Samsung's Studio Display Rival Launching in South Korea Next Week for Equivalent of $1,300

[EugW]

Why 60hz? Why no miniLED? And why matte finish??? The glossy LCD is like the number 1 thing obvious from Apple world when making the competitor..

60 Hz because most consumers don't care in this space, and because it's 5K - cost.
No mini-LED because most consumers don't care and because of cost.
Matte is also popular in this space.

Similarly, like the Apple Studio Display this is not a true 10-bit panel because the cost would be too high.

 

[apparatchik]

Apple's studio display is from early 2022, so it's expected a competitor 18 months later to be cheaper, surely Apple's BOM has gone done since release.

 

[EugW]

Apple's studio display is from early 2022, so it's expected a competitor 18 months later to be cheaper, surely Apple's BOM has gone done since release.

Of course, but don't expect Apple to drop pricing... unless we get a new Apple display model release soon.

 

[tobybrut]

It's good to finally have competition in the 5K monitor space when before this, there was only Apple and LG with the latter having a mediocre build quality. Good for Samsung. I probably wouldn't buy it due to the matte coating and because my prior Samsung monitor (I have their ultra wide gaming monitor) being extremely shoddy in construction. Anyone who experienced the original Odyssey G9 know what I'm talking about with the recall where light leakage occurred along with its inability to work properly with Nvidia cards (DSC wasn't working) out of the box that was eventually fixed after six months through a firmware update.

 

[Klapper.cz]

60 Hz because most consumers don't care in this space, and because it's 5K - cost.
No mini-LED because most consumers don't care and because of cost.
Matte is also popular in this space.

Similarly, like the Apple Studio Display this is not a true 10-bit panel because the cost would be too high.

Cost argument is clear, but still you can choose to be a leader for a while, not just follow behind in features. Especially giant like Samsung, spitting OLEDs and miniLEDs all around.
But matte is mainly just traditional "in this space", meanwhile everything Apple does is glossy and popular. And I'd understand if it was just another "windows monitor", but it's clearly meant as Apple rival too (mainly?). And then it's just stupid not to offer the main feature of "Apple look" too.

 

[azentropy]

Price is disappointing If that is what the US price comes in at.

 

[zapmymac]

My admittedly cheap 4:3 10+ year old monitor does 72-75 Hertz, why are we stuck at 60? Any help to my eyes is always appreciated.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Competition is always good for consumers... even the Apple-est of Apple fans.

Unlike Apple MSRP, Samsung MSRP does not seem so rigid once products are for sale. If MSRP is $1300, expect discounts to maybe $1000-$1100 at retail outlets fairly quickly. I wouldn't be surprised to see $999 soon.

My guess is Samsung sees an added profit opportunity due to Apples high margin price. In other words, Samsung can price higher than normal and still significantly undercut Apple's price to appeal to those where price is a dominant buying variable. In short, I suspect Apple pricing is pulling UP this MSRP by Samsung.

Looking forward to objective reviews by non-Apple fans. We know Apple fans will key on negatives while mostly ignoring the positives. Objective reviewers will just see this as another monitor to go head to head against other offerings.

For all those Apple people- especially the iMac 27" crowd- wanting to embrace "separates" but not wanting to pay the old iMac 27" full price for only the ASD alone, this offers a way to get most of the benefits of a good 5K screen at a more affordable price when paired with a Mini or Studio... still not quite Apple's old iMac 27" "starting at" price range but what will probably end up being about a +/-$500 savings in retail channels is almost enough to cover the base Mini. If this soon hits at about $1100, that's $900 to potentially put towards an upgraded Mini to get to the old iMac starting at $1999 price. If it is soon $999, that's about $1000 one could put towards a Mini. That's not far from a base PRO Mac Mini... which will hit the refurb store not too much further down the road.

Refurb base Mac Mini PRO - 15% = $1105 + maybe $999 at about the same time it shows up there for this S9 = M2 PRO Silicon Mac mini + S9 5K monitor for $105 more than Apple's old iMac 27" starting at price. The way we sling around "inflation" and "supply chain" around here to rationalize rising prices (well Apple's prices anyway), that's not too bad vs. iMac 27" prices from the pre-Covid days.

