For a long while, my main computer was an intel iMac with a “5K” resolution–that’s 5120 by 2880 pixels. Which then gets turned into a HiDpi resolution that basically behaves like a 2560 by 1440 pixel resolution (“2K”), and the added “hidden” pixel then e.g. improve font rendering.
It was a pretty good screen. Then a common display fault (Apple tends to have those) resulted in some ugly pink-ish distortions at the border. And I wanted to use other systems, too, with not enough space for screens.
So I ditched the iMac, partially for a Linux system, partially for an older used Macbook (and now a Mac Mini M1). Various screens were tried, none of them 4K. A Full HD gaming monitor (meh), an old Apple Cinema Display with ginormous acrylic bezels and these days dual 2K monitors (for now…).
And you know what? I don’t really mind. I do notice worse font rendering and a few pixelated edges otherwise, but that doesn’t bother me too much. And I’m actually quite fond of good typography, it just seems like the basic shapes are more important than higher DPI.
But could I do word processing on a 8 bit system, with rather low resolutions? Probably not.
I also do need screen estate more than resolution. A 19 or 20 inch 1600 by 1200 display might serve, anything lower–including basically all laptop screens–just doesn’t serve, no matter how “retina” it is.
(Audio fidelity is something else where you find people both insisting on “headroom” or not caring at all and actually emulating hissing cassette tapes with advanced sound modeling techniques. Or actually making tapes in 2025)
How much computer do we actually need? #
So I’m wondering what other areas I could extend this to. How much computing power, graphical fidelity or screen estate do I actually need? Where are my personal sweet spots?
I think it’s a lot lower than more contemporary systems. Maybe not for work, but that’s more a thing of not even using what I considered a computer for the longest time there these days. But that’s another topic for another day…