see the finest lines on it. It replaces an old Thunderbolt Display, which was 2K at 27" (108ppi) -- half the pixels; and the difference is like night and day. Particularly if your eyes are getting older.... Plus, the speakers are superb.

You can get plenty of choice at the 4K 27" spec for a lot less, but I wouldn't get a display that's physically bigger, or with fewer pixels.

[michelp]

My setup :
• Main monitor (score) : Asus 27 ", 2560 x 1440, pivot
• Second monitor (palettes, parts, audio software...) : Asus 24", 1920 x 1200
The combination is fine. 2 monitors is a big bonus, if you can afford it and and have enough desk space.
Less than 1000 € these days (for both).

[ebiggs1]

I don't know all the specs on my monitor but it is an off the shelf 34" LG that I bought several years ago from Micro Center in the Overland Park store. It was about $350 bucks and it has been fantastic. Since, I use Photoshop and Lightroom extensively I have color calibrated it.
It is on its second computer and still working fine.

[motet]

I didn't know about the Mac pixel density business, so ignore what I said.

[dtoub]

HP25er. I've used all sorts of monitors except for high-end, expensive ones, and it's been great with regard to Finale since the early 90's

[RimasG]

I use DELL 32" for Finale and
Samsung 27" PIVOT for ancillary applications and PDF.
Previously I used the Samsung for Finale. For PDF I had an old HP 21", but I recently bought the DELL and I am very satisfied. The size of the monitor depends on your needs: if you are working with large scores, the bigger the monitor, the more comfortable. My kit is really inexpensive. With the discount, I paid only 179 € for the DELL (Model Dell SE3223Q LED, in case anyone is wondering)

[Davidabb]

Thanks all. Such great, expert advice! Much appreciated!