Apple Confirms Studio Display Will Work With PCs, But With Some Caveats

[CWallace]

I would. Just for the clean design, web cam, and speakers built in...but, because this is limited to 60hz, only one input so I can't easily switch between my pc and mac, it's a no go.

Well now you will be able to spend $2000-plus for one with 120Hz and MiniLED come WWDC.

It will likely still only have one input, though. 🙂

 

[timle8n1]

I’m curious to know why anyone would pick this over the cheaper New Dell (Alienware) QD-OLED : AW3423DW

Apart from design perhaps and accepting you need a separate camera and speakers

Its curved and has only 1400 vertical lines of resolution - given the Apple display has a built-in camera and what seems to be decent audio - that Dell display doesn't look very cheap at all.

I see a lot of people complain this monitor is expensive and then compare it to one that has ~1440p vertical resolution. The price seems fair to me for 5120x2880

 

[Danfango]

Ok bought it. Lead time is May 12 now. Ugh. Should have not hung around as long.

And I'm going to use it with a PC some of the time! Suck on that.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Honestly - if you're a PC user (or even a Hackintosh user), these will be overpriced and under delivered for your usages.

A simpler monitor that's just a display will be a much more versatile choice.

 

[bluespark]

It is planned obsolescence because in a year or two, Apple will use that A13 chip to ensure monitor no longer supports Mac devices requiring you to buy a new device. Or it will use its servers communication with A13 chip and make the monitor almost useless even for latest Macs. I’m confident the A13 chip is the bug they will use with time.
Why won’t Apple build a simple monitor?

It's baseless speculation to assume Apple plans to use the A13 to later gimp existing features. Apple has never done that and there is no reason to think it will do so here. Besides, this *is* a "simple monitor" in the sense that it will work as a display + webcam + speakers with a hardware connection alone. You'll be able to use those things twenty years from now. The A13 simply adds additional features such as CenterStage and "hey Siri" support. Those things were necessary to replicate the "iMac" feel, which is an obvious goal of this product, but are not connected to what anyone views as typical display functionality. If Apple later stops supporting those features, only those features will disappear.

 

[CWallace]

I’m curious to know why anyone would pick this over the cheaper New Dell (Alienware) QD-OLED : AW3423DW.

I can answer that, at least for myself, as my iMac 5K is identical to the Apple Studio Display in terms of being a monitor and I also will be getting an AW3423DW.

I use my iMac 5K 16 hours a day because I love the Retina display's sharpness so it's easy on my eyes for such long sessions.

I will use my AW3423DW solely for gaming because while I am sure it will have lovely colors and very deep blacks, it's low (in comparison) PPI makes text too blurry for me for daily use. I was considering using it as a replacement for my current gaming monitor - an ASUS ROG 27" QHD display - that I also use as a secondary monitor for my iMac for content I just glance at, but I'd rather just set up a dedicated gaming area for my Windows gaming PC and the AW3423DW.

 

[LonestarOne]

One could call it a targeted strike, but they could also call it gross and disrespectful. The best experience would be one that allows the customer to seamlessly bring their hardware to another platform. It's not always feasible, but in this case it is.

Yeah, if X-Box games will run on Sony Playstations, why shouldn’t I be able to hook an Apple display up to my Timex Sinclair 1000?

You have a great future as a government regulator.

 

[LonestarOne]

Ok bought it. Lead time is May 12 now. Ugh. Should have not hung around as long.

Do you have an Apple Store nearby? Retail stores get their units from a separate queue. It’s not uncommon for stores to have hardware available for next-day purchase when online delivery times are several weeks.

 

[dysamoria]

If you are getting a gaming PC, I would not suggest this monitor. For one, there is only one input and you really do not want to have to unplug and plug in on a regular basis. Second, whatever everyone thinks of this monitor, I think we all can agree that it is not a good gaming monitor. It just isn't built for that. Unfortunately since macOS does not do well with non-integer scaling we are all stuck between getting something like the Studio Display and sacrificing features present in gaming (or most for that matter) monitors or getting a 3rd party display and dealing with poor scaling within macOS.

It’s an issue of money, for me, and the priority is picture quality in Mac OS usage. I need to spend less, and that means using fewer items, even when the shared items won’t be ideal for some uses. I’m willing to skimp on the gaming side, of course.

And yes, I’m certainly concerned about the harm done in frequently plugging & unplugging connectors. No matter how much care is used, they’re never built as robust as they should be, so they WILL start to fail.

i had already considered that a gaming PC might be better off with a lower resolution display (it wouldn’t make sense to run any 3D game at retina resolution, and then there will be scaling and blur to reduce the resolution), but am I getting garbage with a PC display? I’ve had two Samsung displays die after less than ten years of use (a CRT and an LCD).

Buying the same thing repeatedly pisses me off, and doesn’t fit into my finances. That’s why I’m so averse to compact Apple computers (I’ve already had one fail due to thermals).

 

[4jasontv]

I of course mean that there was no informed speculation that the webcam will not work with Windows. Of course it will, and no one with any knowledge about the product has suggested otherwise.

Post #160 is a MR mod admitting the article you are responding to originally claimed otherwise.

Yeah, if X-Box games will run on Sony Playstations, why shouldn’t I be able to hook an Apple display up to my Timex Sinclair 1000?

You have a great future as a government regulator.

A more appropriate analogy would be if Xbox had issues on Sony TVs.

