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I don't see how Apple is going to address the market problem. Macs have very high quality displays. There is nothing on the market even remotely as good, for Mac users to plug into.

The iMac displays are basically what the market needs, but Apple would need to charge almost as much as iMac when positioning them against other displays on the market. Apple practically gives away the Mac part of the iMac when you start looking at prices.

If a 27" LG UltraFine is $1,299, what do you think Apple entry would cost? More than that.
But a 27" iMac starts at $1,799. It's only $500 more to get an entire Mac. And if Apple were to charge more than LG, that gap would be even less. How could Apple position a hypothetical 27" display at $1,499 and start the iMac at $1,799? $300 for the Mac portion?

I don't doubt that this is part of what has kept Apple from putting their display technology into standalone consumer products.
 
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True it is expensive but when you look at the cost breakdown, they match up with iMacs.

$1200 for 27" LG Ultra Fine
$699 for Mac mini

Entry level 27 " iMac = $1799
That almost makes it seem like a bargain for the iMac, except where that Mac Mini now has an M1..the goal post has moved a bit.
 
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More than a month ago, LG's 24-inch 4K UltraFine display was removed from Apple's online store across Europe. Now, the higher-end 5K, 27-inch UltraFine display has also been removed from Apple's online store in several European countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK.

lg-5k-display-listing.png


Interestingly, both the 4K and 5K UltraFine displays remain listed and available for order in the United States. The 5K UltraFine display retails for $1,300 and offers one Thunderbolt 3 port and three USB-C ports. The display features up to 500 nits of brightness with a 5,120 x 2,880 resolution and P3 wide color gamut, and offers built-in stereo speakers, a camera, and a microphone.

Apple is reportedly working on a new lower-priced external monitor, according to Bloomberg. The new monitor would be offered alongside the current high-end $4,999, 32-inch Pro Display XDR. According to Bloomberg, the new monitor would be cheaper and aimed at mainstream consumers, rather than the professional market that the Pro Display XDR is aimed at.

(Thanks, Colin!)

Update: According to MacGeneration, a soon-to-be-implemented regulation across the European Union and the UK is the cause of the display's disappearance from Apple's online store in those regions.

Article Link: 27-inch LG UltraFine 5K Display Removed From Online Apple Stores Across Europe
New EU regulations for energy consumption in computer displays, televisions and electronic signs will come into effect on March 1st 2021. You can find the info on these regulations here:
 
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M1 iMacs are going to be very interesting indeed. It may be tempting to get one instead of a separate monitor for my home office that needs a Retina-caliber desktop display (I will never go back to non-Retina/high-DPI, ever!)

If the value-to-$ ratio holds relative to what we saw with the first generation MacBook Air and Mac mini, a 27" M1 (or M1X or whatever) iMac is probably going to be sick performance-wise, and may actually end up being cheaper than current Intel-based iMacs...
 
FWIW (which will be nothing, I accept that!) I think the LG monitors are really nice. I have a 4k and two 5k monitors. I purchased the 4k first and was extremely impressed with the image quality, so when I needed another monitor for my second setup I tried the 5k monitor. I have since purchased a second 5k monitor at around the same time the XDR display was released. I was quite tempted to go for the XDR but for me the massive drawback of the XDR is not the price, its the fact it requires an external FaceTime camera, speakers, mic, etc. I get that its a 'pro' display, but for me the 5k display provides a really superb image and also adds the FaceTime camera, speakers and microphone, all bundled into a single display which connects and charges your laptop with one cable.

I actually use the BlackMagic eGPU on one of my 5k's with a Mac mini. The second 5k is used with my 13" MacBook Pro and I use a BlackMagic eGPU Pro. The way all this hardware just seamlessly integrates and functions with Mac OS is the real winner for me. I blitz through graphical work with the eGPU, when my laptop is docked (I can definitely recommend the Henge Dock) its basically like having an iMac Pro! I don't need to worry about drivers, settings, compatibility, etc, it just works.

For me the aesthetics are really good, the black plastic doesn't bother me, the displays are clean, uncluttered and (IMHO) stylish, but that's just me!

The only issue I have always hoped would be fixed with a firmware update is that strange volume control on the displays, the volume is either too quiet or suddenly too loud, with no fine granular control in-between.

I'm interested to see what Apple come up with next. Clearly the future is Apple Silicon, and so at some point I will have to retire the eGPU's and hopefully this will coincide with better Apple GPU's and maybe a new display.
 
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32-inch monitors are too big. I hope they just put out an Apple display that is 27-inch, 5K resolution.
I concur that 32-inch is too big, at least when there are no other options in the product line. I still tote a 20” CD around for its portability on remote jobs. 27“ is about as big as you can go for that use and the heft of Apple’s displays makes even that a difficult proposition. 30” and up means it basically has to live at your permanent workstation. But If you are plunking yourself at a desk for 12 hours daily and absolutely need the screen real estate, and absolutely need a higher end panel for color work, AND absolutely need Apple’s aesthetic, then you are who the Pro Display is already made for.
 
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