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Studio Display XDR Impressions

I always thought it was a bit tight of them with the original ASD to be honest, I ended up buying one of their longer ones and a Caldigit TB4 one in the end.

I've got an M5 MBP here too so will also try that with these screens to see what's going on exactly.
 
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AbeLincoln1984 said:
You people and monitor speakers...

The most replaceable, unnecessary part of the whole damn display.

Pfff. Grow up and buy real speakers if you care about audio.
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It's not that easy. We have Sonos Fives and Sub in the Office, plus HomePod Minis as an Airplay array, but its also quite nice, when you show a video or just listen to something for a moment, when you zoom etc. to have very nice speakers in front of you. And these do Spatial Audio. The sound of the original ASM kicked the iMac to the curb, but the new XDR Display is even better, the sound is so good I looked unter the screen to see how the **** this level of bass could come from that :-D. Having that directly in front of you and in «spatial» audio... is a very nice addition.
 
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Delarock said:
Guys before i sell my M4 pro.

Macbook pro M5 pro will handle 5k120hz + 5k60hz via daisy chaining? with hdr etc via one thujnderbolt 5 cable?
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You would need the M5 Pro chip (which isn't the base option in the MacBook Pro m5. This is a $500 upgrade from the base model MacBook Pro m5). The m5 Pro chip allows you to use 2 Studio Display XDRs at 120 Hz; the m5 chip can only handle 2 5k monitors at 60 Hz, so any XDRs would be limited to 60 Hz when daisy chained.

From https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/ (again, note that these are CHIPS, not MacBook versions)

M5

  • Supports up to two external displays over any combination of Thunderbolt and HDMI ports:
  • Two displays up to a native resolution of 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 144Hz or
  • One display up to a native resolution of 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz
  • Supports up to two external displays over a single Thunderbolt port

M5 Pro

  • Supports up to three external displays over any combination of Thunderbolt and HDMI ports:
  • Three displays up to a native resolution of 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 144Hz or
  • One display up to a native resolution of 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz plus a second display up to a native resolution of 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 200Hz

Disappointing that this is the case, but it just seems like this is a bandwidth limitation of driving that many pixels.
 
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The thing I am wondering about, can you put the OWC Dual 10GbE Dock behind the ASD and get full 10GbE and three more TB-Ports? The downside of the Doc is that it does not power the MBP, if you could put it behind the outgoing TB5 of the Apple Display, that would give you one of the few one-cable-solutions with 10GbE (and even 2 of those)
 
Just popped into an Apple Store to check out the XDR’s. Very disappointed with the size of the bezels! Looks like Apple didn’t innovate there 😕
 
@H_D
Since a TB4 M4 Mac(40⇵Gbps) can run one Studio XDR Display at 5K/120, then a TB5 Mac (80⇵ or 120↑/40↓Gbps) should have enough additional bandwidth beyond the display's needs to allow that OWC dock's two 10GbE ports to function as designed.

However that will only leave <~10-20Gbps bandwidth still unused to be utilised by the three downstream TB5 ports, especially if the USB A ports are in use as well. OK for low bandwidth use, but not faster devices.

Once the MR brigade - 'I wanna have two XDR's and my two old Pro XDRs, and 20GbE all plugged in, because Apple says a single M5 Mac's port supports four displays' - once that starts, there will be howls of disappointment. 😵‍💫
 
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AbeLincoln1984 said:
You people and monitor speakers...

The most replaceable, unnecessary part of the whole damn display.

Pfff. Grow up and buy real speakers if you care about audio.
Click to expand...
I mostly use AirPods. That doesn’t work when I want to show my wife a trailer on YouTube though (for example), so I still need to produce external sound, but don’t want to waste desk space on rarely used external speakers. I don’t want PC monitor grade audio garbage either, so it’s nice to have Apple quality speakers built into the display.
 
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wavesm said:
L

some people may like a clean desk and does not need best speakers but good speakers.
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I get it, and can respect that; it just comes up a lot with tvs and displays and as an audio guy I'm a bit mystified.

Deep down, I really want everyone to enjoy what they have within their budget.

