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theorist9

macrumors 68040
May 28, 2015
3,710
2,812
No. It's a superb 5K display for people engaged in creative endeavors such as photography, videography, etc. It's not for gamers, people surfing the web, making spreadsheets, word-processing, coding, etc.
Nope, it's the opposite. [Except I agree it's not for gamers.]

Since Apple eliminated subpixel text rendering starting with Mojave, the only way to get really sharp text on MacOS is with a Retina display. Thus this display is needed by anyone who uses MacOS, doesn't want to pay for the XDR, and needs an external monitor on which text looks very good—particularly including those doing coding and spreadsheet work (unless you go with the LG 5k, which has its own problems).

By contrast, while it is color accurate, and covers 99% of DCI-P3, it only covers 86% of AdobeRGB. It also lacks local dimming, and doesn't offer a true 10-bit panel. Thus it's not really optimized for creatives.

In summary, this display is nicely suited for text work, but isn't really optimized for photography and videography.
 
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deeddawg

macrumors G5
Jun 14, 2010
12,245
6,393
US
Not much price reduction for the refurbished units.

I guess if $240 isn’t much money to you then go for new, but that’s a chunk of change for most folks IMHO.

15% reduction is decent for Apple refurbs considering you get the same return period and warranty as new. Seems a lot of times it’s more like 10%
 

CalMin

Contributor
Nov 8, 2007
1,690
2,994
No. It's a superb 5K display for people engaged in creative endeavors such as photography, videography, etc. It's not for gamers, people surfing the web, making spreadsheets, word-processing, coding, etc.

Agree. It's the best display I've owned and I am delighted with it. I'm looking to buy a second one, in fact.

I tried a bunch of different 4K displays and none look as good as this - even those that claimed HDR. Throw in perfect MacOS integration and excellent speakers and you have something that no competing display comes even close to matching. It's well calibrated out of the box and anyone who has ever purchased a monitor and spent hours trying to optimize the settings so that it looks right, will really appreciate how good this looks immediately on plugging it in.

MacOS looks beautiful on this as compared to any of the 32" 4K displays that I tried where it's just intangibly worse. It's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it.

I have never understood why people who don't have one of these things pour hate on it. Yes - it is expensive so it is not for everyone, but that applies to many of the things Apple sells. And the webcam is only good enough for Zoom calls, but who needs more than that?
 

MacFan782040

macrumors 65816
Dec 1, 2003
1,014
671
Worst built-in webcam in an Apple product since my 2009 MacBook Pro. Unless you don’t mind the uncropped feed where you’re tiny in the frame. The resolution is pretty good there.
It’s a beautiful display, but yea the camera is horrible, it’s embarrassing. The good thing is with Ventura you’ll be able to use your iPhone camera.
 

citysnaps

macrumors G4
Oct 10, 2011
11,952
25,930
Agree. It's the best display I've owned and I am delighted with it. I'm looking to buy a second one, in fact.

I tried a bunch of different 4K displays and none look as good as this - even those that claimed HDR. Throw in perfect MacOS integration and excellent speakers and you have something that no competing display comes even close to matching. It's well calibrated out of the box and anyone who has ever purchased a monitor and spent hours trying to optimize the settings so that it looks right, will really appreciate how good this looks immediately on plugging it in.

MacOS looks beautiful on this as compared to any of the 32" 4K displays that I tried where it's just intangibly worse. It's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it.

I have never understood why people who don't have one of these things pour hate on it. Yes - it is expensive so it is not for everyone, but that applies to many of the things Apple sells. And the webcam is only good enough for Zoom calls, but who needs more than that?

Nice hearing from someone who actually owns one. Much better than the typical forum yada yada from those who don't.

I agree with your assessment. Unless you want to spend $5K+ for an Apple Pro Display XDR (I don't), there's not a better display, especially at that price point. Spot-on about the factory-calibrated color profiles right out of the box. BTW...Apple does have a published procedure for further fine tuning display calibration using your own spectroradiometer and their test patterns. I haven't found a need to do that.

As a photographer I'm fussy about color and image quality and I've yet to see a better display for that purpose. It's a joy using every time I post-process my image files.

