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The Apple Studio Display is a very Tim Cook sort of product. Cook is the supply chain and logistics wizard who saw Apple into the behemoth era, and the mentalit

The Apple Studio Display is a very Tim Cook sort of product. Cook is the supply chain and logistics wizard who saw Apple into the behemoth era, and the mentality he brings to the company is all over this device. The 27" panels from the now discontinued iMac in that size meet the A13 Bionic at end of life, and the same front-facing camera they put on everything else. The Studio Display is a bit like a restaurant serving chicken soup a few days after featuring roast chickens. I'm surprised they didn't ship it with FaceID immediately, but I presume they have to iron out the kinks since it's never been used on the Mac before, and everything is there for them to turn it on in an update. I can get a lot more display for $1500 (MSI Prestige 5k2k), and I'm left with a hunch that Apple's third modern display is going to be the first one I find at all compelling. What Apple has done here is provide an obvious purchase for someone who would have gotten a 'big' iMac or iMac pro: the Mini for the former, the Studio for the latter, and the Studio Monitor. If you want the monitor to have great color range and accuracy, and good speakers, and a better webcam than a laptop which won't look up your nostrils, it strikes me as a reasonable price, I happen to just want my monitor to be a monitor.

richbradshaw 5y ago
I haven't heard of that monitor, but looked it up as looked interesting - people say it has burn in, that it randomly turns off when using M1 Mac Mini, that you can't get full resolution on some Macs (though maybe they used wrong cables) and that can only update the firmware via Windows. I think this is where Apple 'just does stuff right' - you know if you buy the Studio Monitor that it will just work, having built in webcam is really nice, I presume it will charge a laptop etc. Price is steep though.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  All IPS displays have some "burn in" but it's not permanent. It's image persistence. It was also commented on a lot with the first IPS MacBooks. It's a bit annoying but not a serious issue like (or CRT) burn in. And we have a good existing way of preventing it, the screen saver. Even if it does happen it goes away in a couple hours. I think the studio display is really poor value though as previously you would get a whole computer included for pretty much the same price. The little extras really have to be in your corner to be worth it.
- FireBeyond 5y ago
  > that you can't get full resolution on some Macs This is one area that Apple definitely does not "just do stuff right". Display Stream Compression has been broken (for Intel Macs) - and by broken I don't mean 'suboptimal', but "completely nonfunctional" ever since the first beta of Big Sur, and is to this day - is a well-known, documented issue (many users, multiple GPUs, differing monitors), though Apple has yet to acknowledge it. My 2019 Mac Pro cheesegrater could, under Catalina, drive 4K monitors in 10 bit HDR at 144Hz. As soon as Big Sur was installed, your options became HDR@60Hz or SDR@95Hz. Turn off DSC in the monitor and you get the DP1.2 bandwidth.
philistine 5y ago
Apple would not introduce functionnality like Face ID in an update. That is not how they operate. As a matter of fact, I'm not so sure they have every single sensor required for Face ID in that display.
- FireBeyond 5y ago
  They just introduced Universal Control in an update, so it seems entirely how they might operate.
  - philistine 5y ago
    Universal Control is a software feature. Face ID is irrevocably married to very specific hardware sensors, so it's a bridge too far in my opinion. And honestly, just like Macs don't have touch screens, it's possible Apple has deemed Face ID not useful on Macs.
systoll 5y ago
> I can get a lot more display for $1500 (MSI Prestige 5k2k) I have that monitor… but it’s 3/4 of the studio display in terms of pixel count.
- samatman 5y ago
  *for my gig as a software developer who does a bit of video The extra width is key, and the density and brightness are acceptable. The qualities are a vector more than a scalar, and someone less presbyopic and more AV focused might give those different weights. I recommend doing it as a side-by-side though, I did this with the monitor in question and the iPad Pro before choosing the former.
hughrr 5y ago
Agree with you. But in my case I use a MBP as a desktop 80% of the time so wanted a zero hassle monitor that will charge my MBP and take over some of the ancillary functions built into the laptop. It does that perfectly so I bought one and I love it already. The price is high but it's not unreasonable for the overall quality and it comes with decent service and support unlike all other vendors in the UK which hire third party repairers who are hell to deal with. Edit: really interested to see a teardown of this display appear. Not sure if anyone will do one though :(
- mschuster91 5y ago
  > Agree with you. But in my case I use a MBP as a desktop 80% of the time so wanted a zero hassle monitor that will charge my MBP and take over some of the ancillary functions built into the laptop. It does that perfectly so I bought one and I love it already. Sounds like the old Apple Thunderbolt Display... which is built a lot simpler than the new model. Basically it's nothing more [1] than a PSU and a TB controller exposing eDP to the panel and PCI Express to deal with network, firewire, USB and audio. Dead simple. The new one just reeks of needless over-engineering, similar to the Lightning-to-HDMI adapter [2]. Why the fuck does a monitor need an embedded OS?! > The price is high but it's not unreasonable for the overall quality and it comes with decent service and support unlike all other vendors in the UK which hire third party repairers who are hell to deal with. Oh yeah, that's a scourge on the industry and not exclusive to the UK. I had the "pleasure" of dealing with a carrier-bought Samsung tablet which as it turns out had a broken screen which made its bootloader refuse to boot. At the last second I read the T&C of the repair shop the carrier had contracted with, which stated that device erasure was mandatory which also meant I'd lose all content on the encrypted SD card. Had them bail out on literally the last second and send them back the device, so I could do the repair myself - at my own expense, to add insult to injury. [1]: https://de.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Thunderbolt+Display+Teardown/6525 https://de.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Thunderbolt+Display+Tea... [2]: https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/accessories/apple-lightning-av-adapter-teardown-reveals-arm-soc-256mb-ram/ https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/accessories/apple-lightning-av...
  - hughrr 5y ago
nojito 5y ago
Every Apple product is a Tim Cook product. The only reason the iPod was so successful was because he had the foresight to buy up all air freight for the holiday season.
stetrain 5y ago
As far as we know it has the 12mp webcam, but not the other sensors and dot projector required for FaceID.
pwthornton 5y ago
I don’t think this was the monitor that Apple was hoping to release. Rather it was a monitor that they felt forced to release, since the state of Mac monitors is not great: https://betterdesigned.substack.com/p/the-market-needed-the-apple-studio?s=w https://betterdesigned.substack.com/p/the-market-needed-the-... The XDR and the upcoming mid range monitor seem to be what Apple wants to do, but there was a dearth of good, professional monitors for the Mac. The Studio Display is a nice work monitor for lots of people. More on that here: https://betterdesigned.substack.com/p/the-market-needed-the-apple-studio?s=w https://betterdesigned.substack.com/p/the-market-needed-the-...
- Kon-Peki 5y ago
  That's an interesting idea. > Like much in the technology space, monitors have become a race to the bottom price-wise. I suspect that this is because computers monitors are using the same aspect ratios as televisions. I was at Costco the other day looking at televisions, and the smallest TV they had was 55". So basically, computer monitors are using panels coming from fully depreciated manufacturing lines. The "innovation" in panel manufacturing is happening at 75" (if you look at what is on offer at Costco). That's completely useless for computer monitors. What Apple should do is diverge from the television market. Focus on a 3:2 or 4:3 aspect ratio - or something else. Give up the profit margin in the short term to build up an innovation pipeline that delivers high margins later on. Microsoft is building some laptops in 3:2, so Apple wouldn't even be the only one that is willing to buy them. The two of them together would pull the rest of the players along.

