Pro Display XDR Nano vs. Standard

[chfilm]

Happy to report that my eyes have now got fully used to the text on white slight fuzziness and looks great again, so much so that I have now taken off dark mode I find light mode much nicer as it illuminates the keyboard in front of the screen at night so you can see what your actually typing!

Nice, so you say it’s really a matter of getting used to? I think when you have nothing to compare I can see how you could get used to it, but I wont be able to afford two of these monsters right away...

Also I think I have found a way to reduce glare by the lights in my back, so I'm leaning more and more towards the glossy ones right now. Final store visit is in order tomorrow.

 

[Philllllip]

Nice, so you say it’s really a matter of getting used to? I think when you have nothing to compare I can see how you could get used to it, but I wont be able to afford two of these monsters right away...

Also I think I have found a way to reduce glare by the lights in my back, so I'm leaning more and more towards the glossy ones right now. Final store visit is in order tomorrow.

Its not just spot lights/bulbs that are the problem with the glossy I find its as much your reflection onto the screen when your being illuminated by the screen plus the ambient reflections around the room on a dark background. NO problems with that on the nano period. We have grown used to them for many years now and its only when you no longer see them that you notice the huge difference. I walk into the room and every screen is full of distractions except the new unworldly pure black one

 

[Adult80HD]

Upgraded to 10.15.3 and it's still blue lol

Weird. Can you check and see if it's using the 5500M to drive the display? I think it has to be, but it's worth looking. Do you leave the laptop lid open or closed when using the display? It's odd that I didn't have the problem with mine.
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Its not just spot lights/bulbs that are the problem with the glossy I find its as much your reflection onto the screen when your being illuminated by the screen plus the ambient reflections around the room on a dark background. NO problems with that on the nano period. We have grown used to them for many years now and its only when you no longer see them that you notice the huge difference. I walk into the room and every screen is full of distractions except the new unworldly pure black one

THIS is exactly right. I hated being forced onto glossy screens back about 8 years ago when the laptops went all glossy, then the Thunderbolt Display was only glossy. I adapted--but its awesome to be back to a screen with no reflections at all!

 

[[maven]]

I'm pretty sure the "blue" mouse pointer is due to True Tone not being applied to the hardware cursor, at least that's what I surmised in my bug report...

 

[chfilm]

Its not just spot lights/bulbs that are the problem with the glossy I find its as much your reflection onto the screen when your being illuminated by the screen plus the ambient reflections around the room on a dark background. NO problems with that on the nano period. We have grown used to them for many years now and its only when you no longer see them that you notice the huge difference. I walk into the room and every screen is full of distractions except the new unworldly pure black one

Hm, I have VERY few reflections on my screen right now actually with my new light setup, bareeeeely noticable. Of course, I know the nano looks stunning in it's own way, but then it has also this major downside which are the white surfaces and the smudgy text, and it costs freakin 2000 € more for two of them, only to get rid of some MINOR reflections? not sure

IMG_2564.MOV

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it's only visible in the video viewer which is usually not black

 

[Adult80HD]

I'm pretty sure the "blue" mouse pointer is due to True Tone not being applied to the hardware cursor, at least that's what I surmised in my bug report...

Ahhh! I have TrueTone turned off; I edit photos and I don't like my colors changing based on the mood of the computer. @mason.smith1975, try turning off TrueTone and see if the blue goes away.

 

[Bradleyone]

Also I think I have found a way to reduce glare by the lights in my back,

I've been catching up on this thread and I don't think you mentioned how you solved the "3 point glare"...

Was it a hexagonal shaped lamp shade? Or an antique folding dressing screen?

Perhaps a shade suspended from the ceiling? Or an extra high back on your chair?

And did the girl with the dragon tattoo have anything to do with it?

The suspense is killing me!

 

[chfilm]

I've been catching up on this thread and I don't think you mentioned how you solved the "3 point glare"...

Was it a hexagonal shaped lamp shade? Or an antique folding dressing screen?

Perhaps a shade suspended from the ceiling? Or an extra high back on your chair?

