Samsung Brings Back Massive $700 Discount on ViewFinity S9 5K Display, Plus More Monitor and TV Deals

[Lynxpoint]

I assume that's rhetorical since $1700 < $2000 and Apple fans automatically favor Apple stuff. If not, refurb is generally just as good as new, so I wouldn't let that tag influence my comparison. After that, it's a matter of looking at features & benefits and choosing which is best for you.

No one choice is best for everyone. For me, I landed on a Dell Ultra-wide 5K2K as my ideal Mac monitor. Others can only see the ASD as sole choice or it plus the Pro one with $1000 stand as the only choices anyone should consider at all (because everything else is obviously inferior, "wobbly" junk). Still others can be quite happy with a much lower priced 4K monitor... and just ignoring the "retina or bust" spin.

Read reviews, go see any that you can and let your own eyes & mind make the best decision. If you have an easily transportable Mac like a laptop or Mini, haul it to some monitor stores and hook it up to some demo units to see how macOS looks on them.

Not rhetorical.

I have mostly used Apple displays. I used to research displays to find the best options back in my PC days, but have gone with Apple displays since 'designed for mac'. That said, Apple has not really kept up with all the tech available today, whether that is because they just choose not to, or because they have assessed it to not be up to the task or offer the value others say it does.

I am now contemplating replacing my Apple Thunderbolt display, which true to Apple longevity is still going strong, or so I might think until I place a new monitor beside it (As happened when I got the Thunderbolt display and realized how dim the backlight on my previous monitor had become.) Contemplating is the key term, for were it not for comparing the Thunderbolt display to the iphone, ipad, and MBP displays, I would not have any reason to even think about an update (for note - I spend more time on the Thunderbolt display than the other three)

So I am pondering whether or not the price of the ASD is worth it, not just from a features perspective, but from a longevity perspective. For a variety of reasons, I would prefer to spend more and have a longer lasting display then to be replacing it in a few years.

 

[gugy]

OK, $1500 OVER your price (but still much less than the Apple Pro monitor + Stand), here's their thin forehead, 32" 8K monitor: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...18k/apd/210-alez/monitors-monitor-accessories Again, shop around and it can probably be found for less.

That one looks nice. 8k, wow. I wonder how that resolution works with Macs.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

This link about using 8K displays with Macs may help.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Not rhetorical.

I have mostly used Apple displays. I used to research displays to find the best options back in my PC days, but have gone with Apple displays since 'designed for mac'. That said, Apple has not really kept up with all the tech available today, whether that is because they just choose not to, or because they have assessed it to not be up to the task or offer the value others say it does.

I am now contemplating replacing my Apple Thunderbolt display, which true to Apple longevity is still going strong, or so I might think until I place a new monitor beside it (As happened when I got the Thunderbolt display and realized how dim the backlight on my previous monitor had become.) Contemplating is the key term, for were it not for comparing the Thunderbolt display to the iphone, ipad, and MBP displays, I would not have any reason to even think about an update (for note - I spend more time on the Thunderbolt display than the other three)

So I am pondering whether or not the price of the ASD is worth it, not just from a features perspective, but from a longevity perspective. For a variety of reasons, I would prefer to spend more and have a longer lasting display then to be replacing it in a few years.

Nobody but Apple can know good answers to questions like this... as none of us have enough time with the ASD-type monitor to have a good guess.

A very pessimistic mind could worry that since ASD is built on rapid-turnover iDevice tech, could ASD really keep being used as a monitor for as long as that Thunderbolt Display it would replace? Or will it be "long in tooth" and need an upgrade more like iPhones?

A very optimistic mind could assume that since this screen is basically the same one that was in iMac 27" and many people have those running beyond 10 years now, it should be a good screen for a long time.

This Samsung has no long term history either, so same problem. It is the more hardware flexible monitor, not overly "walled garden" influenced. But whether it will last like Samsung TVs can last or not is TBD many years from now.

