Yeah, I agree. I rolled my eyes when I bought the Studio Display because of the price (I got the VESA option so I also had to factor in $200 for an Ergotron LX just so I could use it the way I’d want) and I’m annoyed by its lack of power button, its garbage web camera, and the really that it has no better picture quality than the v2 LG UltraFine 5K it was replacing, despite costing $300 more, but if it broke tomorrow I’d buy another one without a second thought (also the VESA option — also just say no to the Nano Texture option). In fact, I might even get a second one this year because I have 3 Macs (2 M-series laptops and a 2020 5K iMac) and it would be nice to have one dedicated to the laptops instead of having to swap the cable for the TB4 dock.
Until/unless Apple does fractional scaling in a way that doesn’t really need pixel doubling to work, I will insist on a 5K display for a 27” monitor and the ASD really is the best game in town.
It's always crazy reading those kinda comments. He keeps maligning the product that he had to pay a premium for, comparing it to equivalent products that are cheaper and perform the same, yet he's still going to make his next purchase another, by his own admission, overpriced Apple product.
It's mind blowing, I don't wanna reach for the low-hanging quips here but it really is like an Apple iCult type of vibe
- Apple's software (particularly macOS) is extremely high quality. Best game in town.
- Their hardware is also high quality, but it is often overpriced.
- You must use their hardware to get the best experience using their software.
- Therefore, people might end up buying, say, the Apple XR display or AirPods Max even though they are overpriced compared to other monitors/headphones, because it gives you a better experience using macOS.
I am a pretty huge Apple fan but I think this is pretty unfortunate, not gonna lie -- it kills me a little that macOS doesn't look sharp on my 4K monitor. But it isn't an iCult, it's just that the cheaper thing doesn't work as well with macOS.
Reading the comment, the impression I got was that while the image quality is similar between LG 5K & ASD, overall ASD is still worth the small premium.
The 27" 5K Studio Display is in a weird category, where they actually have zero competitors. On paper, there's the LG Ultrafine, but I have yet to see one available for purchase in EU (I've seen "in stock", but not actually available), not to even mention seeing one in person. So basically you don't really have a choice.
The Apple Studio Display looks nicer. I would prefer that items that I own in my apartment look nice. Aluminum looks and feels nicer than plastic. Yes, I will pay a premium for that.
Slightly brighter, much better build quality, much better audio and much better camera.
But at the same time, I see the LG is down to $999 (I suspect it’ll be discontinued soon if it isn’t already) and it’s debatable that the studio display is $600 better. It’s definitely $300 better though.
That said, it is increasingly more difficult to buy the LG. So it’s become less of a choice.
I don't have an ASD, but back in 2020 I bought the LG UltraFine 5K from Apple's website together with a laptop and the LG monitor's colors all had a yellowish hue to them. Some Internet searches and possibly their support forums claimed that this is normal, it's just how the monitor works, or something like that (yes I did try various color temperature and config settings - all yellow).
Luckily this "wasn't my first monitor", so I quickly returned it and went back to Dell that's always been OK enough so I don't ever have to pay attention to which monitor or display setting I'm using.
I guess most people just like their UI elements much smaller than me, I work all day on a 42” 4k display running 1080p@2x 120hz and I wouldn’t want to shrink the UI elements any further. I sit ~4 feet from the display.
My husband uses an iMac (27” 5k display running @2x) and I struggle to do anything at that resolution.
Until/unless Apple does fractional scaling in a way that doesn’t really need pixel doubling to work, I will insist on a 5K display for a 27” monitor and the ASD really is the best game in town.