fathergll
macrumors 68020
Its easy to beat. Buy the ASUS 6k for $700 less with the same IQ, better button placement, sturdier rear ports, easier stand adjustment and better factory calibration.
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Studio Display vs. Studio Display XDR Buyer's Guide
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Its easy to beat. Buy the ASUS 6k for $700 less with the same IQ, better button placement, sturdier rear ports, easier stand adjustment and better factory calibration.
Black_Mage
macrumors 6502a
If you are willing to compromise with a 4K monitor, you can get a very good deal on a very good monitor.
Acer Nitro 27” 4K UHD 3840 x 2160 Gaming IPS MiniLED Monitor | AMD FreeSync Premium | 160Hz Refresh Rate to FHD 320Hz (DFR) | Up to 0.5ms | 1 x Display Port 1.4 & 2 x HDMI 2.1 Ports | XV275K V3biipprx
The Gate of Smooth Gaming: In competitive gaming, every frame matters. Introducing Acer's XV275K gaming monitor - the UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution monitor delivering you a 1152-zone miniLED local dimming panel and VESA DisplayHDR 1000. This AMD FreeSync Premium monitor takes gameplay to the next ...
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I am not a fan of Tizen OS nor the "Smart Hub' interface on Samsung TVs and monitors. That said, I was able to skip past all of the setup options. I disabled most, if not all, of the embedded features. It serves as a plain dumb monitor, just the way I like it. I want it to wake when I plug in my laptop and it does just that.
SRQrws
macrumors 6502
I know the new Studio XDR has been bashed pretty heavily here, but I just set mine up and I'm glad I got it. It replaced a 2 year old Studio Display. After just a few minutes of use, the standouts to me are the much deeper blacks and the smoothness of scrolling. Do I "need" the XDR? No. Do I wish it was priced a bit lower? Yep. But, damn, it's nice.
btrach144
macrumors 68040
Congrats! It’s an incredible monitor. A bit overpriced but sometimes the heart wants what it wants. You’ll love it.
Best guess is employers pay crazy amounts for ergonomic furniture because the opposite is employees going on disability. If you use your monitor 8 hours a day it’s maybe worth the ergonomic gain.
Same! HDR photography in Lightroom is awesome! My pictures are like new.
If you want what is possibly the best image (not biggest) consumer display on the market right now, get the XDR.
If you were in the market for a Studio Display yesterday, you just got an update for the same price or a discount if you are happy with the old model.
A 4k monitor is not a substitute for people in the 5k market any more than a Civic is a substitute for that GTR you actually wanted. But you'll convince yourself it's just as good and fits your needs better.
If you were in the market for a Studio Display yesterday, you just got an update for the same price or a discount if you are happy with the old model.
A 4k monitor is not a substitute for people in the 5k market any more than a Civic is a substitute for that GTR you actually wanted. But you'll convince yourself it's just as good and fits your needs better.
The reviews on amazon are quite troubling.
Looks like this model has significant quality control problems; the reviews are full of Mac users who wanted a retina-friendly alternative, and they all said the studio display looks significantly better.
On paper the LG looks great. But after reading those reviews I'll pass.
Check the apple refurbished store every morning, and combine it with a veteran discount if you can.
If the one you want pops up, go for it. They get snatched up very quickly.
Did you have the chance to compare them side by side? Dual monitor, mirrored? That would have been interesting.
twistedpixel8
macrumors 6502a
That’s a 5k2k. Not even remotely the same. This is the equivalent deliberate customer confusion tactic as Samsung when they launched QLED.
You bring up a good point. Ostensibly, these forum pages are the best place to find like minded people on a quest for a decent screen at a decent price.
But for every person here that knows their stuff, there's a person who really doesn't.
By the way, I don't care if people use TVs or whatever... If you're happy with what you've got, awesome. That is the point.
It's really all Apple's fault... They could come out with proper scaling for 4K monitors. For a company that otherwise has the best screens in the tech world, it's really odd that we're forced to do all this homework.
Generally speaking, it shouldn't cost more than a computer to look at a computer.
noiceT
macrumors 6502a
I bought a 32" lenovo 4k monitor in 2020-2021 or so, it was my first monitor. The panel quality was very pleasing to me. However, over the years I have grown to HATE the monitor, to the point I am just working on my laptop now and have moved it to a storage room.
There are 2 main reasons:
1. I find that ultimately, 32" is too large for my liking, both ergonomically and aesthetically. I somehow feel that having a massive monitor dominating your environment is a humiliation ritual of sorts. I also feel it is too large to be ergonomically optimal for the neck.
