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Apple announces 27-inch 5K Studio Display

317 points by sparshgupta 5y ago

ushakov 5y ago
> studio-quality three-mic array but will i be able to record an album on it? are those three-mic condenser microphones? i guess not Apple should really stop abusing the word "Studio"
danielfoster 5y ago
I can’t even see the monitor when I click.
- deleted 5y ago
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valine 5y ago
No 120hz listed in the tech specs, that’s gonna be jarring for people with a M1 macbook pro.
- yokoprime 5y ago
  I hardly notice when switching between my M1Pro monitor and larger 27" monitor. Sure my monitor do support 144Hz, but im running it at 60Hz... because docking station
  - Matheus28 5y ago
    There is a world of difference between 60 Hz and 144 Hz, though. I don’t think I can go back to anything less than 120.
    - hughrr 5y ago
      Yeah it feels horrible now. When I got my iPhone 13 pro it cost me an M1 iPad and a 14” MBP because everything felt horrible afterwards.
  - noahtallen 5y ago
    I disagree completely. My main monitor is at 144hz, and it's very jarring to switch to my (slightly older) MBP running at 60hz. Not having high refresh rate means this new monitor won't ever be on my short list.
    - swah 5y ago
      I feel that while changing from 30hz to 60hz and the latter feels smooth (enough). Never used a higher refresh rate device but wonder how much more can this keep going and humans noticing.
      - aroman 5y ago
        Having used displays from 30Hz to 300Hz, I believe 120Hz vs 60Hz is easily noticeable for anyone who is aware of the differences. Higher than that is a steep point of diminishing returns in my experience.
      - faeriechangling 5y ago
        I imagine things will get to the imperceptible range around ~500hz but diminishing returns apply. 60 to 120 is a bigger deal than 120 to 480.
- owenwil 5y ago
  There's a good reason for this: Thunderbolt 4 doesn't have enough port bandwidth. TB4 can carry a max of 30Gbps but 5K @ 120hz is 32Gbps. There's no way Apple would do two cables for this, and the next gen of Thunderbolt is a while off, so the choice makes sense.
  - noahtallen 5y ago
    Doesn't display stream compression support higher bitrates? Also, I think thunberbolt 4 supports DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0, which can handle up to like 80Gbps. But I guess that comes at the cost of attaching any other devices other than the monitor.
  - fotta 5y ago
    I think your math is off a bit. TB3/4 carries 40Gbps and 5k@120 is 53Gbps (5120 * 2880 * 120hz * 30bits/pixel). But your point still stands :)
    - owenwil 5y ago
      Whoops - you're right!
  - o_m 5y ago
    They could have made it 90hz then
    - notriddle 5y ago
      Running a program with fixed-rate 60hz (a lot of games) would cause judder. It's the same sort of reason they don't do 150% scaling; you want integer multiples of the "low-fi" version so that you can upscale without artifacting.
      - o_m 5y ago
        A little Pro Motion would've fixed that
  - 5y ago
hughrr 5y ago
Sold. Been waiting for this for years. Edit: to clarify I will lurk and wait until it is £200 off on Amazon one day because I don’t need it immediately.
- alexashka 5y ago
  For what? A 2014 display for 1600$?
  - newaccount74 5y ago
    Assuming this is the same panel as in the 5k iMac, it's a good panel. It doesn't matter that it's old. What matters is that it works, and that you can actually buy it. There are very few high res displays on the market. It would be nice if it cost less than 1000€, but I guess you can't have everything.
- richiezc 5y ago
  just find somebody that works with apple and use their 25% or 15% off
- arvinsim 5y ago
  You might be waiting for years for the discount.
cube2222 5y ago
As a person who works on a Mac but uses a Windows PC for gaming: a pity this only has USB-C inputs, so you won't be able to connect a PC with an RTX 30xx card to it. Still very cool though.
- minimaxir 5y ago
  It most likely wouldn't work with a Windows PC anyways due to the tight macOS integration anyways; my iMac in Boot Camp can't use any of the USB-C ports on a connected LG Ultrafine 5k at all.
- Goosee 5y ago
  To connect my windows desktop to lg ultrafine - I use a bidirectional display port to thunderbolt 3 cable (amazon basics)
  - cube2222 5y ago
    Wow! Didn't know those cables can go the other direction as well. That's huge! Thank you! Another example that writing something wrong on the internet is the best way to find the truth :) That said, it looks like there's just one input port and three output ports. Would need to do some hack there as well, to avoid constant cable changing.
- kitsunesoba 5y ago
  Several Intel and AMD motherboards have both Thunderbolt ports along with a DisplayPort in port that lets you pipe the output of a discrete GPU (like an RTX 3080) through the Thunderbolt connection. These will probably work just fine with the Studio display. Some PC laptops with Thunderbolt and more capable GPUs probably work with it too.
- brigade 5y ago
  There are bidirectional DisplayPort <-> USB-C cables, as well as DisplayPort+USB-A -> USB-C cables/adapters that work with the XDR display at 6k, or there are PCIe cards that add a USB-C port with DisplayPort alt-mode support Only problem is that you'll probably need to extract a BootCamp driver to control brightness/volume, assuming one will exist for this monitor. (well, if it supports HDR input, you'd use Window's SDR brightness to control it that way instead)
benjaminwootton 5y ago
The website was too much for my top of the range iPhone 12 to handle. Nice work Apple.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
fwr 5y ago
Any mentions of the refresh rate? I've been waiting for a 4K/5K display that supports 120 Hz to pair nicely with my 2021 MBP, but it looks like the only available options so far are funky gaming displays: https://tonsky.me/blog/monitors-mac/ https://tonsky.me/blog/monitors-mac/
- mholm 5y ago
  Looks like 60hz. I don't think anybody has 5k/120hz working yet.
  - iamricks 5y ago
    Yup, i feel like nobody cares about monitor tech, i waited for 4k/120hz IPS for a long time
    - mark-r 5y ago
      It's not that nobody cares, it's just that this stuff is genuinely hard. We're too spoiled.
- sa1 5y ago
  So far, I've been using https://www.acer.com/ac/en/AU/content/conceptd-model/UM.HC1SA.P02 https://www.acer.com/ac/en/AU/content/conceptd-model/UM.HC1S...
- skadamat 5y ago
  It's almost surely 60hz since they didn't brand it as "ProMotion" display like they did with iPhone, Macbook Pro, and iPad Pro
- tehnub 5y ago
  If you sit far enough away from it, you could try a 48 inch LG CX OLED tv. 120 Hz, OLED, 4K
- owenwil 5y ago
  60hz, there isn't enough port bandwidth in TB4 to handle 5K @ 120hz. Anything coming close to being capable enough is years away still.
rawrmaan 5y ago
No 12Hz is so unfortunate. Hopefully the next Pro Display XDR will have ProMotion, at the very least.
- arthurcolle 5y ago
  12 Hz haha
  - alberth 5y ago
    "12Hz" is about how fast their website refreshed on me on my i7 MacBook Pro.
- mholm 5y ago
  It'll have to wait for a new Thunderbolt Standard to make it to Macs. TB4 tops out at 30GB/s, while 5k/120hz is 32GB/s.
arecurrence 5y ago
Most of the features announced are quite nice but strangely (for an Apple product), the primary feature being the display is simply not. As far as I can tell, it doesn't even have 120 hz let alone a good local dimming implementation.
minimaxir 5y ago
Webcam and sound aside, the display specs seems very similar to the LG Ultrafine 5k released all the way back in 2017 for $1299: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMUB2LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k-display https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMUB2LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k... The Studio Display is an additional $300.
- vesrah 5y ago
  I have two of these. They are plagued with bezel cracking, uniformity, and other issues.
  - hinkley 5y ago
    Benq's is pretty good but whoever stuck those checkbox-filling speakers into the design is making a cruel joke at everyone else's expense. I get better sound out of my phone. Way, way better sound.
  - minimaxir 5y ago
    True, there are QA issues reported with it. (FWIW I've had mine since 2017 and only starting to hit random connectivity issues now, but 5 years isn't a bad run for a heavily-used monitor)
  - throwaway4good 5y ago
    Plus they are not on sale anymore, at least when I was looking. I am guessing this replaces it. Not really other alternatives out there (displays in 5k).
    - Marciplan 5y ago
      Check Apple’s refurb site :)
- geodel 5y ago
  Ah, so good opportunity for folks looking to save 300 dollars and still want to buy display from Apple.
- 5y ago
brandonmenc 5y ago
Sad that the Thunderbolt port is perpendicular to the display, like on the LG Ultrafine. Super fragile, especially if you have the monitor on an arm and move it around a lot.
- tstrimple 5y ago
  Apple accounted for this by making sure none of their monitors have a standard VESA mount.
  - manuelabeledo 5y ago
    They do, they are sold separately.
    - kitsunesoba 5y ago
      The VESA mount is actually a no-extra-cost configuration option on the Studio Display.
      - FireBeyond 5y ago
        But they still want to charge us XDR owners $200 for the privilege.
gorjusborg 5y ago
I don't have much to say on the monitor, but that experience reminded me that Apple's web design sensibilities are atrocious.
coolso 5y ago
Finally an AR coating on a monitor without the grainy sparkly look! I bought 3 highly rated monitors last year and returned all but one because the anti reflective coatings were visually distracting and made the screen look dirty and unsharp. The one I kept still has the effect, but to an “acceptable” degree relative to the others and I was tired of returning monitors. Hopefully other manufacturers will follow suit - or at least start releasing glossy monitors as an option, for people who don’t want to view things through an ugly grainy sparkly coating.
- mateo1 5y ago
  The thing is, for most people a glossy monitor with an AR coating is a good compromise, since reflections are a lot more distracting than a slightly matte finish. For a studio monitor this isn't a consideration, but in general the finish is mentioned in the specifications.
  - coolso 5y ago
    The problem is, some monitors aren’t “slightly matte” - many are very matte, and you can’t tell just how matte they are into you receive them, since the finish is always just called “matte”. Glossy isn’t ideal but I’d definitely take it over spending $500 on a 4K ultra sharp display only to view everything through a fine layer of grainy rainbow colored dust. Apple’s nano-matte technology seems like it could be a wonderful albeit expensive compromise, but I know I and many others are willing to pay the premium.
black_puppydog 5y ago
I realize that as a staunch Linux user I'm not in their target demographic, but... wow that website is slightly motion sickness inducing. Is it as bad to scroll through this on a mac as it is on linux? I use a mouse with an actual wheel, maybe they don't optimize for that kind of legacy device...? Edit: it's also just so hard to scroll exactly to the points where the information is presented. I just mostly end up at points that are meaningless transitions... So confusing...
- dmitriid 5y ago
  > Is it as bad to scroll through this on a mac as it is on linux It is. Despite their investment in desktop hardware (finally!) they completely forgot how to do desktop software. Ten years ago all those animations where buttery smooth even if they were a weird custom "video" code that assembled them out of separate PNGs.
  - izolate 5y ago
    FYI the Studio Display website was outsourced to an agency, and not developed in-house by Apple engineers. Outsourcing rarely improves the quality of software.
    - dmitriid 5y ago
      This is even worse
- DougMellon 5y ago
  I am on a Mac (M1 Air) and it's not the greatest experience.
- rchaud 5y ago
  It's laggy on Firefox in in a 2014 MBP as well. I won't blame Apple, this is just the state of web animation with CSS3 and Lottie. Weird to think that Flash handled this kind of animation seamlessly on browsers 15 years ago.
systemvoltage 5y ago
No direct ICC profile is a terrible decision by Apple. Same with Apple Pro Display XDR. It’s opposite of being pro.
sys_64738 5y ago
How thick are those bezels?
DCKing 5y ago