richbradshaw 5y ago

I haven't heard of that monitor, but looked it up as looked interesting - people say it has burn in, that it randomly turns off when using M1 Mac Mini, that you can't get full resolution on some Macs (though maybe they used wrong cables) and that can only update the firmware via Windows. I think this is where Apple 'just does stuff right' - you know if you buy the Studio Monitor that it will just work, having built in webcam is really nice, I presume it will charge a laptop etc. Price is steep though.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
All IPS displays have some "burn in" but it's not permanent. It's image persistence. It was also commented on a lot with the first IPS MacBooks. It's a bit annoying but not a serious issue like (or CRT) burn in. And we have a good existing way of preventing it, the screen saver. Even if it does happen it goes away in a couple hours. I think the studio display is really poor value though as previously you would get a whole computer included for pretty much the same price. The little extras really have to be in your corner to be worth it.
FireBeyond 5y ago
> that you can't get full resolution on some Macs This is one area that Apple definitely does not "just do stuff right". Display Stream Compression has been broken (for Intel Macs) - and by broken I don't mean 'suboptimal', but "completely nonfunctional" ever since the first beta of Big Sur, and is to this day - is a well-known, documented issue (many users, multiple GPUs, differing monitors), though Apple has yet to acknowledge it. My 2019 Mac Pro cheesegrater could, under Catalina, drive 4K monitors in 10 bit HDR at 144Hz. As soon as Big Sur was installed, your options became HDR@60Hz or SDR@95Hz. Turn off DSC in the monitor and you get the DP1.2 bandwidth.

philistine 5y ago

Apple would not introduce functionnality like Face ID in an update. That is not how they operate. As a matter of fact, I'm not so sure they have every single sensor required for Face ID in that display.

