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Apple Studio Display Gets First Pre-Order Discounts at Up to $300 Off

Blackstick said:
I gave up waiting for the right Apple monitor last year. Landed on an open-box Dell U4025QW ultra-wide for $1100.

It's 5k2k, 120hz, multiple inputs... and yeah, surprisingly Dell even shipped decent macOS support for the first time I've ever seen with a little menubar utility. Has full audio/brightness controls from the keyboard.
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There is no need to be disingenuous. This monitor (currently sold out on Dell’s site by the way) retails for $2,179.99. One can’t compare new and used-heavily-discounted pricing.

Beyond that, it is TB4 (instead of TB5). It has no webcam. And it “only” goes to 450 nits of brightness for SDR, and “only” 600 for HDR; the XDR is 1000 and 2000. If none of this matters to you, that is perfectly fine. But these aren’t equivalent.
 
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Now do the Studio Display XDR.
What's crazy to me is that the education discount is a flat $100, and not 10% off.
Want a Macbook Neo? Education discount takes it from $599 to $499.
Want a Studio Display XDR? Same exact $100 discount, on a product that's overpriced by a long shot.
 
turbineseaplane said:
Let the discounts begin.

This thing is an epic ripoff.
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I’m going with monumental ripoff. 🙂

Holding back 120Hz from the Studio Display is unconscionable. At least 120Hz in the Studio Display would have made it the regular/usual Apple ripoff level, but to introduce a 60Hz display in 2026 based on the decade old panel is very disappointing.
 
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kaspurr said:
While the Studio Display XDR offers some amazing performance and accuracy outside the crazy price, the standard 60hz 600 nit edge lit Studio Display is one of the worst values in monitors. Couldn't recommend it to anyone.
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Yeah, the market has been opening up a lot lately for 5K and for two-thirds to half the price. Even saw another 6K recently. Hopefully this trend continues. I feel like neither one of these displays is for me.

The Studio is rehashed 2019 at a premium price for no reason, while the Studio XDR is this weird step-down and step-up in terms of resolution and refresh rate but still at a price that is a bit much for me to spend on a display. The new Studio should've at least been 6K 60Hz. I'd be willing to pay out for that. Brightness I don't care as much about in my light controlled environment, but I do care more about contrast and black levels. Refresh rate on the desktop is less important for me since I mainly use it for work, but it's nice when things scroll smoother.

With OLED coming down in price. It's only a matter of time before we see a 5K OLED for $1500 or less. Probably even 120Hz. Hoping for LG to do this at CES 2027. I've used their 4K displays for years and they have been solid at a good price. I've also had a couple of their OLED TVs and they have performed great without noticeable burn-in.
 
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antnythr said:
With the other 5K120+ monitors announced from other manufacturers already, I'm not really sure what would draw someone to the Studio Display anymore.
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My draws to the Studio Display are PPI, build quality, and fantastic speakers.

What 5K120+ monitor from other manufactures have 218 PPI? Which ones aren't made of wobbly, creaky plastic?

All the other "5K" monitors with high refresh rates are ultra-wides with less vertical resolution. People tend to ignore PPI when making these comparisons. Not everything labeled "5K" should be considered equal.
 
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I’m extremely glad I pulled the trigger last May during Prime Day (likely a pricing mistake) and picked up the tilt- and height-adjustable Studio Display for $1,040. It has been a joy to use in every way.

At the time, I tried almost every alternative (U2723QE, PA27JCV, etc.), and nothing really compared for my workflow - in terms of PPI, build quality, and glass (I hate matte displays). As an aside, the best-looking display outside of the ASD was definitely the U2723QE, even though it’s only 4K. The PA27JCV, on the other hand, was truly atrocious. The matte coating looked like someone smeared Vaseline on the screen, my unit was also defective out of the box with poor QC, the panel had some sort of dark imprint. Either way, I’m glad to see that the 5K monitor space is finally opening up now.

