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Buy Apple Pro Display XDR now for the new MacBook Pro M1 Max?

Christoph M.

Christoph M.

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 20, 2021
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Hi,

Would you guys buy the Apple Pro Display XDR, which came out in Dec 2019, now to go with the new MacBook Pro M1 Max?
It may well be updated next year along with the new MacPro M1.
My main criticism is that it can't do ProMotion 120Hz. It would be annoying if I bought it now and then next year a new one comes with ProMotion. Otherwise, everything about this thing would be perfect for me.

Many greetings,
Christoph
 
Hi Christoph, that’s what I am doing. I’m upgrading from a 2019 16” MacBook Pro i9 to the new 16” MacBook Pro M1 Max. At the same time, I’ve been struggling with two LG 5Ks. Constant glitches with those displays have really annoyed me (video cutting in and out, problems with the camera, mic and speakers especially during Zoom / Teams calls, and weird pixel shifting). I came to the conclusion that I’d rather have one larger display and keep the MacBook open next to it for the camera and speakers (and to park some apps on its screen) rather than the 2 LG 5Ks.

With respect to ProMotion and mini-LED, I don’t know how quickly it will launch on the 32” XDR. It’s possible that it launches when the new Mac Pro is unveiled next year (and, given how Apple stressed that it was 1 year into a 2 year transition, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mac Pro doesn’t get launched until October 2022), but it’s also possible that it could come out even later. Given that I use my system for work and view it as a productivity tool, I felt it was worth it to get it now rather than wait to see what happens.
 
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MarketingGuy said:
Hi Christoph, that’s what I am doing. I’m upgrading from a 2019 16” MacBook Pro i9 to the new 16” MacBook Pro M1 Max. At the same time, I’ve been struggling with two LG 5Ks. Constant glitches with those displays have really annoyed me (video cutting in and out, problems with the camera, mic and speakers especially during Zoom / Teams calls, and weird pixel shifting). I came to the conclusion that I’d rather have one larger display and keep the MacBook open next to it for the camera and speakers (and to park some apps on its screen) rather than the 2 LG 5Ks.

With respect to ProMotion and mini-LED, I don’t know how quickly it will launch on the 32” XDR. It’s possible that it launches when the new Mac Pro is unveiled next year (and, given how Apple stressed that it was 1 year into a 2 year transition, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mac Pro doesn’t get launched until October 2022), but it’s also possible that it could come out even later. Given that I use my system for work and view it as a productivity tool, I felt it was worth it to get it now rather than wait to see what happens.
Click to expand...
I also had the LG 5K Display the time it came out and it was a totally mess. Glitches, No Image after wake up, MacBook Pro crashes. I needed to send it in to service because my early revision of the LG had no possibility for FW update. After that it worked. But it looked ugly. I sold it meanwhile.

But regarding the ProMotion 120Hz I meanwhile found out, that the new MacBook Pro does not support external displays with more than 60 Hz. So I can safely buy the Pro Display XDR because it does not matter.

Greetings,
Christoph
 
Christoph M. said:
I also had the LG 5K Display the time it came out and it was a totally mess. Glitches, No Image after wake up, MacBook Pro crashes. I needed to send it in to service because my early revision of the LG had no possibility for FW update. After that it worked. But it looked ugly. I sold it meanwhile.

But regarding the ProMotion 120Hz I meanwhile found out, that the new MacBook Pro does not support external displays with more than 60 Hz. So I can safely buy the Pro Display XDR because it does not matter.

Greetings,
Christoph
Click to expand...
You're saying the Pro Display does not work with M1 Max? What was your source?
 
For reference.
 

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Christoph M. said:
I also had the LG 5K Display the time it came out and it was a totally mess. Glitches, No Image after wake up, MacBook Pro crashes. I needed to send it in to service because my early revision of the LG had no possibility for FW update. After that it worked. But it looked ugly. I sold it meanwhile.

But regarding the ProMotion 120Hz I meanwhile found out, that the new MacBook Pro does not support external displays with more than 60 Hz. So I can safely buy the Pro Display XDR because it does not matter.

