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LG Accidentally Leaks Apple iMac 8K Is Coming Later This Year

An anonymous reader writes LG accidentally revealed in blog post that Apple is planning to release a 8K iMac later this year. This news comes as a surprise as the leak came from a different company rather than Apple. LG is one of Apple's biggest display partners and has already demonstrated 8K monitors at CES in Las Vegas. They note that the panel boasts 16 times the number of pixels as a standard Full HD screen.

263 comments

  1. Too many pixels = slooooooow by gweihir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, 4k is already overkill in most situations. 8k is just fetishism. And it may well be worse, as all those pixels have to be controlled somehow.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Fuck everything, we're doing five blades.

    2. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We had 320x200 and we loved it!

    3. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by gameboyhippo · · Score: 4, Funny

      And 20 years from now when we are using 8M monitors, someone will dig up this post and giggle. "Remember in 2015 when gweihir said that 8k was overkill! ROTFlyingCar!!!"

    4. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by st3v · · Score: 4, Informative

      8K is useful for the movie industry filming in 4K. The 8K cameras can downsample the 8K to 4K and get better picture quality than just filming using a 4K image sensor.

    5. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      8k would have a visual advantage over 4k on a large (30'') monitor. It's not just fetishism. Personally, I can't wait until it's standard for screens in all devices to have no visible aliasing without any post processed AA applied. That would be ideal.

      But there is a practical use for screens bigger than 4k as well. Anyone editing 4k material (which is something graphic designers buying new systems will be planning on having the capability to do) will have a much easier time working in an environment bigger than 4k. On an iMac? Probably not the best fit as it's not really a workstation, but some people have money to burn.

    6. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's useful for still photography - DSLRs are pushing 50 MB file sizes - a large 8K screen would be wonderful for Photoshop. Not so sure about the iMac format - that's basically just laptop parts slapped behind the panel. Maybe Apple can make an iMac + that's build from real computer parts.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    7. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by armanox · · Score: 1

      I think the advantage for most of us will be the drop in price that will occur with the 4K displays.

      --
      I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
    8. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by vux984 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Seriously, 4k is already overkill in most situations.

      Agreed. I ended up getting 2k monitors this time around; (2560x1440) because good 4k screens tended to be slower (refresh rate), much more expensive, and put more demand on the video card).

      Admittedly technology doesn't stand still, and I might have bought a 4k screen if I were shopping TODAY. Prices have come down, refresh rates over 30Hz aren't hard to find on affordable units, etc.

      Or maybe not...they still push the video card a lot harder, and I'm happy with my 2k screens. They are great for programming, and working with PDFs, etc. 4k honestly doesn't look better to me; there is virtually no 4k content at all, games don't benefit from it... the consoles barely drive 1080p; and I need a pretty solid card to run my 2k screens in games. And shrinking the text down and getting 4x as much on the screen wouldn't be readable to me anyway so that's not a plus. So even 4k, as the parent said, is overkill for most things.

      8k ... what's the point? Do I want one? Sure I do. And a pair of GTX titans to drive it too. But need one? Or have any use case that even sort of validates having one? Nope. I don't. And I'm curious what one would even look like.

      I guess at the end of the day, I'm glad it exists because it'll continue to push the hardware advance, and prices will come down.. and maybe one day I'll be able to buy a 100" 4k TV for cheap because the 150" 8k 3D TVs will be "the premium" model.

    9. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by geekmux · · Score: 2

      Fuck everything, we're doing five blades.

      Yeah!

      And don't give me any of this "visible to the naked eye" or "only a dog could hear that" bullshit either. Marketing doesn't want to hear that! There will be ZERO excuses as to why we don't develop "high-end" headphones that go to 100,000Hz and 32K screens. Why? Because stupid people will buy anything when advertised as the "best".

      No wonder I shave with a DE razor.

    10. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by cruff · · Score: 4, Insightful

      8k is just fetishism.

      And yet an 8k monitor would be very useful for viewing the complete image of many DSLR cameras without scaling or subsetting, with room for controls and menu bars or panels to be also visible. I'd probably get one for this reason.

    11. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Screw that!

      80x25 on my MDA, Baybeh!

    12. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by digitalbeing · · Score: 1

      A use case for higher and higher resolutions is mobile/HMD VR. Retina quality for a display 1.5 inches from your eye is something like 32K per eye. Mobile and VR will drive screen technology once TVs have exceeded a certain (rapidly approaching) threshold.

    13. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      Those are characters, not pixels.

    14. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by NatasRevol · · Score: 2

      They already have a 5k iMac...

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    15. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Locke2005 · · Score: 0

      4k is the limit of human perception, i.e. if you can see a line 4000 pixels long, you cannot discern the individual pixels. More than 4K is only useful if you are zooming in on smaller regions of the screen and not viewing the entire image. So yes, more that 4K/UHD isn't useful for a tablet. 4K is the point of diminishing returns; going higher res costs you a lot more in bandwidth and memory without significantly improving your perception of the image. The good news is that once everyone adopts UHD, the standards should stabilize and stop changing, at least for 2D images.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    16. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

      4K is the limit of human visual perception. More than 4K is only useful if you are planning on taking a small section of the image and blowing it up; that's the only time ridiculously high resolution makes sense. So, useful for still images, yes. Useful for a television or tablet screen? I don't think so.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    17. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe if you're only concerned with getting the pixels on the screen, but does it really matter if you can't distinguish pixels?

      We're talking less than 3 feet away for a 30" 4k screen to be useful. For an 8k screen it would either have to be massive, or your nose makes contact with the screen. I find when I'm editing photos, I tend to zoom in quite a bit to fix small issues here and there... I don't think I would spend the money for looking at a photo when that is only 2% of the time the thing is on screen.

    18. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      We were stuck at the 72-100 PPI Monitors for the longest time.
      Still most displays are still at that range.
      I am hoping the jump to 4-8k should be the limit for 2d displays, of desktop size. So we will get to the point where video drivers can once again handle full screen at that resolution.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    19. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by rahvin112 · · Score: 2

      4K = 3840 x 2160 or in other words double the dimension of the 1920x1080 doubled in both directions. I've always thought calling it 4K was a bit dubious, yes it's 4 times the number of pixels but it's only twice the resolution.

      But calling 2560x1440 2K is just an abomination of nomenclature, it's neither twice the size nor two times the number of pixels. In fact there is no mathematical relationship between them that's even a whole number. It's not 2K, it's a resolution between HD and 4K, but it's not halfway between in either number of pixels or resolution so stop making up nomenclature like it's a real thing!

    20. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      No, higher than 8K has no "visual advantage" due to limits of human perception. See "Angular resolution" in this article: http://io9.com/5926643/10-fund.... Basically, if you can see all 4000 pixels across, you can't distinguish the individual pixels, so adding more resolution doesn't improved the perceived image.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    21. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by spacepimp · · Score: 0

      You can go ahead and do this. Just realize that there is no way that this will be handled well by an iMac with intel based GPU and RAM on a base model likely starting at about half whatever logic would tell you it should. iPad's with Retina on the first gen got burned, as they were under powered. MacBook Pro Retina's under powered on the first gen, and now this. Early adopters will pay dearly for adopting 8k with such pedestrian hardware specs.

    22. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      I'm waiting for OLED UHD displays to drop in price. That's pretty much the point of diminishing returns wherein further improvements in technology don't appreciably improve the picture. 8K displays are useless for most application because human beings can't perceive the difference when the entire screen is in their field of view.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    23. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by sheddd · · Score: 1

      Even if that's true if I want to get close and only look at a quarter of the screen, the extra pixels could be useful...

    24. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      I had a book on GW Basic back in the late 80's
      Under displays it had the following.
      Screen 0 Text only 80x25 16 foreground colors, 8 background colors.
      Screen 1 Graphics 320x200 and Text 40x25. 4 colors, choice of 8 background colors, and bad choices for foreground color.
      Screen 2 Graphics 640x200 (High Resolution) and text 80x25 2 color. You had 16 colors to pick for the forgound color and 8 to choose for the background.

      My computer only had a CGA compatible display so the below wouldn't work.
      Screen 7,8,9, 10 were for EGA,
      Screen 13 was for the VGA 320x200 256 colors. You got to mix pallets to do a bunch of cool stuff.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    25. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The theoretical total screen display resolution of the MDA was 720×350 pixels. This number is arrived at through calculating character width (nine pixels) by columns of text (80) and character height (14 pixels) by rows of text (25). However, the MDA again could not address individual pixels; it could only work in text mode, limiting its choice of display patterns to 256 characters. Its character set is known as code page 437. The character patterns were stored in ROM on the card, and so could not be changed by software. The only way to simulate "graphical" screen content was through ASCII art.

    26. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, but what about _alien_ visual perception. Perhaps they walk among us!

    27. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4k is not overkill for any typical desktop-sized display. You're just used to the stagnant resolutions we've been stuck on for so long. A 21.5" monitor at 4k is ~205 PPI. That's a great, wonderful looking picture - but nowhere near overkill.

      5k is not overkill either once your monitor size is up to 27" like the recent iMac. ~218 PPI. It looks great. Overkill? No.

    28. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the difference between high-res content and high-res display

    29. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by vux984 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I agree, and I misused the term.

      That said, 2k *is* a real thing. Its a cinema / projector standard (usually around 2048x1536)

      And cinema 4k is 4096 x 2160; whereas monitor resolution 4k is 3840x2160 -- which comes up a bit short. Cinema 4k refers to horizontal reslution being 4k (4096) vs it being 4x as many pixels as 1080p (1920x1080).

      So yeah... I definitely abused the nomenclature; and I'll avoid calling 2560x1440 "2k" going forward as you are right... But its not like I started it. Nomenclature for resoultion standards is a godawful MESS.