2. I find it just offensively ugly, especially since I don't have my desk against a wall (don't like that) and I walk in and see this huge plastic black slab of plastic with cables everywhere, it just is something I decided I can't accept any longer
This leads me to only the apple monitors as somewhat acceptable:
-not too large (although 27" is still on the large side, it seems more acceptable than 32")
-not extremely ugly from the rear, although the apple logo is very tacky and I wish I could have a custom order without the logo
-according to numerous reviews, the quality is top notch
and basically there is not a single monitor on the market that checks all these boxes. Some look good on paper, but independent reviews all report them as garbage
The main issue I see with the apple monitors is that it has a built in microphone and webcam which could be exploitable by adversaries trying to spy and eavesdrop on you. On the other hand it means no mounting of ugly webcam on the monitor which is a huge win. Potentially the microphone could be removed and a shutter placed on the webcam
There are 2 main reasons:
1. I find that ultimately, 32" is too large for my liking, both ergonomically and aesthetically. I somehow feel that having a massive monitor dominating your environment is a humiliation ritual of sorts. I also feel it is too large to be ergonomically optimal for the neck.
2. I find it just offensively ugly, especially since I don't have my desk against a wall (don't like that) and I walk in and see this huge plastic black slab of plastic with cables everywhere, it just is something I decided I can't accept any longer
This leads me to only the apple monitors as somewhat acceptable:
-not too large (although 27" is still on the large side, it seems more acceptable than 32")
-not extremely ugly from the rear, although the apple logo is very tacky and I wish I could have a custom order without the logo
-according to numerous reviews, the quality is top notch
and basically there is not a single monitor on the market that checks all these boxes. Some look good on paper, but independent reviews all report them as garbage
The main issue I see with the apple monitors is that it has a built in microphone and webcam which could be exploitable by adversaries trying to spy and eavesdrop on you. On the other hand it means no mounting of ugly webcam on the monitor which is a huge win. Potentially the microphone could be removed and a shutter placed on the webcam
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I have that monitor. It's very nice, but isn't quite as sharp as the Studio Display. As another commenter stated, it's only 140 PPI. That's good, but not quite the same as the displays Apple is sell.
The 120 Hz panel in it is good, but I honestly can't tell a difference between it and a 60 Hz monitor since that Dell is only being used for work -- writing, doing some image editing, statistical analyses, and various neuroscience analyses. I bought it because it was only a little more than the price of two high quality 4K monitors and one ultrawide was a simpler setup than two monitors.
I'd still buy it again because through work I can get it for about $1200, but if it was a choice between the more typical $2000 or Apple's Studio monitor at $1600, I'd go with the Studio Monitor even if I lose a lot of screen real estate.
SRQrws
macrumors 6502
I only had them side by side for a brief test because I packed up the old ASD for sale. In addition to the better scrolling and deeper blacks, I just noticed my photo files had much greater contrast, creating depth. The speakers are supposed to be better, but didn't evaluate them as I normally listen to music on my Sonos speakers via Airplay. Also, the camera is noticeably better than the prior ASD.
Agreed. All the people jumping in thinking I was saying it compares to the Studio Display aren't reading. I simply stated the monitor I was using. I am considering the Studio Display (which is why I am on this article). Never said it compares or is better, but people read what fits their narrative.
Notice I never said it was the same? Just said it was what I was using...
Thanks for your thoughts. Appreciate it. I've finally decided to go with the XDR after a lot of thought and having been really pleased with my 2 year old Studio Display (which has been outstanding for editing my photography image files).
Out of curiosity... I went online to the Apple site to see what the trade in value of my Studio Display would be. Sadly, it's not listed. Next time I'm at the local Apple Store I'll ask about that.
SRQrws
macrumors 6502
I sold mine to ItsWorthMore.com for $820 (less shipping insurance of $21). I've used them, along with MacMeAnOffer.com many times without ever having any problems. They consistently offer more than Apple trade-in values and none of the headaches of eBay. You might want to check them both out. Hopefully you saved the original box for your ASD!
Yeah... I can't imagine using a 32" display given the distance I sit from the screen when editing my image files. That's just not going to happen.
The logo on the back of my Studio Display... I forgot that there was one until you mentioned it. And that's passing by the the display's back a dozen times a day. I guess that's my brain somehow tuning it out. In other words, that's not a biggie for me.
Many thanks for the heads-up - I'll check them out.
Right, I am 90% sure I will pull the trigger on the standard studio display with height adjustable stand. For the sake of mental gymnastics I am also weighing the potential pros of the XDR for my use case. Basically I will use it for working office type stuff so it seems like a huge overkill already with the standard one. But I just care really a lot about stuff looking good and not all grainy and yellowish and like a huge pile of plastic garbage. I guess I am very superficial like that. But anyway I wonder if 120Hz is even possible with windows Dell monitor in SDR with the xdr monitor.
I also wondered if it would even matter. I found out today that my Linux laptop has 120 hz and I never knew that nor noticed a difference when I changes it to 60hz out of curiosity. Isn't this refresh rate and "smoothness" stuff mainly a product of the imagination?
This is a foolish errand. Professionals who would utilize the higher end model will absolutely go with other brands at that price or lower. Why apple continues to try and be a monitor company when they're so, so overpriced is beyond me. Any other company would have stopped long ago. Helps to have billions in cash to burn I guess.
I have searched for several years to find another monitor as good or better than studio display, but did not find anything. Are the elites hiding it from us?