FireBeyond 5y ago
They just introduced Universal Control in an update, so it seems entirely how they might operate.
- philistine 5y ago
  Universal Control is a software feature. Face ID is irrevocably married to very specific hardware sensors, so it's a bridge too far in my opinion. And honestly, just like Macs don't have touch screens, it's possible Apple has deemed Face ID not useful on Macs.

systoll 5y ago

> I can get a lot more display for $1500 (MSI Prestige 5k2k) I have that monitor… but it’s 3/4 of the studio display in terms of pixel count.

samatman 5y ago
*for my gig as a software developer who does a bit of video The extra width is key, and the density and brightness are acceptable. The qualities are a vector more than a scalar, and someone less presbyopic and more AV focused might give those different weights. I recommend doing it as a side-by-side though, I did this with the monitor in question and the iPad Pro before choosing the former.

hughrr 5y ago

Agree with you. But in my case I use a MBP as a desktop 80% of the time so wanted a zero hassle monitor that will charge my MBP and take over some of the ancillary functions built into the laptop. It does that perfectly so I bought one and I love it already. The price is high but it's not unreasonable for the overall quality and it comes with decent service and support unlike all other vendors in the UK which hire third party repairers who are hell to deal with. Edit: really interested to see a teardown of this display appear. Not sure if anyone will do one though :(

mschuster91 5y ago
> Agree with you. But in my case I use a MBP as a desktop 80% of the time so wanted a zero hassle monitor that will charge my MBP and take over some of the ancillary functions built into the laptop. It does that perfectly so I bought one and I love it already. Sounds like the old Apple Thunderbolt Display... which is built a lot simpler than the new model. Basically it's nothing more [1] than a PSU and a TB controller exposing eDP to the panel and PCI Express to deal with network, firewire, USB and audio. Dead simple. The new one just reeks of needless over-engineering, similar to the Lightning-to-HDMI adapter [2]. Why the fuck does a monitor need an embedded OS?! > The price is high but it's not unreasonable for the overall quality and it comes with decent service and support unlike all other vendors in the UK which hire third party repairers who are hell to deal with. Oh yeah, that's a scourge on the industry and not exclusive to the UK. I had the "pleasure" of dealing with a carrier-bought Samsung tablet which as it turns out had a broken screen which made its bootloader refuse to boot. At the last second I read the T&C of the repair shop the carrier had contracted with, which stated that device erasure was mandatory which also meant I'd lose all content on the encrypted SD card. Had them bail out on literally the last second and send them back the device, so I could do the repair myself - at my own expense, to add insult to injury. [1]: https://de.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Thunderbolt+Display+Teardown/6525 https://de.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Thunderbolt+Display+Tea... [2]: https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/accessories/apple-lightning-av-adapter-teardown-reveals-arm-soc-256mb-ram/ https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/accessories/apple-lightning-av...
- hughrr 5y ago

nojito 5y ago

Every Apple product is a Tim Cook product. The only reason the iPod was so successful was because he had the foresight to buy up all air freight for the holiday season.

stetrain 5y ago

As far as we know it has the 12mp webcam, but not the other sensors and dot projector required for FaceID.

pwthornton 5y ago

I don’t think this was the monitor that Apple was hoping to release. Rather it was a monitor that they felt forced to release, since the state of Mac monitors is not great: https://betterdesigned.substack.com/p/the-market-needed-the-apple-studio?s=w https://betterdesigned.substack.com/p/the-market-needed-the-... The XDR and the upcoming mid range monitor seem to be what Apple wants to do, but there was a dearth of good, professional monitors for the Mac. The Studio Display is a nice work monitor for lots of people. More on that here: https://betterdesigned.substack.com/p/the-market-needed-the-apple-studio?s=w https://betterdesigned.substack.com/p/the-market-needed-the-...

Kon-Peki 5y ago
That's an interesting idea. > Like much in the technology space, monitors have become a race to the bottom price-wise. I suspect that this is because computers monitors are using the same aspect ratios as televisions. I was at Costco the other day looking at televisions, and the smallest TV they had was 55". So basically, computer monitors are using panels coming from fully depreciated manufacturing lines. The "innovation" in panel manufacturing is happening at 75" (if you look at what is on offer at Costco). That's completely useless for computer monitors. What Apple should do is diverge from the television market. Focus on a 3:2 or 4:3 aspect ratio - or something else. Give up the profit margin in the short term to build up an innovation pipeline that delivers high margins later on. Microsoft is building some laptops in 3:2, so Apple wouldn't even be the only one that is willing to buy them. The two of them together would pull the rest of the players along.