The built in speakers on my og studio displays are so damn good I can't believe it; I'm sure they're improved with the new models but damn they're already more than good enough.

Hope you enjoy.
 
Delarock said:
Guys before i sell my M4 pro.

Macbook pro M5 pro will handle 5k120hz + 5k60hz via daisy chaining? with hdr etc via one thujnderbolt 5 cable?
Click to expand...
It's even better; m5 pro mbp has the beef for dual 5K 120Hz, and you can daisy chain them.

From apple support:

Supports two external displays in any of these configurations:

One display up to a native resolution of 8K (7680 x 4320) at 60Hz, 5K (5120 x 2880) at 120Hz, or 4K (3840 x 2160) at 240Hz, plus a second display up to a native resolution of 5K (5120 x 2880) at 120Hz or 4K (3840 x 2160) at 200Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI

Here's the link:

How many displays can be connected to MacBook Pro - Apple Support

The number of external displays that you can use at the same time depends on your Mac model and the resolution and refresh rate of each display.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
Against my better judgment, I bought a Studio Display XDR yesterday, and have zero regrets. It's a huge upgrade from the 4K Dell I'd been using, and the mini-LED looks great next to my M4 Max MBP. I used to end up looking at my MBP screen more often than the Dell, so my neck will appreciate the better ergonomics of staring forward instead of off to the side all day.

I'm very picky when it comes to display quality, evenness, etc., and this monitor is really, really good.
 
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AbeLincoln1984 said:
Sorry for being a dck.

Please tinker but if you've got dual 5K 120 Hz maybe don't mess with it lol
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No need to apologise, it just genuinely made me laugh.

All these posts have got me doubting myself now, but it's one of the first things I checked. I've worked in IT and had Macs for nearly 30 years now, so the 120Hz was one of selling points of these. Like @tothemoonsands, I swear it was 120Hz on both displays when I first set them up.

I'll check when back tomorrow.
 
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PaulD-UK said:
@ascender "I can't believe they still wouldn't spring for a 1.5 or 2 metre cable in the box."

The first 2m TB5 cable was sold at the beginning of January 2026, developed by Cable Matters.
The Intel-certified TB5 Retiming chip (two of which are required for cables longer than 1m) seems not to have been introduced until towards the end of last year.

Apple will no doubt introduce longer TB5 cables when they have manufactured and brought them to market.

Linus Tech Tips decided to manufacture their own USB-C/USB4 cables in 2020-21.
It took them until the end of 2025 to find a manufacturer who could actually make cables for them that worked properly and to the USB-IF specification...

So I expect it's not a trivial problem for Apple to get a stock of TB5 2m cables to actually sell or include in the box).
Maybe they should have withheld the launch until later in the year because 'You couldn't believe they wouldn't spring...'
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Thank you for these little details; while thunderbolt 5 is one helluva connection, technical stuff about length and chips and just being available to buy at all is interesting.

I'm just imagining someone needing a longer thunderbolt 5 cable and they literally couldn't buy one because they don't exist yet.

(Random thought but do these guys ever think about putting numbers on this stuff? Instead of just ⚡, how about ⚡5? Same as the ports, make it easy to know what you've got.)

The m3 ultra studio can do eight 6K@60Hz pro displays, as well as four 5K@120Hz studio xdrs. If I were rich af I'd probably go with the latter.

I know it's stupid but just imagine all that screen...
 
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Yesterday I was struggling going from a 32 inch to a 27 inch monitor and now my eyes have adjusted. Aside from the display vignetting near the bottom (which I will likely exchange), this monitor is miles better than my OLED gaming monitor in every way except black levels/response times. I still notice the slight ghosting (OLED is just butter smooth compared to miniLED), blooming on the edges like where the play/pause is located, and the large bezels that I'm getting used to. The HDR is bright as hell even with all the natural light in the room and just as bright as my LG G5, maybe more impactful because of the PPI density. It really just feels like the MacBook Pro's display in 27 inches which is what I wanted and I don't have to worry about the longevity of this display, hiding the taskbar/dock, etc.
 