    30. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Funny

      In a few years we'll have videophiles who buy 2048 DPI screens and $1000 woven silver DisplayPort cables and describe how their new baby produces such a visual canvas with airy colors and edgy lines that add presence to windows and make Chrome seem more forward.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    31. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4K is not overkill for a large desktop display when you are sizing objects according to half the pixel resolution. It works out to only 1080p (1920x1080) in terms of workspace. 5K (the current Retina iMac resolution) works out to a 2560x1440 workspace, which is better. 8K MAY be overkill, but I won't believe that based on the claims that 4K is.

    32. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4k is the limit of human perception

      You need more context than that. There is no simple maximum number of pixels everyone can distinguish. There are limits, but limits are better expressed in DPI. From 2ft away, 4k on a 19" monitor is good. From 3ft away, or with a larger monitor, perhaps 8k would be better.

      The "4k is useless" folks aren't wrong when they are talking about televisions. Computer monitors are used from much closer and you can even lean in to see something more clearly.

    33. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by myowntrueself · · Score: 0

      Seriously, 4k is already overkill in most situations. 8k is just fetishism. And it may well be worse, as all those pixels have to be controlled somehow.

      Some of Apples best customers are also audiophiles and BMW drivers. This just fits the pattern perfectly.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    34. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by sheddd · · Score: 1
    35. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Malc · · Score: 4, Informative

      Surely it depends on screen size and viewing distance?

    36. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by sheddd · · Score: 1

      Whups forgot closing tag.

    37. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by vux984 · · Score: 1

      Thanks, although that's a use case for something that needs extremely high resolution its not a use case for that high of a resolution on an imac screen. Unless I sit 1.5 inches from it.

    38. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Malc · · Score: 2

      I'd rather have Apple implement 10- or even 12-bit displays first. It's kind of annoying seeing banding where none actually exists in the underlying RAW photo.

    39. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A letter-sized piece of paper printed on a high quality inkjet printer will have roughly the same number of dots as an 8k display. You are still able to perceive it.

      TV-thinking need not apply to computer monitors.

    40. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      I'm going to stand out from the rest here and say that I think 8k is a good place to stop, similar to how VGA stopped at 24-bit color (not counting an added brightness channel, which will have a use in the future for better dynamic range IMO.)

      The reason why is because soon enough, 72" TVs will be common, and 4k won't be enough if you sit less than 6 feet away from such a screen.

    41. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by threephaseboy · · Score: 1

      Why would a hypothetical 8k iMac have Intel graphics? Only the two base models of the 1920x1080 21.5" iMac have that.
      Every other model (including all options for the currently-shipping 5k iMac) has a discrete GPU (underpowered as it may be) with dedicated VRAM (undersized as it may be).

      --
      .
    42. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But why an iMac then? They aren't the most powerful or expandable computers around.

      For series movie editing, you might be looking at either a dual-CPU and/or dual-GPU system.

      I'm sure the iMac includes a damn good screen, but overall versatility seems better served via separate devices.

    43. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think Apple has already proved they realize this as the current 5K iMac has a Geforce 970/980m rather than just Intel integrated graphics. However, I would prefer a full graphics card, versus a mobile part for an 5K display, let alone an 8K display.

    44. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by swillden · · Score: 5, Informative

      4K is the limit of human visual perception.

      The limit of visual perception is measured in pixels per angular distance. It doesn't depend on the number of pixels, but on their size and distance... at least until you get to the level where your entire field of view is covered by pixels that are small enough to be invisible at their given distance.

      At the distance from my eyes to my desktop monitor (about 20 inches), I expect I can resolve pixels down do about 200 pixels per inch. My 30" monitor is about 26" wide by about 16" tall, which means that to reach the limit of my visual perception (assuming my estimate of 200 ppi is accurate; it may be a little low), I need 5200 horizontal pixels, about 5K. I'm hoping that within the next couple of years I can upgrade to a 40" monitor, though, and 8K would be about right for a display that size.

      More pixels would be good if I sometimes want to lean closer to see fine details (and I do).

      And, really, we absolutely do want sufficient resolution that pixels are indistinguishable, so we can have what appear to be perfectly smooth curves and arbitrarily fine lines. Smooth text, in particular, is much easier on the eyes. I have a MacBook Pro with a high-resolution display on my desk right next to my big monitor and it is sooo much more pleasant to look at.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    45. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Five blades is freaking amazing, I love those... haven't seen one since I got back from Korea, though... can't find a decent razor in France....

    46. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 1

      Seriously, 4k is already overkill in most situations. 8k is just fetishism.

      You're wrong, and I can't explain why. You have to see an 8K screen showing a real, native 8K video stream. It's jaw dropping, even compared to 4K.

    47. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Safety razors kick ass.

    48. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, Apple built a special controller for their 5K displays. I'm not a hardware designer, but 8K strikes me as two 4K displays "in one" so [just] two 4K controllers side-by-side. The beauty of the 5K display is a full 4K video with pixels to spare for toolbars and the like, and using that logic I don't get how 8K is any better than 5K. Besides -- how does anyone know "8K" isn't just a typo?!?

    49. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by x0ra · · Score: 1

      50Mpix on a full-frame is just marketing crap. No lens on the market can approximate this sharpness.

    50. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2, Funny

      Because stupid people will buy anything when advertised as the "best".

      Except 8K resolution is immensely better than 4K. The only people dismissing it as marketing bullshit are people who haven't seen it.

    51. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Dots are these funny really small inkblots that overlap, or have weird sparse patterns, or are used arbitrarily so as to fake the picture, fonts, greyscales and colors to successfully fool the human eye. So, a 600 dpi inkjet printer is not actually comparable to a 600 ppi monitor.

    52. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what has 4k got to do with 4x anything or 2k to do with 2x anything?
      You do understand that the k stands for "thousand", like in "kilometer" or "kilobytes", right?

    53. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      8k resolution is 7680x4320. At 32" that's only 275 PPI. My OnePlus One phone is 400 PPI, and even an iPhone manages 325 PPI. It's not actually that extreme for the largest monitor you would reasonably want on a typical desk.

      The other advantage of going to 8k is that scaling works better. With 4k on a 28" monitor you probably want about 1.5x normal scaling, which means any old bitmaps are going to look crap. Once you get up to 8k scaling by non-integer numbers isn't too bad.

      For games, just run at 1/2 or even 1/4 (full HD) of the native resolution and there are no scaling issues.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    54. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by jonnyj · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They already have a 5k iMac...

      And, if you lean forward - which most people do instinctively when they want to see something in more detail - you can discern the pixels on a 'retina' 5K iMac. 8K would be a definite improvement for photographic or artistic work. If the new model has a larger screen, 5K would definitely be insufficient.

      For many people, this would represent a significant improvement in quality.

    55. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's only true if all monitors are the same physical size, which they are not.
      Your eyes don't see in pixels, and a larger monitor can handle showing more pixels without being wasted.
      Of course, if this turns out to be another tiny little 28" iMac screen, then yeah, it's a total waste. Sadly, no information on actual screen size is available, just resolution, which is less than helpful.

    56. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by bored · · Score: 2

      Without knowing the size of the display the whole discussion is pointless 8k in 2" or 8k in 50"?

      Cause there is a world of difference, and humans have pretty good spatial memory. Having a monitor larger than what can be seen without moving your eyes/head is a good thing. In fact that is what I'm using right now, 4 monitors are already more than I can see at the same time. With my focus on the left monitor I can't really see anything in the right. But that doesn't make it less useful for having a PDF open, or another window of code. I can flip my eyes back and forth between the right and the left far faster (and less disruptively) than I can swap virtual desktops.

    57. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by nine-times · · Score: 1

      Maybe it's so that content creators can work in 8k. Like if you're working with 8k video files, you need an 8k screen to view your work at full resolution.

      Of course, that would imply that these might be external displays to be used with a Mac Pro rather than iMacs. Also, it would seem strange, since Apple generally leaves that kind of niche market to others.

    58. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they're making your 4k screen as a tiny 30" or less panel, they're wasting technology, and need to be taken out into the streets and heckled to death. Or at least until they promise not to do that anymore.

      This sort of thing is meant for the giant 50" screens and larger that you see in TVs these days. And yes, there are people who would make practical use of them - I've set up scientific/engineering workstations for my users that had sets of four 2560x1600 monitors (30" diagonal each) set up in a grid as a single desktop, and their main complaint was the black bars in the middle - they'd love one of these screens as long as it was big enough to be useful.

    59. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      What's so great about an 8k? I had a Macintosh 128k in 1984.

      Get off my lawn.

    60. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      4k on a 32" monitor isn't even "retina" by Apple's original standard, let along near the limit of human vision. The original iPhone retina display was 325 PPI, which if scaled to 32" would result in an 8k display.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    61. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by spire3661 · · Score: 2

      The problem is Apple always saddles these machines with displays that are so high res, you cant run anything 3D at the native resolution. I wish they would match up 3D hardware to actually drive the displays they put out.

      --
      Good-bye
    62. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      Anything below 120 HZ is junk to me. I dont care how many pixels you have if you are still at 60 Hz. Refresh and image integrity > pixels. I would rather see more processing power and solutions like G-sync intead of more raw pixels

      --
      Good-bye
    63. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad most of what Apple sells wouldn't be able to handle 8k smoothly, even for just Photoshop stuff.

    64. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by vux984 · · Score: 1

      8k resolution is 7680x4320. At 32" that's only 275 PPI. My OnePlus One phone is 400 PPI, and even an iPhone manages 325 PPI. It's not actually that extreme for the largest monitor you would reasonably want on a typical desk.

      PPI is a meaningless stat. An inch 11' feet away (my TV) is not the same as an inch 3' away (my PC monitors), is not the same as an inch 12" away (rougly where I usually hold my phone.)

      pixels per degree (of field of view) is what matters. This is why a phone needs hundreds of PPI while a movier theatre 40 feet away needs a fraction of that to look just as good. The human eye only has so many receptors after all.

