ViewFinity S9
Samsung announced its new lineup of monitors at CES this morning. Two of the most exciting models for Mac users include the company’s first 5K monitor, the ViewFinity S9 with a slick design not unlike Apple’s Studio Display but with even more features and a new 27-inch version of the popular Smart Monitor M8.
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Pricing and launch details haven’t been shared yet.
It’s 27 inches, like the Studio Display.
The ViewFinity S9 features a matte finish to minimize glare, is equipped with USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, and includes a 4K SlimFit camera.
Previously:
- Dell UltraSharp 32 6K
- Mac External Displays for Designers and Developers
- Studio Display
- The State of External Retina Displays
- The Best Mac External Displays
Update (2023-01-12): Dan Seifert:
A weird thing has happened at CES this year: display manufacturers not named Apple have announced true 5K and 6K monitors designed for creative work and productivity. […] It’s hard to overstate how rare this actually is.
Update (2023-06-27): Joe Rossignol:
Samsung today announced that its ViewFinity S9 external monitor is now available to pre-order in South Korea, and will launch in the country on July 3. The monitor is priced at 1.7 million won, which is equivalent to approximately $1,300 USD. Samsung has yet to reveal pricing or availability details for the U.S. market.
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If the ViewFinity S9 ends up being priced around $1,300 in the U.S., that would be around $300 cheaper than the Studio Display, which starts at $1,599. However, the ViewFinity S9 offers a matte finish and a height-adjustable stand as standard features, whereas the Studio Display costs $2,299 when configured with these options, so the savings could potentially be up to $1,000. Samsung’s monitor also comes with an attached 4K webcam that offers higher-resolution video than the Studio Display’s built-in webcam.
Update (2023-07-18): Jack Wellborn:
Speaking of price, I do expect this Samsung display will get more frequently and heavily discounted than the Studio Display. It also comes with a matte display and an adjustable height stand out of the box, two features Apple charges extra for. Furthermore, the Samsung entry features a DisplayPort in addition to Thunderbolt 4, which should make it ideal for anyone who uses both a Mac and a gaming PC.
Regardless, I hope these Samsung displays sell like gangbusters. 5K is way better than 4K at 27″, even on Windows, and I would love for this display to be the first of many new 5K options.
The price was announced as $1,599.
Update (2023-08-30): Eric Slivka:
After briefly going up for pre-order on Amazon last week, Samsung’s new ViewFinity S9 5K Display is now officially available to order from Samsung and Amazon in the United States.
Update (2023-09-11): Jason Snell:
First off, it doesn’t plug into a wall—instead, it plugs into a large, heavy black power brick. And while I’ve grown a little jaded about Apple’s boasting about the multi-speaker audio arrays in its laptops and displays, I was not prepared for the lousy, tinny sound that came out of the ViewFinity S9’s speakers.
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It’s a perfectly fine webcam, but because it’s mounted on the back of the display, it barely peeks above the top of the display. While the camera can extend upward slightly and tilt down, my head was still at the very bottom of the frame—and there’s no real way to adjust it beyond that. With third-party software, I was able to zoom in and make it look a little better, but at that point, it looked worse than the Studio Display’s webcam.
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If you’re not content with a non-adjustable stand (or using a VESA mount, since Apple doesn’t charge extra to not include a stand), or if you need an anti-glare screen, the Samsung display will cost appreciably less than Apple’s model. The question is, do the weird quirks of owning a Samsung display outweigh that price difference?
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Prepare for disappointment Ghost Quartz. ;(
It’s a little unclear in the press release, but it seems like these monitors may run Tizen:
“Users can connect cameras and other devices to the monitor through USB-C and Thunderbolt 4 connections to easily transfer gigantic files of high-resolution video or other large data sets from storage devices to their PC. The ViewFinity S9 Series comes with a 4K SlimFit camera and supports native video conferencing through apps such as Google Meet that are included in the Samsung Smart Hub.”
I really hope that internet-connected smart monitors aren’t a new trend.