Based upon this kind of thinking, I'd probably point you to the same LG monitor that Apple pushed for years in their own stores before they rolled out ASD. That one does have an established history and is generally a great 5K monitor.

As to the other question- is ASD worth it?- personally, I struggle to rationalize the price of an iMac 27" minus the entire Mac portion for the same price that was iMac 27"... so I would lean towards NOT worth it (but very, very profitable for Apple to ditch the entire computer portion while maintaining the "same great price"). If it was priced more like the LG and this Samsung, the iMac 27" sans Mac would be a much more attractive option (to me... and if I wanted that shape/size monitor).

But at towards DOUBLE that price, I'd be inclined to try something else... which I did myself... in choosing a Dell 40" 5K2K ultra-wide as my Mac monitor. If I wanted to spend iMac 27" pricing for the monitor alone (minus the Mac), I'd rather end up with more monitor or other benefits... which I feel I got in the ultra-wide.

To each his own of course. Many with ASD love it, praise it, defend it, etc... swearing it is the one and only monitor for all Mac people. But that's nothing new with Apple fans.

I don't know if this helps at all but I hope you get a great monitor to replace that old Thunderbolt one. I'd do a lot of research to make a best choice, go try some in stores with a Mac if possible, etc. If you ask a very biased crowd, you mostly get only very biased input. So be sure to seek out insights from those not so mentally married to one brand too. Else, anything other than ASD or the Pro Monitor are "wobbly", ugly, cheap, plasticy, garbage.

 

[svish]

Good price on TVs and monitors. The 27" M8 at $399 is a very good offer.

 

[AriaAmaris]

600 nit matte display. Yuck! Can the ugly webcam be thrown away?

 

[AndiG]

Would be nice but 27" is so 1990. I'm used to 32" monitors and would like to see a 6K 32" monitor from LG or Samsung, would be an instant buy.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

I am afraid, the S9 showed how low the demand for 5k panel is by the market and so no manufacturer gonna be interested in losing money on it (except Apple)

I'd love a 5K panel that isn't from Apple, I just don't want it to be from Samsung.

 

[aknabi]

Would be nice but 27" is so 1990. I'm used to 32" monitors and would like to see a 6K 32" monitor from LG or Samsung, would be an instant buy.

1990? I was partying in 1999 with the top end, one of the first Sony LCD monitors... a whopping 19" (if memory serves)... and $3200 back then (~$6100 now)...

That Samsung is a great value price... though I've got their Frames all over the house and they just seem to have a issue with wonk and lack of final polish... that's what Apple (usually) gets right... if it's worth 2x the price is up to the user and their wallet.

 

[AndiG]

1990? I was partying in 1999 with the top end, one of the first Sony LCD monitors... a whopping 19" (if memory serves)... and $3200 back then (~$6100 now)...

That Samsung is a great value price... though I've got their Frames all over the house and they just seem to have a issue with wonk and lack of final polish... that's what Apple (usually) gets right... if it's worth 2x the price is up to the user and their wallet.

You know what a temporal metaphor is? Do you...?

 

[ignatius345]

This might be like audiophiles buying super expensive cables for no good reason, but I like knowing that my text is rendered at a perfect 200%, not rendered then downscaled.

This starts to matter a lot more when you get into super detaily graphic design stuff. On a bad monitor, I have to zoom waaay in in Illustrator to see accurately where exactly a path is, whereas on a better display I can stay zoomed out more and still see the details.

 

[jefnot]

Can't be selling well 😒 guess people realised it's not "iMac-like" after all…

they are so desperate to dump these mistakes

 

[ignatius345]

Best Buy is selling last gen 24" Apple displays for as low as $799. Get them while they last.

By which you mean M1 iMacs? I wish they could be used as standalone displays.

 

[gugy]

Nobody but Apple can know good answers to questions like this... as none of us have enough time with the ASD-type monitor to have a good guess.

A very pessimistic mind could worry that since ASD is built on rapid-turnover iDevice tech, could ASD really keep being used as a monitor for as long as that Thunderbolt Display it would replace? Or will it be "long in tooth" and need an upgrade more like iPhones?