      There is some debate on just how many pixels per degree the human eye can discern, and there are things like moire patterns and aliasing show that humans can detect "artifacts" in motion even when the actual resolution is sufficient for a still image. But whatever we come to agree the maximums of human eyesight are, it will be the case that we will need more PPI in a phone than a monitor, and in a monitor than a TV.

      Like I said, I think long term 8k and beyond is going to happen and desireable. But today, the price premium and performance hit to driving that many pixels just isn't justifiable.

      For games, just run at 1/2 or even 1/4 (full HD) of the native resolution and there are no scaling issues.

      Rather defeating the point of the investment.

    65. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by flargleblarg · · Score: 1

      4K is the limit of human visual perception.

      Complete and utter BS.
      The limit of visual perception depends entirely on the viewing distance and on pixel density.

    66. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by ChaoticCoyote · · Score: 1

      Yes, but in 20 years, we'll have graphics cards that can run 8k monitors at reasonable speed, and software that scales properly. The screen doesn't exist in a vacuum, and right now, even 4k screens at 15.6 inches are performance dogs. And think how ridiculous the price for an 8k monitor will be...

    67. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      8K would only be perceptually and usefully better on a very large display, say over 60". On a desktop display, it will be near worthless.

    68. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sooo.... Quad Titan X in an external, liquid-cooled enclosure over the thunderbolt 2 interface?

    69. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      $8K iMac to match the $15K iWatch.

    70. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by flargleblarg · · Score: 1

      Actually, there is no such thing as pure retina resolution. There is only retina resolution as a function of pixel density and viewing distance. So, 4k on a 32" monitor at an 24" viewing distance is retina resolution at typical viewing distance. However, 4k on a 32" monitor at much shorter viewing distance is not.

    71. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by locopuyo · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately it still wouldn't fit images from the Nikon D810 without some vertical scrolling. 7360x4912

    72. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except we're hitting human limitations here at typical viewing distances and display sizes. Can the human eye even resolve 8k resolution at typical desk distances? Unless the monitors are the size of a full size fridge door I don't see the point. And while displays that large do have their purposes, they get really uncomfortable at typical desk distances because you have to turn your head so far to see the edges.

    73. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering the "quality" of non-integer scale factors on OSX, it'll be either ~40" (2x) or ~27" (3x).

    74. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Kjella · · Score: 1

      No, it's roughly the limit of 20/20 vision. I checked using the spreadsheet here and my 28" 3840x2160 screen that I sit 60 cm in away from is perfect for anyone with 20/18.5 vision or worse. However, that's only the lower limit for what is considered "normal" vision, not perfect visual acuity:

      Healthy young observers have a binocular acuity superior to 20/20; the limit of acuity in the unaided human eye is around 20/10-20/8 (6/3-6/2.4), although 20/8.9 was the highest score recorded in a study of some US professional athletes.

      I know that I at one point could make out most of the 20/16 line, not anymore though. Moving to 8K would double the pixel density so the same screen, same distance at 7680x4320 would be good up to 20/9.25 vision, covering 99.9% of the population in their prime. It is actually possible that this athlete could marginally detect a >8K monitor. So no, 8K makes sense if you want everyone to have a perfect picture.

      --
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    75. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not unless the average living room size is getting much bigger.

    76. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Cassini2 · · Score: 1

      The Hercules graphics card fixed the limitations of MDA, and back in the early days, they had the highest resolution graphics available on a PC.

      I remember writing circuit board design software on Windows 2.03 in monochrome graphics on a 286 PC! It was the best thing out there.

    77. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Ecuador · · Score: 1

      People think I sit relatively close to my main 27" screen and I just measured and I am at a distance of about 58 cm (almost 23 inches for the metric-impaired people). If I went any closer and tried to watch something full-screen, I would have to turn my head right and left to track things. Don't get me wrong, I love monitor real-estate, so I have a second monitor (portrait mode) next to the main one, but I do indeed turn my head to see it. So 20 inches for a 30" monitor is a bit pushing it, therefore I really doubt whether you could actually put that 40" monitor at that same 20 inches distance and call it a usable desktop. Sure, it would be nice for the "Imax" experience, but I think that if you want your display to cover that sort of angle of vision where you have to turn around, you might as well just get separate monitors and become more productive since they will allow you to group things together / better organize...

      --
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    78. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Five blades is freaking amazing, I love those... haven't seen one since I got back from Korea, though... can't find a decent razor in France....

      Try your local supermarket: http://gillette.com/fr-fr/prod...

    79. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by tompaulco · · Score: 2

      Bill was right. 640k is enough for anybody. We just haven't got there yet.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    80. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      80 columns? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? My TRS-80 had a 40 column display at a blistering 256×192 of pixel real estate, and it was enough for anybody!

    81. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by spire3661 · · Score: 2

      Apple should design more responsibly and use displays that dont require so much processing power.

      --
      Good-bye
    82. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Don't forget to buy a magnifier as well, as your eyes cannot see detail this fine.

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    83. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      I would think that the optimal resolution would be just higher than the eye could individually make out. If it looks like a smooth image with no discernible pixels making up the jaggies on a not-quite-horizontal line, then we have reached perfection. I haven't seen a 4k screen yet. I can tell you on my screen, which is running 2560X1600, I can definitely see individual pixels and jaggies on lines. Just guessing by the pixel size on my screen, I believe I would easily be able to discern a pixel on a 4k screen, and probably an 8k screen, but without having one to make the actual comparison, I can't be sure. Can someone send me a 4k screen, so I can test?

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    84. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, we need 2000 pixels per mm, or 500,000 DPI, for holographic displays.
      It will take a while, but we will get to this level.

    85. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by rahvin112 · · Score: 1

      Don't disagree, I get a little neck twitch whenever they call it 4K or 8K.

      The 2048x1536 resolution is pretty close to 1.5x the number of pixels or 50% more pixels which at least sort of fits with the whole 100% bigger = 4x nomenclature. But otherwise I agree, the whole nomenclature system is completely screwed up. You had to expect it when the marketing department got on board, not that different than HDMI CEC where it's got about 50 names because each manufacturer gave it a name specific to that brand.

    86. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > The only people dismissing it as marketing bullshit are people who haven't seen it.

      I looked at pictures of it on my VGA monitor. It looks just as crappy as the stuff we've had in the 80s and I see no reason to upgrade.

    87. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by pr0nbot · · Score: 2

      The true videophiles will be buying vintage 1024x768 TFT screens from 1997 because only over VGA can you really capture the warmth and vibrancy of the signal.

    88. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      one word "holograms"

    89. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same. I'd love to have one for Photoshop/ACR/Lightroom work! The main problem is price. A good 4k IPS LCD is already sort of expensive (close to $1000). A 8k LCD will be WAY out my reach for a long time...

    90. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by josepha48 · · Score: 1
      I think we need to switch to morse code and 1 pixel?

      So Apple came out with retina display and that is as high as the eye can see, so why would anyone want 8k? I read somewhere 4k was more than they eye could see and it would be a standard for a while. I think this is just a ploy to get people to buy more crap?

      --

      Only 'flamers' flame!

    91. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by suutar · · Score: 1

      Thank you for finding actual evidence. However, I think one of your numbers is off. Angular resolution says ~1 arc-second per pixel; field of view says ~120 degrees horizontal that's binocular. The two together says 7200 pixels wide, not 4000 (and more if you're willing to go outside the binocular zone, up to about 12k).

      However, that does imply that 8k would probably be "enough" for most purposes, because yeah, to get in close enough to see pixels you have to let some go outside the field of binocular vision.

    92. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      8K is nothin'
      It doesn't mean anything until they can do 11K

    93. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, this is fucking stupid. I'm OK with 4K - it's fine on monitors of the 50-85" variety. Maybe if I ever get a 100+ inch screen I would be convinced 8K is worthwhile.

      8K on any type of day to day computer or mobile phone screen is idiotic. Asinine. Embarassing.

      Instead, work on getting OLED or something better out there for larger screens.

    94. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      I look askance at this 8k rumor. Apple isn't even done with the transition to 4k. and they declined to play the resolution race in the smartphone arena. and they are choosing to go with thinner hardware and eschew more power to get the battery life. case in point, their new MacBook has the same benchmarks as a MacBook air from 2011.

      they are all about figuring out what is the optimum configuration for people's actual use, and designing to that.

    95. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by thogard · · Score: 1

      24 bit color is a problem. Out of those 16 million colors, about 1/4 are greys and about 1/2 are browns. The remaining 4 million are slightly more than a million of each of the reds, greens and blues leaving less than a million in the rest of the spectrum. When it comes to shades of oranges your limited to only about 60 that most people won't say are brown when viewed in isolation.

      The flipper displays that use 18 bits are even worse and are way too common.

      Of course the real fix for this is to run HSV rather than RGB to the display and let it work out how to drive the pixels.

    96. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      likely this is meant to be snarky, but it is actually true. philes love preserving the analog pathway. film on a projector is #1. Would not be surprised if VCR on a CRT became #2.

    97. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe it's so that content creators can work in 8k.

      I'm sure they would. Aside from looking nice, they can jack up the file size to make transfers on the internet too slow, and try to get people back to buying shiny discs.

    98. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Noah+Haders · · Score: 0

      4k is 4000 tall, not wide.

    99. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And people whose eyes are 45 years old or more. You young whippersnappers and your forkay nonsense, get off my lawn already!

    100. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Poser, everyone knows the TRS-80 had 64 columns, or 32 if you hit shift-right-arrow. Or are you one of those crazy color freaks with that stupid chiclet keyboard?

    101. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In 20 years, your eyes should just be starting to go bad. Enjoy 'em while you can.

