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Waiting for 8K on the desktop is a waste of time, although LG and other manufacturers in the past three months have unveiled 8K TVs (7680x4320 pixels) boasting four times the resolution of the 4K UD970. Pixel density only matters up until a certain point because the human eye is only so precise of an instrument. You can jam pack an 8K resolution on a 27-inch monitor but people with normal 20/20 vision will not be able to detect the differences between an 8K and 4K display. This doesn't hold true for 60-inch televisions where the difference is more apparent. In the 30-inch display range, it's hard to tell the difference between 4K, 8K, and even 1080p.
Other considerations
UD970 connectivity includes one Dual Link DVI, two DisplayPort 1.2 ports, a HDMI 1.4 port, four USB 3.0 ports, a Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort connector and a headphone jack.
At the moment, native 4K content is pretty limited to a few video-streaming services like Netflix and (as of this past week) Amazon Prime. There is some 4k content currently on YouTube and Vimeo, but it's limited to mostly nature documentaries and tech coverage.
You should consider viewing distance when you choose a desktop monitor. The optimal viewing distance for a 31.5-inch display like the UD970 for me is probably three to four feet, or just out of arm's length to avoid leaving fingerprints on the screen. At that distance, the image quality and viewing experience of games and other video content is a drastic improvement over HD or the Retina Display of the MacBook Pro.
We liked
If you're a graphic artist or design professional looking to get your feet wet producing 4K content, you'll like this monitor since it's factory calibrated to display out of the box the highest levels of color accuracy, picture quality and clarity. There isn't a lot of 4K content out there at the moment, and being able to proof your work in both landscape and portrait mode on a monitor like the UD970 ought to help you get a leg up on your competition.
We disliked
The kludgy button navigation makes it's difficult to configure the otherwise cool Picture-by-Picture feature. If you're a budget conscious buyer, you might want to investigate other IPS 4K panel display options.
Final verdict
The ultimate consideration, of course, is price against performance. Samsung's UD970 ain't cheap. If you're a big-time digital designer, CAD/CAM engineer, or digital video editor looking to turn your backyard opus into a Hollywood blockbuster, you might find that it's well worth the cost. If you don't have the greenbacks, you might want to choose a different Samsung model or put your Hollywood dreams on hold and wait a few years for discounted UD970 prices. As the song goes:
"If you ain't got the do re mi, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee."
