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Why do they have to disable VRR to be “retina compatible?”

It’s simply a matter of resolution

There are no 5120x2880 displays over 60hz. That has nothing to do with Apple, the panels don’t exist

Any monitor that does have vrr works fine with macOS

(5k2k or “ultra wide” is something else entirely and is lower resolution)
In addition, Apple supports VRR in its 2019 Retina 6K Pro Display XDR:

 
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I would consider getting one, if they added support for dual inputs. You know, something nearly every other manufacturer has had for years at budget prices.
 
Said it on page 1. Clueless people would come complain that it isn’t 120hz.

I see some brave warriors fighting the good fight but it is futile, you won’t convince them. They don’t understand how display tech works, they don’t understand the monumental amount of data that needs to be moved and they do not understand that even if it’s technically possible now, the price would be double or more due to a lack of economies of scale.

They say they won’t buy one if it isn’t 120hz, but if it were 120hz they still wouldn’t buy it because it would then be too expensive. So don’t argue with them. Let them be, they are not the target market, they just don’t know it.
 
Why do we never see any advanced development? They are still not upgrading their monitors. We need a faster refresh rate!
Why do some think Apple can just snap its fingers and 120 HZ magically materializes. It's easy to say the “other” guys do it do why not Apple. Apple does it’s own thing when it’s ready for numerous reasons, both engineering and marketing.

And besides the average Apple user doesn’t need 120 HZ. It’s the never-good-enough crowd that does.
 
I would consider getting one, if they added support for dual inputs. You know, something nearly every other manufacturer has had for years at budget prices.
Yup, forget 120Hz (which may come but it's going to be expensive to implement on a 5k3k screen, and may need TB5). Apple shuld fix the "premium price - low-end features" list, i.e.
- Multiple inputs
- Decent adjustable stand & VESA mout as standard
- proper IEC mains connector so the mains lead can be detached/replaced/extended.

Why do we never see any advanced development? They are still not upgrading their monitors. We need a faster refresh rate!
Apple don't make display panels. They can only offer what the industry is able to make for them at an affordable price.

Mac OS works best with 220ppi - 5k3k @ 27" or 6k @ 32" - displays but the PC world has stuck at 4k UHD regardless of size. 27"+ 5k3k OLED, MiniLED and/or 120Hz panels would only be made in tiny numbers and therefore cost a fortune.

...they can get away with advanced displays on macbooks because they probably sell in 10x the numbers of Studio Displays or iMacs.

On top of that, 5k3k @ 120Hz displays would probably require Thunderbolt 5 (esp. if you wanted multi-display hubs) which has only been available on Macs for less than a year, and still isn't standard.

Considering the Studio display was released 3 years ago, one almost sorta feels bad for people who bought one. They basically bought the same display that came on the 27 iMac which was over 10 years old at that time.

...which lots of us pointed out 3 years ago, so put that down as a "we told you so".

That said... 3 years later, it's not like the shelves are full of 5k3k @120Hz mini-LED or OLED screens from Apple's competitors. The Mac is pretty much alone in being optimised for 220ppi displays.
 
I am not following you

Why do they have to disable VRR to be “retina compatible?”

It’s simply a matter of resolution

There are no 5120x2880 displays over 60hz. That has nothing to do with Apple, the panels don’t exist

Any monitor that does have vrr works fine with macOS

(5k2k or “ultra wide” is something else entirely and is lower resolution)
Because Apple does not want a monitor, that is Apple retina compatible, and same time works better on a Windows machine with VRR like AMD Freesync. There is not a single 5k monitor with 218ppi (retina) in a displays market with a VRR solution. Tech or standards don’t block it - it is Apple. Adaptive sync is not only > 60Hz, but can be anything between 1-60Hz. This would help with games that don’t reach 60Hz. It would also automatically adapt to different frame rates of videos. Here in Europe our tv is 50hz, and that is the native video output here. With a 60hz display, videos tear, drop frames or becomes soften.
 
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Because Apple does not want a monitor, that is Apple retina compatible, and same time works better on a Windows machine with VRR like AMD Freesync. There is not a single 5k monitor with 218ppi (retina) in a displays market with any VRR solution. Tech or standards don’t block it - it is Apple.

how is apple blocking anyone from making a 5k monitor with VRR?

There are no 5k monitors over 60 hz.

Are you claiming apple is somehow preventing panel manufactures from making them?
 