    102. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Dashiva+Dan · · Score: 1

      PPI is the key relevant term for viewing quality (along with refresh rate, colour depth, contrast ratio, oh, and size, etc). With a PPI value, anyone can figure out if it will benefit them at their viewing distance, and based on that viewing distance, what resolution is their 'sweet spot'. The resolution value without the PPI is meaningless.

      Resolution is relevant for application developers and video hardware makers, and PPI far less so to them, and there are a fair few developers on /.
      Most of the discussion here seems to be from the consumer position, however, so for that, PPI is key.

      --
      "lt;dr" is the correct response to most of my posts.
    103. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by swillden · · Score: 1

      I don't use anything full-screen. The point of the big monitor is to fit lots of stuff, not to make a little bit of stuff really big. My 30" monitor normally contains nothing but terminal and editor windows, using a small font.

      My desktop machine actually has three monitors connected. A 30" in the middle, in landscape orientation and 24" monitors on the side, in portrait orientation. I do have to move my head to look at all of this screen space, including to look at different areas of the 30". I will replace the 30" with a 40" sometime soon, and won't move further back from it, or increase the font size... I'll just be able to fit more windows.

      --
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    104. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And 20 years from now when we are using 8M monitors, someone will dig up this post and giggle. "Remember in 2015 when gweihir said that 8k was overkill! ROTFlyingCar!!!"

      You're right.

      The problem is that right now, you can't even scroll a web page smoothly on their current iMac as the hardware can't handle pushing the pixels. I wish I was making this up.

    105. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Dashiva+Dan · · Score: 1

      I see what you're trying to say here, but just to point out:
      "From 3ft away ... perhaps 8k would be better"
      If you increase the distance from the display, the resolution requirement lowers, not raises, so if 4k is good on 19" at 2ft, then perhaps roughly 2/3 of that resolution would match the capabilities of the same eyes at 3ft. i.e. less, not more. If the display size increased, however, not the distance, or if the distance shortened, then yes, larger resolution would be required to maintain viewing quality.

      --
      "lt;dr" is the correct response to most of my posts.
    106. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4K is the limit of human visual perception for what display dimensions and viewing distance ?

      Just asking, because I can see the pixels.

    107. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by jd2112 · · Score: 1

      Hell, look at all of the people who can't tell black and blue from white and gold.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    108. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      Seriously, 4k is already overkill in most situations. 8k is just fetishism. And it may well be worse, as all those pixels have to be controlled somehow.

      Seriously. No PC users needs a resolution above 1024x768!

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    109. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by stoborrobots · · Score: 1

      ... but 8K strikes me as two 4K displays "in one" so [just] two 4K controllers side-by-side...

      Check that: 8k is equivalent to FOUR 4k displays: two wide and two high...

    110. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by vux984 · · Score: 1

      With a PPI value, anyone can figure out if it will benefit them at their viewing distance, and based on that viewing distance, what resolution is their 'sweet spot'.

      True enough.

      The resolution value without the PPI is meaningless.

      If you have the resolution value; and the screen dimensions you've got PPI, if you want it. Or you can add viewing distance and go straight for PPD.

      PPI is, at best, an intermediate calculation step that really doesn't need to be used. I suppose its somewhat useful to save you some calculation effort to find your sweet spot; but the truly educated don't need it and calculate it themselves. And the general consumer should really just be given PPD at standard viewing distances; with a caveat that human eyes get 400 PPD or 900PPD... or whatever the number is scientifically valid...

    111. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      I agree that pixels per degree of view is the correct measurement, there is no way for a manufacture to know how far away from your monitor you are going to sit. They could come up with a standard which all manufacturers adhere to, and the consumer could then understand that if they sit closer or farther from the device that their experience will differ.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    112. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously, 4k is already overkill in most situations. 8k is just fetishism. And it may well be worse, as all those pixels have to be controlled somehow.

      Pixel density is still craved in virtual reality applications.

    113. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's so wrong with running a 3d game at a smaller resolution? We used to do this all the time before.

    114. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by DreadPiratePizz · · Score: 1

      Yes it does. 4K is roughly equivalent to 35mm, but if you are doing VFX for something shot in 70mm or in IMAX, 8K is used. If you saw Interstellar in actual 70mm film, you can easily tell which scenes were shot in 35 vs 70 when the screen is the size of a real IMAX theatre.

    115. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by edxwelch · · Score: 1

      > 4K is the limit of human visual perception
      So, what would happen if you looked directly at a 8K monitor? Would your eyes explode?

    116. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What 3D programs interest more than 50% of the population?

    117. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      False.
      DCI 4k is 4096x2160
      UHD 4k is 3840x2160

      Even 10 seconds on wikipedia could've told you so.

    118. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You people and your hedonistic luxuries! The display for my Easy Bake oven had one pixel: on or off.

    119. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by tirefire · · Score: 1

      Complete and utter BS.

      Truth. Anyone remember this guy?
      Bought a bunch of el cheapo 4K televisions for the programmers at his office. Even though the 30hz refresh rate caused horrible mouse lag, they all put up with it. It's not like there was a 4K computer monitor at anywhere near a competitive price.

      "I didn't really get it until just now." Four editors side-by-side each with over a hundred lines of code, and enough room to spare for a project navigator, console, and debugger. Enough room to visualize the back-end service code, the HTML template, the style-sheet, the client-side script, and the finished result in a web browser - all at once without one press of Alt-tab.

    120. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by twistedcubic · · Score: 1

      2560x1600 on a 13" "retina" Macbook is much easier on the eyes than 1280x800, and it allows font scaling by an integer factor. If you're only speaking of using the monitor for watching TV, then fine, but it can be used productively for work.

    121. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The 8K cameras can downsample the 8K to 4K and get better picture quality than just filming using a 4K image sensor."

      Why would down sampling an 8K image automatically be better than a native 4K image? There's actually a better chance that it'll be worse. The camera has less light going to each pixel, and the smaller chip features results in more noise per pixel.

    122. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      non native resolutions have to be rescaled to fit, either by the gpu (eating performance) or by the display (usually with significant latency). If you're lucky, you'll have a smart enough panel that'll scale even multiples of lower resolutions with almost no impact on latency... most panels aren't though, and force the use of some shitty bilinear filtering that requires latency adding onboard processing.

      crts actually let you configure the number of scanlines...

    123. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 2

      The iMac "Retina" has a AMD R9 M290X (Pitcairn?) by default. It can be ordered with an AMD R9 M295X (Tonga XT?). Both are "mobile" chipsets,

    124. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even better, run L*ab. A big processing headache, but much better use of bandwidth.

    125. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      If you saw Interstellar in actual 70mm film, you can easily tell which scenes were shot in 35 vs 70 when the screen is the size of a real IMAX theatre.

      I could see a qualitative difference in the image between IMAX and non-IMAX on a 1080p rip. It's not just down to resolution.

      Although, to disclaim, the scenes were also different aspect ratios, which was a bit weird.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    126. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      What's so wrong with running a 3d game at a smaller resolution? We used to do this all the time before.

      Back then we had CRTs which could adapt to any resolution. With LCDs you have to use linear interpolation which makes the image unsharp.

    127. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

      And cinema 4k is 4096 x 2160; whereas monitor resolution 4k is 3840x2160 -- which comes up a bit short.

      Monitor 4K is also 4096x2160, so far as I'm concerned. The other resolution has a different name that we need to push HARD: UltraHD. It's already in a lot of marketing materials. That's what we need to use to refer to 4X HD.

    128. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      2k normally refers to 1920x1080 for televisions and computer monitors.

      --
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    129. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by michelcolman · · Score: 1

      They really ought to switch to floating point: one float per color component per pixel. That's 24 bits plus 7 bits of exponent (not using the sign bit). Would also get rid of the problem where the average between two colors isn't really the perceptual average. Thanks to the separate exponent, floating point has such a wide range that it could correspond to our actual perception of color, and basic mixing operations would look a lot better.

    130. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by jo7hs2 · · Score: 1

      Somebody says this with every major pixel jump and every time they are always only marginally correct. It happened with 8MP to 12MP, 12 to 18, 18 to 22/3, etc... "The lens can't even resolve that!" Sure, some lenses, particularly consumer and mid-grade kit lenses (like the 28-135mm my 5DmkII kinda makes go pear-shaped everywhere but smack dab in the middle of the frame unless you stop down to f8 or so) will offer no additional resolution on a 30-50MP camera simply because the sensor out performs the lens. But plenty of lenses still more than out resolve our current sensors...and as history has shown, at least with Canon, any L series glass that doesn't perform and is in mainstream use will get updated within a few years. I can say personally that even my current 18-23MP camera stable occasionally fails me due to lack of sensor resolution. Usually when I need to crop to 5:4 dimensions and make a large print. Only with one it two of my lenses do I run into resolution issues, and they're consumer lenses I use to full gaps in my L kit, or use due to their lighter weight/lower cost in more gear-risky environments. I'm eying that 50MP 5Ds with some "maybe in a year or two" coveting. A lot of what I do is either with very high resolution medium to long primes (macro and wildlife) that have a lot of resolution to work with, or requires just enough cropping for 5:4 prints that I'd prefer a few more megapixels before making the chop. I remember the change from 8MP up to 12MP, and then when I went from 12 to 23MP, and the ability to crop and still make a print I was satisfied with increased dramatic at each step.

    131. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To funny. You are so on point.

    132. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My 5K iMac has a 4.0ghz i7 and 32GB of RAM. Aside from the ample m295x GPU, laptop parts it is not. Indeed I do use it for photography work.

    133. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by coofercat · · Score: 1

      All those people who have multiple 30-40 inch monitors could buy one 50-60 inch monitor and have everything on one screen. Traders (for example) typically have four screens arranged in a square - they could just have one 'super screen' instead and get to use the 'gaps' between screens. I'm not in that league at all, but work gives me two screens to do devops. I'm not sure but I suspect the multiple monitor refresh affects my vision, so I'd love one massive one that did it all. Whether I'd pay early-adopter money for it is another matter though (and I'm sure my buy-shiny-screens-because-they-are-five-quid-cheaper-than-the-matt-ones employer definitely won't).