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I do agree there is the slightest bit of vignetting along all 4 sides.


on the old 32" xdr this was like 2-4" into the screen on all sides

on the new 27" xdr I only see the vignetting 2-3mm into the screen.


slight, but there.
 
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Any idea if the Windows / PC support situation has changed from the regular Studio Display to the XDR given the update in ports and processor?

I have a M1 Pro MacBook that would be the primary driver for the display but also want to use the monitor with my work laptop alongside a cheap 1080p display via HDMI: Windows 11 machine (Dell Latitude 3520). It does have a USB-C DisplayPort 1.4 and as far as I know it can output 4K 60hz. I know it wouldn't be able to utilize webcam or brightness controls, but I literally just need it as a simple display extension in whatever resolution it can output.

Thinking of doing a DisplayPort Alt out via USB-C to the XDR, which should theoretically work since Thunderbolt 5 is backwards compatible? Maybe it just comes down to a high quality cable. Open to suggestions on that. The Latitude 3520's got an 11th Gen Intel i5-1135G7 with an Intel Iris Xe Graphics card if that makes a difference.
 
I bought three of these to replace my three Studio Displays on my M4 Max Mac Studio. Unfortunately, it seems I can only find a way to get two of the three working at one time, regardless of settings (Adaptive, 120Hz, 60Hz, etc). All of them work independently and macOS sees all three in System Report when they are connected, the webcam and USB ports work on all three, but only two displays show under displays in Settings. I'm running Tahoe 26.3.1. I spoke with Apple Support on Friday and after some troubleshooting, they have escalated the issue to engineering. If I can't get them all working at 120Hz, I'll return one and wait until the M5 Ultra or equivalent Mac Studio comes out and grab another one then. Has anyone had any luck in getting three of these going at once?

On a happier note, the displays themselves are beautiful! Just hoping I can replicate my previous setup with that buttery smooth ProMotion!
 
litercola said:
I bought three of these to replace my three Studio Displays on my M4 Max Mac Studio. Unfortunately, it seems I can only find a way to get two of the three working at one time, regardless of settings (Adaptive, 120Hz, 60Hz, etc). All of them work independently and macOS sees all three in System Report when they are connected, the webcam and USB ports work on all three, but only two displays show under displays in Settings. I'm running Tahoe 26.3.1. I spoke with Apple Support on Friday and after some troubleshooting, they have escalated the issue to engineering. If I can't get them all working at 120Hz, I'll return one and wait until the M5 Ultra or equivalent Mac Studio comes out and grab another one then. Has anyone had any luck in getting three of these going at once?

On a happier note, the displays themselves are beautiful! Just hoping I can replicate my previous setup with that buttery smooth ProMotion!
Click to expand...
Two displays up to a native resolution of 8K (7680 x 4320) at 60Hz, 5K (5120 x 2880) at 120Hz, or 4K (3840 x 2160) at 240Hz over Thunderbolt, and one display up to a native resolution of 4K (3840 x 2160) at 60Hz over HDMI

https://support.apple.com/en-us/101910

Based on the docs even the M5 Max can't do triple 5k 120hz.
 
PaulD-UK said:
@H_D
Since a TB4 M4 Mac(40⇵Gbps) can run one Studio XDR Display at 5K/120, then a TB5 Mac (80⇵ or 120↑/40↓Gbps) should have enough additional bandwidth beyond the display's needs to allow that OWC dock's two 10GbE ports to function as designed.

However that will only leave <~10-20Gbps bandwidth still unused to be utilised by the three downstream TB5 ports, especially if the USB A ports are in use as well. OK for low bandwidth use, but not faster devices.

Once the MR brigade - 'I wanna have two XDR's and my two old Pro XDRs, and 20GbE all plugged in, because Apple says a single M5 Mac's port supports four displays' - once that starts, there will be howls of disappointment. 😵‍💫
Click to expand...
Thank you. Would be one 10GbE, an OWC 8TB SSD and some small USB stuff like Loupedeck and Wacom.
Boy this was easier with a Studio instead of a MBP
 
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