Apple Studio Display XDR Has a Ports Problem (And Apple Knows It)
Apple’s new Studio Display XDR looks almost identical to the first Studio Display, but packs a lot of nice upgrades inside: pixel-sharp 5K, adaptive refresh rate, and mini-LED HDR. It’s hard to find a better display for your Mac. But I can’t stop thinking about the missed opportunities.
Last week I posted on Threads that the Studio Display XDR has Thunderbolt 5 and an A19 or A19 Pro chip inside, so why not more inputs, like an iMac? You can always add a dock like the iVanky FusionDock Max 2, which has a crap ton of ports. I understand most people don’t need that many. But Ethernet, maybe an SD card reader, and maybe an audio output on the back would go a long way for a lot of people. Some of you think I’m crazy or missing the point, but there should be no technical bottleneck.
Apple has done this before
In 2011, Apple introduced the world’s first Thunderbolt display: 27 inches, 2560 × 1440, high-res for the time, built a lot like today’s Studio Display. A beautiful block of aluminum and glass with speakers, a webcam, a mic, a single Thunderbolt connection, and a MagSafe cable to power a MacBook. I loved it and used it with my 11-inch MacBook Air (and, well, a Hackintosh).
The best part was that it was a full dock. Through one 20 Gb/s Thunderbolt cable, my little MacBook Air got another Thunderbolt port, Ethernet, FireWire 800, and three USB-A ports. And it was under $1,000.
In 2026
The base Studio Display has a sharp 5K, 218 ppi display, two Thunderbolt and two USB-C ports, and starts at $1,600, when there’s clearly room for more. If you’re typing something about inflation: in 2011 the Mac mini was $599, the 13-inch MacBook Air $1,299, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro $1,799. Over 12 to 14 years, Macs got cheaper, and displays somehow did the reverse.
I’m not saying the Studio Display or XDR are bad. There’s a lot to love, and their design and build outshine every other display out there. It’s not even close. I loved the original Studio Display, and I’ll have more to say about the XDR soon. But they have Thunderbolt and support daisy chaining, so they clearly have the power, and I wish Apple had offered a little more, especially on the XDR, which starts at $3,300.
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