I like this announcement, because it means that there's a manufacturing line for proper HiDPI [1] displays running in some LG factory somewhere that third party manufactures like LG/Dell/Iiyama can hopefully use to give us some fresh good-looking 27" 5K desktop monitors. It boggles my mind how little attention very high pixel density displays have been getting from PC display manufacturers. I would also be first in line for a PC monitor that uses the M1 iMac display, but I suppose nobody sees a market for higher end 24" monitors anymore. [1]: HiDPI displays that work correctly with macOS' and Linux desktop's naive HiDPI implementation, that requires 2x scaling for good results. Nobody in 2022 will sell you a monitor that does that, except for Apple's expensive stuff that is hard to use with regular PCs and one over the top Dell display. I wish everyone did what ChromeOS or modern Windows apps do. I need that extremely crisp font rendering in my life.
- radicaldreamer 5y ago
  They've had the iMac line using these displays forever and it hasn't filtered down to other display makers. Only LG via the ultrafine line has used these densities (also Windows and Linux support is lacking or janky)
  - DCKing 5y ago
    Iiyama [1], Dell [2] and LG used a 27" 5K iMac display for a little while, but as production at Apple wound down you can no longer really buy those in most places. [1]: https://www.anandtech.com/show/12568/iiyamas-prolite-xb2779qqs-s1-now-available https://www.anandtech.com/show/12568/iiyamas-prolite-xb2779q... [2]: https://www.dell.com/ae/business/p/dell-up2715k-monitor/pd https://www.dell.com/ae/business/p/dell-up2715k-monitor/pd
  - zuwvcfxanh 5y ago
    A portion of that could be related to lack of protocol support. 5k at 60Hz is more bandwidth that HDMI or DisplayPort could provide until very recently. Apple got around it by essentially making it two separate displays bound together in software using a single Thunderbolt cable, but that is only really feasible when you control the entire ecosystem.
deleted 5y ago
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adrianmsmith 5y ago
Would be nice to have >5K resolutions to have more pixel density. Alas, macOS doesn't support any native scaling other than 100% and 200%. So if they did release e.g. a 27" 8K monitor, the text would either be too small, or they'd have to use bitmap scaling to make it bigger in which case there'd be no advantage of having an 8K monitor. (EDIT: To clarify, all other scaling factors are done by rendering at either 100% or 200% and doing bitmap scaling up or down. By bitmap scaling 200% up up to e.g. 250%, things are bigger so that's good, but there's no extra detail being displayed, so you're wasting the resolution of your monitor. You might as well buy a cheaper monitor with fewer but larger pixels.) I really don't understand why they don't either (a) adopt Windows' approach of allowing rendering directly to any arbitrary scale, or (b) at least introduce a 300% mode with bitmap scaling analogous to their 100% and 200% modes.
- hughrr 5y ago
  I’m running at neither 100% or 200% on my 4k 27”…
  - kccqzy 5y ago
    UI elements are still rendered at 2x and then downscaled. It's just that you (or most people) can't tell the difference. Me neither.
    - hughrr 5y ago
      Exactly.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - adrianmsmith 5y ago
      However this decision does mean Apple can't produce monitors with more than about 200 PPI without the text being too small (at 200%). i.e. they can't go beyond 5K at 27". Which is a shame, you can use 8K monitors with Windows at e.g. 300% just fine.
jillesvangurp 5y ago
I'm reading this on a 27" 5K imac from 2014. It's a nice screen. But it's eight years old now. So, what's new?
- icedchai 5y ago
  Same here. My 27" iMac has been my longest running and best desktop computer. It still feels pretty fast!
  - Koshkin 5y ago
    In comparison, my "late 2014" Mac Mini feels slow (after an OS upgrade).
    - icedchai 5y ago
      OS upgrade might be the problem. I'm still running Mojave!
- alexashka 5y ago
  in 2014, you could buy a 27" 5k iMac for 2000$. Now you can buy the exact same monitor, for 1600$. We've made a lot of progress.
  - moooo99 5y ago
    That really is a shame. Mac screens have been amazing for a long time now, but as soon as the computer inside them is outdated and slow, the whole device including the still awesome display is obsolete. Thats the main reason I'd probably never buy an iMac.
    - LanceH 5y ago
      If you've ever tried to get an apple monitor repaired, you find out it has one part inside which costs roughly the same as the monitor.
  - 5y ago
james-redwood 5y ago
I hate this trend in ‘ultra modern’ websites with the infinite scroll pulling you through some sort of animation. The website is near unusable as a result.
- kahrl 5y ago
  I might be ignorant here, but what trend? Scrolljacking was popular for about 5 minutes back around 2010 during the HTML5 craze before people realized how awful a UX it is. The only place I still see it being used regularly is Apple sites. Have you seen this pattern used elsewhere?
- saddestcatever 5y ago
  I'm sitting here on a 2015 Macbook Pro and the site barely runs :P
- jkelleyrtp 5y ago
  Fun fact - if you have "reduce motion" enabled on macOS the webpage becomes a normal flat scrollable page (what you'd expect).
  - ask_b123 5y ago
    Nice fact! I've enabled it now.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- NackerHughes 5y ago
  Hey, it's marginally more usable than unskippable Flash intros, which is what we used to get. Although, unlike other similarly effect-heavy apple landing pages I've seen in the recent past, this one doesn't appear to offer a decent alternative version when javascript is disabled, which is a disappointment.
skadamat 5y ago
Sadly no HDMI or DisplayPort, so can't use it for Xbox. Sadly only 60 Hz Seems like a really gorgeous update to this old thing - https://www.adorama.com/lot27md5klb.html?utm_source=adl-gbase-p https://www.adorama.com/lot27md5klb.html?utm_source=adl-gbas... I hope they do 4k@120hz in the next version!
- rewtraw 5y ago
  just use an adapter... Thunderbolt / USB C gives you flexibility
  - fbkr 5y ago
    Can you actually connect HDMI input to a thunderbolt only display? I have the LG 5K thunderbolt-only display and cannot use it with a desktop PC due to this issue.
  - fumar 5y ago
    Would something like this work? Xbox or gaming console to Apple Studio Display. https://www.amazon.com/Anker-DisplayPort-PowerExpand-Aluminum-Portable-dp-B08QV2FSKT/dp/B08QV2FSKT/ref=dp_ob_title_ce https://www.amazon.com/Anker-DisplayPort-PowerExpand-Aluminu...
    - Matthias247 5y ago
      Hard to say. Those are actually designed for the other way around: Plugging a USB-C device into a displayport monitor, by extracting the alternative mode out of the USB-C connection. The comments underneath https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30604524 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30604524 however suggest it might work with some bidirectional adapters.
  - thirdsun 5y ago
    You'd still use a 5k display in a non-native 4k resolution (surely the xbox doesn't support higher resolutions?), which might be ok for video and most games, but it's not a good solution. I'd just get a half decent, affrodable 27" / 4k display for gaming and keep the Studio display for actual work. Plus, you can use the additional 4k display as an extended macOS display when not gaming. I mean there's never enough screen real estate.
ericmay 5y ago
Unfortunately I bought an LG 4k display from Apple last year (or was it the year before?) for home office work so it'll be a tough sell to buy something new, but this solves a couple of my problems with my home office setup, namely having to put in headphones with a mic for every video call since I use my Mac in clamshell mode, and having an external webcam mounted on my monitor. This is very close to "one cable to rule them all" setup. Maybe I'll just have to save some of my allowance for a bit :P
- mekster 5y ago
  I never understand why anyone would use MacBook in clamshell mode. You're wasting the very good parts that are trackpad, cam, mic and as a secondary monitor.
  - dkordik 5y ago
    awkwardly small / awkwardly positioned second display when compared to a regular second display. main display has its own cam. and the external magic trackpad can go front and center on my desk. the wasted parts get to come out to play when undocked :)
Thaxll 5y ago
Are people really paying 1.6k for a 60hz monitor?
- moooo99 5y ago
  Show me a higher/same resolution display with a higher refresh rate. I'd genuinely curious. I've been searching for a new monitor for a few weeks and can't find anything with 4K and more than 60Hz refresh rate.
  - nwidynski 5y ago
    https://www.amazon.com/LG-27GN950-B-Ultragear-Response-Compatibility/dp/B08BCRYS6B https://www.amazon.com/LG-27GN950-B-Ultragear-Response-Compa...
    - woobar 5y ago
      This one is almost half the resolution. UHD vs 5K
    - moooo99 5y ago
      As the other comment pointed out, that is not an apples to apples comparison. The monitor you linked is a UHD one (3840 x 2160 pixels, around 8.3 megapixels) with a pixel density of ~200 ppi. The display showcased by Apple has a resolution of 5K (5120 x 2880 pixels, around 14.75 megapixels) with a pixel density of 217 ppi. Also, based on my experiences with LG gaming monitors I would assume that the Apple display also has a significantly better color accuracy. If you would have taken a second to look at the specs and search for actually comparable products you would find that there are, at least to my knowledge, no displays with the same resolution and higher refresh rates. This makes sense because 5k@60Hz already has incredibly high bandwidth requirements. The best actually comparable product is an LG UltraFine 5K which comes in at 1,499€ msrp which is 246€ cheaper than Apple's Studio Display at 1,745€ msrp. Oh, and to no ones surprise, it also has a 60 Hz refresh rate. So to answer your initial question: Yes, people do spend that kind of money on displays with "only" 60Hz.
- dagmx 5y ago
hackerlink99 5y ago
Guys I’m thinking of buying it: WILL I BE ABLE TO CONNECT MY XBOX TO IT? This question is super important to me. Thanks!
- minimaxir 5y ago
  In this case it's unclear; it requires Thunderbolt in, and any TB-to-HDMI adapter used will likely cause issues.
etcet 5y ago
The height adjustable stand is $400 more than just the tilt adjustable stand. Truly revolutionary.
- swagasaurus-rex 5y ago
  About the same price as the college textbooks I use to prop up my existing monitors
humanwhosits 5y ago
The website doesn't scroll properly
throwaway4good 5y ago
Is this the same LG display unit from the previous generations and used in the LG display sold seperately at one point?
wing-_-nuts 5y ago
No mention of refresh rate, so I'm assuming a 60hz panel, only offering usb-c and thunderbolt, no hdmi or display port, and no mention of hdr rating, or mini/micro led backlight zones. Apple's gonna apple i guess. People will still buy it.
joao 5y ago
Fine print: only compatible with macOS Monterey 12.3 or later. Perhaps only spatial audio and some camera features won't be compatible with older macOS versions. Waiting for the first reviews.
jrochkind1 5y ago
$1599 isn't quite as bad as I expected, actually. I've still got my old 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display (a puny 2560 by 1440 pixels), which i use daily. (The convenience of built-in video/mic/USB hub, with one cable, is indispensible and more important to me than resolution, and it's been really unclear to me what else could do that with a macbook). But might be ready to upgrade to this guy.
- Gualdrapo 5y ago
  I also have a Thunderbolt Display, which I got last year. It's been great and, as you say, having webcam/mic/speakers/usb hub _and an Ethernet port_ is absolutely fantastic. And the quality of the thing overall is just superb. Also for me those "add-ons" are more important than pixel density, and I'm saying this as a graphic designer. If there were a version of this with a bigger size (but with less pixel density), and maybe a more 'squared' factor, I'd jump to it without even thinking, but alas for Apple pixel density is first above everything else.
- pkamb 5y ago
  That's the same resolution (screen real estate) as this new one. Just 1x and not 2x Retina.
  - jrochkind1 5y ago
    Ah, good call! Honestly... I'm not sure I care about making it retina?
- mekster 5y ago
  > $1599 isn't quite as bad as I expected, actually. Only if you try not to look at other vendors. It doesn't offer anything fancy except the fancy pricing.
  - jrochkind1 5y ago