I hope it objectively reviews well for all who are interested in competition that benefits us consumers.

 

[Leon Ze Professional]

If Samsung wants to play in Apples space they need to pay more attention to detail such as:

--> Less plastics and more quality materials used throughout.
--> a less wobbly monitor.
--> provide much better quality speakers that are at least getting close to the ASD.
--> colour match all the accessories why do you have a white remote with a silver monitor?
--> colour match the cabling.

Look Samsung are not scoring all own goals they're getting plenty right like:

--> the 4k detachable webcam. Tick
--> the rotate and height adjustable stand right out of the box. Tick
--> 5k retina quality display. Tick
--> colour calibration features. Tick
--> A matte finished coating. Tick

 

[tobybrut]

My admittedly cheap 4:3 10+ year old monitor does 72-75 Hertz, why are we stuck at 60? Any help to my eyes is always appreciated.

You'll have to wait for Thunderbolt 5 since 4 can't do 5K120. When the 6K Pro Display XDR uses DSC, it has to cripple its USB-C ports to do so. TB5 will double the bandwidth of TB3/4.

 

[mushy peas]

Apple's studio display is from early 2022

Given the panel is just the second revision of the iMac 5K panel it’s accurate to say it’s from 2017. And that was really only a small brightness boost over the original panel from 2014. It’s ancient in panel terms.

miniLEDs

They’re coming, but there’s currently no 27” 5K miniLED panel available, so Samsung can’t ship what manufacturers don’t make. That will change in a hurry with 27” 5K, 32” 6K and 32” 8K miniLED displays in development and due for production soon.

I suspect the industry is probably just going to skip 5K and 6K in any meaningful volume and standardise on 32” 8K, which would be great. Pixel doubled 4K will look great on a 32” screen.

 

[tripsync]

Competition is great for everyone!

Let's look at the competition for tv streaming:

Acorn TV
allblk
Amazon Prime Video
AMC+
Apple iTunes
Blaze TV
Bleacher Report
BritBox
BroadwayHD
Crackle
Crunchyroll
Curiosity Stream
DAZN
DC Universe Infinite
DirecTV Stream
Discovery+
Disney+
Disney+ Star
Dove Channel
ESPN+
F1 TV
Facebook Watch
Fandor
Fearless.li
FlixFling
Frndly TV
Fubo
Funimation Now
Gaia
Ginx
Google Play
GuideDoc
Hallmark Movies Now
Hayu
Hi-Yah
HIDIVE
History Vault
Hoopla
Hopster TV
Hulu
Hulu + Live TV
IMDb TV
Kanopy
KlowdTV
KocawaTV
LG Channel Plus
Lifetime Movie Club
Magnolia Selects
Max
MAX GO
MGM+
MLB.TV
MOTORTREND+
Mubi
NBA League Pass
NBC News Now
Netflix
NFL Game Pass
NHL.TV
Outside TV
PantaFlix
Paramount+
Peacock
Philo
Pluto.tv
PokerGo
Popcornflix
Pure Flix
Qello
Rakuten Viki
Realeyz
RedBox
Revry
Roku
Screambox
Short of the Week
Shout Factory TV
Showtime
Shudder
Sling TV
Spectrum TV
Starz
Sundance Now
The CW (now merged with CW Seed)
Tubi TV
Turner Classic Movies
TV Everywhere
Twitch
Twitter
UFC Fight Pass
UP Faith and Family
Vidgo
Vimeo
Volta
VRV
Vudu
Willow TV
WWE Network
Xumo
YouTube TV

Or let's look at what game clients us PC gamers have to install to enjoy most games:

1. Steam (Valve Corporation)
2. Epic Games Store (Epic Games)
3. GOG Galaxy (GOG.com)
4. Origin (Electronic Arts)
5. Uplay (Ubisoft)
6. Battle.net (Blizzard Entertainment)
7. Xbox app (Microsoft Store)
8. Microsoft Store (Microsoft)
9. Itch.io (Itch Corp.)
10. Bethesda.net Launcher (Bethesda Softworks)
11. Rockstar Games Launcher (Rockstar Games)
12. Twich Desktop App (Twitch Interactive)

And remember how music streaming platforms used to buy rights to have exclusive streaming for popular albums so that the consumer had to subscribe to multiple music streaming services just to enjoy most albums?

