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Apple Stores Can Upgrade a Studio Display's Stand After Purchase
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Good to hear. But probable that the charges for it will be high!!
They do vote with their wallet. Apple’s marketshare is around 9% which means the vast majority of folks aren’t letting Apple fool them. With sales of Macs in any given year expected to be somewhere above 20 million with 3 million or so of those being desktops AND most of those desktops sold having monitors already attached, it starts to become clearer how many of these monitors they expect to sell a year. The percentage of people in the WORLD they have to fool to be happy with sales is quite small indeed!
From what I can see maybe these silver end caps at the pivot point of the hinge come off revealing a bolt which passes from one side to the other. Unscrew this and the stand comes off leaving part attached (just like splitting a hinge) Then the other variants of mount/stand can be attached.
While fine print on Apple's website says Studio Display stands and VESA mount adapters are "not interchangeable," customers can visit an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider to have their Studio Display reconfigured after purchase.
For example, if a customer bought a Studio Display with the standard tilt-adjustable stand and later decides they want to use a VESA mount adapter, they can book a service appointment with an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider and have one installed, according to internal documentation obtained by MacRumors.
Likewise, if a customer bought a Studio Display with a tilt-adjustable stand and later decides they want both a tilt- and height-adjustable stand, an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider can accommodate this request. Pricing will vary based on the region, the type of stand or mount being installed, and the cost of labor.
The standalone stands and VESA mount upgrade kits are only available to certified technicians and are not sold through Apple's online store.
Studio Display orders began arriving to customers last week. Key features of the display include a 27-inch screen size, 5K resolution, a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera with Center Stage, a six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio, one Thunderbolt 3 port, and three USB-C ports. Pricing starts at $1,599 in the United States for a model with standard glass and a tilt-adjustable stand, with several upgrade options available.
Article Link: Apple Stores Can Upgrade a Studio Display's Stand After Purchase
The two subjects aren't independent - and having everybody working in silos is part of the problem. ...a company the size of Apple should have a few people who know enough of both engineering and design to set sensible design constraints. Like - minimum basic functionality required to do the job (...you know, like tilt/swivel/height adjustment on the stand, enough space to accommodate standard connectors so that power leads can be extended/shortened if needed, and easily replaced when damaged, adequate strain relief on cables) because those Apple designers will pretty obviously go for "looks cool" over "works well" every time.
...which is why the basic stand on most displays is designed to hide the VESA mounting holes.
But, for pity's sake, VESA is just 4 threaded bolt holes. Just fill them with some nice stainless steel-headed bolts if they're not used.
Right, they don’t focus on very many people at all. And, with the way the market changes so rapidly, the folks they are focusing on today is very likely not even the folks they focused on 10 years ago. At the level that Macs sell, a longtime user looking for a cheap Apple type monitor is of the same importance to Apple as someone that’s never used a Mac before, has a bucket of money, and loves the price/performance/features of a Mac Studio and Studio Display combination.
For anything Mac related? A few million, yeah. There hasn’t been a year yet where Apple’s crossed the 50 million level for Macs and for most of their history they’ve been at 20 million or lower. iPads and iPhones don’t require Macs, that’s why those sales are free to soar into the hundreds of millions.
I don’t think they’ve ever focused on anything that doesn’t appear to suit them and their bottom line. If a user is IN the group they’re focusing on, though, it may feel to that user that they’re focusing on JUST what that user wants, and that’s by design.
When one considers that, even the folks that WON’T buy the Studio Display states “having that Apple look” (looking cool) as high on their list of requirements, it seems like it’s the right call!
The level of outrage is because people have been waiting for Apple to release a new consumer monitor for a long time, and the product they release doesn't compare to or compete with the display market at all. It's a disgrace, and the reasons for their choices are poor.
Apple never really competed in the consumer display place though and the professional/high-end display market has went considerably "up-market" without Apple's help for several years.
Unique super-high native resolutions (such as 5K to 8K) and/or high-end P3/Adobe color coverage and/or high refresh rate have comfortably lived in the 1000+ USD market. I would consider anything over 500 dollars or there about to be firmly NOT consumer.
Unique super-high native resolutions (such as 5K to 8K) and/or high-end P3/Adobe color coverage and/or high refresh rate have comfortably lived in the 1000+ USD market. I would consider anything over 500 dollars or there about to be firmly NOT consumer.
Not if they don't buy the display because it lacks other features on their list of requirements, no.
Exactly. The LG Ultrafine 5k came out in, what, 2016? Apple really just needed to put the LG innards in a nice aluminium box. The "innovation" that made it possible was Thunderbolt 3.
...the important bit of the Studio Display - the display panel - sounds like it is still an excellent display - the problem is the "still" bit because it has only progressed very slightly since 2017 and is now 5 years closer to being obsolete (...with mini-LED and other tech in the pipeline). It just doesn't feel like an investment for the next 5-10 years the way it would have done in 2017. Stupid design decisions (and I don't know why so many people here are prepared to defend stupid) like the stand and fixed mains cable don't help.