    I am interested in comparison shopping, I can't find very many other vendors that offer displays with built-in camera, mic, speakers, as well as ethernet port and USB hub, all connected with the USB-C/thunderbolt cable. Do they exist but I'm just bad at shopping? I may be! Please help out?
maherbeg 5y ago
Bummed they didn't release a 32" or 34". I really enjoy using a 34" ultrawide with 3 columns of apps.
jjcm 5y ago
Awesome to see them finally putting out almost consumer friendly pricing displays. Few things I'm disappointed about though: - 60hz. For this price point I'd expect higher. - Thunderbolt 3. Interesting that they didn't bump to 4, given the Mac Studio is Thunderbolt 4. This means you wont be able to daisy chain the displays. - Lack of size options. Would love to see more variety here. After moving to an ultrawide format, I can't see myself moving back to standard format monitors from a productivity standpoint. Overall though excited for this and keen to see how it'll evolve. It'll be a miss for me this cycle but keen to see their future releases of their monitor line.
- owenwil 5y ago
  The technology to do 5K @ 120hz just doesn't exist yet. 5K @ 60Hz is already maxing out Thunderbolt 4.
  - Dunedan 5y ago
    DisplayPort 1.2 (or newer) and HDMI 2.1 both support 5K at 120Hz when using DSC.
    - miohtama 5y ago
      What’s DSC?
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - detaro 5y ago
        Display Stream Compression, a lossy compression algorithm optimized for the specific use case of device-display transfers (i.e. relatively low compression ratio == very high quality that's claimed to imperceptible even if it can't run lossless, not needing to work on full frames for speed/sub-frame latency, ...)
      - gknoy 5y ago
        I didn't know either. DSC is Display Stream Compression, and has been part of the spec since 1.4. According to Wikipedia [0], > DSC is a compression algorithm that reduces the size of the data stream by up to a 3:1 ratio.... Using DSC with HBR3 transmission rates, DisplayPort 1.4 can support 8K UHD (7680 × 4320) at 60 Hz or 4K UHD (3840 × 2160) at 120 Hz 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#1.4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#1.4
jimrandomh 5y ago
It's kind of ridiculous how slow the progress in screen resolutions has been. It's disappointing that Apple is only going for 5k, not 8k; they're well positioned to fix the ecosystem and bring high-resolution large displays to everyone, if only they tried. I'm finally sitting in front of an 8k 65" screen. This gives me a nice combination of decent picel density in the center and lots of peripheral vision in which to put secondary windows, plus I can sit across the room and watch a movie on it. But every component of the ecosystem introduced problems and friction. I have an M1 Macbook Pro on the same desk. The Macbook can't drive the 8k TV. I have a separate desktop running Windows with an nVidia GPU for that. Every component of the video ecosystem has given me friction in getting to 8k. I had to swap my $1k nVidia GPU for a different $1k nVidia GPU that wasn't any faster, to get HDMI 2.1 support. Had to use special HDMI cables, because cables that aren't specially marked as HDMI2.1 compatible don't have enough bandwidth. And then the display itself has a ridiculous postprocessing bug (I wrote about it at https://www.rtings.com/tv/discussions/IyO2wLLsNnJCMT-_/firmware-bug-causes-serious-image-quality-problems-at-8k https://www.rtings.com/tv/discussions/IyO2wLLsNnJCMT-_/firmw...) which makes me think the firmware engineers didn't have a working 8k source to test with.
- BoorishBears 5y ago
  This 5k 27" screens blows your 8k 65" screen out if the water at any reasonable viewing distance for a computer monitor... Nearly no one wants TVs for monitors, the evidence is LG's OLEDs which gamers will take 1440p ultrawides with infinitely worse picture quality over, just for the more reasonable form factor.
  - pedrocr 5y ago
    Setting the 8K screen farther away so it fills the same field of view will make it strictly better than the smaller 5K if you can manage it. Same view, more angular resolution and your eyes are focused farther away which reduces eye strain.
    - BoorishBears 5y ago
      No it's not, which is why people take $2,000 1440p monitors still. The "if you can manage it" part is an awkward setup usually with terrible ergonomics (a monitor too far away is worse for posture because you subconsciously tilt forward), it takes a ton of space, it looks hideous - Forgive my for my bluntness, but I am soooo tired of every conversation about improving monitors being sidetracked by people act like using a TV-sized TV as a computer monitor is better than strictly anything. It's like saying using your hand saw as a flat head screw driver is strictly better because it had a larger handle... as long as you can line it up in the screw.
techpression 5y ago
For all the work Apple is doing to improve their environmental impact (which I applaud) I'm completely flabbergasted as to why this is a single device monitor. It's quite the impact on the environment to require users who have a Mac mini/Studio and a MacBook Pro to buy two monitors (no matter how great the production chain is). Sure, you can plug/unplug the cable, but that works so-so on a Studio with the ports on the back. Everything else I could've lived with, this is a major omission :(
- gen220 5y ago
  Can you not use a thunderbolt switch? In my home office, I've got two monitors and a switch to flick input between a personal machine and a work machine.
  - techpression 5y ago
    Do they actually work well (I actually want to know)? I once started looking into something like that and it seemed to be all pain and suffering to get it to work or it having weird behaviours. If you have a product that you know work I'm all ears, it would make my life a lot easier.
    - gen220 5y ago
      I currently do this with HDMIs (I somehow make do with a measley 4K monitors). I assumed such a thing existed for thunderbolt but hadn't looked into it; it looks like you're right that this market is underdeveloped at present. Hopefully somebody does it! Or, the wisdom of HN will yield us some options. Otherwise, if you're willing to settle for affordable retina-quality monitors, this is the one I use: https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B01LPNKFK0 https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B01LPNKFK0. Cribbed from this post which made the HN rounds not too long ago: https://www.caseyliss.com/2021/12/7/monitor-liss https://www.caseyliss.com/2021/12/7/monitor-liss
  - kitsunesoba 5y ago
    Last I looked, Thunderbolt switches were prohibitively expensive and only made by oddball companies. My solution is a Thunderbolt dock (CalDigit TS3+/TS4+, ThinkPad Thunderbolt 4 Dock, etc) along with a TB cable for each machine that I swap the connection to the dock with as needed. Since it's a single cable swap, it's not much of an inconvenience.
ThePhysicist 5y ago
I wish they wouldn't make me scroll through two pages of animated backgrounds just to see the actual monitor. That said if I would spend this much on a monitor I would prefer the Samsung Odyssey Neo, which has a 5K resolution on a curved 49' display with a 240 Hz refresh rate, HDR 2.000 and G-Sync/Freesync. I guess the color space coverage is not as good though, and it's not as bright at 420 nits, though that's more than bright enough for me.
- deergomoo 5y ago
  > 5K resolution on a curved 49' display with a 240 Hz refresh rate That is clearly a gaming monitor. No-one would want to do the sort of workloads this display is aimed at on something like that.
- chimen 5y ago
  Toilet paper monitors. Can't be serious with that. Here's a good one: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-ultrasharp-40-curved-wuhd-monitor-u4021qw/apd/210-aykx/monitors-monitor-accessories https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-ultrasharp-40-curv...
  - ThePhysicist 5y ago
    I have several Dell monitors (writing this on a 27' 4k S2721QS), they're absolutely awesome for office work. Sometimes I crave for a higher refresh rate though, I have another ultrawide monitor with 144 Hz refresh rate and it really makes a difference, I find.
  - mrtksn 5y ago
    Wow, that looks awesome. I like the Apple displays but I'm into seriously wide aspect ratio stuff lately. I was checking on some comically wide Samsung monitors however I wasn't impressed with the build quality.
  - kitsunesoba 5y ago
    The 300 nits brightness kills this model for me. With my desk sitting next to a window, even with indirect sunlight anything below 400-500 nits starts having usability issues. I could lower the shades but I'd much rather let the sunlight in.
Uptrenda 5y ago
wow, 600 nits -- that's bright. If you have a mac book pro you already have a screen that does 500 nits which easily lets you see the screen in the sun. If you're inside without glare you can get away with just 250 nits. For smart phones -- the nits are typically much higher because people use them in the sun and need good visibility outside. A 600 nit screen inside would almost be too bright for some people. I know people who already turn down their laptops because 500 is too bright. but i think its good to have the option to turn it down rather than a screen that's too dim.
- NathHorrigan 5y ago
  I'd disagree, I have a 16" 2021 MacBook that has the XDR Display with 1000avg/1600peak brightness and I constantly have it maxed. It's very annoying have it next to my BenQ 4K monitor that feels so much flatter in comparison. It just makes any other monitor so boring in comparison.
  - coder543 5y ago
    No, it only sustains 1000 nits for HDR content. For SDR content (including normal desktop usage), it provides 500 nits.[0] You may need to reevaluate your perception of what a 600 nit display would look like. [0]: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/specs/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/specs/
    - NathHorrigan 5y ago
      Well don't I stand corrected, Thanks for calling me out.
whitepoplar 5y ago
I wonder if this will work with Linux or Windows.
wilg 5y ago
I hope it has better Windows support than the Pro Display XDR (it won't). I managed to get the XDR hooked up to Windows at 6K (with a very unusual cable) but you can't adjust it below max brightness so you get a sustained 1000 nits in your face at all times. Also HDR doesn't work. But gaming at 6K is cool af! Also, this having speakers, camera, and mic is a big step up over the XDR (unfortunately for me).
danielvf 5y ago
I've worked off Apple Cinema displays since the '90s and Apple Studio displays before that. I am a monitor snob. I care deeply how things look. I currently have an Apple XDR Pro monitor. It's not a great monitor - it is indeed big, the outside is as cool as anything ever made, and the USB-C hub is nice. But in EVERY other way it is badly inferior to the stock 5K monitor that comes with even the cheapest 27" iMac from a few years ago. I've been wishing for just an 27" iMac monitor that I can plug into my laptop, since that's the best non-laptop monitor I've found - even contemplated building a Frankenstein one. I'm excited I can now just buy one.
- newaccount74 5y ago
  What's bad about the XDR?
  - oppegard 5y ago
    I'm not the OP but I've had an XDR for about a month now, which replaced a 27" LG UltraFine 5K (same panel as the one used on 27" iMac for years). My issue with the XDR is the lack of built-in camera, mic, and speakers that are serviceable for zoom calls. I don't need audiophile stuff, but it's remarkable how bad the built-in AV was on the LG UltraFine. Mic quality is bad enough that I won't inflict it on my co-workers. The camera is angled too low, resulting in the top of my head usually being cut off. And the speakers go from quiet to really loud, with no in-between.
  - danielvf 5y ago
    Just to be clear, the XDR is not a _terrible_ monitor. It's certainly better than a random $200 monitor. Most people in the world wouldn't notice the following issues. - There is a noticeable (to me) brightness shift with viewing angle changes. When the monitor is on the back of my desk and displaying a flat color across the monitor, I see a noticeable gradient instead of a flat color because of different viewing angles between looking head at the center pixels vs being off axis to the side pixels. - The adaptive brightness backlighting doesn't do a very good job. Full bright white pixels in a dark areas will be noticeable dark compared to full bright white pixels surrounded by other brighter pixels. - If you have some bright pixels in an otherwise dark area, the backlight cell built into the monitor there noticeable brightens, putting an approximately once inch by one in halo around the bright pixels. For example, this halo shows up around the mouse cursor when moving across a black area. - I tend to work with light text on a dark background. The monitor makes the darks too bright (from the backlight bleeding through) and the brights too dark (because the backlight around there isn't on all the way). Everything is muted. It's noticeably less contrasty, colorful and alive when used with light on light than two iMac 27"s I have had. - Although the PPI specs are the same, there's something about the pixels on the XDR that makes them more visible and less smooth to me than on the 27.