And did the girl with the dragon tattoo have anything to do with it?

The suspense is killing me!

To ease your excitement - I went to the store again today and after that final visit, I canceled my Nano order and went with glossy. I think I couldn't stand the micro-nano noise and would rather invest the saved 2k for two displays for a SDI breakout box and SSDs. Just not worth it, even though it does look amazing on video and images. Sadly it means I have until march 6th to contemplate my decision now

 

[Adult80HD]

To ease your excitement - I went to the store again today and after that final visit, I canceled my Nano order and went with glossy. I think I couldn't stand the micro-nano noise and would rather invest the saved 2k for two displays for a SDI breakout box and SSDs. Just not worth it, even though it does look amazing on video and images. Sadly it means I have until march 6th to contemplate my decision now

You're going to now belabor that decision, I can tell from what you've been posting here. ?

 

[chfilm]

You're going to now belabor that decision, I can tell from what you've been posting here. ?

It has already started lol.
I hate that the wait is so long, it really gives too much time to overthink it. But hell, I really think the up-spending is not worth it in my case.

 

[mason.smith1975]

Ahhh! I have TrueTone turned off; I edit photos and I don't like my colors changing based on the mood of the computer. @mason.smith1975, try turning off TrueTone and see if the blue goes away.

I turned off True Tone/Night Shift and the blue goes away. Though I had True Tone/Night Shift on in Apple Display 500 nits mode and the cursor isn't blue.

 

[Mutex]

Hello all. I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I am a long time user (since January 2008) of dual 30" Apple Cinema Displays (for general use, software development, and Aperture/Photoshop/Lightroom).

Generally, I don't like glossy screens.

I have had both the XDR standard and nano displays, connected to a variety of computers: 2019 Mac Pro, 2019 16" Macbook Pro, and a 2018 Mac mini (with Blackmagic EGPU).

I expected I'd be a nano guy, all the way. I'm surprised that, for me, the standard display is much better. Yes, the nano XDR kills reflections. The price is an overall haziness that costs an additional thousand U.S. dollars and is much more finicky (sneeze? inadvertently splatter salad dressing? etc., etc.).

So. Reflections and all, I'm going dual XDR with the standard glass.

 

[chfilm]

Hello all. I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I am a long time user (since January 2008) of dual 30" Apple Cinema Displays (for general use, software development, and Aperture/Photoshop/Lightroom).

Generally, I don't like glossy screens.

I have had both the XDR standard and nano displays, connected to a variety of computers: 2019 Mac Pro, 2019 16" Macbook Pro, and a 2018 Mac mini (with Blackmagic EGPU).

I expected I'd be a nano guy, all the way. I'm surprised that, for me, the standard display is much better. Yes, the nano XDR kills reflections. The price is an overall haziness that costs an additional thousand U.S. dollars and is much more finicky (sneeze? inadvertently splatter salad dressing? etc., etc.).

So. Reflections and all, I'm going dual XDR with the standard glass.

What swayed you away from the nano?
I went to the store again yesterday and I also stand by my decision to go with glossy. The tiny, smudgy looking noise on the nano is unbearable to my eyes.

 

[Mutex]

Hello chfilm. I've been interested in your impressions on this matter for the past few weeks.

The thing that swayed me away from the nano was the lack of resolution that the nano finish produces. I would describe the overall look as hazy. It does not have the crispness of the standard display. Nevermind the nano finish costs much more and is apparently fragile (ONLY Apple's cloth to clean).

This surprises me, as my twin, twelve year old Apple Cinema Displays have a sharp yet durable matte finish. I also own a Dell P2415Q. Same thing.

I wonder if "Not Invented Here" bit the XDR design team. They seemed to reject more standard matte treatments to come up with an expensive and fragile "nano" etched finish. I'm guessing there is a market out there that needs the nano's level of anti-reflectivity; I just wish there were a Goldie Locks matte alternative for the XDR.

 

[chfilm]

This surprises me, as my twin, twelve year old Apple Cinema Displays have a sharp yet durable matte finish. I also own a Dell P2415Q. Same thing.

