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Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

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Re: Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

#231

Post by atonse »

AdamN wrote: post #11
alexarena wrote: post #9

Sad, but not surprising to see Apple discontinue the Pro Display XDR. Hard to go back to 5K once you’ve used 6K.

The pixel density is the same I believe - I guess their theory is that 5K is more fungible than a large 6K display since people looking for more real estate can daisy chain the 5K displays.

I have two 27" 5k displays (both more than 5 years old, so they're not HDR or 120Hz).

I know I'm privileged but my biggest issue with them isn't the HDR or 120Hz. It's that the seam between them causes me to not be able to use that "middle" real estate.

So I was side-eyeing a 6k display cuz it would have most of the benefits of a dual 4k but more real estate and more flexibility in windowing.

The curved displays also look quite promising (like the Neo G2), but not feeling like spending money when I have two perfectly good monitors that already work.

Re: Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

#232

Post by delta_p_delta_x »

nntwozz wrote: post #116
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. That MSI monitor was unveiled at CES 2026, alongside several other monitors that use the same panel, such as the LG 27GM950-B.

I just want to know who's naming these things, it's been like this forever. Why can't it be something simple?

> Why can't it be something simple?

Because monitors aren't simple. There are dozens of axes along which they can be scaled.

They have resolution (1080p FHD, 1440p QHD, 4K, 5K, 6K, 8K), aspect ratio (16:9, 8:5, 4:3, 3:2, 21:9, 32:9), refresh rate (60 Hz, 75 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz, 165 Hz, 240 Hz, 360 Hz, 480 Hz, 1 kHz, and of course adaptive refresh rate tech including G-Sync), colour quality (depth and accuracy), contrast ratios for HDR, panel technology (LCD-TN, LCD-IPS, LCD-VA, OLED, QD-OLED, WOLED, and now RGB stripe OLED), backlight technology (CCFL, edge-lit LED, miniLED, microLED), connectivity (HDMI/DP, USB-B, USB-C, DP alt mode, Thunderbolt, 3.5 mm, and KVMs).

It's very hard to stuff all this information in one neat model number.

On the consumer's part it makes sense to understand these features and what is necessary for one's use case, filter monitors by said features, and note down the model numbers that satisfy the requirements.

Re: Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

#234

Post by lejalv »

thiagoperes wrote: post #4

I got the Kuycon G32P and it’s an incredible alternative. 32in + 6K for less than 2k$ Also works great with other sources like an Xbox I used a Pro Display XDR as my daily driver at work and the difference is minimal

I can attest to the greatness of the Kuycon G32P; <1.5k€ in my case.

Re: Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

#235

Post by johnwalkr »

amluto wrote: post #65

> Featuring extensive connectivity to support a variety of workflows, Studio Display XDR includes two Thunderbolt 5 ports and two USB-C ports. That is not extensive connectivity. That’s the bare minimum one might credibly expect. If I were to consider buying a display like this, I would want at least two and preferably more inputs and at least a DisplayPort input. Not everything in the world is USB-C, especially when…

If I had to guess, with so many devices (speakers, microphone, webcam) on top of any external ones you connect, having multiple inputs especially one that can't possibly connect your computer to those devices, is virtually guaranteeing that some users will complain that it doesn't work. I believe there is a similar reason why usb-c hubs rarely have downstream usb-c ports. When you do find one, they always have several reviews complaining that it doesn't work with 3 hard drives and 2 monitors plugged in.

Re: Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

#236

Post by MoonWalk »

Aurornis wrote: post #187
praseodym wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hardware is great, but the software is lacking. macOS only supports resolution-based scaling which makes anything but the default 200% pixel scaling mode look bad. For example, with a 27" 4K display many users will want to use 150% or 175% scaling to get enough real estate, but the image will look blurry because macOS renders at a higher resolution and then downscales to the 4K resolution of the screen. Both Wind…

> For example, with a 27" 4K display 4K pixels is not enough at 27" for Retina scaling. Apple uses 5K panels in their 27" displays for this reason. There are several very good 27" 5K monitors on the market now around $700 to $800. Not as cheap as the 4K monitors but you have to pay for the pixel density. There are also driver boards that let you convert 27" 5K iMacs into external monitors. I don't recommend this ligh…

If your Mac goes bad it can be worthwile. My friend gave me his pre-Retina 27" iMac, part of the circa-2008 generation of Macs whose GPUs all failed.

I removed all the computing hardware but kept the Apple power supply, instead of using the cheapo one that came with the LCD driver board I bought. I was able to find the PWM specs for the panel, and installed a cheap PWM module with its own frequency & duty-cycle display to drive it and control brightness.

The result is my daily desktop monitor. Spent way too much time on it, but it works great!

Re: Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

#237

Post by kbolino »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #228
MagicMoonlight wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So apple is just selling generic white labelled slop as a $5000 premium display?

> So apple is just selling generic white labelled slop There are only ~5 flat-panel manufacturers worldwide: AU Optronics, Innolux, LG Display, Samsung Display, Sharp Display, and recently BOE Display. Apple has to use one of these, even for its bespoke, notched, curved iPhone/iPad displays. This new 5K 2304-zone panel was developed by LG Display, and is not 'generic white-labelled slop' by any means. It is an extrem…

The Apple monitor will likely have better speakers, and I'm not even sure the others will have microphones at all. Apple also does a better job with color accuracy/consistency, at least historically. There's still a sizeable markup, but it's not entirely for nothing.

Back in the day (~15 years ago), when 4K monitors were unheard of and even Apple's high-end displays were still 1440p, you could get a bottom-dollar monitor using one of their panels (e.g. Yamakasi Catleap Q270) for about a third of the price. However, it came with no amenities, a single connector (dual-link DVI only), a questionably legal power cable, and no built-in scaling. The vendors, presumably to prevent refunds, even asked for your graphics card model before selling it to you, because it wouldn't work with low-end cards. Oh, and there were very few in the U.S., so you were typically getting them shipped straight from abroad, customs duties and all.

We've definitely come a long way.

Re: Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

#238

Post by chocochunks »

badc0ffee wrote: post #202
praseodym wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hardware is great, but the software is lacking. macOS only supports resolution-based scaling which makes anything but the default 200% pixel scaling mode look bad. For example, with a 27" 4K display many users will want to use 150% or 175% scaling to get enough real estate, but the image will look blurry because macOS renders at a higher resolution and then downscales to the 4K resolution of the screen. Both Wind…

I would love to see examples of this. I have a MBP and a 24" 4K Dell monitor connected via HDMI. I use all kinds of scaled resolutions and I've never noticed anything being jagged or blurry. Meanwhile in Linux the scaling is generally good, but occasionally I'll run into some UI element that doesn't scale properly, or some application that has a tiny mouse cursor. And then Windows has serious problems with old apps -…

This [1] has good examples. 24" 4K is on the smaller side and so less noticeable than on larger displays like 27" or 32".

[1] https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays2/

Re: Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

#239

Post by szmarczak »

craftkiller wrote: post #225
szmarczak wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current gen OLEDs almost don't wear out (saying this as an OLED owner). To see the wear you need to have a completely black room and the wear is unnoticeable unless you're specifically looking for it. You don't need to spend 3k, 1k is enough.

Ah, you should update wikipedia then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED#Lifespan

> In 2016, LG Electronics reported an expected lifetime of 100,000 hours

23 years for an older generation OLED seems fine to me, I don't understand the problem here?

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