cehrlich 5y ago
Glad that Apple is finally back in the game of making monitors that don't cost $6k. Now make the same thing, but 6880x2880 ultrawide.
xavxav 5y ago
I’m happy that they finally released this monitor, it felt weird that you could get an imac which was sleeker than any existing screen, but does anyone know of more affordable alternatives? This may be a bit weird/niche but I care a lot about the thickness of the monitor itself, the depth of the stand and the bezel around the screen. I’d like if the object I spend 8 hours a day staring at isn’t aesthetically horrendous..
JOnAgain 5y ago
I'm so tempted, but I've been on 32" and 34" for years now, I just don't think I could go to 27" again. I am dying for a great high end monitor with charging for my laptop, integrated camera and speakers. I loved my old cinema display. I really want this, just a bit bigger.
mulmen 5y ago
Great news. I use an LG ultrawide but it took three LGs to find one that MacOS could reliably detect with a supported resolution. It was a ridiculously complicated and painful process. I had a 2014 RMBP with the Thunderbolt monitor and Apple wireless keyboard and mouse. Everything “just worked”. I never had any issues. I just spent my time working instead of fighting with my workstation. It was glorious. Glad to see Apple back to form here. I’m willing to pay the premium for a complete solution.
mwambua 5y ago
Anyone know how the display quality on this stacks up to LG's ultra-fine 5k display?
pclark 5y ago
Can anyone help me understand how I'd connect this to a PC? Would I need a GPU with Thunderbolt 4 or does the motherboard need Thunderbolt 4 and the PC somehow magically utilises the GPU via that motherboard display anyway?
- nickpp 5y ago
  The question is if there is any PC video card able to connect to this display.
- julianbuse 5y ago
  If the prodisplay xdr is anything to go by, you wouldn't. That could only connect to PC's with thunderbolt, but because the monitor controls were built into macOS, you couldn't change any settings or use it at its native resolution.
gertrunde 5y ago
Wow that's a painful website... 5 seconds in and I've scrolled to the bottom as fast as possible to get past the fluffy marketing bullshit, in the hope that there were some tech specs of some sort there, then left...
markkanof 5y ago
The purchase page seems really confusing compared to how they typically do things. Typically, when purchasing something like a Macbook, you select the base model and then some of the upgrades are listed at + $XXX.00. That combined with the fact that the XDR display stand cost so much, I thought they were charging and additional $1599 for the VESA adapter. I was momentarily absolutely furious until I realized that the VESA adapter is a no additional cost option.
yudlejoza 5y ago
How is this news? Apple has had the exact specs (27 in, 5K res) available since something like 5-7 years ago, both as a stand-alone monitor and as an iMac.
- rewtraw 5y ago
  this is a new product. sure, it may be a middle ground between the existing Pro XDR and 5K LG Ultrafine displays, but this is something that was just announced today, hence "news".
asteroidbelt 5y ago
Sadly no built in KVM. I like my BenQ monitor for having KVM (among other reasons).
imglorp 5y ago
Oh sure, they put the anti-reflective coating on the device that lives inside on a desk, but the portable stuff all has super reflective surfaces making them hell to use outside.
- aroman 5y ago
  This! I can't understand the reasoning behind this at all. Clearly they _have_ the technology, why not use it in the far more light-variable context??
015a 5y ago
For me, its frustrating to not see an option without all the webcam, microphone, octuple speaker array, A13, 100w charging, TB hub, madness. I have to imagine that adds significant cost, and at $1600 we're not in the territory where this stuff can be included just 'cause. I like it, but I imagine some professionals would like to do what Apple's marketing images all show; buy two, maybe even three. I'd love to have one with all that stuff, but not all of them need the bells and whistles; and there's value in having all your displays be identical, especially in work that needs color calibration (not to mention, it looks nice). So, maybe I grab one if the reviews look solid. And hopefully in the future they release a version without all that extra stuff for closer to the $1200-$1300 an LG 5K ultrafine display can be had for.
- hultner 5y ago
  So you’re asking for the LG UF 5k?
  - deergomoo 5y ago
    Which is discontinued in most territories.
    - hultner 5y ago
      Oh yeah I forgot about that, had to jump through some hoops to get mine.
- yurishimo 5y ago
  Except if you compare it to the LG 5K, it's worth the extra cost in build quality alone. The LG monitors are notorious pieces of junk with flaky connectors that come loose like clockwork. The new Studio display is expensive, but I think the features somewhat justify the price compared to the "competition".
  - localhost 5y ago
    My personal take: my two 27" 4K LG monitors run GREAT here. I like the extremely small vertical bezels on both of them (one is a 144Hz and the other is a 60Hz). Connectors are fine. The monitors don't move at all, so build quality issues are imperceptible here. I think I paid something like $600 for each one at different points in time.
EugeneOZ 5y ago
Thank you, Apple, but no: - only 60hz; - no DisplayPort/HDMI; - anti-glare coating (I hate the blurriness of matte displays).
LocalPCGuy 5y ago
I wish Apple would use their clout to move up in size. I've been waiting for a nice 32" monitor or larger for a while at a reasonable price. Currently using a 4K 39" TV as a monitor (had to contort the settings to get the text readable, etc.) Probably has something to do with panel yields and profit, sadly (but understandably). That said (and acknowledged, I'm not generally an Apple person), I see very little reason to buy Apply monitors, from a price perspective I just don't see them as a value and see many extremely comparable monitors that work great with Apple computers.
- aldanor 5y ago
  I'd happily pay $3k-$4k if they simply glued two 27'' Studio displays together, effectively making it a 32:9 49'' ultrawide. Come on, Apple.
- ramses0 5y ago
  I've been very happy with this monitor for quite a while (probably 2017-ish): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MY142C0/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MY142C0/ ...although fair warning it does have occasional "flickering maroon blankouts" (1-2x...3-4x per day?). AFAIK they're basically two panels side-by-side so sometimes my right-side-one will "blip" for half a second. (search flicker in the reviews/questions). Find one you're happy with, and check the reviews! The difference between "monitor" and "TV" is massive w.r.t. latency.
  - dantheman0207 5y ago
    According to the Amazon description they fixed the flickering issue with a firmware update.
gumby 5y ago
Interesting: the discontinued 27" iMac was only $200 more (1599/1799) despite containing basically an entire Mac mini.
homarp 5y ago
it says "Powered by Apple silicon. The A13 Bionic chip enables innovative Studio Display features like Center Stage, Spatial Audio, and “Hey Siri.”" Anyone knows what OS does the screen run ? embedded iOS ?
- aroman 5y ago
  Probably something like that. Apple has a lot of products that use their custom silicon that aren't Macs or iOS devices — think Homepods, AirPods, etc. I'm sure they have a whole team whose job it is just to create respins of their CoreOS stack + whatever happens to be relevant to the hardware device.
- homarp 5y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30752629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30752629 The Studio Display runs the full version of iOS 15.4, with the exact same build used by the iPhone and iPad , meaning that updates to the display's functionality will come as part of iOS update.
bdcravens 5y ago
A few years ago I would have been very excited about this, and immediately upgraded the Thunderbolt Display I had at the time. These days I prefer 32" display, and I don't even need 4k (I have 2 32" QHD LG displays at both home and work)
hultner 5y ago
Am I missing something or is this basically the 6-7 year old LG UltraFine 5k 27” with some extra bells and whistles?
- aroman 5y ago
  Most of the issues people have with the LG are resolved by this new model; namely, build quality, speaker quality and webcam quality. For an extra $300 it seems like a no-brainer to pick this over the much-complained-about LG.
  - hultner 5y ago
    Sure, if I were to buy one today I'd go for the new one no doubt, especially since the UF isn't for sale anymore. But I'd hardly "upgrade" from a UF.
deergomoo 5y ago
I wish they would just make a normal display. I’m currently using a 27” 1440p display which has some nice features, USB power delivery for single-cable video/charging/data, and really excellent colour accuracy, but the pixel density is just garbage compared to my MacBook. Using them both at the same time is jarring (especially since macOS dropped subpixel antialiasing. Text looks noticeably less blocky when hooked up to a Windows machine). I don’t need a monitor with an embedded iPhone CPU and six speakers, I just need the panel out of an old 27” iMac that doesn’t cost more than the damned computer driving it. I can’t even get an LG UltraFine anymore, they were discontinued outside of the US ages ago.
- danaris 5y ago
  > I wish they would just make a normal display. You're in company with all the people who've said "I wish they would just make a netbook" "I wish they would just make a budget desktop" "I wish they would just make a <insert favorite product missing from Apple's lineup here>" over the past 30 years.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
FpUser 5y ago
I would get 5K display if it is 35-40", 27" - no way
tehnub 5y ago
I'm disappointed with the ergonomics of it. First, you have to pay extra for height adjustability, and then the height adjustment is via an arm that changes the viewing distance when you adjust the height. Why can't it just be like Dell monitors (and many others) where the screen can be moved up or down on a fixed axis, and it's included in the product?
vsskanth 5y ago
Why have 5K displays not caught on ? 4K 27 inch is fairly affordable but you have to use 1.5x scaling and it doesn’t look good at all on Windows. I used to have 2x 24 inch 4K monitors at work and it used to be so nice to read text at 2x scaling. Now I can’t even find any in stock.
somerando7 5y ago
How are these websites supposed to be viewed? Never understood. If I just scroll down it looks horrible. Only way I've found is by holding the down button, but seems like this is just a bad exerpience for the majority of people?
meerita 5y ago
Why buy a Pro display when you can buy and use 3 of 27" at the same time for the same price.
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hit8run 5y ago
I was waiting a long time for the release of an apple "Pro Motion" display and again they disappointed. There is no reason why they are not offering an ultra wide with 120+hz and retina. They are apple. They don't need standards to be ready because they control the whole chain and create their own standards. Steve Jobs never would have let them release that display with only 60hz. It's the same panel I'm looking at for almost 10 years (in different iMacs). I think about giving up on retina and going ultrawide with high refresh.
mikl 5y ago
So happy they finally made this. Ever since I got my first retina MacBook Pro a decade ago, I’ve wanted a good companion display for it. The LG UltraFine worked, but was never good. Iiyama and the other knock-offs were worse. Basically instapurchased this. Now just have to wait two weeks for it to show up…
ken133 5y ago
Do you guys know if I connect two of the Studio Display will the speakers work as a stereo audio system.
hahamaster 5y ago
Beautiful, I'm probably going to get it. Pity there isn't a version with a 24" panel as on the M1 iMac. 27" is great but it actually might be a liittle too big, but I'll live. I guess no product is ever ideal.