The other source of outrage is the fact that - up until last month - you could get almost the same display/audio/webcam functionality with a Mac thrown in for $200 more - and that's what a lot of potential customers are coming from, so they're being hit with the past mistake of buying an all-in-one (although Apple didn't have a viable alternative of the time) and the choice of re-buying almost the same display for $1600 or "downgrading" to a 4k screen.
If you were looking at a top-end iMac then its not so bad - a M1 Max Studio + Studio display is pretty much the same price as a top-end 2020 iMac - but you're still not looking at much of an upgrade in display quality if you were hoping for a larger screen or miniLED.
That could be an effect of the relative failure of 5k in the wider market and the subsequent cost of 5k panels, but that's an explanation, not an excuse: where's the 24" iMac with M1 Pro, and the matching 24" display to double the screen estate of the iMac? Where's the list of "supported" 3rd party displays that Apple have tested?
It's worth looking up the MS Surface Studio - you don't want one because the processor spec is pathetic for the price, but imagine something like that screen coupled to an Apple Silicon processor. Why isn't Apple doing stuff like that?
The Studio Display competes in the 5K USB-C/TB4 display marketplace though and the floor of that market is 1299 MSRP in 2022.
The sufficiently "innovative" product is on its way. It seems like Apple already has a "Studio Display Pro" planned and may unveil it in June at WWDC with the Apple Silicon Mac Pro. The rumored specs/technology would suggest that it the MSRP is more like 2599-2999 if it were packaged similar to the existing Studio Display.
Of course, people will be outraged over the price but someone on the internet is going to be a whiny baby...what's new...
I think the Studio Display will make a lot more sense when they add that middle-grade product (and perhaps update the XDR too). They needed a big external display for the macbook-desktop or studio dev/creator crowd where a nice, large, well-integrated Apple display will improve their workflow but the Studio Display Pro and especially Pro Display XDR were complete overkill and/or price prohibitive.
Apple doesn't compete well on price in low-volume product segments. Displays are just going to be like that for Apple. I've been waiting for years to spend Studio Display type money for an iMac 5K screen and they finally offered the product. I'm good with it. Others? Dude, you're getting a Dell. ?♂️
The sufficiently "innovative" product is on its way. It seems like Apple already has a "Studio Display Pro" planned and may unveil it in June at WWDC with the Apple Silicon Mac Pro. The rumored specs/technology would suggest that it the MSRP is more like 2599-2999 if it were packaged similar to the existing Studio Display.
Of course, people will be outraged over the price but someone on the internet is going to be a whiny baby...what's new...
I think the Studio Display will make a lot more sense when they add that middle-grade product (and perhaps update the XDR too). They needed a big external display for the macbook-desktop or studio dev/creator crowd where a nice, large, well-integrated Apple display will improve their workflow but the Studio Display Pro and especially Pro Display XDR were complete overkill and/or price prohibitive.
Apple doesn't compete well on price in low-volume product segments. Displays are just going to be like that for Apple. I've been waiting for years to spend Studio Display type money for an iMac 5K screen and they finally offered the product. I'm good with it. Others? Dude, you're getting a Dell. ?♂️
Oh, to be sure BILLIONS of people will never buy this monitor. But, for those few million that have the money and will buy it, “the look” is a big part of why they’re buying it. Heck, “the look” is a big part of why those that aren’t buying wish it was cheaper!
How much does bare 5K panels cost? On eBay (which are likely cheaper than from a reputable vendor), they’re between $500 and $600 dollars.
Huh?
Its targetted at pros, and its the Pros who have the money that need the features everyone is complaining about.
My god the crazy talk around here to support Apple's actions.
The monitor supports rotating to portrait, neither of their stands do!
The ability to adapt your workstation as time goes on isn't a consumer feature, it's someone who does work and adds a second monitor, or switches to a standing desk, or who knows what change they need down the line.... You want a standing desk? Maybe your power cable doesn't reach anymore, I guess its time to get an orange extension cord?
.... but now because of some Jony Ive form over function failure inspired wanna-be, he or she has to take their monitor BACK to an Apple Store, have them COMPLETELY disassemble it (yes, remove the glass, then all of the components) just to swap out the back to change the stand/mount options.
Its unacceptable hot garbage. All to not have 4 screw holes on the back. News flash, my monitors have almost always been back facing a wall or cubicle wall, or the back of someone else's monitor. I've never once looked at them to see how cleanly designed the back is.
Instead lets justify the price increase and lack of adaptability by the clean looks, the horse ---- web cam, and speakers. You know what, if you are actually using it in a "studio", I bet you aren't going to use those speakers anyways. Even more so, do you have two monitors? Great, you just paid a ton of money for features you probably didn't want on a single monitor, but now paid for it on both....and you can't use two monitors in a paired audio setting.
You can still make a beautifully clean display and not make a complete mess of this.
People talking about how Apple displays are such a niche market.... sure, only because Apple insists on limiting their usefulness and pricing them way above the competition.