Yeah we were discussing this at the store yesterday for several hours, the issue that I find with the nano coating is as opposed to regular matte coatings (which I also don't like but find my eye gets used to them quickly) is that the noisy, smudgy look that it generates is not like a b/w noise but like a color noise. It's like thousands of tiny prisms that break the light into RGB and therefore it looks like you have a fatty finger smudge on the display when you look at text on white.

The overall softness doesnt bother me at all tbh. But ok, I have made my decision and stand by it now.

 

[simonnelli]

How are your XDRs in uniformity? Mine has a dark top right corner (confirmed by measuring with a colorimeter).

Apple wasn’t helpful (even with AC+) and said I should just return it and order a new one. I expected to be eligible for a exchange in advance to minimize downtime.

I’m also not so sure about the nano coating as it is indeed the case that the viewing angles are not that stable. This issue is accentuated by the large size of the display.

see following for measurements:https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/xdr-displays-uniformity.2220317/post-28200238

 

[RyanFlynn]

Apple Business called me and said they had a nano texture on hold for me just in case I want to return my standard screen. I’m heading that way now. I’ll post pictures in a little bit

 

[RyanFlynn]

here it is at my office desk

 

[Philllllip]

View attachment 893084
View attachment 893085
here it is at my office desk

Hi, So did you change your glossy for the nano?

 

[RyanFlynn]

Hi, So did you change your glossy for the nano?

I did.

 

[simonnelli]

How’s the visual uniformity on a solid grey (for example a 50% solid grey wallpaper)?

 

[Philllllip]

So which do you prefer? Loving my Nano. I did the solid grey test and all looks perfect to me

 

[Mutex]

Now I have twin XDR displays with the standard (glossy) finish. I'm adjusting to the reflectivity of the displays (I prefer the matte finish of the 30" Cinema Displays I used for twelve years, but a matte yet hi-res XDR finish is not available).

Despite the reflectivity of the standard XRD finish, I prefer it to the funky-hazy, expensive, high-maintenance nano XDR I tried.

My use case is software development and general use.

 

[Coyote2006]

I've finally saw the XDR standard in an Apple store. Reflection doesn't seem to be a problem when the content of the screen is bright (like a word document). The two XDRs were connected to MBP 16" which both where quite hot. I talked to a sales person who's also has a 16" at home connected to a 34" LG 5K2K. He admitted that his 16"s fans would run all the time at a hearable level.

I asked him about the XDR nano and he said they'll never get one as the surface would be too problematic regarding costumers touching it and would most probable destroy it this way. What a bummer ...

I'd say that the quality of the monitor is great, but for "normal" use, means not color sensitive work, an LG 38" like I have is the much better choice.The XDR is just too expensive for non color sensitive work.

Also the stand is nonsens. It doesn't help you to adjust the monitor horizontally and if you move the monitor up and down the distance changes. A vesa solution if by far a better solution here.

 

[kaans]

Well this thread was a confusing read If I had infinite money, I know I'd 100% order the Nano now - I've been a fanatic of Dell anti-glare for some years - However, recently I've been shedding all my fanatical habits

Unrelated but similar issue, recently got a prescription polarized sunglass just for kicks, I don't use sunglasses but just wanted to have/try one, the glare from the back of the lens just drove me insane

I even have an anti-glare film on my iPhone

But the glossy one just seems like it's better value, and I think really high brightness just cancels out the glares?

I've been a day person lately, and all my environments get extreme daylight, so it makes the decision just harder

The glossy one is immediately available at $4550 in Turkey, which is unbelievable, it's probably because they didn't bump it 20% up yet because of the FX fluctuations - The nano one is proportionally priced, yet the wait time is 4-8 weeks

While the XDR is super expensive, I think the resale value will be high too, so just because of this reason, I'm thinking about the glossy $4550 one, I'll use it, hopefully love it, and hope I can sell it for ~$3200 when the time comes - I believe the Nano will depreciate in value much more

The third option is just keeping my P2415Q and keeping things minimal

I'm just so confused, and I want to make a decision before they jack the prices back up