317 points by sparshgupta 5y ago

> studio-quality three-mic array but will i be able to record an album on it? are those three-mic condenser microphones? i guess not Apple should really stop abusing the word "Studio"

danielfoster 5y ago

I can’t even see the monitor when I click.

deleted 5y ago
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valine 5y ago

No 120hz listed in the tech specs, that’s gonna be jarring for people with a M1 macbook pro.

yokoprime 5y ago
I hardly notice when switching between my M1Pro monitor and larger 27" monitor. Sure my monitor do support 144Hz, but im running it at 60Hz... because docking station
- Matheus28 5y ago
  There is a world of difference between 60 Hz and 144 Hz, though. I don’t think I can go back to anything less than 120.
  - hughrr 5y ago
    Yeah it feels horrible now. When I got my iPhone 13 pro it cost me an M1 iPad and a 14” MBP because everything felt horrible afterwards.
- noahtallen 5y ago
  I disagree completely. My main monitor is at 144hz, and it's very jarring to switch to my (slightly older) MBP running at 60hz. Not having high refresh rate means this new monitor won't ever be on my short list.
  - swah 5y ago
    I feel that while changing from 30hz to 60hz and the latter feels smooth (enough). Never used a higher refresh rate device but wonder how much more can this keep going and humans noticing.
    - aroman 5y ago
      Having used displays from 30Hz to 300Hz, I believe 120Hz vs 60Hz is easily noticeable for anyone who is aware of the differences. Higher than that is a steep point of diminishing returns in my experience.
    - faeriechangling 5y ago
      I imagine things will get to the imperceptible range around ~500hz but diminishing returns apply. 60 to 120 is a bigger deal than 120 to 480.
owenwil 5y ago
There's a good reason for this: Thunderbolt 4 doesn't have enough port bandwidth. TB4 can carry a max of 30Gbps but 5K @ 120hz is 32Gbps. There's no way Apple would do two cables for this, and the next gen of Thunderbolt is a while off, so the choice makes sense.
- noahtallen 5y ago
  Doesn't display stream compression support higher bitrates? Also, I think thunberbolt 4 supports DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0, which can handle up to like 80Gbps. But I guess that comes at the cost of attaching any other devices other than the monitor.
- fotta 5y ago
  I think your math is off a bit. TB3/4 carries 40Gbps and 5k@120 is 53Gbps (5120 * 2880 * 120hz * 30bits/pixel). But your point still stands :)
  - owenwil 5y ago
    Whoops - you're right!
- o_m 5y ago
  They could have made it 90hz then
  - notriddle 5y ago
    Running a program with fixed-rate 60hz (a lot of games) would cause judder. It's the same sort of reason they don't do 150% scaling; you want integer multiples of the "low-fi" version so that you can upscale without artifacting.
    - o_m 5y ago
      A little Pro Motion would've fixed that
- 5y ago

hughrr 5y ago

Sold. Been waiting for this for years. Edit: to clarify I will lurk and wait until it is £200 off on Amazon one day because I don’t need it immediately.

alexashka 5y ago
For what? A 2014 display for 1600$?
- newaccount74 5y ago
  Assuming this is the same panel as in the 5k iMac, it's a good panel. It doesn't matter that it's old. What matters is that it works, and that you can actually buy it. There are very few high res displays on the market. It would be nice if it cost less than 1000€, but I guess you can't have everything.
richiezc 5y ago
just find somebody that works with apple and use their 25% or 15% off
arvinsim 5y ago
You might be waiting for years for the discount.

cube2222 5y ago

As a person who works on a Mac but uses a Windows PC for gaming: a pity this only has USB-C inputs, so you won't be able to connect a PC with an RTX 30xx card to it. Still very cool though.

minimaxir 5y ago
It most likely wouldn't work with a Windows PC anyways due to the tight macOS integration anyways; my iMac in Boot Camp can't use any of the USB-C ports on a connected LG Ultrafine 5k at all.
Goosee 5y ago
To connect my windows desktop to lg ultrafine - I use a bidirectional display port to thunderbolt 3 cable (amazon basics)
- cube2222 5y ago
  Wow! Didn't know those cables can go the other direction as well. That's huge! Thank you! Another example that writing something wrong on the internet is the best way to find the truth :) That said, it looks like there's just one input port and three output ports. Would need to do some hack there as well, to avoid constant cable changing.
kitsunesoba 5y ago
Several Intel and AMD motherboards have both Thunderbolt ports along with a DisplayPort in port that lets you pipe the output of a discrete GPU (like an RTX 3080) through the Thunderbolt connection. These will probably work just fine with the Studio display. Some PC laptops with Thunderbolt and more capable GPUs probably work with it too.
brigade 5y ago
There are bidirectional DisplayPort <-> USB-C cables, as well as DisplayPort+USB-A -> USB-C cables/adapters that work with the XDR display at 6k, or there are PCIe cards that add a USB-C port with DisplayPort alt-mode support Only problem is that you'll probably need to extract a BootCamp driver to control brightness/volume, assuming one will exist for this monitor. (well, if it supports HDR input, you'd use Window's SDR brightness to control it that way instead)

benjaminwootton 5y ago

The website was too much for my top of the range iPhone 12 to handle. Nice work Apple.

deleted 5y ago
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fwr 5y ago

Any mentions of the refresh rate? I've been waiting for a 4K/5K display that supports 120 Hz to pair nicely with my 2021 MBP, but it looks like the only available options so far are funky gaming displays: https://tonsky.me/blog/monitors-mac/ https://tonsky.me/blog/monitors-mac/

mholm 5y ago
Looks like 60hz. I don't think anybody has 5k/120hz working yet.
- iamricks 5y ago
  Yup, i feel like nobody cares about monitor tech, i waited for 4k/120hz IPS for a long time
  - mark-r 5y ago
    It's not that nobody cares, it's just that this stuff is genuinely hard. We're too spoiled.
sa1 5y ago
So far, I've been using https://www.acer.com/ac/en/AU/content/conceptd-model/UM.HC1SA.P02 https://www.acer.com/ac/en/AU/content/conceptd-model/UM.HC1S...
skadamat 5y ago
It's almost surely 60hz since they didn't brand it as "ProMotion" display like they did with iPhone, Macbook Pro, and iPad Pro
tehnub 5y ago
If you sit far enough away from it, you could try a 48 inch LG CX OLED tv. 120 Hz, OLED, 4K
owenwil 5y ago
60hz, there isn't enough port bandwidth in TB4 to handle 5K @ 120hz. Anything coming close to being capable enough is years away still.

rawrmaan 5y ago

No 12Hz is so unfortunate. Hopefully the next Pro Display XDR will have ProMotion, at the very least.

arthurcolle 5y ago
12 Hz haha
- alberth 5y ago
  "12Hz" is about how fast their website refreshed on me on my i7 MacBook Pro.
mholm 5y ago
It'll have to wait for a new Thunderbolt Standard to make it to Macs. TB4 tops out at 30GB/s, while 5k/120hz is 32GB/s.

arecurrence 5y ago

Most of the features announced are quite nice but strangely (for an Apple product), the primary feature being the display is simply not. As far as I can tell, it doesn't even have 120 hz let alone a good local dimming implementation.

minimaxir 5y ago

Webcam and sound aside, the display specs seems very similar to the LG Ultrafine 5k released all the way back in 2017 for $1299: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMUB2LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k-display https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMUB2LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k... The Studio Display is an additional $300.

vesrah 5y ago
I have two of these. They are plagued with bezel cracking, uniformity, and other issues.
- hinkley 5y ago
  Benq's is pretty good but whoever stuck those checkbox-filling speakers into the design is making a cruel joke at everyone else's expense. I get better sound out of my phone. Way, way better sound.
- minimaxir 5y ago
  True, there are QA issues reported with it. (FWIW I've had mine since 2017 and only starting to hit random connectivity issues now, but 5 years isn't a bad run for a heavily-used monitor)
- throwaway4good 5y ago
  Plus they are not on sale anymore, at least when I was looking. I am guessing this replaces it. Not really other alternatives out there (displays in 5k).
  - Marciplan 5y ago
    Check Apple’s refurb site :)
geodel 5y ago
Ah, so good opportunity for folks looking to save 300 dollars and still want to buy display from Apple.
5y ago

brandonmenc 5y ago

Sad that the Thunderbolt port is perpendicular to the display, like on the LG Ultrafine. Super fragile, especially if you have the monitor on an arm and move it around a lot.

tstrimple 5y ago
Apple accounted for this by making sure none of their monitors have a standard VESA mount.
- manuelabeledo 5y ago
  They do, they are sold separately.
  - kitsunesoba 5y ago
    The VESA mount is actually a no-extra-cost configuration option on the Studio Display.
    - FireBeyond 5y ago
      But they still want to charge us XDR owners $200 for the privilege.

gorjusborg 5y ago

I don't have much to say on the monitor, but that experience reminded me that Apple's web design sensibilities are atrocious.

coolso 5y ago

Finally an AR coating on a monitor without the grainy sparkly look! I bought 3 highly rated monitors last year and returned all but one because the anti reflective coatings were visually distracting and made the screen look dirty and unsharp. The one I kept still has the effect, but to an “acceptable” degree relative to the others and I was tired of returning monitors. Hopefully other manufacturers will follow suit - or at least start releasing glossy monitors as an option, for people who don’t want to view things through an ugly grainy sparkly coating.

mateo1 5y ago
The thing is, for most people a glossy monitor with an AR coating is a good compromise, since reflections are a lot more distracting than a slightly matte finish. For a studio monitor this isn't a consideration, but in general the finish is mentioned in the specifications.
- coolso 5y ago
  The problem is, some monitors aren’t “slightly matte” - many are very matte, and you can’t tell just how matte they are into you receive them, since the finish is always just called “matte”. Glossy isn’t ideal but I’d definitely take it over spending $500 on a 4K ultra sharp display only to view everything through a fine layer of grainy rainbow colored dust. Apple’s nano-matte technology seems like it could be a wonderful albeit expensive compromise, but I know I and many others are willing to pay the premium.

black_puppydog 5y ago

I realize that as a staunch Linux user I'm not in their target demographic, but... wow that website is slightly motion sickness inducing. Is it as bad to scroll through this on a mac as it is on linux? I use a mouse with an actual wheel, maybe they don't optimize for that kind of legacy device...? Edit: it's also just so hard to scroll exactly to the points where the information is presented. I just mostly end up at points that are meaningless transitions... So confusing...

dmitriid 5y ago
> Is it as bad to scroll through this on a mac as it is on linux It is. Despite their investment in desktop hardware (finally!) they completely forgot how to do desktop software. Ten years ago all those animations where buttery smooth even if they were a weird custom "video" code that assembled them out of separate PNGs.
- izolate 5y ago
  FYI the Studio Display website was outsourced to an agency, and not developed in-house by Apple engineers. Outsourcing rarely improves the quality of software.
  - dmitriid 5y ago
    This is even worse
DougMellon 5y ago
I am on a Mac (M1 Air) and it's not the greatest experience.
rchaud 5y ago
It's laggy on Firefox in in a 2014 MBP as well. I won't blame Apple, this is just the state of web animation with CSS3 and Lottie. Weird to think that Flash handled this kind of animation seamlessly on browsers 15 years ago.

systemvoltage 5y ago

No direct ICC profile is a terrible decision by Apple. Same with Apple Pro Display XDR. It’s opposite of being pro.

sys_64738 5y ago

How thick are those bezels?