As an aside, I also have three LG 4K displays, and while they're nice, there's just no comparison. They are great for running X-Plane, though. :)
 

myscrnnm

macrumors 68000
Sep 16, 2014
1,941
1,646
Seattle, WA
On paper, the LG UltraFine 5K display looks like the same thing on the specs sheet and is a couple hundred cheaper
You're paying for twenty percent higher peak brightness, six-speaker Spacial Audio system, and a full-metal machined aluminum enclosure. That's worth the small price difference to me, which is even smaller now with the manufacturer refurbished option.🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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citysnaps

macrumors G4
Oct 10, 2011
11,952
25,930
You're paying for twenty percent higher peak brightness, six-speaker Spacial Audio system, and a full-metal machined aluminum enclosure. That's worth the small price difference to me, which is even smaller now with the manufacturer refurbished option.🤷🏻‍♂️

And well-calibrated factory reference profiles.

Also, regarding the 600 nits of brightness... Due to the orientation of my studio and the location of one of the windows, in the early morning the low horizon Sun blasts through the curtains and onto the display. Being able to temporarily jack up display brightness for non-photo editing tasks (emails, web research, reading, etc) is a nice feature.
 
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bl0ckthorne

macrumors newbie
Oct 12, 2022
9
17
I don't get this argument. I've been using dual LG 5k monitors for years. They own the best picture quality of any monitor outside of apple's own XDR. Resolution is everything. I haven't tried the Dell 8k, which I assume is superior still. The only improvement from hereon is a larger monitor. A 32' 6k+ monitor running at 120hz is where true evolution will happen, not this pointless 27" 4k vs 5k debate fast entering the rear view mirror.
 
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coolbreeze2

macrumors 68000
Sep 24, 2009
1,785
1,476
Apple's Studio Display is too costly for a lot of consumers! It's more affordable to buy an iMac or couple a Mac studio with an affordable monitor not made by Apple. Maybe Apple should call the Studio Display a "Pro" model and manufacture a more affordable model and name it "SE". Lol.
 

The_Cynic

macrumors member
Sep 12, 2022
57
112
Look, if your poverty bothers you, instead of whining about it on a public forum, wouldn’t your time be better spent making money instead.

But then again, you’re the kind of people to rage about guys with good looking girls, and wondering why you can’t get one.

Because jealousy is such an ugly trait. That and the fact the stench of being poor is also a turn off.

But feel free to rant away.
 

0x000000

macrumors 6502
Aug 26, 2011
283
5
Apple's Studio Display is too costly for a lot of consumers! It's more affordable to buy an iMac or couple a Mac studio with an affordable monitor not made by Apple. Maybe Apple should call the Studio Display a "Pro" model and manufacture a more affordable model and name it "SE". Lol.
Yeah as a consumer I'd probably not buy it – 4K or 1440p screens should offer great value for far lower cost. The price is ridiculous.

Going into pro user displays, 1k or much more for a display isn't unusual. In my specific case, creating retina assets on a non-retina display is just aggravating and HiDPI mode on a 4K monitor isn't the same. I don't really see an alternative other than the LG with much lower build quality or a continued use of an outdated Intel 5k iMac.
 

ikir

macrumors 68020
Sep 26, 2007
2,137
2,289
One of the most criticised new products but for me it is a joy to use. Super handy, the image is incredible and true 5K retina. Having webcam, audio, ports everything there... for me it the best upgrade I've done recently.
I've made some videos about it, in Italian but you can see my complete setup here if you are curious:

And this is the video about Studio Display criticism, always in Italian:
 

ikir

macrumors 68020
Sep 26, 2007
2,137
2,289
Yeah as a consumer I'd probably not buy it – 4K or 1440p screens should offer great value for far lower cost. The price is ridiculous.

Going into pro user displays, 1k or much more for a display isn't unusual. In my specific case, creating retina assets on a non-retina display is just aggravating and HiDPI mode on a 4K monitor isn't the same. I don't really see an alternative other than the LG with much lower build quality or a continued use of an outdated Intel 5k iMac.
4K is not enough for true retina, you will use scaling. Studio Display is very pricey but it is superiori and made for retina resolution.
 
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