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What's the point of the new regular Studio Display?
- Thread starter SDAVE
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ascender
macrumors 603
It's just a spec bump/refresh, nothing more, nothing less. So all of the pros and cons of the original ASD still stand although hopefully the webcam is at least much better and its added TB5.
It's the sort of thing Apple will do when a few things start to happen - it might even just have been determined by the internal SOC used for the original. There will come a time where they don't want to be manufacturing old SOCs and can move to a new one from a cost and logistics perspective.
The bigger debate is probably about the sort of panel used and whether there was anything better out there. But apparently Apple are selling lots of these and I bet the vast majority of people buying them don't want/need anything "better" in a 27" 5K screen.
It's the sort of thing Apple will do when a few things start to happen - it might even just have been determined by the internal SOC used for the original. There will come a time where they don't want to be manufacturing old SOCs and can move to a new one from a cost and logistics perspective.
The bigger debate is probably about the sort of panel used and whether there was anything better out there. But apparently Apple are selling lots of these and I bet the vast majority of people buying them don't want/need anything "better" in a 27" 5K screen.
FreakinEurekan
macrumors G3
"the point" in what way?
Compared to the old ASD - yeah, a spec bump at the same price. Plenty of people were happy with the old one, they should be happier with the new.
Compared to the ASD XDR - price, of course.
For YOUR purposes - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Very personal metric. Maybe no point at all. And that's okay.
Compared to the old ASD - yeah, a spec bump at the same price. Plenty of people were happy with the old one, they should be happier with the new.
Compared to the ASD XDR - price, of course.
For YOUR purposes - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Very personal metric. Maybe no point at all. And that's okay.
The Tilt/Adjust version is actually $100 cheaper. That's what I have from previous gen. I wish the panel was better though. I'll hang tight to my dual Studio Displays. It's a good panel but pretty lackluster by 2026 standards.
They could've done something better for this refresh.
Golf7-R
macrumors regular
I really need a bigger monitor. But buying a second Studio Display feels wrong, since the panel is exactly the same after so many years. Thinking about getting the XDR, which will last me many many years. But the internet really makes you feel like an idiot for even considering the XDR. So much hate..
I think you're forgetting the Studio Display XDR. It's the same size and resolution, but other than that, it's better than the old Studio Display in every way imaginable. It's got all I wanted.
XboxEvolved
macrumors 65816
FreakinEurekan
macrumors G3
_timo_redux_
macrumors 68020
I think often missed in the analysis of the changes from the first version of the Studio Display is the addition of not just Thunderbolt 5 but that extra thunderbolt port. The obvious use for the extra port is to daisy-chain to another monitor, but for people who don't want to go the thunderbolt hub route (and therefore save ~$300 easy,) you now get thunderbolt speeds for e.g. an attached SSD drive -- all with just one connection to your mac.
I'll be interested to see if or how much better the camera is, and to a lesser extent, the speakers, than the original Studio Display.
I'll be interested to see if or how much better the camera is, and to a lesser extent, the speakers, than the original Studio Display.
ascender
macrumors 603
I really hope not...
I'm assuming its the same one as is in the laptops these days as its also described as "12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View". That one is significantly better than the one in the first gen ASD.
Apple Knowledge Navigator
macrumors 601
See iJustine's review, she makes a good comparison of the original ASD camera compared to the new one. There's a significant difference.
Christopher Pelham
macrumors member
Why do we suppose it didn’t jump to 120 Hz? Just because they want more demanding customers to go for the XDR? Is it not possible at that $1599 price point?
Naiera
macrumors member
How are the speakers of new Studio Display compared to an iMac 27" intel? If anyone is able to compare.
What annoys me also or those very thick sides. On a 60 Hz display, don’t understand why Apple keep them so thick. It’s really less pleasing than the iMac airy thin design
I’ve been considering a new display for a while. Most of them are ugly, would require a separate webcam or need extra software (if even) to control volume / brightness.
My wife occasionally works from home and would then need it to be as easy as possible to take a meeting with video and audio. I on the other hand want something with good image quality and nice design.
Pretty much everything on the market has compromises, either on the looks or ease of use. With Apple the only compromise is really on price.
I know everyone is complaining how Apple should have made bigger changes or charge too much for an old panel. At the same time they seem to have better quality control and a package that is probably better then almost anything comparable (size, resolution, glossy) on the market. In that situation you don’t really need to innovate more.
So the point is to boost the spec in ways that it allows them to improve the ”pro” model in terms of shared specs (speakers, camera and generation of cpu) to improve their supply chain efficiency.
From customer point of view the point is the same as before. If you don’t feel the differences towards competitors matter (don’t need speakers / webcam, don’t care about looks, happy eith matte), then you can almost certainly find something better for cheaper. If you value the things Apple does better then you just have to decide if you value them enough to pay the difference.
I agree on these points that's why I switched to dual Studio Displays (last gen) from dual 4k LG displays. I was just saying that especially the cheaper Studio Display update just seems to have a better webcam and TB5 and Daisy chain.
I will say that the last gen Studio Display mic and webcam are not great even for Zoom/Google Meets calls. I use a Shure mic on my desk for the Mic but still use the webcam on the display for those (I do a lot of them).
If you can find previous gen Studio Display cheaper (maybe new old stock) might be a better deal because they haven't changed a lot on the new base model one. XDR is too expensive for my taste even tho I do color accurate work. $3300 + tax is a lot and I need 2 displays always.
Or at least all the competition from the established brands (Dell, Samsung, etc.), which is unfortunate.
AFAIK, only Kucyon offers glossy Retina-class (220 ppi) monitors in the US market.
I imagine Apple has internally split the products between one set that are producing a lot of revenue and are priority, and then more niche ones. The first gets annual updates with a lot of investment (R&D and marketing) and the second attempts to catch a corner while maintaining decent margins.
If they started pushing the second group harder it could take attention from the first, but it could also wake up the competition. So they are content to play their own game.
The move in displays will make their logistics easier as they share more components. Also the marketing / positioning of the pro display will affect the image of the regular model… So despite all the talk on how bad this move is, they will likely make more money after it.
So thats the point. I can’t say it makes me happy as I’m still in the market for a display, but also I’m more likely to buy a Studio Display now then I was two weeks ago.
xraydoc
Contributor
Of course not. That would probably require Apple to put a button on the display (to change inputs) and you know they're not going to do that.