Hard to understand why Apple makes blazing fast cpu/gpu chips that can do hundreds of Hz refresh rates, while at the same time limiting their monitors to 60 or 90 Hz.
Because Apple doesn't sell gaming monitors.
What they care about (and sell for ~$1800) is not what matters to someone buying a $400 gaming monitor, and vice versa.
 
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Apple released the Studio Display in March 2022, alongside the first Mac Studio, and it has not received any hardware upgrades since.

studio-display-new-purple.jpeg

The current Studio Display features a 27-inch LCD screen with a 5K resolution, a 60Hz refresh rate, up to 600 nits brightness, a built-in camera and speakers, one Thunderbolt 3 port, and three USB-C ports. In the U.S., the monitor starts at $1,599.

Below, we recap rumors about a potential Studio Display 2.

Mini-LED by Early 2026

Apple plans to release a new Studio Display in late 2025 or early 2026, according to Ross Young, a display industry expert and VP at Counterpoint Research.

In a subscriber-only post shared on X in February, Young said the new Studio Display would feature the same 27-inch screen size as the current model, but add mini-LED backlighting. This upgrade would result in increased brightness and higher contrast ratio compared to the current model, which has traditional LED backlighting.

Young did not share any further details, so it is unclear if any other Studio Display specifications would change, such as the refresh rate.

Young has a respectable track record with display-related information for future Apple products. For example, he was the first source to reveal the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max would feature 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, over a year before the devices launched. He is the founder and former CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, a research firm that was acquired by Counterpoint Research in late 2023.

A new Studio Display with mini-LED backlighting has been rumored by a few other sources, including Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The display will likely launch in 2026, according to Gurman.

90Hz Rumor

In November 2024, an anonymous listener of the Relay FM tech podcast "Upgrade" claimed that Apple was developing 90Hz display technology that could be used for the next Studio Display. This higher refresh rate would make content like videos and text while scrolling look smoother to the eye, but 90Hz would stop short of the 120Hz refresh rate that iPhones and Macs with ProMotion support can achieve. It is not clear to us if this individual has any established track record with Apple-related rumors, so keep that in mind.

Article Link: Apple Working on Studio Display 2: Here's What the Latest Rumors Say
I switched to a 55“ 4K Digital Singage Display from iiyama. Works Great with my mbp16 m2.
 
Judging from the limited number of vendors of 5K 27" displays (and a number of them are recent entrants), I take it the market for 5K 27" displays is a small fraction of that for 4K 27" displays. It's a fraction that seems to be slowly growing, but the Asus seems to set the low price 'floor' for such at around $800.

Does anyone know how feasible, technically demanding and expensive a 27" 5K 120Hz panel would likely be?

The Apple Studio Display is already very expensive, and its value proposition has triggered strong ambivalence amongst reviewers given that the display portion is part of a package product with a Center State webcam and spatial audio speaker system, in a high build quality housing (but with a stand that's not height adjustable unless you cough up an extra $400, unlike some competitors).

Presumably there are barriers to bringing a 120Hz 5K 27" panel to market. What are they and what would the price tag be to overcome them? It's a question for any of the 5K vendors, not just Apple.
 
I see some brave warriors fighting the good fight but it is futile, you won’t convince them. They don’t understand how display tech works, they don’t understand the monumental amount of data that needs to be moved and they do not understand that even if it’s technically possible now, the price would be double or more due to a lack of economies of scale.

They say they won’t buy one if it isn’t 120hz, but if it were 120hz they still wouldn’t buy it because it would then be too expensive.
Please explain some of why it doesn't work. I don't have any strong opinion about the feasibility of bringing a 27" 5K 120Hz display to market, aside from inferring from their absence it's either technically very difficult, very expensive or both.

As to the 'monumental amount of data' to be moved, I checked Amazon just now and one can buy a 4K 240Hz panel, but direct comparisons are difficult when looking at the particulars - 27 vs 32", VA vs. LCD vs. OLED, etc... And some Windows systems (likely their primary target) have expensive non-integrated graphics cards.

On the other hand, from what I understand a number of Macs (not just M4 series) can support 2 Apple Studio Displays, and Thunderbolt 5 (M4 Pro, M4 Max and M3 Ultra) supports high bandwidth, so they should be able to support at least a single 5K 120Hz display, yes?

I'm not disputing your conclusion; I'd like to better understand the reasoning. Do you anticipate 5K at 120Hz being much more difficult and expensive to manufacture than 4K at 160 - 240Hz?
 
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