WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.880 The Apple Studio Display brings out lots of emotions for people. 00:00:07.880 --> 00:00:12.920 It's either the screen we've all been waiting for, or the biggest disappointment in technology 00:00:12.920 --> 00:00:20.320 in the past decade. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.200 But like many devices we've seen come from Apple over the past many years, the story 00:00:24.200 --> 00:00:26.640 is a little deeper and more annoying. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:31.360 Those buggers in the glass circle are masters of getting you to pay more than you otherwise 00:00:31.360 --> 00:00:36.880 would want to. And damn it, you're going to like it because it's the best monitor there is. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:42.680 Right. So the expectation is that this monitor is perfect, but it's not. 00:00:42.680 --> 00:00:49.720 And that's the tension. So I'm going to show you my nitpicks about the Studio Display, and a very suitable alternative, 00:00:49.720 --> 00:00:52.880 not from Apple. Looks like the cable is already attached. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:01:10.600 Oh right. And there's that. 00:01:10.600 --> 00:01:14.760 Allow me to at least briefly explain why everyone is so mad. 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:19.480 Apple has a pretty long and storied history of making very nice, quite expensive monitors 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:25.800 for their desktops. There's the Portrait Macintosh display from the late 80s, and then the larger than you 00:01:25.800 --> 00:01:29.680 ever thought possible Apple Cinema displays through the aughts. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.760 All the way to the Pro Display XDR. 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:39.840 32 inches, 6K resolution, mini LED contrast ratio, HDR brightness, its five plus thousand 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:44.080 dollar price tag was defensible, but still quite dear. 00:01:44.080 --> 00:01:48.320 Everyone else who wanted an Apple display had to either get the 5K display built into 00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:55.280 the iMac or settle at the Apple Store checkout for a $1300 LG 5K ultrafine display. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:59.800 And the display shaped hole in the Apple lineup felt like a major oversight. 00:01:59.800 --> 00:02:05.360 I already lamented about this last fall when I pitched some admittedly strange alternatives, 00:02:05.360 --> 00:02:09.840 which I will still defend, but don't worry because Apple have finally given us their 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.800 answer, the $1600 Apple Studio Display. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:20.120 On paper, it's what I've been asking for, a new Thunderbolt display with the lauded 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:24.240 5K resolution in a well built, attractive enclosure. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:29.440 It's certainly much more attractive than the old LG 5K ultrafine display, which LG still 00:02:29.440 --> 00:02:32.880 sells though no longer through the Apple Store. 00:02:32.880 --> 00:02:37.880 Despite the new studio display being an all new product from Apple, it essentially uses 00:02:37.880 --> 00:02:42.680 the same LG panel that is found in the ultrafine and the iMac, though in here it's about 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:49.520 100 nits brighter. That paired with the anti-reflective coating that Apple puts on their glossy screens means 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:53.240 that you can place it opposite a window and never notice. 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:59.240 It also means that nanotexture is really not worth it unless you absolutely know you need 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:05.680 it. The 200 plus pixels per inch look nice, crisp, and is perfect for macOS. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:11.240 But accuracy? I still have to figure that out in another video, so subscribe if you want to find out 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:18.400 how to calibrate an Apple monitor. And if it turns out to be perfectly accurate, that should be a given at this price and not 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:22.520 really enough to justify the $300 price increase alone. 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:28.520 So what else is there? 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:33.760 The new studio display has all the latest technologies fitted within a very thin package. 00:03:33.760 --> 00:03:37.560 There are the best speakers you'll ever hear built into a monitor. 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:41.000 They're good enough that I don't think you'll need to buy another pair. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:45.800 Next, the webcam gets center stage, which is probably the best place for it. 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:49.200 This is the webcam and microphone of the Apple studio display. 00:03:49.200 --> 00:03:54.240 There is lots of commotion going on behind me as you can see, and the center stage camera 00:03:54.240 --> 00:04:00.840 is pretty nifty. When I tested it in a zoom call, I found that it works as good or better than any of the 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:05.280 other webcams I tried. And that's with harsh window light. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:10.800 Others have not found the webcams as compelling, and their screenshots do show some stark differences. