Expected lifespan of Studio Display?

[agent mac]

Does anyone have any insight or information as to the expected lifespan of a studio display?
I currently have a 2015 27” iMac. It’s stuck on iOS 12 and so we want to upgrade. It’s the obvious choice of smaller iMac or mini and studio. I had thought splash on the mini and studio as then in five years time I could refresh the mini but still be using the display. Today a lady at Curry’s said the studio displays only have a lifetime of five years? Is this true?
The old iMac display isn’t great but it’s still more than OK. Can anyone shed light on this? Thank you.

 

[ascender]

The lady at Currys is talking absolute nonsense. She has no idea. Don't listen to people who work at places like this and just make up crap.

There's loads of people rocking Apple displays from many, many years ago and no reason to suggest the Studio Display won't last just as long.

 

[seggy]

She's right in that it has an officially supported lifetime of about that long.

The reality tho is that I'm reasonably expecting a decade out of all my monitors, unless there are interface/etc issues due to changing requirements. The XDR/Studios are no exceptions. I expect ten years out of my Samsungs, Apples, Dells and LG's.

But of course, what I expect has nothing to do with the support manufacturers actually provide. It just colors future buying decisions if they die before then.

 

[xraydoc]

She's right in that it has an officially supported lifetime of about that long.

The reality tho is that I'm reasonably expecting a decade out of all my monitors, unless there are interface/etc issues due to changing requirements. The XDR/Studios are no exceptions. I expect ten years out of my Samsungs, Apples, Dells and LG's.

But of course, what I expect has nothing to do with the support manufacturers actually provide. It just colors future buying decisions if they die before then.

Why would you even say it is only officially supported for 5 years? The XDR was released in Dec. of 2019 -- so it's been out 5 years and is still fully supported and will likely be fully supported for several more years to come.

 

[meson]

The 5 year comment is certainly something that the lady at Curry’s just made up. As a basic display, I would expect the Studio to last as long as the necessary internal hardware continues to work.

The one concern I would have is the fact that it uses an A-series chip for a variety of features. There may come a point where support for some of these features stops. However, the AppleTV provides some insight on this front. My only AppleTV is the ATV HD that originally came with the Siri Remote back in ~2015. It is still fully supported and getting OS updates over a decade later. I suspect the Studio will see similar support.

 

[drrich2]

I currently have a 2015 27” iMac. It’s stuck on iOS 12 and so we want to upgrade. It’s the obvious choice of smaller iMac or mini and studio.

'Obvious' is pretty debatable. Some people really like the ASD; it has a rep. for excellent 'retina' resolution, glossy screen (if you don't want matte), excellent color accuracy out of the box, exceptional quality sound for a monitor-based speaker system, some value the high build quality, and it has the webcam with Center Stage capability.

But you can get an ASUS 5K 27" display for roughly $800, if you don't much value some of the other things. And a 6K 32" ASUS is coming out, IIRC, and somebody thought it'd cost $1,200. The ASD is roughly $1,600, depending on options, Apple Care+, etc...

And pay attention to those options. If I understand correctly going off memory, you only get VESA mounting holes if you don't get a stand, the regular stand is not height-adjustable, and the height-adjustable one adds $400.

And it only has Thunderbolt for input, so you won't be hooking an HDMI cable up from a PC or gaming console, if you have one. And while it has USB-C out for hub functionality, it doesn't have Thunderbolt out, so it's not really a Thunderbolt hub.

I'm not recommending that you get it or don't; I'm just saying there are a range of factors (and alternatives) to consider, and I don't know what your decision process was to conclude the Apple Studio Display was the obvious choice for you.

If you already knew all this, no sweat, carry on.

 

[seggy]

Why would you even say it is only officially supported for 5 years? The XDR was released in Dec. of 2019 -- so it's been out 5 years and is still fully supported and will likely be fully supported for several more years to come.

The likelihood of it being updated / replaced pretty soon is likely.

That's why. There would, as usual, be no onus on Apple to carry spares beyond a couple of years after the warranty of the last current model units sold.

I am however obviously not attaching any of that kind of reasoning to why the Currys staff member said what she said.

 

[IvyKing]

I had a Cinema Display last for 15 years, failure appears to have been the power supply for the backlight. I'm using a 10 year old Thunderbolt display, which in now on its third computer (2012 16" MBP, 2021 16G/1TB M1 Mac Mini, 2024 M4 pro Mini) as a secondary display on the latest. I would be very surprised if the ASD didn't last at least 10 years.