Greetings,
Christoph
Click to expand...
Interesting, I hadn’t heard that about the refresh rate. So, it looks like the Pro Display XDR is about as good as it gets for us.
 
mcvaughan said:
You're saying the Pro Display does not work with M1 Max? What was your source?
Click to expand...
I think he means that the new MacBook Pros with M1 Pro / Max only output video up to 60Hz for an external display. The 32 Pro Display XDR is compatible and currently supports up to 60Hz. I believe he was trying to say that if a ProMotion version of the Pro Display XDR display were to come out, these new laptops wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the 120Hz refresh rate. So, makes sense to pull the trigger on the current version of the Pro Display.

Apple made it clear that the M1 Max supports 3 of the current Pro Displays plus a 4K TV. In fact, the copious amounts of Pro Displays features in the keynote background seemed to be a strong promotion for the product.
 
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MarketingGuy said:
I think he means that the new MacBook Pros with M1 Pro / Max only output video up to 60Hz for an external display. The 32 Pro Display XDR is compatible and currently supports up to 60Hz. I believe he was trying to say that if a ProMotion version of the Pro Display XDR display were to come out, these new laptops wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the 120Hz refresh rate. So, makes sense to pull the trigger on the current version of the Pro Display.

Apple made it clear that the M1 Max supports 3 of the current Pro Displays plus a 4K TV. In fact, the copious amounts of Pro Displays features in the keynote background seemed to be a strong promotion for the product.
Click to expand...
Exactly!

Here is the technical specifications from Apple for the new MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max in which the supported refresh rates are mentioned:
https://support.apple.com/kb/SP858?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Greetings,
Christoph
 
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There won't be a XDR with 120hz any time soon as the bottleneck is the bandwidth.

120Hz at 6k requires a bandwidth of 62.89 Gbit/s without DSC compression. Thunderbolt 4 support 40Gbps which makes DisplayPort 2.0 with 77.37 Gbit/s the only option to drive such as beast. DP 1.4 device hits the market just this year, I think it'll be another 2-3 years before DP2 devices hit the market and 6k at 120hz becomes an option.
 
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I already have a Pro Display XDR and am hoping my new 16" M1Max runs is "smoothly", and by that I mean low thermals and fan noise. It's a little laggy with my m1 air but I can't gauge the fan noise as it has no fan.
 
How come the price of the XDR displays hasn't come down like most tech does over the years? Why is this price fixed?
 
I’ve got 2 XDR pro displays running with a maxed out 2019 MBP i9. I cannot wait till my M1 max with 64 HB ram and 8tb ssd arrives as I’m so sick of Intel and the fans spooling I could vomit.

Intel‘s CEO wanting to build a better chip than apple and win back business is a PR show. And you are so far behind the best you will be able and do is catch up, and there is zero value in that.

from processor vulnerabilities, thermal package issues, and delays ramping up sun 10nm chips, Intel is a bad joke. And then they say apple can’t game?! Intel can’t game!

they just need to call it a day and acce[t they are for the PC market and will continue to be what they have always been. Hopeful this new machine is great.
 
BarrettF77 said:
I’ve got 2 XDR pro displays running with a maxed out 2019 MBP i9. I cannot wait till my M1 max with 64 HB ram and 8tb ssd arrives as I’m so sick of Intel and the fans spooling I could vomit.

Intel‘s CEO wanting to build a better chip than apple and win back business is a PR show. And you are so far behind the best you will be able and do is catch up, and there is zero value in that.

from processor vulnerabilities, thermal package issues, and delays ramping up sun 10nm chips, Intel is a bad joke. And then they say apple can’t game?! Intel can’t game!

they just need to call it a day and acce[t they are for the PC market and will continue to be what they have always been. Hopeful this new machine is great.
Click to expand...

Do you have the 5500M or 5600M GPU? On my 16" with the 5600M, my XDR and 27" Thunderbolt do not make the fans come on at all.
 