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:15.240 There's room for improvement for sure, but after some zoom compression, it's not really 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:19.040 that bad. Same goes for the microphone. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:24.800 All of these fancy new features are enabled by an A13 powered logic board running iOS. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:29.800 And if that goes wrong, you can only reboot the monitor by pulling the power cord as there's 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:33.400 no off button. 00:04:33.400 --> 00:04:38.880 And that's my thing about this monitor. Apple might think they put lots of thought into the features, but when you start zooming 00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:43.480 in on the design details, you'll find that they've received little attention. 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:48.120 It's not actually all that innovative where it matters. 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:53.880 The fact they were able to fit the power supply they did behind this panel is mighty impressive. 00:04:53.880 --> 00:04:58.160 It's nice too, as you don't have to deal with the giant power brick dangling somewhere. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:03.320 But that convenience is compromised by the fact that Apple attached a not-for-you-to-remove 00:05:03.320 --> 00:05:10.320 cable to power the display. This was a problem they already fixed with the LED Cinema display, but somehow we've 00:05:10.320 --> 00:05:14.400 regressed back to this hassle. 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:19.520 Here's a free idea. What about powering the monitor through Thunderbolt from the Mac Studio? 00:05:19.520 --> 00:05:24.120 The USB-C standard supports enough to power a display like this. 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:28.880 So could you imagine a single port solution like the old ADC connector? 00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:33.200 And then for laptop users, Apple could flip the script offering an external power supply 00:05:33.200 --> 00:05:39.360 with Ethernet like the iMac and then make the studio display the perfect hub. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:44.020 Speaking of hubs, while the USB hub on the back of the display now supports up to 10 00:05:44.020 --> 00:05:49.280 gig speeds, the Thunderbolt input is in completely the wrong spot. 00:05:49.280 --> 00:05:57.320 Why is it over here? With the downstream ports, it should be tucked in behind the stand with the power cord. 00:05:57.320 --> 00:06:02.360 Everything going into the monitor should go through here. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.480 Look how much better this immediately looks. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:09.560 The included Thunderbolt cable is also annoyingly short. 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:14.920 That means you can't really put the Mac Studio or a MacBook on the left side of your screen. 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:18.680 And if you have two screens, you're going to have to put the computer in the center 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:23.320 between them. And if you want three screens, you're going to need to buy a longer cable, which Apple 00:06:23.320 --> 00:06:28.560 will sell to you for $130. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:32.040 Then there's the whole stand situation. 00:06:32.080 --> 00:06:36.640 Apple's hardware designers moved the mounting point for their modern monitor stands from 00:06:36.640 --> 00:06:42.560 here in the center down to here on the new iMac and now this. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:46.440 The benefit is a smaller footprint on your desk. 00:06:46.440 --> 00:06:52.360 That's great if you're using a yellow iMac at home. But it's not great if you need more flexibility. 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:57.200 The standard stand is a little low for a tall person like me. 00:06:57.200 --> 00:07:02.200 So Apple offers a height adjustable stand option, which uses the same nifty hinge design 00:07:02.200 --> 00:07:05.680 as found in the $1,000 pro display stand. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:11.080 And on here, it's $400, which is a little dear when you note that the stand doesn't 00:07:11.080 --> 00:07:18.520 support rotation. Even more annoying is that thanks to all that A13 power on board, the monitor does in fact 00:07:18.520 --> 00:07:22.040 support auto rotation, which is awesome. 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:26.520 But for that, you have to opt for the base amount. 00:07:26.520 --> 00:07:31.480 Generally, I wish that base amounts and arms would look better from behind. 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:38.080 Here though, Apple isn't really helping things. Again because of the mount placement, Apple had to create this stretched H pattern to 00:07:38.080 --> 00:07:43.560 move the mount point to the center. But that means now the Apple logo gets blocked. 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:47.360 A charitable way of putting it is that it's peeking above the plate. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:52.200 How cute. Oh right, and I almost forgot the worst part. 00:07:52.200 --> 00:07:56.240 You have to choose what stand you want at the time of purchase. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:01.040 Because unlike previous Apple displays, this one has a non-user removable stand. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:04.960 Murmurs exist that you can take the monitor to the Apple store and have them swap the 00:08:04.960 --> 00:08:09.960 stand, but I called and at the time of writing, you can't. 00:08:09.960 --> 00:08:16.980 Look, all I'm doing is holding the studio display up to the precedents set by its predecessors. 