Just another indication of who Apple’s making the monitor for! Folks that are lucky enough have height adjustable desks and chairs have less of a need for height adjustable monitors.
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I'm genuinely surprised by the negative reviews of the Studio Display
- Thread starter CalMin
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When it comes to the LG 5k Ultrafine monitor, let alone the Apple 5k Studio monitor and their prices, like the handymen that come into my house and don't understand $4,000 chairs, most people just don't get it. Get it?
You are hung up on the adjustable stand costing more.
When instead you should look at it as having the option of a non adjustable stand that costs less.
Would you feel better if the monitor was $2000 and you could choose to save $400 with the non adjustable stand?
It’s literally semantics if you “don’t care about cost” as you claim.
As for there is no advantage, there IS a cost advantage. And you know what. I bet you they sell many multiples of the non adjustable monitor over monitors with the adjustable stand.
It’s a bizarre point of view that you think they should charge everyone else more to include the adjustable stand just becuase that’s what you want. That providing people with a choice upsets you so much.
Just another indication of who Apple’s making the monitor for! Folks that are lucky enough have height adjustable desks and chairs have less of a need for height adjustable monitors.
A niche within a niche.
If you raise your desk to adjust for monitor height, then you raise your keyboard and mouse too and ruin your ergonomic setup, unless you have a separate keyboard/mouse tray that is height adjustable.
My office faces SW and I have lots of big windows. I need bright screens to see anything during daytime, since I’m practically working outdoors. I also don’t want to cover the windows because i like looking out at trees and green things while I’m working. Not everyone works in a cave.
Which very accurately describes “Apple monitors” for “Apple computers”.
There are more advantages, as I listed on the previous page. It's a common narrative: "I don't care about these extra features, so nobody does, and it is hence objectively overpriced for every person and use case."
I actually lowered my desk such that my eyes line up with the top of the monitor (sort of like in this Wirecutter article). The stand is at the perfect height for that.
7 Things You Need for an Ergonomically Correct Workstation
Here’s how to set up a workspace that fits and supports you best, based on advice from ergonomics experts and what we’ve found over years of testing home-office furniture and gear.
www.nytimes.com
When I see things like this I feel that it’s aimed at the average person… as the US airforce discovered when designing fighter planes there is no such thing as an average shaped human and what works for one person rarely works for another…I actually lowered my desk such that my eyes line up with the top of the monitor (sort of like in this Wirecutter article). The stand is at the perfect height for that.
7 Things You Need for an Ergonomically Correct Workstation
Here’s how to set up a workspace that fits and supports you best, based on advice from ergonomics experts and what we’ve found over years of testing home-office furniture and gear.
The problem I have with Apple Studio Display is that..it is basically the same display (only a little brighter) they have been selling on iMac 5k since late 2015. They could have released the display 5 years ago with exact same price. Apple could have offered more, but they are just taking advantage of the market situation where there just aren't 5k displays available other than LGs.
I agree, and while the Studio display is noticeably better in several respects compared to the LG Ultrafine (mainly because the LG has a poor plastic front face and poor anti-reflective coating), you have to look very carefully side-by-side with a 2020 iMac to see any difference.
Apart from maybe the depth that could be an issue in some cases, that is very far reaching for advantages, to the point they are irrelevant. Viewed from the front the stands look nearly identical, and I don't believe people who are contemplating between the two options are thinking about the theoretical higher risk of the adjustable one failing. And if desktop space is an issue, then height adjustment becomes even more important.
And regarding costs, yes I do believe that. Maybe a bit more than 1600, but not 2000. That's how business works. Apple is not putting pieces of hardware together, slaps some margin on to top of it and goes "look at that, so that's the price for our monitor". That's not how it works. Apple (and everyone else) are setting the price first, based on their market research what their target audience will pay, and then works backwards from there.
It's a common misconception in this forum that the prices of products just sort of happen by coincidence....
You missed my point completely. I can just repeat myself but it is not about the costs. I would be fine paying either price with either option. It's about the business decision of offering both that rubs me the wrong way. It's about Apple wanting to provide the best possible product to their customers, having a better solution ready on hand, but deciding to offer an inferior solution as standard.
It's nice that you mention again there is an advantage to the non-adjustable one, the lower cost, even though I already ruled that out as a factor. I'm purely talking about product design when talking advantages/disadvantages. And I agree, they will sell many more of the non-adjustable one, but for no other reason than costs. How many non-adjustable ones would they sell if both option were to cost the same?
I find it bizarre that this is the take away from my post for you. Nothing of that sort is remotely true. Why would I want everyone to pay more? If anything, I want everyone to have the best product that Apple can provide. But as I wrote above, it's false thinking of how this business works.
And I'm neither upset nor do I have a problem with providing choice. I often wish there was more choice from Apple. But the different choices should offer different advantages, disadvantages. Like the VESA mount in this case. It clearly serves a different purpose and therefore offers different advantages/disadvantages over the other 2. Apple is offering 3 solutions for only 2 problems. 2 of the 3 solutions solve the same problem, but one of them in an inferior way.
