Apple Studio Display - Owners Thread

[ascender]

I've had to get replacement Caldigit cables for mine because even without the arms, if your Mac is way over to one side of the desk, rather than central, there's no way the included cable will reach from a second ASD. My Mac Studio is mounted underneath the desk on the right hand side so even a 2 meter TB4 cable has little slack in it.

 

[Matt Leaf]

I got my glossy model recently, it’s stunning.

I debated on stand type for a while, was considering vesa, but none were in stock in my town.

On a whim I went with height adjustable and I’m so glad I did. I love that stand. It is so flexible in viewing and sitting positions.

It goes quite high too, it makes the monitor seem tall and quite foreboding which I love, it really gives it a presence. Not having to muck with books or a stand to raise it, or a Vesa arm is a blessing.

It made me think, that stand is all about ergonomics, not just the ability to raise height. I adjust the stand now all day based on my sitting position, and to me those ergonomics are worth the price. And it’s the coolest looking stand, to boot.

I mainly bought the monitor for the retina resolution, I wanted what I was seeing on my MacBook and I got it. The colour and vibrancy is excellent. Speakers are fine, I don’t care about the webcam.

The only thing I don’t like is what seems to be finicky power management - I’d love to see some options for the Studio Display such as the ability to deep sleep the monitor, or turn off MacBook charging. Luckily I don’t have a annoying buzzing noise but there is slight electrical sounds I can hear which imo are within tolerances of ‘normal’.

Other than that I’m stoked! It’s exactly what I wanted and I’m so happy I have it. Next stop is the Mac Studio to replace my aging 2017 MBP

 

[MacRail]

@Matt Leaf - that's a great photo, and certainly shows off one of my favorite parts about this monitor; it's visual appeal on the desktop. I've had the monitor for about a month now. I'd probably say I'm kind of neutral overall. There are things I like such as above - and good integration with MacOS. Coming from an LG 4k display (the one that was sold at Apple stores) - the visual improvement is not as dramatic as perhaps migrating from other displays. The sound is great. But the camera is indeed disappointing, as so many have pointed out. I have the Logitec Brio 4K webcam, and I've had to keep this on my ASD because it's so much better. (Bit of a pain - "which camera to use? ASD, MacBook, or Brio?).

 

[CubeApril]

Mine is VESA mostly because I like to keep my desk clean, but I would pay an absolute ton of money for Apple to make a VESA monitor arm with the aesthetics of the ASD and the ridiculously smooth action of the height-adjustable stand.

 

[khurtwilliams]

The camera on the Studio Display seems to be angled up way more than any of my previous iMacs. I just had my first Teams call using the Studio Display this morning, and had to tilt the screen down really far to not have my head off the bottom of the frame. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Do you have the Studio Display on display stand/riser? If yes, then you have moved the ASD off the axis for proper placement of the camera. It’s angled assuming that the monitor is flat on a desk. You will need to adjust your seat height.

 

[khurtwilliams]

This might be a dumb question, but do you mean you can get Center Stage to pan down? For that matter, how do you get Center Stage to even pan left and right? The image doesn't seem to move in any of my Teams calls so far.

Center Stage works with FaceTime and the Ultra Wide camera. It also works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, and WebEx.

 

[uller6]

Do you have the Studio Display on display stand/riser? If yes, then you have moved the ASD off the axis for proper placement of the camera. It’s angled assuming that the monitor is flat on a desk. You will need to adjust your seat height.

I noticed the same issue on my non-height adjustable studio display. The camera was pointed upwards way more than any other webcam I’ve used, and adjusting the camera to get my head in the middle of the frame tilted the screen itself too far downwards to be comfortable.

I think this was a rushed product with clearly inadequate hardware and software testing on Apple’s part. I’m so disappointed because usually Apple is much better than this, and the Studio display is a real stain on their reputation.

 

[trevor-b]

I noticed the same issue on my non-height adjustable studio display. The camera was pointed upwards way more than any other webcam I’ve used, and adjusting the camera to get my head in the middle of the frame tilted the screen itself too far downwards to be comfortable.

