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New Studio display or something else?

I

IngaDW

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I am an artist and I need good colour on my displays. Not perfect - but good. My old iMac 5K 2019 has been fine. The colour doesn't need to be better than this, but I wouldn't want worse.

Now, I need a new computer, but more importantly, I need a new display.

I was hoping the new studio display was going to be better value - it is not. I am very dissapointed. For up to the same price, are there better displays around? I've been looking, but after reading the reviews, I keep coming the new studio display. Which kills me, because I have a perfectly good one in my iMac.

Any suggestions? Or should I suck it up and get the cheaper studio display (I can't afford the expensive one).

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
IngaDW said:
I was hoping the new studio display was going to be better value - it is not. I am very dissapointed. For up to the same price, are there better displays around? I've been looking, but after reading the reviews, I keep coming the new studio display. Which kills me, because I have a perfectly good one in my iMac.
Click to expand...

Can you find one of the previous 5K Studio Displays as new old stock?

That might be the best solution. I don't think the old LG Ultrafine 5K is still around new.

I have the LG Ultrafine 6K screens as well and could not recommend those for work needing colour accuracy.
 
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avro707 said:
Can you find one of the previous 5K Studio Displays as new old stock?

That might be the best solution. I don't think the old LG Ultrafine 5K is still around new.

I have the LG Ultrafine 6K screens as well and could not recommend those for work needing colour accuracy.
Click to expand...
Yeah - I will keep an eye out and I don’t mind buying second hand either.

Thanks for the info about colour on the LG Ultrafine screen - that’s really helpful.
 
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Buy new old stock previous gen Studio Display with the tilt/updown stand (I paid $2k per display for this, totally worth it), they'll be on sale soon.

New Studio Display (non XDR) is not a huge jump the panel seems to be the same, and you're stuck on just tilt.
 
SDAVE said:
and you're stuck on just tilt.
Click to expand...
Looks like it has a tilt and height option here:

1774905700348.png


The price isn't very nice.

The previous Studio Display is still good, I have one with the tilt and height adjustment. It has a great camera on it, good sound and nice picture quality.
 
As a designer, I was considering the BenQ PD2730S. Saw one for a bargain listed at £750 on eBay, and was messaging the seller (photographer) about it but someone else swooped in before me.

www.francescogola.net

BenQ PD2730S Review: A 5K Leap Forward

Let’s discover together the BenQ PD2730S: BenQ’s 5K answer to the Apple Display!
www.francescogola.net www.francescogola.net
 
Similar position, really didn’t want to spend this much on a display but I’ve ordered the ASD, delivery tomorrow.

Standard version, tilt only (because the top of the screen is easily high enough, higher in fact than my current screen).

I’ll let you know my thoughts.
 
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avro707 said:
Looks like it has a tilt and height option here:

View attachment 2618276

The price isn't very nice.

The previous Studio Display is still good, I have one with the tilt and height adjustment. It has a great camera on it, good sound and nice picture quality.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's still extra.

If ppl can find previous gen Studio Display with tilt and height just get that for cheaper!
 
If you're seriously on a budget I think the best current value is the Asus 27" 5k for $699 USD. It's good enough for most color work. If you're really set on an Apple display I'd go with old stock ASD if you can find it for ~$1300 still.

I see no point in buying the new ASD at ~$2k with height/tilt... at that point the extra $1k for the XDR is very much worth it.
 
IngaDW said:
I am an artist and I need good colour on my displays. Not perfect - but good. My old iMac 5K 2019 has been fine. The colour doesn't need to be better than this, but I wouldn't want worse.

Now, I need a new computer, but more importantly, I need a new display.

I was hoping the new studio display was going to be better value - it is not. I am very dissapointed. For up to the same price, are there better displays around? I've been looking, but after reading the reviews, I keep coming the new studio display. Which kills me, because I have a perfectly good one in my iMac.

Any suggestions? Or should I suck it up and get the cheaper studio display (I can't afford the expensive one).

Thanks for your thoughts.
Click to expand...
Just get the Studio Display. You're already used to retina and Apple quality in general with your iMac. I had 27 iMac 2020, which I wanted to get rid of due to some occasional weird reboot issues. I seriously considered getting Asus 5K but all the time knew that I would hate it because of plastic and cheap buttons.

Then, luckily, I recently scored three 2022 Studio Displays from authorized dealer for 700€ each. With standard glass and tilt stand. The aesthetics and quality of the displays blows me away every day. My work is light weight with Word so I have no clue about refresh rates which many in these forums seem to be complaining about.

So my recommendation is: keep you eyes open for 2022 Studio Displays now! They are still everywhere in stores and they must get them out as they're not allowed to have them on display due to the latest models. At least this is the case in Europe. You could score a demo model too, with full warranty – again, at least in Europe.
 
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If you want something like your iMac in terms of screen quality, brightness, retina-like etc, an ASD is the obvious choice. But it's expensive.