A very optimistic mind could assume that since this screen is basically the same one that was in iMac 27" and many people have those running beyond 10 years now, it should be a good screen for a long time.

This Samsung has no long term history either, so same problem. It is the more hardware flexible monitor, not overly "walled garden" influenced. But whether it will last like Samsung TVs can last or not is TBD many years from now.

Based upon this kind of thinking, I'd probably point you to the same LG monitor that Apple pushed for years in their own stores before they rolled out ASD. That one does have an established history and is generally a great 5K monitor.

As to the other question- is ASD worth it?- personally, I struggle to rationalize the price of an iMac 27" minus the entire Mac portion for the same price that was iMac 27"... so I would lean towards NOT worth it (but very, very profitable for Apple to ditch the entire computer portion while maintaining the "same great price"). If it was priced more like the LG and this Samsung, the iMac 27" sans Mac would be a much more attractive option (to me... and if I wanted that shape/size monitor).

But at towards DOUBLE that price, I'd be inclined to try something else... which I did myself... in choosing a Dell 40" 5K2K ultra-wide as my Mac monitor. If I wanted to spend iMac 27" pricing for the monitor alone (minus the Mac), I'd rather end up with more monitor or other benefits... which I feel I got in the ultra-wide.

To each his own of course. Many with ASD love it, praise it, defend it, etc... swearing it is the one and only monitor for all Mac people. But that's nothing new with Apple fans.

I don't know if this helps at all but I hope you get a great monitor to replace that old Thunderbolt one. I'd do a lot of research to make a best choice, go try some in stores with a Mac if possible, etc. If you ask a very biased crowd, you mostly get only very biased input. So be sure to seek out insights from those not so mentally married to one brand too. Else, anything other than ASD or the Pro Monitor are "wobbly", ugly, cheap, plasticy, garbage.

My ACD 30" to this day is working well (20th anniversary). No dead pixels. Maybe, I'm spoiled but I cannot phantom an Apple monitor lasting less than 10 years. Especially the XDR due to the very high cost.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Yes, but what's different with ASD vs. your monitor or others is its dependency on iDevice hardware. What iDevice hardware from even 5 years old is still actively supported by Apple? We know the general "vintaging" window is 7 years. Does Apple maintain software for old iDevice hardware for 10 years for this ONE thing? I don't know. We'll all find out in about 7-8 more years if not sooner.

What we do know is Apple makes the bulk of that "record revenue" by rapidly turning over iPhones. Today's "latest & greatest" will be "long in tooth" in only a few years. It's in Apple's financial interests to turn those over as fast as possible. With iDevice guts at the heart of ASD, is it in that club or not? Nobody knows outside of Apple. But one corporate choice drives more revenue and the other doesn't.

Now, that conspiracy shared, nothing says that this Samsung monitor could not have the same kind of obsolescence scenario too. Both are "smart monitors" and much like "smart speakers," that can be good or bad. I look at how HomePod 2 could not stereo sync with Home Pod 1 still sold barely a year earlier and think "what would modern Apple do?"

 

[fathergll]

I am afraid, the S9 showed how low the demand for 5k panel is by the market and so no manufacturer gonna be interested in losing money on it (except Apple)

To be fair Samsung has massive discounts for all of their TVs and monitors as well, even ones that sell really well.

With that said you are correct there is low demand for 27" 5k panel....more specifically low demand in the wider computer market(Windows) for a 5k panel that is LCD, 60Hz, 8-bit +(not true 10-bit), no HDR.

Gamers want high refresh rates....creatives want true 10-bit 98%+ coverage of DCI-P3/AdobeRGB.

Just so much competition out there and different use cases.

 

[fathergll]

Overall, it's not and never will be an Apple Studio Display, but for it's sale price it offers you a great display with similar features to Apple's most expensive variant of the studio display for less than $1k and that's nice. I enjoy it and recommend it to anyone who wants to check it out.