I think this was a rushed product with clearly inadequate hardware and software testing on Apple’s part. I’m so disappointed because usually Apple is much better than this, and the Studio display is a real stain on their reputation.

Huh? This is clearly a user error by somebody who hasn't RTFM. Why would you blame Apple? (I know it's fashionable to do that, but ...)

 

[rocketbuc]

@Matt Leaf, could I ask you about the depth of your desk?
I am thinking about getting an ASD with height adjustable stand but worried about sitting too close to the screen at my desk. Thank you!

 

[Matt Leaf]

@Matt Leaf, could I ask you about the depth of your desk?
I am thinking about getting an ASD with height adjustable stand but worried about sitting too close to the screen at my desk. Thank you!

74cm. I actually slide it forward and back a little from time to time depending on how close I want it. Definitely room to move

 

[Arctic Moose]

Huh? This is clearly a user error by somebody who hasn't RTFM. Why would you blame Apple? (I know it's fashionable to do that, but ...)

Enlighten us. What does it say in the manual?

For this to make any sense it would have to be "Please tilt the display to a weird angle that makes it difficult to use for its primary purpose, i.e. consuming content displayed on it. If you do not, the camera framing will not be what you are expecting."

 

[zorinlynx]

I just had to chime in and say how happy I still am with my Studio Display. I originally balked at spending so much on a monitor, but just, wow.

I'm doing some remote work this weekend to prep for an upgrade tomorrow, and am here in my home office, lights turned down, ASD running at low-ish brightness, and it just looks so good. So clean, so perfect from edge to edge and sharper than a razor.

You see a lot of complaining in this thread; just wanted to say something good about it. It really is an excellent display and completely worth it if you're the sort that's picky about image quality.

 

[trevor-b]

Enlighten us. What does it say in the manual?

For this to make any sense it would have to be "Please tilt the display to a weird angle that makes it difficult to use for its primary purpose, i.e. consuming content displayed on it. If you do not, the camera framing will not be what you are expecting."

The camera works fine as-is, no need to tilt to any weird angle. Otherwise, we would've seen a ton of posts here.

You definitely need to tweak the tilt, not to any absurd angle as you're making it out to be

 

[Arctic Moose]

You definitely need to tweak the tilt, not to any absurd angle as you're making it out to be

It isn’t really a problem for me since the camera quality is do horrendous anyway. I’m using an external webcam, which is a whole different class of FUBAR.

However, I find it interesting that you think you get to decide which viewing angles, viewing distances and viewing heights are reasonable and comfortable for others.

There have been many, many mentions of the ASD framing issue here and on other forums, and I cannot recall ever seeing a single similar complaint for any iMac camera ever.

 

[xraydoc]

The camera on the Studio Display seems to be angled up way more than any of my previous iMacs. I just had my first Teams call using the Studio Display this morning, and had to tilt the screen down really far to not have my head off the bottom of the frame. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Sounds like you don't actually have Center Stage turned on.
When you're on a Teams call, go to Control Center and tap the camera button and make sure Center Stage is turned ON.

 

[xraydoc]

I noticed the same issue on my non-height adjustable studio display. The camera was pointed upwards way more than any other webcam I’ve used, and adjusting the camera to get my head in the middle of the frame tilted the screen itself too far downwards to be comfortable.

I think this was a rushed product with clearly inadequate hardware and software testing on Apple’s part. I’m so disappointed because usually Apple is much better than this, and the Studio display is a real stain on their reputation.

Same response as above. I don't think Center Stage is turned on for whichever app you're using. It can be turned on/off on a per-app basis.

 

[MisterSavage]

I just had to chime in and say how happy I still am with my Studio Display. I originally balked at spending so much on a monitor, but just, wow.

I'm doing some remote work this weekend to prep for an upgrade tomorrow, and am here in my home office, lights turned down, ASD running at low-ish brightness, and it just looks so good. So clean, so perfect from edge to edge and sharper than a razor.

You see a lot of complaining in this thread; just wanted to say something good about it. It really is an excellent display and completely worth it if you're the sort that's picky about image quality.

