You should adore the Studio Display
Because it fills a gap that you wanted to disappear for 6 years
If you follow the news – Apple related news that is – you have not only heard of the new Apple Studio Display with a — OMG — reasonable pricing, you might also have heard of controversial reviews about it. You might even read this article on one of these Displays and still feel less that satisfied.
Why?
I really do not know. Despite I can imagine a number of reasons, I think you are not weighting them properly. These less than satisfied reviews are wrong, too.
So, why ?
First, let’s keep the Pro Display XDR aside. Its not for us, and suits a small percentage of professional users with exceptional requirements and talent.
Before the Apple Studio Display, the last Apple Display one could buy was the Apple Thunderbolt Display originally introduced in 2011. At that time it was a very decent display of excellent build quality. It had a display comparable to the excellent LCD used in the 27" iMacs. With the introduction of the Retina Display iMac in 2014, the Apple Thunderbolt Display lost much if not all of its appeal. Not because it suddenly became a bad display but because the new iMacs had a display included that was and still is one of the best 5K displays available.
It needed an upgrade. With a mere 2560×1440 pixels and the resulting 109 dpi it was badly inferior to the iMacs Retina Display and it was even less dense than the original iPhone Screen. Not to talk about its low brightness.
Apple should have upgraded it to use that fine LCD panel from the Retina iMac. But they didn’t. Apple just killed the display in 2016 and ironically referred customers to third party displays.
Wait, third party 5K displays? Nah. There weren’t any until LG introduced that Ultrafine 27MD5KL display which is supposed to use the same LCD panel than the iMac.
Oh great, let’s get it!
Well, if you’re like me, you didn’t. Certainly, the panel was nice, the colors were nice and it couldn’t deny its derived from that partnership LG and Apple agreed on. But it had a few issues with stability, was of low build quality and.. it had no design! How could you put that display on the place of your beloved Thunderbolt display if you have at least a little bit of taste?
To come to the point, what the current 27" Studio Display does is fill a gap that many Mac users felt was unbearable: That of a decent 5K display. That of a good looking 5K display with quality in mind.
There are dozens of 4K displays out there that cost a fraction of the price of Apple’s display, I hear you. Yet why would I want to get a 4K display in a cheap plastic case with a wobbly base when I took so much care in selecting the right good looking Apple equipment? And if you have experience the sweetness of a socalled “Retina Display” you would never want to go back.
See?
For those of you that care about the Apple touch, the unmatched build quality and the it-just-works-factor of Apple hardware, the new Apple Studio Display is just what you have been waiting for. It has been nearly six years.
Too pricy? Well, have a look what other 5K display cost, even compare it to the LG Ultrafine display and you will see there is not much difference — yet while one of the very few alternatives available on the market would save you a few dollars it would leave you with a PC-ish monitor that lacks even the least bit of taste.
It’s the best 5K display out there with a reasonable price tag too and you don’t just get a good screen. You get a piece of engineering art with a respectable sound machine inside and a funny camera that uses a Bionic chip trying to follow your head along.
Go get it — you’ll like it.
