Plastic and wobbly. I just can’t justify it even for the nice price.
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Samsung Offers Massive $600 Discount on ViewFinity S9 5K Smart Monitor, Available for $999.99
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The Samsung being a MATTE finish and not a literal mirror like the Apple display is the ONLY reason you'd need not to go with the Apple display. Have fun paying through the nose for GLARE.
Best Buy right now as all the options 300.00 off. That’s why I grabbed my second one. It’s a fairly good deal but even at 1299.00 for the standard glass and tilt only feels like a lot. Eight years with a 5k iMac hard to give up the 5k. Hopefully my arrives okay my FedEx driver sucks. I end up returning half of what I buy cause the box looks like a gorilla jumped on it
I never understood why glossy caught on. Cheaper to manufacture than a good antiglare screen, I guess.
Apple ruined laptop screens.
I have a M1 MBA and also a Studio with ASD. I’ve had several video interviews all on the MBA and never heard complaints…
Thing is, whatever the resolution the camera captures, it is highly compressed and then sent over to the other party(ies), just look at the size of the window that you receive, it’s not HD, leave alone 4K…
This screen is the most massive piece of garbage. I went through three of them and they all had a loud, annoying coil whine. Also, the screen literally crashes your Mac if it happens to go to sleep when plugged in (
). Samsung confirmed the issue and said they "hope it will be fixed soon".
I bought an Apple Studio Display instead and it's so so much better. Just spend the money to get the quality Apple screen!
I bought an Apple Studio Display instead and it's so so much better. Just spend the money to get the quality Apple screen!
The video input is what the Studio needs for the reasons you mentioned. Unrelated but can you use an iMac as an external monitor with another iMac or MB?
Got one, returned it next day. Dead pixels. Firmware sucks. Smart software can’t be turned off. Huge power brick if that bothers you. Pretty nice build quality overall, though. Didn’t play with it enough to attempt calibrating color profiles or anything. Just put it right back in the box after spotting the dead pixels.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Nope... unless it's an ancient one (circa 2010 or so with Target Display Mode) OR you do one of the significant hardware hacks to convert a newer iMac into a pure monitor (only) such as this one...
And don't be fooled by the title. His cost $600 because he's buying a used iMac. If you already have one, this hack costs much less.
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Not sure about turning off the Smart Software but it rarely ever pops up on my two displays. I didn't connect the monitor to WiFi either.
It is worth noting that Apple monitors last an incredible amount of time. I have two dual monitor setups (different locations) consisting of (3) Thunderbolt Displays (2011, 2014 and 2015) and (1) 27" LED Cinema Display (2008 or so). I have had to bump the brightness up level over the years, but they have held up well and are still bright enough. I doubt many 13 and 16 year old monitors are still in daily use.
I just bought (1) Studio Display and if I like it I will buy another to replace two of the Thunderbolt Displays (I will peddle on CL or FBM where I can expect at least $200 each). The only issue I ever had with the Thunderbolt Displays has been the cord (TB cable wears out) but it is easily replaced. At one point Amazon had knockoffs for less than $40. For those who do not want to open the display you can use a male to male thunderbolt with the TB port on the back. I am currently using them with 2023 MBP.
I just bought (1) Studio Display and if I like it I will buy another to replace two of the Thunderbolt Displays (I will peddle on CL or FBM where I can expect at least $200 each). The only issue I ever had with the Thunderbolt Displays has been the cord (TB cable wears out) but it is easily replaced. At one point Amazon had knockoffs for less than $40. For those who do not want to open the display you can use a male to male thunderbolt with the TB port on the back. I am currently using them with 2023 MBP.
Have you used an ASD?
I have the glossy ASD in a well-lit room next to a Window and it manages the glare very well.
Which third party apps helps with the mac os controls and the Samsung monitor? It is really a pain using this monitor sometimes. Wish I bought two Mac Studio displays instead of one mac and one samsung.
I wrote a longer review before and I did keep mine.
To Summarize: Great screen if you like matte (in my use case I do). Horrible speakers, frustrating software and software compatibility, not as premium as ASD, huge power brick.
IF I preferred glossy for where I use it I would have just gone with another ASD (I have one I use elsewhere) for "just" $299 more as it was on sale recently.
To Summarize: Great screen if you like matte (in my use case I do). Horrible speakers, frustrating software and software compatibility, not as premium as ASD, huge power brick.
IF I preferred glossy for where I use it I would have just gone with another ASD (I have one I use elsewhere) for "just" $299 more as it was on sale recently.
I’ve read this isn't supported with Intel Macs, I am waiting for a new studio m3 before replacing my 2017 iMac. I would love to hook up consoles and have extra inputs, but not sure if I should just buy this or wait some more to see if more options develop.
You’ve got it backwards. Smart TV functionality is a way to subsidize the hardware by tracking what you watch, to later serve ads with any cookie associated accounts. It would be more expensive without those features, not less.
I ask because to me the performance of my M1 Air and M1 iMac's web cams seems very good (and certainly better than, as you say, what gets actually received on the other end most of the time). I would be really surprised if the ASD's camera was not as good as the one on a $999 base model Air from 3 years ago...
I can't speak to the Samsung specifically, but at work with my non-Apple display (an HP, think?) I use this app to get the keyboard's brightness and volume keys to work, and it's very good:
Lunar - The defacto app for controlling monitor brightness
Control monitor brightness, adapt using the ambient light sensor, adjust volume, switch inputs and turn off displays without fiddling with clunky buttons.
Definitely a great hack. The big caveat here is that unless I'm mistaken you don't get to utilize the speakers or webcam on that iMac 5K. So it's a bargain, but you're now dealing with additional speakers and a webcam you have to plug in. I wonder if there's anyone out there doing these conversions as a service?
I have two of these paired with my M2 Mac mini, and it drives me forever insane that I can’t get the same 3000-something resolution out of both. It can output 5k to both simultaneously, so it’s not a bandwidth problem… but only one monitor at a time offers the 3008x1692, while with the other I’m stuck with 2560x1440 or a full native 5k. I hate both of those sizes, and I just can’t get 3008x available on both screens at the same time.