Where the real value comes in for something like a S9 is if you want a multiple display setup. Despite the high price can see the use case for a single Studio Display since it's one 1 display and you can the speakers so around $1,500 is doable.

But the Studio Display is not meant for multiple monitors setups since it's redundant things like (speakers, webcam, A13 chip, 64GB storage) all at insanely inflated prices. Apple's marketing has these being used as 3 monitors setups many times I don't know if I have seen a single person on these forums that has dropped well over 4 grand for that(kind of a litmus test on the pricing for these).

Three 27" monitors is not a rare thing today to use but doing it with these displays is absurb. Anyway thats were something like the S9 at discount really helps since you wouldn't have to break the bank at $900 each doing that.

 

[MattA]

Just a correction - the M8 is 32", not 27". There's a bit of a difference there...

 

[MacGarage]

My ACD 30" to this day is working well (20th anniversary). No dead pixels. Maybe, I'm spoiled but I cannot phantom an Apple monitor lasting less than 10 years. Especially the XDR due to the very high cost.

My ACD 30", which I bought new in March 2008, is also still going strong!

 

[gugy]

My ACD 30", which I bought new in March 2008, is also still going strong!

These were great monitors. I love the size. For me, the ASD is too small at 27". The XDR is perfect but that price is insane. lol

 

[trip1ex]

By which you mean M1 iMacs? I wish they could be used as standalone displays.

Yes you figured it out. Context was I mentioned it in a reply to someone who wanted a 24" monitor for their Macbook.

 

[Dark-Signature]

600 nit matte display. Yuck! Can the ugly webcam be thrown away?

Matte coating kills the crispy display resolution! The higher the resolution in terms of PPI, the more serious the negative influence of a matt coating! That's why I always prefer a glossy coating for HighDPI/HighPPI displays!

 

[bandits1]

60hz is pitiful for 2024. Even it had just a minimum upgrade of 75hz over 65hz it'd be a huge difference. Once you go to a higher refresh rate, you'll never want to go back.

Excellent monitor and value otherwise, much better than Apple's offering.

Practically speaking, if I don't ever game on my computer and never plan to, when would I need or even notice a refresh rate over 60Hz?

 

[bluespark]

Well, this should fill with a bunch of "ASD or bust" bashes. But for those who can look beyond one favorite brand, this:

• is 5K "Retina" at the same screen size as ASD,
• has a far superior camera that is removable,
• offers TWO video inputs instead of only 1 (very handy for hooking anything else to it, including- say- a Mac Mini-like PC for "old fashioned bootcamp" that will be 100% compatible, unlike the ARM Windows alternative),
• includes apps + remote to make it double as a little TV and
• comes with most of the $200 each "stand options" available from the exalted one.

If you want 5K and don't want to pay a LOT more for it, it's this one vs. the LG one that Apple stocked in their stores until they opted to roll out ASD. Now crank up your terrific Spotify music... er, I mean Apple Music app and use Google Maps... er, I mean Apple Maps to get you to whatever store will let you try one of these out and evaluate with your own eyes. And note: there's always Apple stickers if you can't bear to see a different brand.

I'm very happy that there are other 5K options out there and agree that this display has some compelling features. But I'm not sure it's fair to imply that those who choose the ASD do so exclusively or even primarily for the brand. Among other things, the ASD has a fantastic glass screen that is better both in its glossy and matte versions than Samsung's plastic screen. It has substantially better sound quality (really some of the best in-display sound reproduction I've heard). It supplies more power to your computer. It's easier to raise and lower (if you buy that version). And it's extremely attractive, with amazing build quality.

I'm not suggesting that any of those features necessarily should outweigh the Samsung's features. For those using two computers or who want to use the display as an occasional TV, Samsung wins. But I do wonder if your focus on people's brand preferences may obscure some of the ASD's advantages, whether or not they matter to you.

 

[oryan_dunn]

I just got done returning 2 of these to Amazon from the last sale when they were $800. Both had several dead pixels. If it were t for that, I’d have had one of these, liked everything about it except the dead pixels.