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Apple Rumored to Launch Lower-Priced 24-Inch and 27-Inch External Displays: What to Expect
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Yeah, at that point I'd have to hook up speakers and a webcam, which is exactly the clutter that brought me over to buying an iMac in the first place. It's very cool, though, that this thing exists! I could definitely see it being a great way to repurpose an old iMac to use with a newer machine.
The fly in the ointment is that a 5k 120Hz monitor would consume Thunderbolt bandwidth to the tune of >42Gbps even just with 8 bit color and >53Gbps with 10 bit color: Neither is possible through a single Thunderbolt 4 connection (40Gbps maximum), so the only way out would be lossy compression (or a dual-cable connection which is practically certainly not what Apple will be going for!) and I'm not sure I'd prefer that over uncompressed 60Hz.
Apple makes a significant amount of money from BTO upgrades as their pricing is significantly more than their cost:
- Upgrading from an 8c/14c M1 PRO to a 10c/24g M1 MAX is $500 and a 10c/32g M1 MAX is $700.
- Upgrading from 16GB to 32GB or from 32GB to 64GB is $400. And to get 64GB, you also need to spend $500 or $700 on an M1 MAX.
- Upgrading from 512GB of storage runs $200 (1TB) to $2400 (8TB).
Yes, Apple could start the iMac Pro with 10c/24g M1 MAX, 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD for $3499. But why do that and limit the market when they could start at $2399 for an 8c/14g M1 PRO, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD and then let the people who want more SoC, more RAM and/or more storage pay for it?
To do anything else just limits the market for the model and increases the chances it will not be updated regularly (or, like the Intel model - at all) because it does not generate sufficient RoI.
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I'm amazed at all the people still using ACDs. It's a testament to good design, I guess, but screen technology on even mid-range Dell monitors these days is so much better than 10+ year old monitors. That said, I would gladly replace my 3 year old 4k Dell monitor with an Apple one, for aesthetics. ?
Is this why MacOS still does not support DisplayPort MST for daisy chaining monitors or using MST hubs, despite MST being part of the DisplayPort standard for the past several years? Some USB-C docks with multiple monitor outputs are unable to provide extended desktops in MacOS because the dock uses MST. It is definitely not a Mac hardware issue because Intel Macs booted into Windows will support MST just fine.
Would my 2018 15” MacBook Pro support 2 of the 5K displays? I have a 5K iMac (2015) too but lately I find I can’t be bothered switching between 2 computers and I’m considering just using the MBP docked with 2 of these when they come out. The iMac is lovely but it’s just not really required anymore and just a hassle to try and sync my work, even if I put most of it on a portable T5 drive.
I recall many moons ago (2004?) the 30" Apple Cinema Display was originally priced at $3299. Back then that was a big bite. The price came down to $1799 just before it was discontinued. I picked up a good used one for something like $1200. I sure hope the 32" HDR comes down in price. Or does that never happen in the land of Apple anymore?
Unlikely. Specially when the XDR display (I assume that’s the one you mean) is exclusively targeted at professionals and businesses, to whom those sort of numbers are chump change.
Starting at $1999 (stand is $99). We think you’re gonna love it.
Exactly my situation too! Especially if the M series evolves fast, which I suspect it will, I'd rather update my computer more often than my display and not feel as 'locked in' to both.
I seriously wonder if rumors of “external monitors” has any truth at all. Other than the $5K Pro display. Everything else just sounds like it’s being sourced to go into iMacs…
5K displays are not for watching movies, they are for editing movies. A 5K display allows a user to display a 4K video in a full-size window while also having room for editing menus.
Double Apple’s TB displays over here.
Still as bright, sharp, fully functional as the day they were bought eons ago.
All daisy chained through a single TB port on an iMac 2020 (via a TB3 -> TB2 adapter for the first chain)… lots of extra USBA ports available like that.
When things like this work, I can’t think of a simpler better solution… I’m ready for the next version of it all.
that was an issue. until possibly now, imacs were never truly good enough for this kind of work. you either had to get the trash trash can mac pro (2013), the imac pro (2017), or the mac pro 2019. from 2015 to 2022?, the 5k iMac was only good enough for low end work. i have to assume that there were many people buying the 27in iMac simply because it was the best option at the time because the 21in was just way too small.
Apple uses DSC on the W5700 cards to connect to the XDR in 6k resolution:
"...
- Three Apple Pro Display XDRs with resolutions of 6016 x 3384 at 60Hz connected to any three of the following locations: Bus 0, Bus 1, and either the top* or rear Thunderbolt 3 ports on your Mac Pro. Connect one display for each location.
Use the Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module with your Mac Pro (2019) - Apple Support
Learn about the different display setups you can use with your MPX Module on your Mac Pro (2019).
Each TB port has a DisplayPort 1.4 stream on it in that 3 monitor set up above. DSC on each.
If uplift to DP v1.4 (HBR3 ) and turn on DSC ( chart normally hidden on link below. click to show compression chart)
Go to the HBR3 column and go down to the 5k 120Hz. It is supported.
DisplayPort - Wikipedia
Thunderbolt 4 most certainly supports transport DP v1.4 . Some TBv3 controllers did.
"... The big difference is that Titan Ridge adds support for allowing two DisplayPort 1.4 streams to be encapsulated into the TB3 connection, ... "
TBv4 is more about not 'under implementing' TBv3 than anything else. ( more minimal standards have to comply with).
( I wouldn't bet on Apple backporting 5K 120Hz support onto an existing AMD GPU or even M1. )
DSC is visually lossless . I suspect there are some "princess and the pea" color correction folks who will only touch completely 4:4:4 video , 10bit color (or better) , and totally uncompressed, but most folks aren't going to be looking for corner cases. DSC goes "up to" 3:1 compression. Only really need here is 2:1 to fit ( 54/2 = 27Gbps )
IMHO, I bigger constraint is more likely to be Apple's display engine where probably won't get more than 2 5k 120Hz going. ( at least on the single die implementations in M1 series generation. )