PS: what maybe is confusing is that I am talking from 2 different perspectives: I'm talking business and product design. Of course they are going to charge more for an adjustable stand, and they are no charity and will try to extract as much as money as possible from their customers. Business-wise it makes great sense what they did and they know exactly what they are doing.
But my other angle is purely about the product itself. The non-adjustable stand offers nothing. It's like if they were to offer the new Mac Studio's USB-A ports with USB-3 and USB-2. Why USB-2? There would not be any advantage over USB-3, it would make zero sense apart from costs. Anything USB-2 can do, does USB-3, and more. Same with the 2 stands of the monitor.
Oh I get that, trust me, but you just have to be aware that you are compensating with high nits for a badly lit working environment, which is probably not up to code depending on where you live. And that does put a lot of strain on your eyes.
Would you rather they NOT take advantage of the market situation where there just aren’t 5k displays available other than LGs? Just, not release anything?
Then, the largest issue as described appears to be that the monitor has an Apple logo on it.
garbage is... at least very harsh lol. It's a beautiful looking display, even if it doesn't have local dimming or 120hz which even a lot of other monitors at this price point don't have (or at least look like ****** bulky gaming monitors that aren't as color accurate)
4K monitors came out 20+ years ago. And still it's dominating the PC monitor market.
Why haven't they really improved in 20 years?
First, consumer-level 4k monitors came out less than 10 years ago. Secondly, in that time they actually have improved considerably. In fact, a 4k monitor from 2015 (when the LG 5k panel was first used in an iMac) is significantly behind in features compared to a 2022 monitor. Since then we have had improvements in refresh rates, color space, HDR, local dimming, mini LED, micro LED (though none of these are yet available), OLED, QD-OLED, and I am sure many more features I am forgetting. So they have improved significantly since the first ones were introduced in 2001 and markedly since 2015, the year the Apple Studio Display's panel was first introduced. Though I suspect you already knew that.
DCI 4k was standardized in 2005 and the more common "consumer" Ultra HD 4k was defined in 2012. Alongside these resolutions we have seen improvements in refresh rate, color space reproduction, backlight technology and brightness, power consumption and unit cost has come down substantially since technology is deflationary (prices fall as economic productivity increases, resulting in decreases in unit cost or improvements while maintaining the same size/cost).
the 2014 iMac 5k, the 2017 LG 5k display...its been quite a while since those came out, we should see improvements in the technology and price at this point, instead we get lateral movement and increased price.
this feels similar to the release of the trashcan Mac Pro - there was nothing preventing that device from being released prior, there was nothing novel or unique outside of form factor. Which, as we see with this display, some people value that which is great for them. It was sort of, apple feeling urgency to put something out to quiet the clamoring. There was pomp and circumstance but they painted themselves into a thermal corner as was admitted years later.
This display, with parts taken from the bin and thrown together, has fans for an unnecessary processor (that has no fans in other implementations), has camera issues and consumers have to "deal" with the poor performance of the premium priced product til the next monitorOS™ update because theres no alternative. really quite unfair and a shame. can't innovate anymore, my ass?
A bit harsh perhaps, but there's some truths in what you say.
But with that said, have you actually used it? I'm a week in and ordered it when it was announced. I then heard some of the bad reviews (especially the Verge, with whom I usually align) and so had a mind to basically return after it arrived.
Now that I've had it in use for a week or so, I'm loving it. It's crisp, the colors pop, it integrates beautifully with MacOS, the speakers are great and the webcam... well the webcam is OK, but even if it is fixed with a software update, its not bad enough to be a dealbreaker. It's basically a keeper. I loved my 27" Thunderbolt and this is the spiritual successor.
And it holds it's own against the 14" MBP display - I mean who really stares at HDR content all day? Video looks great on this thing! My use is productivity and MS Office has never looked so good.
The point of this thread was that even though the reviews make it seem like overpriced, poor-value, and junk. It isn't that. Overpriced? Maybe. Poor value? That depends on your wallet. Junk? No way!
I don’t think it’s junk. Not at all. but if it has HDR and local dimming zone, I’m keeping it for the next 7-8 years. But if HDR is not available, I think the shelf life will be closer to 5 years or less. Recently I also saw a lot of reviews for the Alienware QD-OLED monitor, the spec is amazing although with quite low PPI (it’s not even 4K at 34 inch).. and why it must cater to the ‘gaming’ market with that teenager look? It’s not going to be fine on my work desk. Sigh. Does anybody know how to make a good looking monitor?
Disclaimer: I saw stock available from a local retailer just now and ordered the Studio Display to be delivered tomorrow (all my local Apple Stores are out of stock). I will test it after receiving it.
Disclaimer: I saw stock available from a local retailer just now and ordered the Studio Display to be delivered tomorrow (all my local Apple Stores are out of stock). I will test it after receiving it.
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