    134. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was Steve Jobs who said 64k would be enough. Only 56k more to go.

    135. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 1

      I would think that the optimal resolution would be just higher than the eye could individually make out. If it looks like a smooth image with no discernible pixels making up the jaggies on a not-quite-horizontal line, then we have reached perfection.

      Yes, but that isn't even 8k...

      When a 3D image has no jagged lines on curves without the use of AA, then we're there.

    136. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 2

      4K is the limit of human visual perception.

      Nonsense, stop repeating this untrue lie.

      The same crap was said back when 1080p came out, there were even people saying that 720p was enough and that 1080p was overkill unless you were on a 50" screen.

      It just isn't true.

      Load up a game on a 4k screen, with AA turned off. Find something like stairs and turn left and right with them on screen. You'll still see jaggies.

      Then turn AA on, notice it gets better.

      When AA no longer makes a difference, then we're there.

      You may or may not be able to see each pixel, but that has nothing to do with it. You can see the blended detail.

    137. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because stupid people will buy anything when advertised as the "best".

      Except 8K resolution is immensely better than 4K. The only people dismissing it as marketing bullshit are people who haven't seen it.

      Dude. It's been scientifically proven that 90% of people can't even tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. Stop it with this bullshit. They're selling us snake oil at this point.

    138. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by pretzel87 · · Score: 1

      I don't agree... with the proper graphics setup, an 8k desktop environment at something like 80" in a wide format would be an amazing experience for productivity.... there are already tons of professions and enthusiasts that use 6+ monitors arranged in a grid to display lots of information or use many different applications. This just eliminates the bezels. People think it's all about the pixel density... this is more about stretching your screen without losing resolution. One huge curved 8k display would be my dream working in dispatch I have 2-5 websites, email, proprietary software, mileage program, and notes all crammed onto 3 1080p screens and I'm suffocating.

    139. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by nullchar · · Score: 1

      I'm planning the same 24 | 30 | 24 monitor setup. Do you run them all on a single video card? DisplayPort for the 30" and dvi/hdmi for the two 24's?

    140. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Cederic · · Score: 1

      I'm only at 2560x1440 on a 27" screen from a distance of around 50cm and I can't tell individual pixels.

      At that distance anything physically larger would require me to pan my head to view, so I'm happy sticking with a 27-28" screen size, so 4K might be useful but 8K doesn't seem to add any value at all.

      I haven't even gone for 4K because I use my PC for gaming, and we're a card generation away from top-end 4K graphics, but I'm tempted anyway as it would be nice for photo editing.

    141. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Hmm. Apple don't offer a wide-gamut monitor?

      I'm using an Asus with 100% sRGB and it's perfectly adequate. Not noticed any banding in Lightroom or in the sRGB JPGs I publish to the web.

      If anything displaying everything in sRGB kind of helps my workflow - I don't need a preview step to check the output still matches my expectations. But I don't use expensive printers that support a wider gamut than sRGB..

    142. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Cederic · · Score: 1

      On the flipside, as an interim measure 3840x2160 should provide easier higher quality upscaling of 1920x1080 source material.

      Not much use if you want to watch 4K films though, agreed.

    143. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Cederic · · Score: 1

      No. This is why none of the 4K standards are 4000 pixels across.

    144. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Cederic · · Score: 1

      You need more context than that. There is no simple maximum number of pixels everyone can distinguish. There are limits, but limits are better expressed in DPI.

      Nah, unnecessary. 4000 pixels will only fit into the main part of your vision (the part capable of picking out detail) within a certain distance.

      If that distance is further than most (all?) humans can pick out individual pixels then automatically 4000 is more than anybody actually needs if they're using a fullscreen device.

      There will be a specific number of pixels at which the distance from observer to keep them all in vision exceeds the distance at which pixel level detail can be discerned by the observer. That distance will vary by individual, but someone with the time to research human vision could calculate the number of pixels at which 99.99% of humans can't discern them.

      The other 0.01% of humans would naturally be the noisy ones on the internet about it, but you can't win them all.

    145. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 1

      I'll put you down under "people who haven't seen 8K".

    146. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      The problem is Apple always saddles these machines with displays that are so high res, you cant run anything 3D at the native resolution. I wish they would match up 3D hardware to actually drive the displays they put out.

      So pixel-double your games and run at the same resolution the competition does.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    147. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by swillden · · Score: 1

      Yes, one video card, an nVidia Quadro K2000 (what came in the machine). I use DVI for the 30 and DisplayPort for the two 24s. I used the DVI for the 30 mainly because the video card regards it as the "primary" output, the one used during boot. I'd have to crane my neck to read boot messages on the 24s.

      The max resolution the DVI output can support is 2560x1600, same as my HP Z30i's native resolution. If the 30 had a higher resolution I'd have to use DisplayPort.

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      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    148. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With LCD scaling artefacts.

    149. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by ChoosyBeggar · · Score: 1

      I'll put you down under "seeing what you want to see." I've got a 50" 4K as my main desktop monitor. Yes, it's huge, and even with very good eyesight, I can scarcely make out pixels if I lean in towards the screen, (~12" away). I'm quite happy bringing the resolution down to 1080p when I want a high framerate, & can't imagine needing more than 4K for fine text. The *only* case I can see for 8k are very large (65"+) that you're going to sit very close to (3'). Even movie theater screens don't need to be 8k!

    150. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      50" 4K ... can scarcely make out pixels ... 12" away

      One pixel of a 50" 3840x2160 at 12" distance covers a bit over 3.25 min of arc. If you can barely resolve that, that means you have worse than 60/20 vision.
      By what definition is that "very good eyesight"?

    151. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Malc · · Score: 1

      Apple's graphics pipeline is notoriously 8-bit. This is most noticeable for me in Lighroom in photos of glorious blue skies, with a smooth gradient from the horizon.

      I am referring to MacBook Pros and can't speak for other devices. Disappointing that the "Pro" part of the name isn't very pro.

    152. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Gallomimia · · Score: 1

      Getting enough GPU power to drive all those pixels might be expensive, difficult (SLI/crossfire) and problematic with drivers not playing nice, but its at least possible. Ramming all the data for those pixels down a wire that hooks up to the display is the trick we all want to see.

      --
      Sadly, a Libertarian cannot force his views on another, and freedom cannot spread as does the cancer known as religion.
    153. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      With LCD scaling artefacts.

      At twice the resolution? Are you some kind of retard?

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    154. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 1

      The problem is Apple always saddles these machines with displays that are so high res, you cant run anything 3D at the native resolution. I wish they would match up 3D hardware to actually drive the displays they put out.

      Why do you need 3D apps at native resolution? A 5k iMac for example is just their previous 27" iMac resolution doubled in both dimensions. Just half your game's resolution and forget about it.

      Do you seriously believe you will see scaling artifacts running anything 2k-ish on a 8-10k display? Without a microscope?
      For that matter, does 1920x1080 on a native 2560x1440 display bug you THAT much? I'd take it over a native 27" 1080 display without hesitation, maybe that's just me.

    155. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 1

      non native resolutions have to be rescaled to fit, either by the gpu (eating performance) or by the display (usually with significant latency). If you're lucky, you'll have a smart enough panel that'll scale even multiples of lower resolutions with almost no impact on latency... most panels aren't though, and force the use of some shitty bilinear filtering that requires latency adding onboard processing.

      crts actually let you configure the number of scanlines...

      5k and 4k ARE even multiples of 2560x1440 and 1920x1080
      So... what's everyone's problem?

    156. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 1

      I'm only at 2560x1440 on a 27" screen from a distance of around 50cm and I can't tell individual pixels.

      At that distance anything physically larger would require me to pan my head to view, so I'm happy sticking with a 27-28" screen size, so 4K might be useful but 8K doesn't seem to add any value at all.

      I haven't even gone for 4K because I use my PC for gaming, and we're a card generation away from top-end 4K graphics, but I'm tempted anyway as it would be nice for photo editing.

      You could get a 27" 5K then, it's double that resolution, for easy scaling.

    157. Re: Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      60/20 vision is damn good. it means at 60 feet you can see what a normal person sees at 20 feet.

    158. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smooth text, in particular, is much easier on the eyes.

      Hmm, I didn't realize s-m-o-o-t-h was an accepted spelling of "blurry".

    159. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by swillden · · Score: 1

      Smooth text, in particular, is much easier on the eyes.

      Hmm, I didn't realize s-m-o-o-t-h was an accepted spelling of "blurry".

      What are you talking about? Smoothing text with anti-aliasing does make it blurry, but that's the whole point of high-resolution displays... you can get truly smooth curves *without* anti-aliasing. High resolution displays are the polar opposite of blurry.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    160. Re:Too many pixels = slooooooow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, I'd say you're the retard because you obviously don't understand how displays work. Running at any resolution that is not the native resolution of a LCD panel results in artefacts.

  2. My VIC-20 had more than 8K! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like, 20 something!

  3. Only 8K? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That twice the RAM of the original Apple II.

    1. Re:Only 8K? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      What makes it funnier, is that is just for the display on one pixel line in black and white.
      Your video card will need at a bit over 1 gig of ram, to display a full screen frame buffer in 32bit color.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:Only 8K? by bored · · Score: 1

      I already have >1G of ram on my video card. And besides, that means that we might be catching up proportionally to the early 90's when I had a 4MB computer with a 1MB graphics card.

      Bring it on, I for one welcome having a 50+" display that I can't see the pixels on from 2' away. Even if the video card burns up 200W just to refresh a 2d screen. That is why I have a desktop. Leave the boys with their laptops to crummy resolutions.

      About time.