UMHurricanes34 said:
Because Apple. I’m with you though. Honestly, even if they included the stand at the base price now I would purchase.
Click to expand...
nickxiong26 said:
I already have a Pro Display XDR and am hoping my new 16" M1Max runs is "smoothly", and by that I mean low thermals and fan noise. It's a little laggy with my m1 air but I can't gauge the fan noise as it has no fan.
Click to expand...
Surprised and disappointed to hear it is laggy with M1 MBA
 
Christoph M. said:
But regarding the ProMotion 120Hz I meanwhile found out, that the new MacBook Pro does not support external displays with more than 60 Hz. So I can safely buy the Pro Display XDR because it does not matter.
Click to expand...
I don't think that's entirely true. My M1 MacBook Air supports my 100Hz Asus ultrawide at up to the montior's maximum 100Hz.
 
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nickxiong26 said:
I already have a Pro Display XDR and am hoping my new 16" M1Max runs is "smoothly", and by that I mean low thermals and fan noise. It's a little laggy with my m1 air but I can't gauge the fan noise as it has no fan.
Click to expand...
Have you ordered the 16 Max? I'm keen to listen to what you have to say about fan noise here since I'm pretty tired of my 27 5k iMac with the Ultrafine 5Ks and all that fan noise. I'm considering the 16 Max with 2 XDR 32 displays to get it right. A lot of fan noise would be a dealbreaker I think.
 
I received my 16 max (10 core CPU, 32 core GPU, 64GB ram) and have tested it with my Pro Display XDR. To my surprise there is no fan noise when connected to the 6k display. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if apple allows these machines to "run hot". What I mean is that even on normal and "high power" mode, when connected to the Pro Display XDR and in open or clamshell mode, the fans never kick on when I was denoising a 1 minute 8k file in final cut. According to TG Pro my temps were over 100 degrees C and the fans were silent until I manually went in and maxed out the fans.

On the other hand, under normal use involving color correction, adding layers, etc the fans are also completely silent. TG Pro actually reports that the fans are off. The temperature reading in those normal use instances hover around 57 degrees C, which is similar to my 7,1 16-core Mac Pro.

Oh and this is my first experience with a 120hz display and just, wow. Maybe the next iteration of the Pro Display XDR will come with it.
 
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Greetings,

I am having issue with my Pro Display XDR. I saw in other threads new m1 pro and m1 max chips are showing extra scaled resolutions like intel Macs before and issue is resolved with external monitors like LG 5k.

I bought the 14 inch m1 max as my m1 MacBook Pro had that limitation. But even with m1 max I am still seeing the same 3008X1692 resolution on my Pro Display XDR. It shows only monitor full resolution as next option.

Can any one please check this. I am not sure what to do. Is this only a Pro Display XDR limitation now. Very frustrating Apple's one display doesn't support higher resolution.

Thanks for the help.
 
I've been looking at them this past week, but I just can't justify the price. I really wish Apple would produce a more consumer-targeted display in a couple of sizes with lots of ports, a webcam and a single cable connection which is guaranteed to work with any recent Mac.
 
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To be honest at this point, I’d probably wait for a larger iMac Pro and see what max resolution it reaches, along with having 120 hz, before buying this XDR screen.
 
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petardosh said:
There won't be a XDR with 120hz any time soon as the bottleneck is the bandwidth.

120Hz at 6k requires a bandwidth of 62.89 Gbit/s without DSC compression. Thunderbolt 4 support 40Gbps which makes DisplayPort 2.0 with 77.37 Gbit/s the only option to drive such as beast. DP 1.4 device hits the market just this year, I think it'll be another 2-3 years before DP2 devices hit the market and 6k at 120hz becomes an option.
Click to expand...
Didn't they have a bandwidth problem before on much earlier generations of monitor and solve it by connecting to Mac with twin ports? I think twin thunderbolt may be possible.

(Am reading this thread closely because just received 16 M1 pro and am blown away by the blacks and the 120Hz... even panning in a slow moving movie is so much better and an old black and white recording of a dude playing a cello, I can see so much more of what's going on. (Coming from a satisfied LG5k user.) )
 
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