I always regretted not getting the Pro Display XDR, but I couldn’t stomach paying $1,000 just for a stand. I was also a bit disappointed that the new display was downgraded to 27", but I still preordered it to compare with the original studio display, which I'll move to work. Worst case, I don’t like it and return it.
 
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ElBerserko said:
My draws to the Studio Display are PPI, build quality, and fantastic speakers.

What 5K120+ monitor from other manufactures have 218 PPI? Which ones aren't made of wobbly, creaky plastic?

All the other "5K" monitors with high refresh rates are ultra-wides with less vertical resolution. People tend to ignore PPI when making these comparisons. Not everything labeled "5K" should be considered equal.
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The same was true with the previous Studio Display. On paper it seemed outrageous, but when there is no competition you can do that. I have an Asus 5k monitor. It's solid, but it doesn't hold a candle to the studio display.
 
I have an ASD and prefer it to my 4K@180Hz in every way except for refresh rate. If the new ASD would have been 120Hz, I would have sold my current ASD to someone who doesn’t care about refresh rate and put the proceeds toward the price of a new ASD. But that plan went out the window when Apple released the exact same display I currently have. They updated everything about the display… except the actual display.
 
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antnythr said:
With the other 5K120+ monitors announced from other manufacturers already, I'm not really sure what would draw someone to the Studio Display anymore.
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Here is the answer:

Higher screen brightness, better image uniformity, better color reproduction, better speakers, better webcam, better design, better build quality, better materials, better customer service, and perfect synchronization with any Mac computer, such as instant image when connected, color match with the MacBook display, and keyboard controls.

Since I’m on the market for a new display, I checked all the latest available 5K monitors. Most of them are hit and miss in picture uniformity. Most of them look washed out next to a Studio Display, and there is only one of them (Acer Nitro) that has a refresh rate over 60Hz and works with a Mac, and it’s not even out yet. The second high refresh rate 5K monitor (ASUS Rogue) requires a RTX 50-series GPU.

The only good enough alternative is the BenQ which is 60Hz and sold for $1200. It’s also behind Studio Display in every parameter other than price and height adjustability.
 
Elwe said:
There is no need to be disingenuous. This monitor (currently sold out on Dell’s site by the way) retails for $2,179.99. One can’t compare new and used-heavily-discounted pricing.

Beyond that, it is TB4 (instead of TB5). It has no webcam. And it “only” goes to 450 nits of brightness for SDR, and “only” 600 for HDR; the XDR is 1000 and 2000. If none of this matters to you, that is perfectly fine. But these aren’t equivalent.
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It’s sold out because people are outright rejecting a $3000 panel.
 
Amazon already sold out on the Nano Tilt/adjust height Studio Display. That was fast!

Curious how much better the camera is than the 2022 Studio Display.
 
GDF said:
Amazon already sold out on the Nano Tilt/adjust height Studio Display. That was fast!

Curious how much better the camera is than the 2022 Studio Display.
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I just did a TV audition using my 2022 Studio Display and the casting director was really impressed with the lighting and vivid colors. I guess those firmware updates Apple has pushed out over the years have paid off.
 
Elwe said:
There is no need to be disingenuous. This monitor (currently sold out on Dell’s site by the way) retails for $2,179.99. One can’t compare new and used-heavily-discounted pricing.

Beyond that, it is TB4 (instead of TB5). It has no webcam. And it “only” goes to 450 nits of brightness for SDR, and “only” 600 for HDR; the XDR is 1000 and 2000. If none of this matters to you, that is perfectly fine. But these aren’t equivalent.
Click to expand...
The biggest problem with a 5K2K-display is that it's effectively a ultrawide 4K display and not a 5K display.

I don't mean that they aren't any good, but you won't get the clarity of a retina display that you get from a true 5K display. And for MacOS to not look way too big, you have to scale the image and that makes it a not 1:1 pixelmapped.

Again, I don't mean that they aren't any good but it's not really a fair comparison.
 
Though the monitors are still very expensive after the discount, it is nice to have some form of price reduction especially during the pre order window.
 
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