    3. Re:Only 8K? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Your video card will need at a bit over 1 gig of ram, to display a full screen frame buffer in 32bit color.

      Wrong, 132710400 bytes. That's about 126.5MiB. Hint: 32 bit color is not 32 byte per pixel.

    4. Re:Only 8K? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Do'h smacking myself on the forehead.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  4. What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought the "retina" display already has a higher resolution than the human eye can discern. Are these new Macs for cats?

    1. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ever seen a 32" retina monitor? 4K is insufficient.

    2. Re:What are those pixels for? by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      So you can sit 1/2 meter away from a 2 meter diagonal 8K screen.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    3. Re:What are those pixels for? by gameboyhippo · · Score: 1

      I would guess that it would be for bigger monitors. I would love to have a bigger monitor with a higher resolution.

      Outside of macs, 8k would look amazing in my theater room. 1080p looks pretty good, but I'm sure 8k at 100" would look stunning.

    4. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cats can only see a few colors, so no not for cats.

    5. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes

    6. Re:What are those pixels for? by BenJeremy · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't mind a 39" curved monitor with 8k resolution, along with two 4k displays (left and right) oriented in portrait for my workstation.

      Computer monitors are the one application of curved displays that actually makes sense.

      I like my 3 WQHD displays, but there are still times when I'd like a bit more "space" for development and debugging.

    7. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple is unable to antialias fonts correctly.
      So they have to solve this problem with more pixels.

    8. Re:What are those pixels for? by zlives · · Score: 1

      4k certainly looks awesome in my theater. its all about content though...

    9. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Marketing. Apple no longer have iPhone-like killer products on tap to distract from the fact that they are just another PC manufacturer.

    10. Re:What are those pixels for? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      Microsoft is unable to antialias font correctly.
      So they solved this problem by hammering the font into the display grid.

    11. Re:What are those pixels for? by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      That's only ever been "true" for the first iPhone to use that display, and even then only at a certain distance from the screen. It's been a generic and meaningless marketing term ever since.

    12. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft is unable to antialias font correctly.

      So dump Microsoft and run Linux. Works better anyway.

    13. Re:What are those pixels for? by brxndxn · · Score: 1

      This whole 'human eye cannot discern' is bullshit. You can walk into any electronics store and immediately notice which TVs are displaying 4k content from the front door. Some of this may be due to the 4k media being 'pixel perfect' while the HD we are used to is typically highly-compressed shitty 720p delivered by Verizon and Comcast. I still have no problem immediately telling the difference between 4k and a 1080p Bluray, though. Just because the eye may not be able to perceive the 'single pixels', it does not mean that the displays have zero noticeable difference between 1080p and 2160p. Besides.. it doesn't even matter if the human eye can discern it or not. If people perceive it to be better, they will pay more for it and Apple will make money.

      --
      --- We need more Ron Paul!
    14. Re:What are those pixels for? by brxndxn · · Score: 1

      Neither company has given us a vector-graphic 3d GUI, so they both deserve 30 lashes.

      --
      --- We need more Ron Paul!
    15. Re:What are those pixels for? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Newer "5K" retina displays are 5120-by-2880, so yes, the horizontal resolution exceeds the limits of human perception. Going higher than that is only useful if you are focusing in on a small subsection of the display, no not useful for most applications.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    16. Re:What are those pixels for? by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      The "retina" display is so you cannot discern a pixel. Having more makes the image even more crisper. I am sure we are reaching a point of diminish return though.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    17. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You misunderstand. The point is that at moderate screen sizes and viewing distance greater resolution than 4K is superfluous. Sure there is discernible improvement from 1080p, but one cannot readily distinguish between 4K and anything with more pixels.

    18. Re:What are those pixels for? by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      I like my 3 WQHD displays, but there are still times when I'd like a bit more "space" for development and debugging.

      Wow, maybe you're just not managing what you have very well.

    19. Re:What are those pixels for? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      For 8K porn where you can zoom into the action with your head to see that short hair stub or whatever without having trying to zoom within a video using some user interface.

    20. Re:What are those pixels for? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      I like my 3 WQHD displays, but there are still times when I'd like a bit more "space" for development and debugging.

      Wow, maybe you're just not managing what you have very well.

      Or maybe his projects are just having waaaay more bugs than yours?

    21. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I use a retina display right now on my notebook and as I type I can see the stair casing on my antialiased letters while I type this post.
      You would be surprised how well eyes can see. Although the resolution of eyes isn't that great, the eyes use small movements of the eye to do supersampling.

      A trained brain, who knows what to look for can see pixels on a retina display. It is like teaching people about kerning, from that point on that person will forever see bad kerning.

    22. Re:What are those pixels for? by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      You misunderstand. The point is that at moderate screen sizes and viewing distance greater resolution than 4K is superfluous. Sure there is discernible improvement from 1080p, but one cannot readily distinguish between 4K and anything with more pixels.

      I determined that I sit 24 inches from my computer monitor. It is a 30" monitor. It is currently running 2560X1600. This gives me 40.1 pixels per degree. It is quite easy to make out individual pixels on this monitor at the distance I sit.
      If this were a 4k monitor, it would have 67.2 pixels per degree. The visual acuity limit for average vision is 80 pixels per degree. A 4k does not get you there.
      If I had an 8k monitor, it would have 134.4 pixels per degree. This is better than the visual acuity for average vision, but the theoretical limit for visual acuity is 150 pixels per degree. So 8k doesn't get you there.
      What the parent was talking about was how you could even tell from the door to the store a 4k TV versus a 1080p. This is because high contrast feature detection is very fine. The approximate guess at how fine we can tell high contrast features is 2400 pixels per degree.
      To reach the point where the human eye could no longer tell the difference in resolution, I would have to have a 138k monitor.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    23. Re:What are those pixels for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course you are right; that is why the statement is not absolute, but qualified with the phrase "at moderate screen sizes and viewing distance". I would say that 30 inches diagonal and 24 inches viewing distance for a television(which is what the ancestor was discussing). No one normally sits that close to a telly. Computer displays are of course a different matter...as is VR.

  5. Apple Computer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "We'll make your eyes bleed"

  6. 640k is where it's at by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, 4k is already overkill in most situations. 8k is just fetishism. And it may well be worse, as all those pixels have to be controlled somehow.

    Nah, 640k is where it's at. Just ask Bill.

  7. 640K iMac by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know. I'm waiting for the 640K iMac because I KNOW I will never need anything more!

  8. Well, that's game over for LG. by YuppieScum · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple have a history of shutting out suppliers who have loose lips.

    Maybe they'll start buying their panels from Samsung...

    --
    This sig left unintentionally blank.
    1. Re: Well, that's game over for LG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably they'll have to. If Samsung even wants their business. "Apple? Who is that?"

    2. Re: Well, that's game over for LG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Spotted the silly Samsung fanboy!

    3. Re:Well, that's game over for LG. by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Apple have a history of shutting out suppliers who have loose lips.

      Is there any evidence of that happening post-Jobs, though?

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    4. Re:Well, that's game over for LG. by rahvin112 · · Score: 1

      They switched to buying from LG because they didn't want to buy panels from Samsung when they were suing them. There aren't very many panel manufacturers though there are a couple Chinese makers but they won't be getting the top end panels from the Chinese, all the major panel research is done by LG and Samsung these days.

    5. Re: Well, that's game over for LG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Samsung, unlike the Fandroids, understands smart business and a diversified market. Every market would bubble and bust within 6 months if fanbois had any real economic pull. Fanbois bring in some bucks but aside from that they're worthless and make the very markets they support look bad.

    6. Re: Well, that's game over for LG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      herpa kimchi derp

    7. Re:Well, that's game over for LG. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Samsung don't make any suitable LCD panels. The only people who can supply them are LG and Sharp.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Well, that's game over for LG. by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      Apple buys their components from whoever is the best for Apple. If they really didn't want to support Samsung when they have all of the legal troubles with them then they would have shifted the processor production away from them but Samsung has been the, and remains, the prime manufacturer.

    9. Re:Well, that's game over for LG. by Khyber · · Score: 1

      "Samsung don't make any suitable LCD panels"

      As I sit here looking on my 32" Samsung S-IPS panel, which is nearing a decade in age and is still operating flawlessly - BULLSHIT.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    10. Re:Well, that's game over for LG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Keyword is SUITABLE. Your comment only proves that Samsung was making LCDs a decade ago, not that they can make an 8k LCD panel for the next iMac.

    11. Re:Well, that's game over for LG. by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      He probably meant that in OEM component market Samsung cannot right now provide a specific 8K panel that can be integrated with the new iMac.

    12. Re:Well, that's game over for LG. by Khyber · · Score: 1
      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  9. apple needs to do better then Intel on board video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    apple needs to do better then Intel on board video also that system ram hit from this may be high do really want 1GB+ of system ram to be used just for video?

  10. 8k? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    WHY?! Apple mostly uses mobile GPUs in their computers. How the hell are they going to push that many pixels in anything outside the desktop?

    1. Re:8K? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. :^P

      (You knew that would be the answer when you posted the :-D smilie.)

  11. Is LG trying to steer Apple? by yobtah · · Score: 1

    Any chance LG could be trying to force Apple to build an 8K iMac and use LG as the panel supplier by leaking this? Maybe LG is hoping the rumor will force Apple to deliver in order to avoid disappointing analysts and shareholders.

  12. for those complaining about this being too much... by Tumbleweed · · Score: 2

    Keep in mind that if proper scaling ever gets implemented, there is still a long way to go for displays to equal the quality of text compared to paper. I saw noticeable improvements in text quality from laser printers all the way up to 1200dpi, and people back in the day were saying we'd never need anything more dense than 300dpi, then it was 600dpi, etc. If we can get displays to 1200dpi, and especially with near-zero reflectivity, then I'll say we've gone far enough - but we're nowhere near that yet.

