Mac Mini or Studio Display sales in next month?

[Penman61]

I'm planning on buying a Mac Mini M2 Pro + Studio Display sometime in the next month (take delivery by Jan 10).

Are there any regular, annual sales I should be on the watch for, i.e., does Apple usually have a post-Christmas sale, etc.?

 

[casperes1996]

Apple themselves almost never does proper sales. They may offer gift cards or other incentives but outright lower cost almost never happens. You may be able to find something on Amazon but I don’t know of anything regular

 

[Penman61]

^Thank you. 🙂

 

[Thirio2]

B&H, Microcenter, etc. regularly have sales on the mini. Not sure about the Studio Display. I live reasonably close to an Apple Store and microcenter and have bought from both.

 

[tstafford]

Studio display is regularly discounted at Costco and AMZN.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Buy refurb or edu store if you want to buy direct from Apple with a discount. Shop around third parties for discounts on the Mini.

Consider the more open, more flexible, superior camera, Samsung Viewfinity S9 monitor as a 5K "retina" alternative to ASD dancing around the $1000 price point right now on Amazon, with several "used like new" ones in the Amazon Warehouse (typically quick returns) for well below $1000. With the substantial savings vs. buying ASD, you could buy "more" Mac Mini Pro (upgrades?) and/or perhaps some external 4TB m.2 storage or 2TB m.2 in a hub or vertical hub NOT priced as sky high as Apple SSDs.

You might even consider getting a:

• base M2 Mac Studio MAX (refurb $1699) + the S9 (approx. $1000) = approx. $2700 vs.
• Mac Mini Pro (refurb $1099) + ASD (approx. $1500) = approx. $2600

If you desire any monitor stand option other than stock, the latter will end up costing MORE. The S9 pretty much comes with all of the added-cost Apple monitor options.

If you want even more Mac, consider the LG 27" 5K monitor "used like new" at $900 which, prior to ASD launch, was basically endorsed as THE desktop monitor stocked in Apple stores. A little shopping around might find this one for less.

 

[hfvienna]

I'm planning on buying a Mac Mini M2 Pro + Studio Display sometime in the next month (take delivery by Jan 10).

Are there any regular, annual sales I should be on the watch for, i.e., does Apple usually have a post-Christmas sale, etc.?

Buy a IIyama Display with 31" , it will save you a lot of money for your MacStudio and difference between monitors will be hard to see.

 

[AlmightyKang]

Buy a IIyama Display with 31" , it will save you a lot of money for your MacStudio and difference between monitors will be hard to see.

No no no no please don't suggest this.

I've got a 27" 4k Dell (P2723QE), an Iiyama 27" 4K (XUB2792UHSU) monitor and a Studio Display sitting next to each other.

The Iiyama is absolute garbage. It's actually blurry because the sharpness engine is a total mess in it and there is so much bleed through on the display it's unusable for high contrast work. The Dell is much better. But the Dell fades out 5mm before the edges if you don't look at it dead on. The Dell craps out and doesn't wake up half the time. The speakers in the Iiyama sound like a $10 kids walkman. The Dell's soundbar sounds like someone farting in a can.

The Studio Display is something completely off the scale better than either of those. You get what you pay for.

 

[hfvienna]

No no no no please don't suggest this.

I've got a 27" 4k Dell (P2723QE), an Iiyama 27" 4K (XUB2792UHSU) monitor and a Studio Display sitting next to each other.

The Iiyama is absolute garbage. It's actually blurry because the sharpness engine is a total mess in it and there is so much bleed through on the display it's unusable for high contrast work. The Dell is much better. But the Dell fades out 5mm before the edges if you don't look at it dead on. The Dell craps out and doesn't wake up half the time. The speakers in the Iiyama sound like a $10 kids walkman. The Dell's soundbar sounds like someone farting in a can.

The Studio Display is something completely off the scale better than either of those. You get what you pay for.

You talk about an old Iiyama with 1000 static contrast , I talk about a todays one like iiyama ProLite XB3288UHSU-B1
with 3000 . And I did not say the Apple is not better , but is it worth the big money? I am not so sure.