DCKing 5y ago

I like this announcement, because it means that there's a manufacturing line for proper HiDPI [1] displays running in some LG factory somewhere that third party manufactures like LG/Dell/Iiyama can hopefully use to give us some fresh good-looking 27" 5K desktop monitors. It boggles my mind how little attention very high pixel density displays have been getting from PC display manufacturers. I would also be first in line for a PC monitor that uses the M1 iMac display, but I suppose nobody sees a market for higher end 24" monitors anymore. [1]: HiDPI displays that work correctly with macOS' and Linux desktop's naive HiDPI implementation, that requires 2x scaling for good results. Nobody in 2022 will sell you a monitor that does that, except for Apple's expensive stuff that is hard to use with regular PCs and one over the top Dell display. I wish everyone did what ChromeOS or modern Windows apps do. I need that extremely crisp font rendering in my life.

radicaldreamer 5y ago
They've had the iMac line using these displays forever and it hasn't filtered down to other display makers. Only LG via the ultrafine line has used these densities (also Windows and Linux support is lacking or janky)
- DCKing 5y ago
  Iiyama [1], Dell [2] and LG used a 27" 5K iMac display for a little while, but as production at Apple wound down you can no longer really buy those in most places. [1]: https://www.anandtech.com/show/12568/iiyamas-prolite-xb2779qqs-s1-now-available https://www.anandtech.com/show/12568/iiyamas-prolite-xb2779q... [2]: https://www.dell.com/ae/business/p/dell-up2715k-monitor/pd https://www.dell.com/ae/business/p/dell-up2715k-monitor/pd
- zuwvcfxanh 5y ago
  A portion of that could be related to lack of protocol support. 5k at 60Hz is more bandwidth that HDMI or DisplayPort could provide until very recently. Apple got around it by essentially making it two separate displays bound together in software using a single Thunderbolt cable, but that is only really feasible when you control the entire ecosystem.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

adrianmsmith 5y ago

Would be nice to have >5K resolutions to have more pixel density. Alas, macOS doesn't support any native scaling other than 100% and 200%. So if they did release e.g. a 27" 8K monitor, the text would either be too small, or they'd have to use bitmap scaling to make it bigger in which case there'd be no advantage of having an 8K monitor. (EDIT: To clarify, all other scaling factors are done by rendering at either 100% or 200% and doing bitmap scaling up or down. By bitmap scaling 200% up up to e.g. 250%, things are bigger so that's good, but there's no extra detail being displayed, so you're wasting the resolution of your monitor. You might as well buy a cheaper monitor with fewer but larger pixels.) I really don't understand why they don't either (a) adopt Windows' approach of allowing rendering directly to any arbitrary scale, or (b) at least introduce a 300% mode with bitmap scaling analogous to their 100% and 200% modes.

hughrr 5y ago
I’m running at neither 100% or 200% on my 4k 27”…
- kccqzy 5y ago
  UI elements are still rendered at 2x and then downscaled. It's just that you (or most people) can't tell the difference. Me neither.
  - hughrr 5y ago
    Exactly.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - adrianmsmith 5y ago
    However this decision does mean Apple can't produce monitors with more than about 200 PPI without the text being too small (at 200%). i.e. they can't go beyond 5K at 27". Which is a shame, you can use 8K monitors with Windows at e.g. 300% just fine.

jillesvangurp 5y ago

I'm reading this on a 27" 5K imac from 2014. It's a nice screen. But it's eight years old now. So, what's new?

icedchai 5y ago
Same here. My 27" iMac has been my longest running and best desktop computer. It still feels pretty fast!
- Koshkin 5y ago
  In comparison, my "late 2014" Mac Mini feels slow (after an OS upgrade).
  - icedchai 5y ago
    OS upgrade might be the problem. I'm still running Mojave!
alexashka 5y ago
in 2014, you could buy a 27" 5k iMac for 2000$. Now you can buy the exact same monitor, for 1600$. We've made a lot of progress.
- moooo99 5y ago
  That really is a shame. Mac screens have been amazing for a long time now, but as soon as the computer inside them is outdated and slow, the whole device including the still awesome display is obsolete. Thats the main reason I'd probably never buy an iMac.
  - LanceH 5y ago
    If you've ever tried to get an apple monitor repaired, you find out it has one part inside which costs roughly the same as the monitor.
- 5y ago

james-redwood 5y ago

I hate this trend in ‘ultra modern’ websites with the infinite scroll pulling you through some sort of animation. The website is near unusable as a result.

kahrl 5y ago
I might be ignorant here, but what trend? Scrolljacking was popular for about 5 minutes back around 2010 during the HTML5 craze before people realized how awful a UX it is. The only place I still see it being used regularly is Apple sites. Have you seen this pattern used elsewhere?
saddestcatever 5y ago
I'm sitting here on a 2015 Macbook Pro and the site barely runs :P
jkelleyrtp 5y ago
Fun fact - if you have "reduce motion" enabled on macOS the webpage becomes a normal flat scrollable page (what you'd expect).
- ask_b123 5y ago
  Nice fact! I've enabled it now.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
NackerHughes 5y ago
Hey, it's marginally more usable than unskippable Flash intros, which is what we used to get. Although, unlike other similarly effect-heavy apple landing pages I've seen in the recent past, this one doesn't appear to offer a decent alternative version when javascript is disabled, which is a disappointment.

skadamat 5y ago

Sadly no HDMI or DisplayPort, so can't use it for Xbox. Sadly only 60 Hz Seems like a really gorgeous update to this old thing - https://www.adorama.com/lot27md5klb.html?utm_source=adl-gbase-p https://www.adorama.com/lot27md5klb.html?utm_source=adl-gbas... I hope they do 4k@120hz in the next version!

rewtraw 5y ago
just use an adapter... Thunderbolt / USB C gives you flexibility
- fbkr 5y ago
  Can you actually connect HDMI input to a thunderbolt only display? I have the LG 5K thunderbolt-only display and cannot use it with a desktop PC due to this issue.
- fumar 5y ago
  Would something like this work? Xbox or gaming console to Apple Studio Display. https://www.amazon.com/Anker-DisplayPort-PowerExpand-Aluminum-Portable-dp-B08QV2FSKT/dp/B08QV2FSKT/ref=dp_ob_title_ce https://www.amazon.com/Anker-DisplayPort-PowerExpand-Aluminu...
  - Matthias247 5y ago
    Hard to say. Those are actually designed for the other way around: Plugging a USB-C device into a displayport monitor, by extracting the alternative mode out of the USB-C connection. The comments underneath https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30604524 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30604524 however suggest it might work with some bidirectional adapters.
- thirdsun 5y ago
  You'd still use a 5k display in a non-native 4k resolution (surely the xbox doesn't support higher resolutions?), which might be ok for video and most games, but it's not a good solution. I'd just get a half decent, affrodable 27" / 4k display for gaming and keep the Studio display for actual work. Plus, you can use the additional 4k display as an extended macOS display when not gaming. I mean there's never enough screen real estate.

ericmay 5y ago

Unfortunately I bought an LG 4k display from Apple last year (or was it the year before?) for home office work so it'll be a tough sell to buy something new, but this solves a couple of my problems with my home office setup, namely having to put in headphones with a mic for every video call since I use my Mac in clamshell mode, and having an external webcam mounted on my monitor. This is very close to "one cable to rule them all" setup. Maybe I'll just have to save some of my allowance for a bit :P

mekster 5y ago
I never understand why anyone would use MacBook in clamshell mode. You're wasting the very good parts that are trackpad, cam, mic and as a secondary monitor.
- dkordik 5y ago
  awkwardly small / awkwardly positioned second display when compared to a regular second display. main display has its own cam. and the external magic trackpad can go front and center on my desk. the wasted parts get to come out to play when undocked :)

Thaxll 5y ago

Are people really paying 1.6k for a 60hz monitor?

moooo99 5y ago
Show me a higher/same resolution display with a higher refresh rate. I'd genuinely curious. I've been searching for a new monitor for a few weeks and can't find anything with 4K and more than 60Hz refresh rate.
- nwidynski 5y ago
  https://www.amazon.com/LG-27GN950-B-Ultragear-Response-Compatibility/dp/B08BCRYS6B https://www.amazon.com/LG-27GN950-B-Ultragear-Response-Compa...
  - woobar 5y ago
    This one is almost half the resolution. UHD vs 5K
  - moooo99 5y ago
    As the other comment pointed out, that is not an apples to apples comparison. The monitor you linked is a UHD one (3840 x 2160 pixels, around 8.3 megapixels) with a pixel density of ~200 ppi. The display showcased by Apple has a resolution of 5K (5120 x 2880 pixels, around 14.75 megapixels) with a pixel density of 217 ppi. Also, based on my experiences with LG gaming monitors I would assume that the Apple display also has a significantly better color accuracy. If you would have taken a second to look at the specs and search for actually comparable products you would find that there are, at least to my knowledge, no displays with the same resolution and higher refresh rates. This makes sense because 5k@60Hz already has incredibly high bandwidth requirements. The best actually comparable product is an LG UltraFine 5K which comes in at 1,499€ msrp which is 246€ cheaper than Apple's Studio Display at 1,745€ msrp. Oh, and to no ones surprise, it also has a 60 Hz refresh rate. So to answer your initial question: Yes, people do spend that kind of money on displays with "only" 60Hz.
dagmx 5y ago

hackerlink99 5y ago

Guys I’m thinking of buying it: WILL I BE ABLE TO CONNECT MY XBOX TO IT? This question is super important to me. Thanks!

minimaxir 5y ago
In this case it's unclear; it requires Thunderbolt in, and any TB-to-HDMI adapter used will likely cause issues.

etcet 5y ago

The height adjustable stand is $400 more than just the tilt adjustable stand. Truly revolutionary.

swagasaurus-rex 5y ago
About the same price as the college textbooks I use to prop up my existing monitors

humanwhosits 5y ago

The website doesn't scroll properly

throwaway4good 5y ago

Is this the same LG display unit from the previous generations and used in the LG display sold seperately at one point?

wing-_-nuts 5y ago

No mention of refresh rate, so I'm assuming a 60hz panel, only offering usb-c and thunderbolt, no hdmi or display port, and no mention of hdr rating, or mini/micro led backlight zones. Apple's gonna apple i guess. People will still buy it.

joao 5y ago

Fine print: only compatible with macOS Monterey 12.3 or later. Perhaps only spatial audio and some camera features won't be compatible with older macOS versions. Waiting for the first reviews.

jrochkind1 5y ago

$1599 isn't quite as bad as I expected, actually. I've still got my old 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display (a puny 2560 by 1440 pixels), which i use daily. (The convenience of built-in video/mic/USB hub, with one cable, is indispensible and more important to me than resolution, and it's been really unclear to me what else could do that with a macbook). But might be ready to upgrade to this guy.

