Apple has launched Mac Studio and Studio Display as its flagship offering for creators. The Studio display is a dialed-down version of the Pro Display XDR. While the Pro Display XDR can be called the Cadillac of displays, the Studio Display is borderline disappointing.
The Apple Studio Display is a 27-inch, 5K Retina (IPS-LCD) panel. It has 600 nits of peak brightness and comes with a P3 color gamut. Aside from being a monitor, the Studio Display also has good built-in speakers, a webcam with Center Stage, 64GB internal storage, and an A13 Bionic chip to make it run without a hiccup.
So far, you may be thinking that this sounds like a really good display. However, with the massive $1,599 base price it commands, we think there should be more. So here are four reasons why the Apple Studio Display is a bad deal that you should steer clear of.
Apple Studio Display is a bad deal
YouTuber MKBHD’s Apple Studio Display review also says it is a bad deal. While the quality, fit, finish, and features are all premium, here are the things that go against Apple’s Studio Display.
No user upgradeability
Hold your horses before you ask what’s there to upgrade on display? Apple Studio display is not just any display; it is something that’s supposed to help you grow and grow with you. The base studio display comes with a tilt-adjustable stand, but you can also opt-in for a height-adjustable stand. However, you have to take the display to Apple to get the height-adjustable stand installed.
There’s no way you can swipe the stands yourself. If you decide to get a Visa mount or a height-adjustable mount later in the future, you have to take it to the workshop. This is not just inconvenient, but also risky to take a display on a drive in your Tesla.
Costly upgrades
If you decide to haul the Studio Display to an Apple service center and get a Vesa mount or height-adjustable mount, it’ll hit you with a rather hefty bill. The height and tilt adjustable stand itself costs $400.
We understand that Apple products are robust and have a great build, but that’s a big amount to charge for a stand! We’ve already created a detailed opinion article on how Apple’s cable management is messed up.
No user repairability
Even if you may never want to upgrade the stand, you may want to get simple repairs done. If it ever comes to something as trivial as replacing the power cord, you’ll have to call Apple. This is because the power cable can only be plucked out with a special tool. Try and do it yourself, and you’ll probably damage the display and the power supply.
It gets even more disappointing when you think that just last year, Apple created a magnetic connector for the iMac. While that’s also a sturdy connector, you can yank out that cable and replace it with a new one.
It doesn’t sit well with MacBook Pro or others
If you’re someone who already has a MacBook Pro 16 and thinks you should get a Studio Display, this is for you. In his video, Marques plugs the display into a MacBook Pro, and we can see the difference. The MacBook Promotion, a mini-LED panel, is superior to the 5K studio display. So if Apple were thinking of making this a studio machine, why not ProMotion?
Now you may be thinking you can hook it up to some other laptop with a similar spec’d display, and you won’t know the difference. But Apple is Apple again. MKBHD observes that if you’re using a Studio display with a Windows laptop, it is a good display, but features like center stage and other smart features are not available.
Who should buy the Apple Studio Display?
If the above reasons don’t matter to you, go ahead and buy the Studio display. Apple has packaged this display so that it has minimum to no competition in its space right now. They’ve given added goodies like speakers, a decent webcam, and nanotexture coating from the Pro Display XDR.
However, the only problem is that this package doesn’t come together very well for many studio professionals. MKBHD also has a studio, and he has been using an Apple Pro Display XDR panel. But when it comes to the Studio Display, he called it a bad deal.
Despite that, if it suits your work, and if you can afford it and can’t find anything better, there’s no option but to buy the Studio Display. That way, Apple has nailed this because this Apple product also caters to an audience that’ll go out and buy it.