Agree 100%. Even with the problems I've had when upgrading the software I don't regret buying it at all.

 

[trevor-b]

It isn’t really a problem for me since the camera quality is do horrendous anyway. I’m using an external webcam, which is a whole different class of FUBAR.

However, I find it interesting that you think you get to decide which viewing angles, viewing distances and viewing heights are reasonable and comfortable for others.

There have been many, many mentions of the ASD framing issue here and on other forums, and I cannot recall ever seeing a single similar complaint for any iMac camera ever.

The topic was viewing angle, not camera.

Also, I didn't get to make any decisions. The vast, vast majority of people here are happy with the viewing angles - they don't need the absurd settings as some have suggested.

That's all I'm trying to say.

And some have forgotten to enable Center Stage as you can see in the posts above

 

[astrorider]

The camera on the Studio Display seems to be angled up way more than any of my previous iMacs. I just had my first Teams call using the Studio Display this morning, and had to tilt the screen down really far to not have my head off the bottom of the frame. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

The initial versions of the Studio Display firmware placed you too low in the frame, but a firmware update fixed this so you may just need to update using System Preferences > Software Update. I'm running version 15.5 which I think is the latest (About this Mac > System Report > Graphics/Display lists the Display Firmware version). During a video call you can also enable Center Stage (in Control Center) which automatically adapts the framing to keep you centered.

 

[Arctic Moose]

The topic was viewing angle, not camera.

Which is why I said the camera quality is a whole different class of FUBAR, but also the reason why the viewing angle isn't an issue for me. However, I would have preferred to have both decent framing and acceptable image quality.

The vast, vast majority of people here are happy with the viewing angles - they don't need the absurd settings as some have suggested.

The point is that there are lots of examples of users that ARE unhappy with the framing, something I don't think has ever happened before, at least not in significant numbers. I sure can't recall ever having to adjust the tilt of an iMac because the framing was way off.

And some have forgotten to enable Center Stage as you can see in the posts above

Center Stage is annoying and a security risk, of course it would be turned off if I used the ASD camera.

 

[ozthegweat]

So my Display was supposedly failing two days ago. The screen only showed the display icon with the "!" and an Apple support web address below. I unplugged and re-plugged everything, disconnected it from power for a while, nothing. It happened a few times before, but fixed itself every time. I thought this was finally it and was getting ready to bring it in for repair.

This morning I was working directly on my MBP, but still had the display connected as it was still charging the laptop, and this way I didn't have to get a charger from the other room. After 20 minutes or so, it suddenly rebooted, I saw the three dots, and now it's working like normal again.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ascender]

I've not noticed any issues with the framing or viewing angle of the built-in ASD camera, which I still think is more than good enough quality-wise for Zoom, Teams etc. I do have my ASDs on VESA arms and have a standing desk, so maybe I've just adjusted them from the outset so haven't noticed any problems?

I have noticed that if I so much as look at one of the connecting cables to my Mac Studio, the screen goes black, so need to check if its a faulty cable or a port on the ADS or Mac though.

 

[rocketbuc]

74cm. I actually slide it forward and back a little from time to time depending on how close I want it. Definitely room to move

Thank you very much, @Matt Leaf! My deck is identical in depth, I am happy that there won't be an issue of sitting too close to an ASD.

 

[MisterSavage]

So my Display was supposedly failing two days ago. The screen only showed the display icon with the "!" and an Apple support web address below. I unplugged and re-plugged everything, disconnected it from power for a while, nothing. It happened a few times before, but fixed itself every time. I thought this was finally it and was getting ready to bring it in for repair.

This morning I was working directly on my MBP, but still had the display connected as it was still charging the laptop, and this way I didn't have to get a charger from the other room. After 20 minutes or so, it suddenly rebooted, I saw the three dots, and now it's working like normal again.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I only see that when it's attempting to upgrade. Once the upgrade is complete I'm good to go until another one is released.

 

[trevor-b]

Center Stage is annoying and a security risk, of course it would be turned off if I used the ASD camera.

Why a security risk?