 

[4jasontv]

i had already considered that a gaming PC might be better off with a lower resolution display (it wouldn’t make sense to run any 3D game at retina resolution, and then there will be scaling and blur to reduce the resolution), but am I getting garbage with a PC display? I’ve had two Samsung displays die after less than ten years of use (a CRT and an LCD).

From what I have experienced the bottleneck is currently with DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1. You don't even have to go with the highest tier GPU to overload throughput. I can get a comfortable 100-130 FPS in Valhalla (4K Ultra Settings) with a 3080 but only with the use of display stream compression.

 

[bluespark]

Post #160 is a MR mod admitting the article you are responding to originally claimed otherwise.

The original version of this article (which MR corrected fairly quickly) was not based on any inside source, but rather was a completely implausible misinterpretation of a statement on Apple's website (which although not the clearest statement ever, did not at all say what was described). The bottom line is that what I said was correct: non one with any knowledge about the product has *ever* said the webcam would be inoperable with Windows.

At any rate, this is issue is moot at this point, since Apple has now specifically confirmed that the webcam will work.

 

[dysamoria]

From what I have experienced the bottleneck is currently with DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1. You don't even have to go with the highest tier GPU to overload throughput. I can get a comfortable 100-130 FPS in Valhalla (4K Ultra Settings) with a 3080 but only with the use of display stream compression.

I’d honestly be happy to have 1080p with a solid 30 FPS. That’s how far behind I am with my old 2008 PC.

 

[4jasontv]

The original version of this article (which MR corrected fairly quickly) was not based on any inside source, but rather was a completely implausible misinterpretation of a statement on Apple's website (which although not the clearest statement ever, did not at all say what was described). The bottom line is that what I said was correct: non one with any knowledge about the product has *ever* said the webcam would be inoperable with Windows.

At any rate, this is issue is moot at this point, since Apple has now specifically confirmed that the webcam will work.

Dude. You can't claim the text was misinterpreted as a defense that Apple didn't say it. They had months to phrase it correctly and they decided that was the best way to do it. IF the webcam performs worse on windows than Mac then it effectively doesn't work. We will see how well it works when it's released, but if the image quality is different, at any focal length/zoom/lighting/etc,, then they locked the webcam behind an $800 paywall.

 

[4jasontv]

I’d honestly be happy to have 1080p with a solid 30 FPS. That’s how far behind I am with my old 2008 PC.

You sound like you would enjoy r/patientgamer.

 

[bluespark]

Dude. You can't claim the text was misinterpreted as a defense that Apple didn't say it. They had months to phrase it correctly and they decided that was the best way to do it. IF the webcam performs worse on windows than Mac then it effectively doesn't work. We will see how well it works when it's released, but if the image quality is different, at any focal length/zoom/lighting/etc,, then they locked the webcam behind an $800 paywall.

Ah, so now we move the goalposts. I'm done discussing this with you.

 

[4jasontv]

Ah, so now we move the goalposts. I'm done discussing this with you.

What do you mean move the goalposts? It has to work on most devices. That means it must work with windows. Period. No exceptions since that is most devices. That's not moving the goal post that's barely reaching them.

 

[SenorWhyMe]

Thunderbolt doesn’t have the bandwidth to support faster refresh rates for 5K.

well i know my macbook air m1 can handle at least 5120x1440 at 120hz

 

[dysamoria]

You sound like you would enjoy r/patientgamer.

😅

 

[gund1234]

The lack of webcam access on Windows is a massive fail. Especially for such an expensive display.

Not designed to be used with Windows, Windows can always can work with Apple to develop drivers if they want.

 

[gund1234]

You are correct, it’s not new. Many companies make hardware tied to a single device. It's not a question of being new or even wrong. The behavior is simply frowned upon as wasteful. There is a reason governments mandate standards. Consumers should not be expected to replace accessories because they change platforms. At best it's poor environmental positioning, at worst it could be seen as an abuse of it's monopoly on MacOS hardware.

One could call it a targeted strike, but they could also call it gross and disrespectful. The best experience would be one that allows the customer to seamlessly bring their hardware to another platform. It's not always feasible, but in this case it is.

The best experience would be one that allows the customer to seamlessly bring their hardware to another platform.
So the expectation from Apple is to write drivers for all windows hardware and all linux distro's out there so that this monitor works with all the hardware ?

 

[gund1234]

In the "making lemons out of lemonade" department, at least with the Apple Studio Display, the input is not hard-wired into the monitor like the Apple Thunderbolt Display and all the Apple Cinema Displays.

Replacing cables in Thunderbolt Display is not that hard, I did it once, but yes it is good design.

 

[gund1234]

One would think, but this is Apple we're talking about. 😳

Shouldn't Microsoft be working with Apple to write drivers if they want windows system to be used with this monitor ?

 

[Danfango]

Shouldn't Microsoft be working with Apple to write drivers if they want windows system to be used with this monitor ?

Microsoft don’t really write drivers or get involved in it at all. They push this out to the hardware vendors and they submit them back again. Microsoft bundle anything required to bootstrap a basic PC and that’s it.

Which is why it’s always a **** show.

 

[4jasontv]

The best experience would be one that allows the customer to seamlessly bring their hardware to another platform.
So the expectation from Apple is to write drivers for all windows hardware and all linux distro's out there so that this monitor works with all the hardware ?

Who said anything about Linux? Why even mention that?

No one else has issues making monitors, cameras, and microphones work with Windows. Failure to launch with full Windows support comes across as either lazy, incompetent, and or greedy.