Best 38" Ultrawide Monitor for Non-M1 2021 MBP

[Exp1r3d]

Ok, so I've put my 2 27" 4K LG monitors on a vertical stand, with the top one tilted down as far as possible and both monitors as low as possible (to make room for stacked 38" monitors as well). I had originally ordered 2 38" LG 38WN95C-W. The reviews looked good, but after digging I keep finding more negative and negative stuff.

 

I've never had a monitor with over 60Hz refresh rate, and I heard it changes lives bumping up to 120-144-244Hz, so I was really excited. But now I'm seeing things about inputs not working and yadda yadda yadda, cable issues, having to use a specific cable that isn't included with the monitor (the monitor states to only use the included cables) to use the "picture in picture" function (which I will be utilizing) etc.

 

What are all of you ultrawide monitor people using with your 2021 MacBook Pros? I'm a red teamer/penetration tester so I mainly just need the screen real estate and I also watch a lot of shows/movies at the computer, even though I have a 55" $3000 TV 2ft behind me :) The increase in refresh rate would be nice to experience, too. I'll be running the MBP to the 38" ultrawide (whichever one I decide on) monitors and 1 of the 27" monitors. The other 27" monitor and both 38" monitors will be reserved for my System76 laptop (5.3GHz, 64GB RAM, RTX 2080), as well as the PIP input of the ultrawide.

 

The LG 38WN95C-W got bad marks for color, lighting (blacks look grey), etc. but supposedly HDR looks good. Supposedly (the whole point of the monitor is to use TB3 from the MBP to the monitor for both charging and display) the monitors won't run over 75Hz with this method of connection, defeating the purpose of a 144Hz monitor with a TB3 "do it all" connection. The only way to achieve 144Hz is USB-C to DP1.4.

 

Is anyone using a Dell or any other brand of 38" ultrawide with a 2021 MBP? My desk isn't big enough for a 49" + the 2 27" I have, with my UPS, four laptops, a lamp and enough space for misc. stuff.

 

Sorry for the tl;dr post. I just reallllly want a good ultrawide to fit my needs. I'm extremely OCD and make use of my screen real estate efficiently. My workflow is second to none when I have everything setup correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading, and stay safe everyone!

PS Before I sold my house and downsized to an apt, I was running 3 of these 4k 27" monitors and a flat wall-mounted 38". Workflow was great. I love LG monitors, and Dell (but their ultrawide doesn't seem to be that great). I don't HAVE to use the monitor as a dock with the 1 TB3 cable. 

[Action_Johnson]

I have 3 MBP's of various vintages, along with two PC's with high refresh rate monitors. The most I can get out of my MBP's is 120Hz via HDMI. 

 

I'm not a fan of Ultrawide's, but I have a Dell 2721DGF as my studio retouching monitor and it's pretty great. Calibrates close enough for my work, and 165Hz is a DREAM when using brushes in PS and Capture One. I use an iPad Pro when I need to have a reference, as the delta's on that thing are nuts, better than Eizo in my experience which is amazing. 

 

IMO Apple lost its way when Steve died, and frankly I can't stand using them anymore. Windows 10 might be in an existential identity crisis, and the UI sucks donkey balls, but goddamn. Today I shot a 12 hour on-location job to my 8-core i9 machine with the bigger Vega in it, and Christ it was excruciating. 100C most of the time, locking up, and just in general running slow.  

 

Mac's suck and I'm sick of it. 

[Exp1r3d]

The i9 pre-2020 had the overheating issue. They've fixed it. Do you know what ambient temp was when you were on-location? I keep my apartment at 75 (right now, before it hits 100+) and out of 6-7 benchmarks the highest it got was 89C. The i9 runs hot. Doesn't matter what you're doing. 50C on boot/idle is common. It's not Apple, it's the processor.

I appreciate your post but it really has nothing to do with mine/my question, but I'm happy to talk about anything tech. 

Mac OS is far superior to Winblows in terms of updates, resource usage, background processes, being built on a POSIX-based UNIX shell. I've been using MBPs since 2013 and still have my 2013. Runs flawlessly. Never had a lockup in ~8 years on any one. Maybe I'm lucky. I even have the new M1 Air, which is fucking AMAZING. Apple is going to change the industry with the Apple Silicon chip.

Not worried about color calibration, although I do respect good color quality/accuracy. Dell makes great monitors. Accurate. But, the 38" ultrawide doesn't seem to be one of the good ones. I used Dell monitors from s*it, ~2005 up until 2 years ago? Then I switched to LG.

I've read that HDMI and DP are the way to go for higher refresh rates. Just sucks this LG is meant to help being a 1 wire connection, but 75Hz is the highest refresh rate achievable through TB3. Is there a noticeable difference between 60 and 75Hz? I couldn't imagine 165Hz. I'm not a gamer so I've never needed or wanted anything higher than 60Hz, but if I'm paying for a 144Hz monitor, I expect 144Hz.

I have no problem ditching the TB3 and running DP1.4 to achieve 144Hz and using a separate TB3 docking station. I'm just hoping someone can give feedback on this monitor specifically in regards to the blacks being dark grey, etc. 

You mentioned the larger Vega as well. You'd be remise not to consider that you were using that machine for 12 hours in "x" temp (not sure where you are) for 12 hours in ambient temps. Even idle at 68* ambient, the i9 I had in 2019 (same as yours, before they improved the cooling) could easily run 50-60C.

I don't touch Windows except for work when I have to hack Server X/R2, etc. but Mac OS really is the better option for what seems to be both of our needs. Only gamers and certain devs need Winblows. 

I also use a System76 with a 5.3GHz i7, 64GB RAM, RTX 2080, etc. running PopOS! (System76 builds Linux machines and are based in Denver). Depending on what I'm doing it can hit the upper 70s/80s. Higher if I'm doing some light hash cracking. 

Ok, I don't want this to get too off-topic. I'm really looking for monitor feedback. Thanks for the reply. Have a good night and stay safe!