 

[AlmightyKang]

You talk about an old Iiyama with 1000 static contrast , I talk about a todays one like iiyama ProLite XB3288UHSU-B1
with 3000 . And I did not say the Apple is not better , but is it worth the big money? I am not so sure.

The XB3288UHSU is a VA panel which is why it has better contrast. But the colours will be dire. Definitely nowhere near even a bottom end IPS panel in that space

I agree it's expensive but if you look at some of the few actually comparable monitors from ViewSonic or NEC it's not badly priced!

You get what you pay for. And don't get what you don't pay for.

 

[casperes1996]

You talk about an old Iiyama with 1000 static contrast , I talk about a todays one like iiyama ProLite XB3288UHSU-B1
with 3000 . And I did not say the Apple is not better , but is it worth the big money? I am not so sure.

Monitor quality matters differently to different people. At work my employer gave me a Samsung panel and frankly I wind up looking more at the MacBook Pro Display than the big external display I have because the colour accuracy makes me want to vomit. I write code for a living so it's not even like colour should matter that much, but when I runt he app on the simulator on the external screen and everything is just off, or look at the Figma prototype the designers gave me or just tilt my head a bit too much and the shallow viewing angles completely shift everything - It's horrendous.

Now that monitor in general isn't that good, but I also look at supposedly good monitors and feel a little disgusted by Tham after a while, being used to my 5K iMac. - And I even have terrible eyesight. I could easily be happy with a lot of other monitors for programming work (I've looked quite a bit at Huawei's 28" MateView for example and think it could be good for code), but for my other hobbies; Video and photo work, it's a no-go

 

[dotzero123]

BestBuy has good financing and $150 off now. You can get cheaper on Amazon, Sam's Club or BH Photo from time to time. The refurb store is the best way, but I've not seen any in stock lately for the base model. Use a monitor raiser and get the tilt base (which is very nice) if you want to keep it to a minimum. The monitor is outstanding in every way with great sound and a video camera which is super convenient.

 

[theorist9]

Buy a IIyama Display with 31" , it will save you a lot of money for your MacStudio and difference between monitors will be hard to see.

But the Ilyama you're referring to (XB3288UHSU) is only 140 ppi. That's somewhat low for MacOS, which really needs Retina pixel density (≈220 ppi for an external monitor) to look its best, particularly if you are doing text work. I think most people can tell the difference between 140 ppi and 220 ppi.

 

[theorist9]

Monitor quality matters differently to different people. At work my employer gave me a Samsung panel and frankly I wind up looking more at the MacBook Pro Display than the big external display I have because the colour accuracy makes me want to vomit. I write code for a living so it's not even like colour should matter that much, but when I runt he app on the simulator on the external screen and everything is just off, or look at the Figma prototype the designers gave me or just tilt my head a bit too much and the shallow viewing angles completely shift everything - It's horrendous.

Now that monitor in general isn't that good, but I also look at supposedly good monitors and feel a little disgusted by Tham after a while, being used to my 5K iMac. - And I even have terrible eyesight. I could easily be happy with a lot of other monitors for programming work (I've looked quite a bit at Huawei's 28" MateView for example and think it could be good for code), but for my other hobbies; Video and photo work, it's a no-go

I know what you mean. I calibrate both my Dell monitors with an X-Rite i1 Display Pro spectrophotmeter, and it makes an enormous difference, even though my work is mostly text-based. I really didn't like using my Dells until I calibrated them. It even improves my 2019 iMac.

You'd want to confirm this yourself, but I believe the current version is the Calibrite Color Checker Display Pro. I think it would definitly be worth your office buying one, since with a single unit you should be able to calibrate every monitor in your office (I don't believe there is a license restriction, but you can check that).

 

[theorist9]

Not much variation on AZ for the ASD (from camelcamelcamel.com):

You can do similar tracking for other products -- just find what you want on AZ, and enter the URL into camel's website.