Wouldn't it be great if like most monitors, it had dual inputs so you could KVM between two computers? Or if you could interchange your stand? Or actually use that A13 for something useful like AppleTV when its disconnected or AirPlay.
No, people are pissed off about this product because it is so sterotypical Apple. Its once again not asking the users what they want, and coming out with a trashcan Mac Pro that remains stuck for nearly 10 years without an upgrade. Apple's own very public definition of innovation.
It really comes to down to these points:
1. It's a brand-new Apple display that doesn't support HDR. The only such display they make.
2. No mini-LED or other modern display tech you'd expect from Apple in 2022.
3. The 3 separate skus is price gouging that I just can't accept or tolerate.
4. It really isn't any better than the LG display from 2016, which is still available. How has there been no advancement in 5K displays for 6 years?
1. The 24in 4.5K display in the M1 iMac is not hardware-level HDR
2. Well here's one comp for MiniLED: Dell UP3221Q is a 3500 USD display and it is 4K not 5K
3. Alright, others will...we will see how the market rewards or punishes them
4. Apple doesn't make the panels. Whine about innovation from LG and Samsung I suppose?
It’s targeted at “people who want a good looking monitor that matches Apple’s design language and, for whom the $1599 price is not a huge concern”. I’m sure Apple’s internal documents doesn’t spell it out QUITE that way, but that would pretty much define everyone that has bought one and has kept it, so it’s at least accurate.
In the above, I didn’t include “people who want to adapt their workstation as time goes on”. That’s because this monitor is NOT for those who want to easily and freely adapt their workstation as time goes on. It IS for those who just choose the most flexible option up front OR are OK for paying for that ability should their needs change. It’s also for those millions of people that will set their monitor on their desk and rarely, if ever, move it. (Apple even has a pretty good idea of the percentage of people that ever change their stand as they sell all the VESA mounts)
It IS unacceptable hot garbage for the vast majority of folks in the market for a monitor. I doubt if Apple will even capture .01% of the monitor market. I have NO doubt that, even with all it’s shortcomings, it’ll still sell in numbers that meets Apple’s expectations.
I don’t think the price can be meaningfully justified for a whole lot of people. I mean, someone could try, but at that point you’re trying to justify something to someone that has a clear idea of that thing being wholly unjustifiable. There’s no middle ground there.
Strangely enough, though… no one else is doing it (by no one else, I mean the companies that make monitors as a business). Or, I should say, no one else is doing it to the level where it satisfies Mac users looking for an aluminum monitor with 5K resolution.
I think it’s more because Apple computers that require displays are a niche market on top of the already niche market that is Macs.
OK they can charge us $999 for it too, defeating the purpose of the display entirely and senselessly removing profit from the Pro XDR display when many of the people buying them can already likely afford triple the price. I’m sure we’d all be surprised to see their production and economics (which hold risks, by the way). In their economists’ minds, the Pro XDR Display and Mac Pro lines are likely already subsidizing some of the other products’ margins due to the likely highly-stratified economic surpluses taking place throughout the lines. They have a lot of profit in certain lines with more fixed volumes and a lot less profit in products with lower production costs they’re willing to take more risk on.
You’re also (very likely wrongly) presuming that they’re making a ton of additional production runs they otherwise wouldn’t have. It’s metal. Last time I checked, that melts.
If you’re making the point that people can’t hot swap the displays across a unified stand, again, you didn’t design the product, and they very likely simply needed a more affordable stand. Do you get mad there are two Magic Keyboards for the iPad sizes too? They surely could have just given us a single keyboard with detachable components to make each fit. Instead, they retrofit it for each product.
I am almost certain they have two very different roadmaps for each display; little else would make sense. One (the Studio Display) will likely be iterative and have two-decade long support and reuse, and the other (Pro XDR Display) needs to be novel to stay relevant, requiring more frequent design changes, follow the aesthetics of the Mac Pro, and may have a much shorter component reuse cycle.
Lastly, you’re also assuming that type of stand is even required due to weight and design differences. I’m always criticizing Apple when warranted (and that’s often), but I think you lodged an unfair and insular accusation in this instance and made more use of greedy corporation buzzwords than your critical thinking skills.
Think different. And a little more.
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I think this is the entirely wrong read. The Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR are in no way subsidizing other products. They don’t sell very many of these things and the underlying components are expensive. Apple really lays in the margins on these things. Do you see what they charge for upgrades on the Mac Pro? It is hilarious markup. Imagine the margin they’re hitting on the base SKUs of those products?
You spent too much time writing without saying much.
All Apple displays as far as I can tell, until the Studio had the option of changing stands by the user.
Now:
The user needs to drop the display at Apple and lose working time and money.
Apple needs to use a technician, scheduler, customer person and all the logistics to accomplish a single task that before would only require a simple purchase of a vesa mount by the user and later in case of a change of heart, do it themselves at no hassle, cost or time.
That’s my main point. The XDR has an elegant solution with the magnetic attachment. Why not replicate it? A single design decision even if Apple needed to charge more already for an overpriced display to avoid all the above benefit the customer. Who needs to think a little more here? smh