Tell me again how competition is great for everyone!

 

[mushy peas]

provide much better quality speakers that are at least getting close to the ASD.

All monitor speakers are crap. Save the money, lower the price, and consumers can buy their own speakers, which will be vastly better than anything anyone ships in a monitor.

The ASD was overbuilt to try and justify that woeful price, we don’t need other manufacturers making the same mistake.

Just give us a panel and some ports and call it a day.

 

[MauiPa]

Rival? What a joke, the Samsung has crap specs to go along with its cheap price. Not even in the same league.

Now do you need better specs, probably better than the Samsung, but not as much as the Apple. That being said, it has some nice features. Apple made a mistake by not include external connectivity like Samsung did

But rival, not even close

 

[bradman83]

And you only get 60hz IPS at 500-600nits.

No mini-LED, no OLED, no high refresh rate.

5K monitors at 120 Hz or higher are difficult to drive via a single connector on anything but the newest Thunderbolt, HDMI, or DisplayPort connectors. That means the market for a 120 Hz 5K display would be limited to all but the newest computers. It will happen eventually but it will be a few more years before panel manufacturers decide its worth their while to make them.

 

[spetznatz]

Hmmm… the Thai and Indian pricing that showed up last week suggested that this would hit £999 in the UK… $1300 suggests maybe £1099. Anyway, I was really excited for this, but looking at the ADS, it seems so dinky… still, if they bring out a 6K 32” version, well, take ma moneeehhh. It would allow me to do away with my dual-monitor setup: MacOS’s handling of dual monitors is just risible; window gathering, anyone..?

 

[dumastudetto]

Hmmm… the Thai and Indian pricing that showed up last week suggested that this would hit £999 in the UK… $1300 suggests maybe £1099. Anyway, I was really excited for this, but looking at the ADS, it seems so dinky… still, if they bring out a 6K 32” version, well, take ma moneeehhh. It would allow me to do away with my dual-monitor setup: MacOS’s handling of dual monitors is just risible; window gathering, anyone..?

Since Samsung copies everything else Apple does, why wouldn't they use Apple exchange rates too? $1299 USD is £1399 GBP.

 

[chepe86]

It retails for $1399 when it goes on sale it can drop to $1199 or $1099.

 

[jz0309]

competition is a good thing, in this case, ~ 7 months too late for me ...
doesn't say if it has builtin speakers?
Also, I expect MSRP at 1399 in the US with pretty much immediate discounts

 

[klasma]

But it doesn't have an Apple logo.

They have to cut costs somewhere.

 

[greenbreadmmm]

My big question is, will it have enough compatibility with MacOS to let you adjust brightness and settings on-screen the way you can with an Apple display? For that kind of money, I don't want to have to be futzing with buttons on the display...

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.

lunar.fyi

 

[gugy]

If this monitor offers the same glossy finished glass as the ASD, it can be a worthy competitor. Otherwise, personally I don’t want another matte finished display, thank you.

On the other hand, I am glad they have the matte option. The glare of standard displays drives me crazy. Unless you work on a dungeon, any light source is a distraction reflecting on the screen.

 

[klasma]

And why matte finish??? The glossy LCD is like the number 1 thing obvious from Apple world when making the competitor..

It’s the number 1 reason why I won’t buy an Apple monitor.

 

[EugW]

Cost argument is clear, but still you can choose to be a leader for a while, not just follow behind in features. Especially giant like Samsung, spitting OLEDs and miniLEDs all around.
But matte is mainly just traditional "in this space", meanwhile everything Apple does is glossy and popular. And I'd understand if it was just another "windows monitor", but it's clearly meant as Apple rival too (mainly?). And then it's just stupid not to offer the main feature of "Apple look" too.

The higher end version of Apple's display is matte nano-texture.

It’s the number 1 reason why I won’t buy an Apple monitor.

Well, Apple does sell matte nano-texture.

 

[SilenceBroken]

Why would you need smart tv apps on this?