    But we need GOOD scaling. I've read that Windows 10 will have proper scaling. We'll see.

  13. Re:And guess what! by afidel · · Score: 1

    This will probably be Skylake with GT4e with 72EU's and 128MB eDRAM. Not sure what kind of gaming performance that would give, but probably plenty to drive an 8K display at 60fps in 2D for media production.

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  14. 8K 40 inch imac..... PLEASE! by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    How about just bringing back the 17" macbook for those of us that do real work?

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  15. They have to sell you something. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Next it'll be the $500 Ethernet cable that's "Mac Ready".

  16. Only 8k? by Toshito · · Score: 2

    Silly Apple, my Commodore had 64k way back in 1983!

    --
    Try it! Library of Babel
  17. Revision Compos by SmaryJerry · · Score: 1

    The things that people can run in tiny files using algorithms will start to have to be used for normal displays. It's crazy what they can do with 4K or 64K files! Soon!

  18. Accidental... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure "accidental." Almost as accidental as the last ZOMGAppleLeek Fotos of iPhone7sssss!!!!!111eleventy1!!

  19. Dust by Hugh Howey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just getting ready for the ocular rift style headsets that they used in the book Dust by Hugh Howey...

  20. Does anyone really believe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That this is a leak and not a market ploy to keep people from purchasing a competitors product or start a buzz about Apple's product? I mean come on, I am not that stupid that all these company's supposedly having leaks anymore.

  21. Article was just pulled from LG's page -- mirror? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can anyone post a mirror of the article? Was just pulled.

  22. Re:for those complaining about this being too much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, we don't need scaling, we need vector rendering. And you know what is the biggest blunder done by the mobile industry? The fact that mobile browsers are able to render SVG graphics yet as developers we still can't use them for icons and buttons because Apple wants you to pre-render them (now at build time, but still sucks for size). It's as if we didn't know how to cache glyphs (something done by essentially every 3d videogame).

    So we have web based apps using SVG graphics and native apps unable to render them or cache them. Huh. Now explain how this makes sense on a desktop machine with so much more horsepower.

  23. Get your act together first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They should first focus on getting popular applications to utilize the resolution
    of current displays.

    You still need ridiculous apps like Retinizer to make Word, Google Earth etc.
    use the high resolution.

    Pathetic.

  24. that's not even possible by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    Correct me if I'm wrong but there isn't a graphics card in existence that can run even a video, let alone a game or 3D application, at 60FPS at that resolution. Even multiple cards would have a problem pulling it off. Plus, Apple computers aren't always great on cooling and you'd need top notch cooling to pull off multiple GPUs.

  25. Five Blades by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm basically in favor of Apple pushing forward on resolution, but there's definitely some diminishing returns happening. If they'll make one about ten feet by ten feet, maybe I'll be able to spot the difference whenever I'm standing really close to it.

    I can tell you that on a 5-inch phone, 360 pixels look about the same as 720. I would sacrifice 3/4 of my pixels in a heartbeat if it got me an extra ten minutes of battery.

    So while I'm glad that Apple pushed up the "high"(?) end, I'm kind of pissed that some of the better manufacturers (e.g. Samsung) followed their lead on the small devices, because now Samsung's phones are nearly as bad as Apple's. There's definitely room for a new cowboy in town, who thinks about how to make this stuff work the best, and the bonus is that it would cost less to make, too.

  26. Re:for those complaining about this being too much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Windows 10 doesn't scale Win32 apps (the only things worth using) any different than Windows 7 or 8 do. The only thing that scales with high DPI screens is their metro apps which nobody wants of nor are going to use.

  27. Pixel density? VR! by DrYak · · Score: 2

    8k iMac: depending on the specs of the iMac, that might means that they have managed to increase the pixel density (high DPI).

    8k in it self doesn't mean anything. You have to factor in display size, viewing distance, etc.

    And there is ONE FIELD that is going to benefit immensely from higher densities: VR!

    VR is typically a field of application where you are viewing a relatively small screen (Occulus tend to use typical smartphone displays. Older VR headsets like eMagine 3D visor had even smaller display, like a finger's nail per eye) from a very short distance. (Just next to the eye ball).

    Even at the current ultra-high resolution/pixel densities, that are over kill for a normal smart phone screen (1080p FullHD in a smartphone is more than 300DPI), when looked that close still is very pixelated (this FullHD is blown up to cover your *entire* field of view. That end up being not that many pixels per angle of view, even if keeping into account the varying resolution due to the simple len's distortion). (= Unlike older VR headset that used simple rectangular screens to convey a simple rectangular picture and relied on complex and expansive optics to keep the rectangle distrosion free, Occulus rift use a very simple (and cheap len) that completely distrorts the picture and compensate using a shader that draw a "pre-distorted" picture on the display. They don't convey a rectangular picture, but a pin-chusion picture with more pixels spent at the center than the periphery - thus higher resolution in front of you. Still pixels are visible).

    So even if it ends up being overkill for the iMac, increasing production of high density displays has nice side effects on the occulus rift.

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
    1. Re:Pixel density? VR! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Problem 1 solved, now the other, the 6 graphics cards you'll need to run in crossfire/SLI to get enough juice to run a current gen game at 90+ FPS, 8k to avoid nausea. This is going to be an expensive ride.

  28. It's an answer looking for a question by erp_consultant · · Score: 1

    Feature overkill anyone? I suppose there are probably a few edge cases for needing an 8K display but I can't imagine the everyday user needing it.

  29. 8K? by erp_consultant · · Score: 1

    Is that the resolution or the price? :-D

  30. Re:for those complaining about this being too much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OS X does proper scaling.
    Apple prepared us developers many years ago that they would give us higher resolution displays (at the time they were thinking non-integer scaling).
    Their graphics API is already fully vectorised, and they added screen coordinate snapping API, to make sure lines would be drawn straight through the logical center of a pixel.

    When they first went with retina, you had applications that where half high resolution and half low resolution. Developers at the time where using bitmap images for buttons and other elements. Funny thing with that graphics API was that you never had access to actual windows pixels, you drawn an image-object using the vector oriented API, that is why retina worked so well, even if applications weren't completely ready yet.

    Now pretty much every developer now either renders their buttons directly using vector graphics API, uses vector oriented image formats, or very high resolution bit maps. I would think the next iteration of retina scaling will go with even fewer issues.

  31. Re:for those complaining about this being too much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and especially with near-zero reflectivity

    I'd love to buy the dude that decided for the world that glossy screens are the bomb, especially on laptops, a hellfire burger from the Xtreme Smokehouse. It's worse than reading a book in the dark.

  32. That's lovely, Apple... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When the fuck are you going to update that now archaic display that you insult your customers by continuing to offer? I think the last time that was refreshed was when the aluminum chassis Mac-Pro first came out after that neon-colored plastic monstrosity.

    When your cutting-edge, $1000 monitor is fatter, runs twice as hot, and can do a tenth as much as the equivalent sized iMac, which has several times the available screen resolution, you're just flipping the customer off. At least yank the 5K screen out of the new Super-iMac and make a "just-a-screen" out of it for all the Mac-Mini and Mac-Pro users out there, instead of expecting them to pay a grand for nearly 10 year old technology!

    Imagine if IBM still sold the PC-jr? This is approaching the point of being that bad. Hell, I think that monitor may actually predate the iPad!

    1. Re:That's lovely, Apple... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're right, but they also are overdue for a Mac Pro CPU bump too. Of course, the new CPU will be twice as slow. I'm guessing it will ship with a lowend laptop core i7 chip based on the "upgrade" of the mac mini. Apple has lost their way. They think it's all about the consumer that uses facebook exclusively. Thing is, those people buy iPads not Macs.

      First apple dumped servers. Then they tried to kill the Mac Pro by ignoring it. Now they release new Macs that are twice as slow as the previous version and hope no one will notice. Tim Cook is optimizing away anything good about the Mac lineup. I'm looking at replacing my mac with a windows box right now. I can buy a dell or hp workstation with a xeon chip for the price of an iMac worth looking at. Plus I get hyperthreading, more cache and a better GPU than the Core i5 garbage in those. I know I sound like the typical apple troll, but I'm tying this on a Mac. I have used Macs for 15 years. I switched because of OS X and now it's gone to hell. OS X can't stay on the network. discoveryd is a joke. As they "improve" parts of the system they break. When time machine goes down, that will be it for me. It's the only killer feature left.

  33. Re:8K 40 inch imac..... PLEASE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So good of you to let all of us that are happy with rMBPs know that what we are accomplishing with them isn't real work. You size fetishists from another age need to move on...

  34. iMac, no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LG just leaked Apple's new TV.

  35. Not an External Display? by Misagon · · Score: 1

    I think it would make more sense if it was a stand-alone ultra-wide "Cinema Display"(tm) intended for the Mac Pro.
    Ultra-wide 21:9, 34" at 8192Ã--3510 pixels: 221 pixels per inch resolution. That would be on par with the resolution of the retina MacBooks, only 5.6-7.3 times larger.

    --
    "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
  36. It's all about the physical size, people. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If this screen were 50 inches diagonally and designed to wrap around the user's periphery, it would become 'retina' at 20+ inches viewing distance. As I sit here, 20 inches from the surface of my tiny 24 incher, the pixels are clearly visible and the text is blurry.

    Of course, there's the fact that with a high enough DPI, anti-aliasing is redundant. And I like the idea of if I need to see something in more detail, I can literally lean closer and see more detail, like with physical objects.

  37. NTMP (Never Too Many Pixels) by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    sheeeeeit. These are NOTHING compared to the 16k displays that'll be out in the spring. I hear that's when they're going to add the mandatory "oil cooling hotness" to the Mac Pro, too. Of course, if you wait till fall, those 32k displays are on the way!

    [Looks sadly at N(ever)T(wice)S(ame)C(color) security monitor...]