There's lots of other monitors out there which will give you larger displays, higher resolutions etc and there's some good threads on the popular ones in this forum, so maybe have a look there first to see if any are really recommended for the sort of work you do? i.e. color accuracy
 
I guess if you're brave and have the time, you could also repurpose your iMac as a standalone display?
forums.macrumors.com

DIY 5k Monitor - success :-)

From @SubDriver (24 May 2025) Converting iMac 5K Retina Display to a Standalone 5K Display I believe the details in the table below are accurate, but I am not 100% certain. I tried my best to use reputable sources (datasheets, etc.) for the info in the table, but some information comes from...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
Well, it’s here. First impressions; a display (to me) doesn’t get better than this.

I can totally see why the general public don’t need more than 60Hz and this panel.

To me, doing document work, tons of video calls, some light design bits, it’s perfect. Flawless.

HOWEVER!…. The height is MUCH higher than how i was using my last monitor. Maybe I sit low, but I’m 5 foot 11, and the top of the ASD sits way higher than the old Dell.

I have the tilt version. Not height adjustable.

Which leads me to ask; why are people needing height adjustable? Is it to increase the height? I read that people thought it’s too low.

Haven’t tested the rest of the features yet. But last thing, glossy is fine. No problems there.
 
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erasr said:
Well, it’s here. First impressions; a display (to me) doesn’t get better than this.

I can totally see why the general public don’t need more than 60Hz and this panel.

To me, doing document work, tons of video calls, some light design bits, it’s perfect. Flawless.

HOWEVER!…. The height is MUCH higher than how i was using my last monitor. Maybe I sit low, but I’m 5 foot 11, and the top of the ASD sits way higher than the old Dell.

I have the tilt version. Not height adjustable.

Which leads me to ask; why are people needing height adjustable? Is it to increase the height? I read that people thought it’s too low.

Haven’t tested the rest of the features yet. But last thing, glossy is fine. No problems there.
Click to expand...

You’re probably sitting with the monitor to low. Ergonomically speaking the ideal height to minimize neck/should strain is for the top of the monitor to be slightly above, or at the height of your eyes with a straight forward looking posture.
 
You will not find a better monitor than the Studio. It's a big improvement over the previous iMac panels. The color accuracy, sharpness, uniformity, and brightness is simply unbeatable. Contrary to what people say, they are not the same panels. I would skip the cheaper options and look for a used, or refurbished 2022 model.
 
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Thanks so much everyone. Well, it seems I will buy the new studio display. I would prefer to get a second hand older version, but in my country they cost almost the same anyway.

I dislike how Apple deliberately makes it impossible to use the iMac 2019 as a secondary display. That is unfriendly- and doesn’t really match their marketing. But also I can see they can afford to do this by having the best value mid-high end displays at the moment.

I looked that modding my existing one - the kit doesn’t exist for the the 2019 iMac yet (I think), and apparently the colors aren’t as faithful anyway.

I really appreciate the help everyone!
 
@IngaDW ”I looked that modding my existing one - the kit doesn’t exist for the the 2019 iMac yet (I think), and apparently the colors aren’t as faithful anyway.”

If you refer back to Post #14 in this thread, you can see there are several options (available for immediate delivery) to convert the screen panel in a 2019 iMac 5K into a monitor.
With a R1820 conversion board the colours are pretty much identical to the original.
 
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If you're based in the US, and you don't mind waiting a while, the studio displays often go on sale at like amazon.
 
PaulD-UK said:
@IngaDW ”I looked that modding my existing one - the kit doesn’t exist for the the 2019 iMac yet (I think), and apparently the colors aren’t as faithful anyway.”

If you refer back to Post #14 in this thread, you can see there are several options (available for immediate delivery) to convert the screen panel in a 2019 iMac 5K into a monitor.
With a R1820 conversion board the colours are pretty much identical to the original.
Click to expand...
Thanks - initially I discounted that because it looked a little too advanced for me. But I reexamined it, and found that some shops will take your iMac (and USD 500) and swap it for a modded imac 5k external display (or you can just buy the display for about half the studio price). If I can confirm that the colours are good I’d consider it. Thanks.
 
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xraydoc said:
I chose the 'something else' option. Made some long posts about it in the 6K Displays thread...
Click to expand...
The Asus ProArt 6K? This comment here? https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s.2459226/page-21?post=34546524#post-34546524

Added:
I was initially concerned about the colours, but honestly, if they are good enough for you (given your occupation), they are likely to be good enough for me. So long as I don't have to create a new colour profile more than monthly.

Thanks for your help.
 
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I think you’ve already discovered the answer yourself. If you keep coming back to the Studio Display after reading everything else, that probably tells you something.
It’s overpriced, yes. But if you value color, sharpness, and a hassle-free Mac experience, it’s still the benchmark in that price range. Get the standard glass model and enjoy it for the next 5+ years.
 
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