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Apple Announces the Studio Display....Finally!

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Apple’s March 8 Peek Performance event announced the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra, a new iPad Air, a new iPhone SE and the Studio Display, the one I’m most excited about. We’ve waited years for an Apple display that doesn’t cost $5,000 without a stand: something akin to the 5K iMac display, which has gotten incrementally better, in a new chassis on a desk. More or less, that’s what Apple gave us.

Design

It’s what we expected from a new iMac Pro: very similar to the Pro Display XDR from the front, with modern but not very thin black bezels (the Eve Spectrum 4K I’ve used has much thinner ones). From the front it looks a lot like the 24-inch iMac without the chin: simple, modern, clean. The back has a large Apple logo, a Thunderbolt port that charges your laptop at up to 96 W, and three 10 Gbps USB-C ports. The black bezels also mean no complaints from creators about white bezels.

Display

Up to 600 nits (brighter than the 5K iMac’s 500), P3 wide color and True Tone. We’re not getting a high refresh rate or ProMotion like the MacBook Pros, iPad Pros and iPhone 13 Pros, which will be tough after the last few weeks on a high refresh rate 4K display, but I’m guessing the other features make up for it.

What’s inside

  • An A13 processor to handle things like the new camera system: a 12 MP ultra wide camera with Center Stage. Finally an iPhone- or iPad-class camera and processor in a Mac. The cameras in the new MacBook Pros and iMac aren’t great, so I have high expectations (and I’m excited to test it).
  • A six-speaker system like the iMac’s and new MacBooks: four force-canceling woofers and two tweeters, with spatial audio. Apple says it’s the highest-fidelity speaker system ever in a Mac, a bold claim, but the iMac’s and the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro’s are pretty good. Nothing replaces full desktop monitors, but it should be really good for what you get.
  • A three-mic array for video calls.

Stands

  • The basic tilt-adjustable stand (30 degrees of tilt), included with the base price. Unlike the Pro Display XDR, you get a stand in the box.
  • Height and tilt adjustable, for $400 more.
  • A VESA mount adapter, for the same price as the base.

Price

In 2011 Apple announced the Thunderbolt Display, a 27-inch 1440p display for just $999. In 2016, it worked with LG on the UltraFine 5K, which had a number of issues, didn’t match iMac quality, had a plastic, wobbly chassis, and cost $1,300 until yesterday. The Studio Display starts at $1,599. That sounds like a crap ton, more than most computers, but consider what it has: the A13, the camera and speaker systems, a three-mic array, brightness most third-party monitors (especially cheaper ones) don’t match, a 5K panel where nearly every other consumer display tops out at 4K, P3 color and a good all-around solid design, not just thin bezels with a crappy base. The nano-texture matte coating is $300.

I’m getting the standard glass with the height-and-tilt stand, for $1,999. I want to compare it especially against the Eve Spectrum 4K, with its 98% P3 color, 4K, high refresh rate and modern design. What do you think of the Studio Display, and the Mac Studio?

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