Gualdrapo 5y ago
I also have a Thunderbolt Display, which I got last year. It's been great and, as you say, having webcam/mic/speakers/usb hub _and an Ethernet port_ is absolutely fantastic. And the quality of the thing overall is just superb. Also for me those "add-ons" are more important than pixel density, and I'm saying this as a graphic designer. If there were a version of this with a bigger size (but with less pixel density), and maybe a more 'squared' factor, I'd jump to it without even thinking, but alas for Apple pixel density is first above everything else.
pkamb 5y ago
That's the same resolution (screen real estate) as this new one. Just 1x and not 2x Retina.
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  Ah, good call! Honestly... I'm not sure I care about making it retina?
mekster 5y ago
> $1599 isn't quite as bad as I expected, actually. Only if you try not to look at other vendors. It doesn't offer anything fancy except the fancy pricing.
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  I am interested in comparison shopping, I can't find very many other vendors that offer displays with built-in camera, mic, speakers, as well as ethernet port and USB hub, all connected with the USB-C/thunderbolt cable. Do they exist but I'm just bad at shopping? I may be! Please help out?

maherbeg 5y ago

Bummed they didn't release a 32" or 34". I really enjoy using a 34" ultrawide with 3 columns of apps.

jjcm 5y ago

Awesome to see them finally putting out almost consumer friendly pricing displays. Few things I'm disappointed about though: - 60hz. For this price point I'd expect higher. - Thunderbolt 3. Interesting that they didn't bump to 4, given the Mac Studio is Thunderbolt 4. This means you wont be able to daisy chain the displays. - Lack of size options. Would love to see more variety here. After moving to an ultrawide format, I can't see myself moving back to standard format monitors from a productivity standpoint. Overall though excited for this and keen to see how it'll evolve. It'll be a miss for me this cycle but keen to see their future releases of their monitor line.

owenwil 5y ago
The technology to do 5K @ 120hz just doesn't exist yet. 5K @ 60Hz is already maxing out Thunderbolt 4.
- Dunedan 5y ago
  DisplayPort 1.2 (or newer) and HDMI 2.1 both support 5K at 120Hz when using DSC.
  - miohtama 5y ago
    What’s DSC?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - detaro 5y ago
      Display Stream Compression, a lossy compression algorithm optimized for the specific use case of device-display transfers (i.e. relatively low compression ratio == very high quality that's claimed to imperceptible even if it can't run lossless, not needing to work on full frames for speed/sub-frame latency, ...)
    - gknoy 5y ago
      I didn't know either. DSC is Display Stream Compression, and has been part of the spec since 1.4. According to Wikipedia [0], > DSC is a compression algorithm that reduces the size of the data stream by up to a 3:1 ratio.... Using DSC with HBR3 transmission rates, DisplayPort 1.4 can support 8K UHD (7680 × 4320) at 60 Hz or 4K UHD (3840 × 2160) at 120 Hz 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#1.4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#1.4

jimrandomh 5y ago

It's kind of ridiculous how slow the progress in screen resolutions has been. It's disappointing that Apple is only going for 5k, not 8k; they're well positioned to fix the ecosystem and bring high-resolution large displays to everyone, if only they tried. I'm finally sitting in front of an 8k 65" screen. This gives me a nice combination of decent picel density in the center and lots of peripheral vision in which to put secondary windows, plus I can sit across the room and watch a movie on it. But every component of the ecosystem introduced problems and friction. I have an M1 Macbook Pro on the same desk. The Macbook can't drive the 8k TV. I have a separate desktop running Windows with an nVidia GPU for that. Every component of the video ecosystem has given me friction in getting to 8k. I had to swap my $1k nVidia GPU for a different $1k nVidia GPU that wasn't any faster, to get HDMI 2.1 support. Had to use special HDMI cables, because cables that aren't specially marked as HDMI2.1 compatible don't have enough bandwidth. And then the display itself has a ridiculous postprocessing bug (I wrote about it at https://www.rtings.com/tv/discussions/IyO2wLLsNnJCMT-_/firmware-bug-causes-serious-image-quality-problems-at-8k https://www.rtings.com/tv/discussions/IyO2wLLsNnJCMT-_/firmw...) which makes me think the firmware engineers didn't have a working 8k source to test with.

BoorishBears 5y ago
This 5k 27" screens blows your 8k 65" screen out if the water at any reasonable viewing distance for a computer monitor... Nearly no one wants TVs for monitors, the evidence is LG's OLEDs which gamers will take 1440p ultrawides with infinitely worse picture quality over, just for the more reasonable form factor.
- pedrocr 5y ago
  Setting the 8K screen farther away so it fills the same field of view will make it strictly better than the smaller 5K if you can manage it. Same view, more angular resolution and your eyes are focused farther away which reduces eye strain.
  - BoorishBears 5y ago
    No it's not, which is why people take $2,000 1440p monitors still. The "if you can manage it" part is an awkward setup usually with terrible ergonomics (a monitor too far away is worse for posture because you subconsciously tilt forward), it takes a ton of space, it looks hideous - Forgive my for my bluntness, but I am soooo tired of every conversation about improving monitors being sidetracked by people act like using a TV-sized TV as a computer monitor is better than strictly anything. It's like saying using your hand saw as a flat head screw driver is strictly better because it had a larger handle... as long as you can line it up in the screw.

techpression 5y ago

For all the work Apple is doing to improve their environmental impact (which I applaud) I'm completely flabbergasted as to why this is a single device monitor. It's quite the impact on the environment to require users who have a Mac mini/Studio and a MacBook Pro to buy two monitors (no matter how great the production chain is). Sure, you can plug/unplug the cable, but that works so-so on a Studio with the ports on the back. Everything else I could've lived with, this is a major omission :(

gen220 5y ago
Can you not use a thunderbolt switch? In my home office, I've got two monitors and a switch to flick input between a personal machine and a work machine.
- techpression 5y ago
  Do they actually work well (I actually want to know)? I once started looking into something like that and it seemed to be all pain and suffering to get it to work or it having weird behaviours. If you have a product that you know work I'm all ears, it would make my life a lot easier.
  - gen220 5y ago
    I currently do this with HDMIs (I somehow make do with a measley 4K monitors). I assumed such a thing existed for thunderbolt but hadn't looked into it; it looks like you're right that this market is underdeveloped at present. Hopefully somebody does it! Or, the wisdom of HN will yield us some options. Otherwise, if you're willing to settle for affordable retina-quality monitors, this is the one I use: https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B01LPNKFK0 https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B01LPNKFK0. Cribbed from this post which made the HN rounds not too long ago: https://www.caseyliss.com/2021/12/7/monitor-liss https://www.caseyliss.com/2021/12/7/monitor-liss
- kitsunesoba 5y ago
  Last I looked, Thunderbolt switches were prohibitively expensive and only made by oddball companies. My solution is a Thunderbolt dock (CalDigit TS3+/TS4+, ThinkPad Thunderbolt 4 Dock, etc) along with a TB cable for each machine that I swap the connection to the dock with as needed. Since it's a single cable swap, it's not much of an inconvenience.

ThePhysicist 5y ago

I wish they wouldn't make me scroll through two pages of animated backgrounds just to see the actual monitor. That said if I would spend this much on a monitor I would prefer the Samsung Odyssey Neo, which has a 5K resolution on a curved 49' display with a 240 Hz refresh rate, HDR 2.000 and G-Sync/Freesync. I guess the color space coverage is not as good though, and it's not as bright at 420 nits, though that's more than bright enough for me.

deergomoo 5y ago
> 5K resolution on a curved 49' display with a 240 Hz refresh rate That is clearly a gaming monitor. No-one would want to do the sort of workloads this display is aimed at on something like that.
chimen 5y ago
Toilet paper monitors. Can't be serious with that. Here's a good one: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-ultrasharp-40-curved-wuhd-monitor-u4021qw/apd/210-aykx/monitors-monitor-accessories https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-ultrasharp-40-curv...
- ThePhysicist 5y ago
  I have several Dell monitors (writing this on a 27' 4k S2721QS), they're absolutely awesome for office work. Sometimes I crave for a higher refresh rate though, I have another ultrawide monitor with 144 Hz refresh rate and it really makes a difference, I find.
- mrtksn 5y ago
  Wow, that looks awesome. I like the Apple displays but I'm into seriously wide aspect ratio stuff lately. I was checking on some comically wide Samsung monitors however I wasn't impressed with the build quality.
- kitsunesoba 5y ago
  The 300 nits brightness kills this model for me. With my desk sitting next to a window, even with indirect sunlight anything below 400-500 nits starts having usability issues. I could lower the shades but I'd much rather let the sunlight in.

Uptrenda 5y ago

wow, 600 nits -- that's bright. If you have a mac book pro you already have a screen that does 500 nits which easily lets you see the screen in the sun. If you're inside without glare you can get away with just 250 nits. For smart phones -- the nits are typically much higher because people use them in the sun and need good visibility outside. A 600 nit screen inside would almost be too bright for some people. I know people who already turn down their laptops because 500 is too bright. but i think its good to have the option to turn it down rather than a screen that's too dim.

NathHorrigan 5y ago
I'd disagree, I have a 16" 2021 MacBook that has the XDR Display with 1000avg/1600peak brightness and I constantly have it maxed. It's very annoying have it next to my BenQ 4K monitor that feels so much flatter in comparison. It just makes any other monitor so boring in comparison.
- coder543 5y ago
  No, it only sustains 1000 nits for HDR content. For SDR content (including normal desktop usage), it provides 500 nits.[0] You may need to reevaluate your perception of what a 600 nit display would look like. [0]: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/specs/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/specs/
  - NathHorrigan 5y ago
    Well don't I stand corrected, Thanks for calling me out.

whitepoplar 5y ago

I wonder if this will work with Linux or Windows.

wilg 5y ago

I hope it has better Windows support than the Pro Display XDR (it won't). I managed to get the XDR hooked up to Windows at 6K (with a very unusual cable) but you can't adjust it below max brightness so you get a sustained 1000 nits in your face at all times. Also HDR doesn't work. But gaming at 6K is cool af! Also, this having speakers, camera, and mic is a big step up over the XDR (unfortunately for me).

danielvf 5y ago

I've worked off Apple Cinema displays since the '90s and Apple Studio displays before that. I am a monitor snob. I care deeply how things look. I currently have an Apple XDR Pro monitor. It's not a great monitor - it is indeed big, the outside is as cool as anything ever made, and the USB-C hub is nice. But in EVERY other way it is badly inferior to the stock 5K monitor that comes with even the cheapest 27" iMac from a few years ago. I've been wishing for just an 27" iMac monitor that I can plug into my laptop, since that's the best non-laptop monitor I've found - even contemplated building a Frankenstein one. I'm excited I can now just buy one.

newaccount74 5y ago
What's bad about the XDR?
- oppegard 5y ago
  I'm not the OP but I've had an XDR for about a month now, which replaced a 27" LG UltraFine 5K (same panel as the one used on 27" iMac for years). My issue with the XDR is the lack of built-in camera, mic, and speakers that are serviceable for zoom calls. I don't need audiophile stuff, but it's remarkable how bad the built-in AV was on the LG UltraFine. Mic quality is bad enough that I won't inflict it on my co-workers. The camera is angled too low, resulting in the top of my head usually being cut off. And the speakers go from quiet to really loud, with no in-between.
- danielvf 5y ago
  Just to be clear, the XDR is not a _terrible_ monitor. It's certainly better than a random $200 monitor. Most people in the world wouldn't notice the following issues. - There is a noticeable (to me) brightness shift with viewing angle changes. When the monitor is on the back of my desk and displaying a flat color across the monitor, I see a noticeable gradient instead of a flat color because of different viewing angles between looking head at the center pixels vs being off axis to the side pixels. - The adaptive brightness backlighting doesn't do a very good job. Full bright white pixels in a dark areas will be noticeable dark compared to full bright white pixels surrounded by other brighter pixels. - If you have some bright pixels in an otherwise dark area, the backlight cell built into the monitor there noticeable brightens, putting an approximately once inch by one in halo around the bright pixels. For example, this halo shows up around the mouse cursor when moving across a black area. - I tend to work with light text on a dark background. The monitor makes the darks too bright (from the backlight bleeding through) and the brights too dark (because the backlight around there isn't on all the way). Everything is muted. It's noticeably less contrasty, colorful and alive when used with light on light than two iMac 27"s I have had. - Although the PPI specs are the same, there's something about the pixels on the XDR that makes them more visible and less smooth to me than on the 27.

cehrlich 5y ago

Glad that Apple is finally back in the game of making monitors that don't cost $6k. Now make the same thing, but 6880x2880 ultrawide.

xavxav 5y ago

I’m happy that they finally released this monitor, it felt weird that you could get an imac which was sleeker than any existing screen, but does anyone know of more affordable alternatives? This may be a bit weird/niche but I care a lot about the thickness of the monitor itself, the depth of the stand and the bezel around the screen. I’d like if the object I spend 8 hours a day staring at isn’t aesthetically horrendous..