    As Cheech and Chong might have put it, "Even gets AM!" Well, ok, old school TV that isn't broadcast any longer. But you know what I meant.

    Or not. I'm old.

    GET OFF MY NURSING HOME'S LAWN!

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  38. Re:8K 40 inch imac..... PLEASE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Agreed! Bring back a new heater 17" MacBook Pro with matte retina++ display. My 2012 15" rMBP is getting long in the tooth for what I'm running now.

  39. Megapixel war anyone by Garybaldy · · Score: 1

    This sounds familiar. Who can out K the competition. It is all besides the fact that eye can not see the difference.

  40. Don't care by fyngyrz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If the new model has a larger screen, 5K would definitely be insufficient.

    I'm a photographer and and constant user/developer of image manipulation software. I edit every shot. I don't need 5k in a monitor; if I need a full-image overview, I can have that, zero perceptible time. If I need to look at pixels, same thing. Or anywhere in between. I do *not* need to be squinting at a monitor in order to resolve detail. I value my vision too highly. And at these resolutions, you don' t squint, you can't see it. And I have extremely high visual acuity.

    Higher (and higher) resolution makes sense in data acquisition. Once you have it, you can do damned near anything with it. Even if you exceed the MTF of the lens, you get the advantage that while the edges are smoother, they now start in a more accurate place, geometrically speaking. It can be thought of as like old TV luma; the bandwidth is limited, so the rate of change has a proportionally limited slew rate, but the phosphor on an old B&W monitor is continuous, and you can start a waveform anywhere (horizontally) with luma, to any accuracy within the timing of the display, which can be pretty darned high. So things tend to look very, very good as opposed to what you might expect from naively considering nothing but the bandwidth. It's not like a modern color display, where the phosphor/pixel groups serve to sub-sample the signal no matter how you feed it in. But that advantage goes away when the subtleties exceed your eye's ability to perceive them. Or you have to strain/hurt yourself to do it.

    So anyway... any single one or combination of these three things would motivate me to buy more new Apple hardware. Nothing else:

    o A Mac pro that is self-contained -- installable, replaceable drives, lots of memory, replicable display cards. The "trashcan" Mac pro is an obscenity. All it did was send me to EBay to buy used prior model Mac Pros. The trashcan isn't so much a wrong turn as it is a faceplant.

    o A Mac mid-tower that can have hard drives installed+replaced and at least 16gb of RAM. 32gb would be better. Doesn't have to be that fast. Real gfx. I know, mythical, not probable. Still want it, though. Actually, I want several. :/

    o A multicore Mac mini with a real graphics card, 8gb or better ram, network, USB, HDMI and audio ports.

    I have uses for all those. Failing that, and in fact that's my expectation, more fail -- I'm done with them. And I have no use whatever for "integrated" graphics.

    What's annoying is that just about when they finally managed to a get a stable OS with most of the features I like and want (and the ability to get around the stupid features like "App Nap"), they totally borked the hardware side. I just can't win with Apple. Sigh.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re: Don't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple produces new 40" laptop (for two)! And only 1/8" thick.

      Best feature apart from 8k is being able to fold it like cardboard. ;)

  41. don't worry. by gl4ss · · Score: 1

    you are aware of the APPLE WAY to do multi-dpi support?

    they'll just double the pixels, it's a relatively fast operation to blit it in double size on the gpu.

    also, if you wondered why they have to DOUBLE the dpi with new model and not just 1.5x.. well, there's your answer.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  42. Re:for those complaining about this being too much by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

    OSX and iOS originally ran on slow CPUs (PowerPC G3, ARMv6) and as little as 128MB RAM. Even today reading a pdf on a desktop is kinda slow and as for SVG, at least those on wikipedia such as maps with highlights, you can watch them draw. On a 3GHz CPU.

  43. On the plus side... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...you won't have to worry about dead pixels unless there's a big clump of them, or you like to view your monitor through a microscope.

  44. different strokes... by Chirs · · Score: 1

    "And I have no use whatever for "integrated" graphics."

    I on the other hand am a software development guy. As long as it's snappy in 2D and supports multiple big monitors I'm totally down with integrated graphics since they usually use a lot less power than the discrete solutions, and Intel has really good Linux driver support.

  45. picking nits, but.... by Chirs · · Score: 2

    An ASA 25 slide projected in a dark room looks *awesome*. A VCR on a CRT looks crap.

  46. 4K is horizontal resolution, not 4x the pixels by Chirs · · Score: 1

    4K = 3840 x 2160 or in other words double the dimension of the 1920x1080 doubled in both directions. I've always thought calling it 4K was a bit dubious, yes it's 4 times the number of pixels but it's only twice the resolution.

    The "4K" refers to the number of horizontal pixels, since in cinema 4K it's 4096 pixels across.

    The use of "4K" for 16:9 consumer displays is a bit of a misnomer.

  47. Re:for those complaining about this being too much by MobyDisk · · Score: 1

    dpi for printing != dpi on a display.

    A 1200 dpi printer will look better than a 600dpi printer, especially on color because the printer is just dithering 4 colors.

  48. The iMac is underpowered for 8K by zapadnik · · Score: 1

    The iMac 5k has an underpowered GPU for it 5k display.

    I brought a Mac Pro upgraded with two D700 GPUs and the performance is surprisingly lousy on Mac OS X. I read a test where someone put on Windows on the Mac Pro and found drivers that would work, and not only was the per-GPU OpenGL performance twice that under Mac OS X, but the Windows drivers supported automated SLI whereas the Apple drivers do not (each application has to program it specially under Mac OS X).

    I was very disappointed that my shiny Mac Pro could not beat my Windows box with its GTX 780.

    Apple working on 8k while still having crappy GPU drivers is not going to be a good experience for those working with OpenGL/3D (as I am). It'll be fine for photo and video work, just not very good for 3D rendering. I really wish Apple would get their shizzle together in this department, the Mac Pro is supposed to be their flagship product and its not cheap. Mac OS X is a pleasure to use for 3D development (compared to Windows), but the performance blows.

  49. Diminishing returns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe we will use much higher res monitors in 20 years. But that's beside the point. Diminishing returns from higher resolutions have already kicked in.

    You need to ask yourself: What is the benefit of going to 8K this year and what is the cost? I'd say the benefit over 4K is very small, but the cost (in terms of money spent on sufficient graphics horsepower and suitable software) is substantial.

    Now, two things. One, the benefit depends on your personal preferences so maybe for you, 8K is more important. Two, the cost-benefit ratio will presumably be much lower 20 years from now. So, once again, you may be right about the future. But, once again, this doesn't justify using 8K today.

    Possibly, the story is a different one. There are consumers out there which aren't rational. They do not ask how much utility 8K provides for them. They decide according to a rule of thumb "bigger is better." In that sense, it's the MHz war all over again.

  50. Re:for those complaining about this being too much by MobyDisk · · Score: 1

    You read paper @ 6" away, but read a screen @ 24" away.

  51. American idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "revealed in blog post"
    "a 8k"

    WTF?
    Why can't Americans understand the two simple words "a" and "an"?

    It's "revealed in A blog post", and "AN 8K".

    Fucking American idiots.

  52. if Jobs were alive LG would be SOL by trybywrench · · Score: 1

    From what I remember, when Jobs were alive, a mistake like this would be a death sentence to any present and future business with Apple.

    --
    I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
  53. Perhaps I was too hasty there by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    Yes, I'm a developer as well. Let me re-phrase that, as I was going off an assumption that for all I know is no longer true, now that I look directly at it:

    I have no use for graphics solutions that consume memory bandwidth that would otherwise be available to CPU core(s.)

    Having said that, as memory bandwidth, as far as I was aware, remains nowhere near the bandwidth required to reach "always there when the CPU needs it", and integrated solutions always share memory with the CPU, particularly when data is being passed between CPU and GPU... it just strikes me that integrated probably -- not certainly -- remains a reliable proxy for "makes things slower."

    It's also a given that the more monitors the thing is driving, the more memory bandwidth it will need. If that memory is on the same bus as the rest of the memory in the machine, again, adding monitors reduces memory bandwidth available to the CPU, and remember that the monitor has first priority -- system designs can't have the monitor going blank because the CPU wants memory. Doing both -- running graphics intensive tasks on multiple monitors... that's quite demanding. Hence, my preference for non-integrated graphics. When the graphics subsystem has its own memory, CPU performance has, at least in my experience, been considerably higher in general.

    I have six monitors on one desktop setup, and two on the other. My lady has two as well. There are times for me when at least two monitors are very busy continuously and simultaneously for long periods of time (hours) at the same time that there is a heavy CPU load (where at least one core constantly at 100% and others variously hitting hard at times as well.)

    Now that solid state drives are around, my machine spends a lot more time computing and a lot less waiting on disk I/O, too.

    Anyone who definitively knows modern integrated chipset performance, by all means, stick an oar in.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  54. Not a single Apple TV post yet? by Imazalil · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't this be the perfect Apple TV? Essentially take an iMac, give it a 40-ish inch screen, tuck in the chin a little bit, and call it a day.

  55. 8K by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Believe it or not Apple is making machines also for professionals working in the graphics and art field not merely gamers. An 8 K screen would permit exact rendering and the ability to transform invisibly aspects of image making, digital paint and other art forms that require detail. It might be irrelevant to 3 D but I would welcome the highest possible rendering of images. As well, Apple will very likely produce a higher Res screen for its second external desktop along the way. For those that do not need such super resolution screens no doubt they will allow you something less. One ought not to complain about something better for those that require it. Having been a Mac user since 1994 I do know exactly what I am talking about. Apple was then and still is the paramount graphics tool for us. Gaming..I have no idea..it is a different world and if you want better gaming chops shop elsewhere perhaps..or run Windoze upon it.

  56. Re:8K 40 inch imac..... PLEASE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ah yes, the computer that doubles as a Boogieboard.