About the future of Apple external displays

[Toinman]

I cannot get the new Apple Studio display out of my head. The kinda disappointing specs leave me begging for answers. I'm not here to complain but to talk about what's might be the reasoning behind the specs we see in the Apple Studio Display.

It seems like everyone (including me) were expecting a 120hz ProMotion panel. Apple choose the same pixel densities as before (beeing 218ppi). So for a 27" model we would expect 5K at 120hz. Assuming Apple will stick with thunderbolt hardware for the foreseeable future, it seems like it's not possible to carry this signal over the currently available cables and display interfaces (which are mainly Displayport 1.2a and 1.4a over Thunderbolt) 5k@120hz would need the new displayport 2.0 over a thunderbolt cable (Alt mode).

The DP2.0 standard was finalised in 2019 and hardware (displays+GPU's) were initially expected to arrive in 2020. But 2020 came and went with no new hardware. 2021 suffered the same fate and now 2022 is here with no sign of any display which will include this new standard, not even an announcement.

Looking at the future, I'm still not giving up hope Apple can pioneer new display specs. Apple now makes both the display and GPU chips. (I know they use LG panels, but they seem to have a solid relationship) Rumors suggest Apple is still making a mini-led ProMotion display which coincidentally seems slated around the time the M2 chip should arrive. Will the M2 GPU support displayport 2.0? And will it allow Apple to take a leap in display specs?

Apple's current display lineup has huge gap between the 32" $5000 XDR pro and the new $1600 27" Studio Display. It would make sense to have an option in between. Maybe a refreshed 32" 6K at a new price point around $2500 to $3000 and bump the XDR pro to 7K or 8K and keep it at $5000. Does this make sense?

 

[tdbrown75]

Honestly though, the display is awesome. That 218ppi is hard to match with other monitors. I'd rather have the PPI over HDR or 120hz refresh any day. Agree an option in between would be nice for those who absolutely need those features. But I'm just thankful to be off of the jankity low ppi plastic monitor I have been living with since selling my 27" iMac like 3 years ago. Once you see retina, it's hard to settle for anything less.

Tim

 

[Absrnd]

All this gripe about the Studio Display only shows how "tech" spoiled we are

 

[Toinman]

Honestly though, the display is awesome. That 218ppi is hard to match with other monitors. I'd rather have the PPI over HDR or 120hz refresh any day. Agree an option in between would be nice for those who absolutely need those features. But I'm just thankful to be off of the jankity low ppi plastic monitor I have been living with since selling my 27" iMac like 3 years ago. Once you see retina, it's hard to settle for anything less.

Tim

I'm absolutely not saying it's a bad monitor by any means. I would be very happy to have one, but I have the LG 5K at home for 3 years now and a 6-year old 4K at the office and I'm not feeling like this would be a substantial upgrade. But a disagree on the refresh rate, personally I would have bought it if the display had ProMotion.

And I agree completely with Absrnd. We are spoiled. I'm used to buying a new MBP every 3 years or so but it always feels like a substantial upgrade. Apple is raising the bar with their silicon chips and is in a unique position to do the same with displays. There isn't is a lot moving in the display tech. Most PC manufacturers are bound to what the GPU offers as output and what standard size panels are available for their displays. Apple now owns the GPU architecture and can probably ask LG whatever specs they want. Display specs seem limited by interface specs. I really think they can make a compact 8K/120hz/P3 display if isn't wasn't limited to the current Displayport or HDMI standards.

 

[palmor]

I think the problem is that people would expect that display (HDR, high refresh rate, miniLED/OLED) to be priced in-between the Studio Display and XDR but it probably would be way closer to the XDR then the ASD. The 27" Asus PA27UCX-K is all of that but the high refresh rate and it's $3k USD. The 32" version with high refresh rate is $5k and both of these are only 4k resolution.

So (in my opinion) something has to give to keep it in the $3k range. We know they won't do less then retina so that isn't going to move so what will they give up to keep the price in-between the two? I'm guessing it will be refresh rate, so essentially an Apple version of the Asus 27" but @5k resolution and it will be $3.5k-$4k without the stand.

 

[4sallypat]

All this gripe about the Studio Display only shows how "tech" spoiled we are

Agree!
First world problem for sure!

I for one am tickled that the new Studio Display came out after waiting 11 years of using the 27" TB from 2011 I paid $1000 which I thought was pricey.

Now the $1500 (EDU) price point is spot on for what you do get and then some!

What I foresee is once Apple gets into the gaming world, we can expect to see the OP's desired features in a mid tier display.

My son as a hardcore gamer uses dual Dell Alienware 240Hz, 1ms screens and a very expensive video card. He would never use a Mac for gaming...

Since I don't use my Apple devices for gaming, I don't really have a need for anything over the Display Studio specs...

 

[VideoFreek]

I cannot get the new Apple Studio display out of my head. The kinda disappointing specs leave me begging for answers. I'm not here to complain but to talk about what's might be the reasoning behind the specs we see in the Apple Studio Display.

It seems like everyone (including me) were expecting a 120hz ProMotion panel. Apple choose the same pixel densities as before (beeing 218ppi). So for a 27" model we would expect 5K at 120hz. Assuming Apple will stick with thunderbolt hardware for the foreseeable future, it seems like it's not possible to carry this signal over the currently available cables and display interfaces (which are mainly Displayport 1.2a and 1.4a over Thunderbolt) 5k@120hz would need the new displayport 2.0 over a thunderbolt cable (Alt mode).

My understanding is that DP 1.4 can handle 5k/120 using DSC, so a ProMotion 5K display should be possible with existing hardware. 6K/120, on the other hand, would exceed the available bandwidth, even with DSC, so this will need to wait for DP 2.0.

Apple's current display lineup has huge gap between the 32" $5000 XDR pro and the new $1600 27" Studio Display. It would make sense to have an option in between. Maybe a refreshed 32" 6K at a new price point around $2500 to $3000 and bump the XDR pro to 7K or 8K and keep it at $5000. Does this make sense?

The confounding element right now, for anyone who has purchased an ASD or is considering it, is the seemingly credible rumor that a 5K HDR ProMotion display is in production and slated to be released alongside the new ASi Mac Pro, possibly in June. Given the track record of the source, I believe this rumor. The question I'm struggling with, though, is what is this panel for? Any scenario I can think of doesn't really make total sense:

• 27" iMac: impossible! No way that Apple would debut its most advanced display tech on a consumer AIO. This would be like offering ProMotion HDR on the MacBook Air, but not on the MacBook Pros.
• 27" iMac Pro: possible, but I struggle to see how an iMac Pro fits into the product line now that we have the Mac Studio. The iMac Pro was aimed at Creatives (software developers, photographers, videographers, audio engineers) who needed a "more affordable" solution than the Mac Pro, exactly what the Studio now targets. Would this market segment really want an AIO instead of the Studio?
• Pro XDR replacement: possible, but is Apple really going to drop a 32" 6K/60 display in favor of a 27" 5K/120 one? I doubt it, and I doubt users would be happy.
• Mid-range addition the the product line: I guess this is the most likely...but it would need to be carefully priced so as not to cannibalize the other two. If they bump the XDR to 7K or 8K, this starts to make more sense, but I believe the XDR would then have to be a larger (than 32") panel, else the UI elements would be too small at those resolutions. This could make the most sense if they introduce DP 2.0 on the new Mac Pro, and it would be an extremely high-end offering at a correspondingly stratospheric price point.

I guess we'll need to wait until June to see what the Gods of Cupertino have in store for us.