JOnAgain 5y ago

I'm so tempted, but I've been on 32" and 34" for years now, I just don't think I could go to 27" again. I am dying for a great high end monitor with charging for my laptop, integrated camera and speakers. I loved my old cinema display. I really want this, just a bit bigger.

mulmen 5y ago

Great news. I use an LG ultrawide but it took three LGs to find one that MacOS could reliably detect with a supported resolution. It was a ridiculously complicated and painful process. I had a 2014 RMBP with the Thunderbolt monitor and Apple wireless keyboard and mouse. Everything “just worked”. I never had any issues. I just spent my time working instead of fighting with my workstation. It was glorious. Glad to see Apple back to form here. I’m willing to pay the premium for a complete solution.

mwambua 5y ago

Anyone know how the display quality on this stacks up to LG's ultra-fine 5k display?

pclark 5y ago

Can anyone help me understand how I'd connect this to a PC? Would I need a GPU with Thunderbolt 4 or does the motherboard need Thunderbolt 4 and the PC somehow magically utilises the GPU via that motherboard display anyway?

nickpp 5y ago
The question is if there is any PC video card able to connect to this display.
julianbuse 5y ago
If the prodisplay xdr is anything to go by, you wouldn't. That could only connect to PC's with thunderbolt, but because the monitor controls were built into macOS, you couldn't change any settings or use it at its native resolution.

gertrunde 5y ago

Wow that's a painful website... 5 seconds in and I've scrolled to the bottom as fast as possible to get past the fluffy marketing bullshit, in the hope that there were some tech specs of some sort there, then left...

markkanof 5y ago

The purchase page seems really confusing compared to how they typically do things. Typically, when purchasing something like a Macbook, you select the base model and then some of the upgrades are listed at + $XXX.00. That combined with the fact that the XDR display stand cost so much, I thought they were charging and additional $1599 for the VESA adapter. I was momentarily absolutely furious until I realized that the VESA adapter is a no additional cost option.

yudlejoza 5y ago

How is this news? Apple has had the exact specs (27 in, 5K res) available since something like 5-7 years ago, both as a stand-alone monitor and as an iMac.

rewtraw 5y ago
this is a new product. sure, it may be a middle ground between the existing Pro XDR and 5K LG Ultrafine displays, but this is something that was just announced today, hence "news".

asteroidbelt 5y ago

Sadly no built in KVM. I like my BenQ monitor for having KVM (among other reasons).

imglorp 5y ago

Oh sure, they put the anti-reflective coating on the device that lives inside on a desk, but the portable stuff all has super reflective surfaces making them hell to use outside.

aroman 5y ago
This! I can't understand the reasoning behind this at all. Clearly they _have_ the technology, why not use it in the far more light-variable context??

015a 5y ago

For me, its frustrating to not see an option without all the webcam, microphone, octuple speaker array, A13, 100w charging, TB hub, madness. I have to imagine that adds significant cost, and at $1600 we're not in the territory where this stuff can be included just 'cause. I like it, but I imagine some professionals would like to do what Apple's marketing images all show; buy two, maybe even three. I'd love to have one with all that stuff, but not all of them need the bells and whistles; and there's value in having all your displays be identical, especially in work that needs color calibration (not to mention, it looks nice). So, maybe I grab one if the reviews look solid. And hopefully in the future they release a version without all that extra stuff for closer to the $1200-$1300 an LG 5K ultrafine display can be had for.

hultner 5y ago
So you’re asking for the LG UF 5k?
- deergomoo 5y ago
  Which is discontinued in most territories.
  - hultner 5y ago
    Oh yeah I forgot about that, had to jump through some hoops to get mine.
yurishimo 5y ago
Except if you compare it to the LG 5K, it's worth the extra cost in build quality alone. The LG monitors are notorious pieces of junk with flaky connectors that come loose like clockwork. The new Studio display is expensive, but I think the features somewhat justify the price compared to the "competition".
- localhost 5y ago
  My personal take: my two 27" 4K LG monitors run GREAT here. I like the extremely small vertical bezels on both of them (one is a 144Hz and the other is a 60Hz). Connectors are fine. The monitors don't move at all, so build quality issues are imperceptible here. I think I paid something like $600 for each one at different points in time.

EugeneOZ 5y ago

Thank you, Apple, but no: - only 60hz; - no DisplayPort/HDMI; - anti-glare coating (I hate the blurriness of matte displays).

LocalPCGuy 5y ago

I wish Apple would use their clout to move up in size. I've been waiting for a nice 32" monitor or larger for a while at a reasonable price. Currently using a 4K 39" TV as a monitor (had to contort the settings to get the text readable, etc.) Probably has something to do with panel yields and profit, sadly (but understandably). That said (and acknowledged, I'm not generally an Apple person), I see very little reason to buy Apply monitors, from a price perspective I just don't see them as a value and see many extremely comparable monitors that work great with Apple computers.

aldanor 5y ago
I'd happily pay $3k-$4k if they simply glued two 27'' Studio displays together, effectively making it a 32:9 49'' ultrawide. Come on, Apple.
ramses0 5y ago
I've been very happy with this monitor for quite a while (probably 2017-ish): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MY142C0/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MY142C0/ ...although fair warning it does have occasional "flickering maroon blankouts" (1-2x...3-4x per day?). AFAIK they're basically two panels side-by-side so sometimes my right-side-one will "blip" for half a second. (search flicker in the reviews/questions). Find one you're happy with, and check the reviews! The difference between "monitor" and "TV" is massive w.r.t. latency.
- dantheman0207 5y ago
  According to the Amazon description they fixed the flickering issue with a firmware update.

gumby 5y ago

Interesting: the discontinued 27" iMac was only $200 more (1599/1799) despite containing basically an entire Mac mini.

homarp 5y ago

it says "Powered by Apple silicon. The A13 Bionic chip enables innovative Studio Display features like Center Stage, Spatial Audio, and “Hey Siri.”" Anyone knows what OS does the screen run ? embedded iOS ?

aroman 5y ago
Probably something like that. Apple has a lot of products that use their custom silicon that aren't Macs or iOS devices — think Homepods, AirPods, etc. I'm sure they have a whole team whose job it is just to create respins of their CoreOS stack + whatever happens to be relevant to the hardware device.
homarp 5y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30752629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30752629 The Studio Display runs the full version of iOS 15.4, with the exact same build used by the iPhone and iPad , meaning that updates to the display's functionality will come as part of iOS update.

bdcravens 5y ago

A few years ago I would have been very excited about this, and immediately upgraded the Thunderbolt Display I had at the time. These days I prefer 32" display, and I don't even need 4k (I have 2 32" QHD LG displays at both home and work)

hultner 5y ago

Am I missing something or is this basically the 6-7 year old LG UltraFine 5k 27” with some extra bells and whistles?

aroman 5y ago
Most of the issues people have with the LG are resolved by this new model; namely, build quality, speaker quality and webcam quality. For an extra $300 it seems like a no-brainer to pick this over the much-complained-about LG.
- hultner 5y ago
  Sure, if I were to buy one today I'd go for the new one no doubt, especially since the UF isn't for sale anymore. But I'd hardly "upgrade" from a UF.

deergomoo 5y ago

I wish they would just make a normal display. I’m currently using a 27” 1440p display which has some nice features, USB power delivery for single-cable video/charging/data, and really excellent colour accuracy, but the pixel density is just garbage compared to my MacBook. Using them both at the same time is jarring (especially since macOS dropped subpixel antialiasing. Text looks noticeably less blocky when hooked up to a Windows machine). I don’t need a monitor with an embedded iPhone CPU and six speakers, I just need the panel out of an old 27” iMac that doesn’t cost more than the damned computer driving it. I can’t even get an LG UltraFine anymore, they were discontinued outside of the US ages ago.

danaris 5y ago
> I wish they would just make a normal display. You're in company with all the people who've said "I wish they would just make a netbook" "I wish they would just make a budget desktop" "I wish they would just make a <insert favorite product missing from Apple's lineup here>" over the past 30 years.
- deleted 5y ago
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FpUser 5y ago

I would get 5K display if it is 35-40", 27" - no way

tehnub 5y ago

I'm disappointed with the ergonomics of it. First, you have to pay extra for height adjustability, and then the height adjustment is via an arm that changes the viewing distance when you adjust the height. Why can't it just be like Dell monitors (and many others) where the screen can be moved up or down on a fixed axis, and it's included in the product?

vsskanth 5y ago

Why have 5K displays not caught on ? 4K 27 inch is fairly affordable but you have to use 1.5x scaling and it doesn’t look good at all on Windows. I used to have 2x 24 inch 4K monitors at work and it used to be so nice to read text at 2x scaling. Now I can’t even find any in stock.

somerando7 5y ago

How are these websites supposed to be viewed? Never understood. If I just scroll down it looks horrible. Only way I've found is by holding the down button, but seems like this is just a bad exerpience for the majority of people?

meerita 5y ago

Why buy a Pro display when you can buy and use 3 of 27" at the same time for the same price.

deleted 5y ago

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hit8run 5y ago

I was waiting a long time for the release of an apple "Pro Motion" display and again they disappointed. There is no reason why they are not offering an ultra wide with 120+hz and retina. They are apple. They don't need standards to be ready because they control the whole chain and create their own standards. Steve Jobs never would have let them release that display with only 60hz. It's the same panel I'm looking at for almost 10 years (in different iMacs). I think about giving up on retina and going ultrawide with high refresh.

mikl 5y ago

So happy they finally made this. Ever since I got my first retina MacBook Pro a decade ago, I’ve wanted a good companion display for it. The LG UltraFine worked, but was never good. Iiyama and the other knock-offs were worse. Basically instapurchased this. Now just have to wait two weeks for it to show up…

ken133 5y ago

Do you guys know if I connect two of the Studio Display will the speakers work as a stereo audio system.

hahamaster 5y ago

Beautiful, I'm probably going to get it. Pity there isn't a version with a 24" panel as on the M1 iMac. 27" is great but it actually might be a liittle too big, but I'll live. I guess no product is ever ideal.