00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:22.880 Those had great cable management. Murmurs had a user-friendly way to swap the stand for a base amount. 00:08:22.880 --> 00:08:29.520 So considering that the price has gone up, well then so would the expectation and scrutiny. 00:08:29.520 --> 00:08:36.600 If this 5K monitor came out in black with the cylindrical Mac Pro in 2013 for $1600, 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:44.560 our collective heads would have exploded with glee. But unfortunately, the technology to transmit this amount of pixels didn't exist yet. 00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:50.480 If in 2016 this monitor had come out in space gray alongside the Touch Bar MacBook Pro instead 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:57.000 of the LG Ultra Fine at $1600, we would have all loved and praised it. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:04.320 But it's 2022 and we've already had 5 years of a $1300 LG Ultra Fine display and 6 plus 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:07.840 years of the $1800 5K iMac. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:13.240 This is old display technology and some fancier speakers and center stage camera isn't going 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:18.640 to make up for that or the poorly placed mounting point and Thunderbolt input. 00:09:18.640 --> 00:09:22.000 So what have other monitor makers been doing in the meantime? 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:27.880 Well, let me show you my favorite. 00:09:27.880 --> 00:09:32.960 My favorite monitor available at the moment is this. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:38.840 The Huawei MateView. This is a screen that is unlike any other screen you can buy. 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:46.840 It has a 3x2 aspect ratio. It has truly next level industrial design that's just as height adjustable as the expensive 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:51.360 stand option from Apple while being just as attractive. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:56.120 Many people here actually mistook it for the Apple Studio display. 00:09:56.120 --> 00:10:01.400 It's more color accurate and almost as bright as the studio display while costing less than 00:10:01.400 --> 00:10:07.960 half the price. As far as value is concerned, this is a truly great monitor. 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:13.720 But there are flaws here too. Unlike Apple, Huawei put no effort in the garnish. 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:18.400 The speaker sounds like it came from a 2005 laptop. 00:10:18.400 --> 00:10:22.360 The built in microphone is awful too though there's no webcam anyway. 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:28.320 The matte display finish shows way more glare than Apple's glossy screens. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:32.960 But perhaps the biggest flaw is the placement of the USB-C input. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:37.440 It's right here on the side of the stand. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:44.040 Why? That means it's always visible contributing to the cable clutter. 00:10:44.040 --> 00:10:49.480 And if you want to be able to use these built in USB-A ports, which is handy, you have to 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:59.040 use this plug. Oh, and the last issue is that for geopolitical reasons, it's not available in the US. 00:10:59.040 --> 00:11:09.040 My fellow Canadians, it's about $900 here, which is sweet. 00:11:09.040 --> 00:11:12.360 Apple's external displays have always been quite expensive. 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:19.280 But we accepted that for cohesive industrial design, great build quality and advanced technology. 00:11:19.280 --> 00:11:24.680 But as the display technology got older, the prices at least became more manageable. 00:11:24.680 --> 00:11:30.960 The glorious 30-inch cinema display launched at $3,500 but was only $1,700 when it was discontinued 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:37.920 six years later. The last Thunderbolt display, which was great by the way, was priced at $1,000. 00:11:37.920 --> 00:11:41.040 I think the Apple Studio display costs too much. 00:11:41.040 --> 00:11:44.400 It should be 1,300 tops. 00:11:44.400 --> 00:11:50.880 Especially when you consider that before you could get an iMac with this panel for $1,800 00:11:50.880 --> 00:11:56.080 with a whole computer for only $200 more than this monitor costs. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:00.360 Apple's hardware engineering has been on a righteous roll these past few years, amazing 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.920 us with fast, efficient chips we never thought possible. 00:12:03.920 --> 00:12:07.880 This has been great for their computers, but what's happened with the studio display is 00:12:07.880 --> 00:12:14.160 that that philosophy has been applied here too, at the detriment to everything else. 00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:19.120 This is an electrically engineered product as opposed to a holistically designed product. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:22.200 And that really is too bad. 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:29.040 Thanks for displaying this Mac Address. If you like my alternative pick for the studio display, give this video a like. 00:12:29.040 --> 00:12:32.560 And if you just want to get a studio display yourself, well you might as well subscribe. 00:12:32.560 --> 00:12:35.640 Now I'm curious in the comments how important are displays to you. 00:12:35.640 --> 00:12:40.440 I think they are a monument of computing on your desk, so they should look and be nice. 00:12:40.440 --> 00:12:41.280 Do you agree?