Apple’s Stale Mac Displays

The ultimate paradox of Apple displays is that, judged solely on their own merits, they are terribly flawed — as you so rightly point out. (The Studio Display’s camera system is indeed hot garbage…) However, when compared to third-party options, they somehow always come out on top by virtue of offering a more integrated experience with a marginally better picture…

I think Apple knows this and feels in no hurry to either update the lineup or fix the very real bugs you mention, which they probably see as acceptable trade-offs. Having achieved perfect compatibility with macOS and outstanding picture quality, they know everything else can more or less fall by the wayside.

Plus, with such gimmicks as Continuity Camera, do they even have a financial incentive to fix the flaws when they can sell you the Studio Display and the accessories to use as an external camera? I have heard of people buying new iPhones just for this purpose…

The best purchase Studio Display users can make is a CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt Dock, which provides all the ports and convenience that the Studio Display promises but fails to deliver — admittedly at an eye-wateringly high price.

I see Apple sells a Belkin competitor on the Apple Store, which, knowing Belkin’s position as the one company officially licensed, allowed, and permitted to fix Apple’s fuck-ups, probably means Apple is very aware of these hub problems.

Honestly the studio display camera issues are overblown. Clear case of reviewers who spend all day with different web cameras getting too deep for consumers

For the price, the camera is a massive upgrade for users who mainly want it for FaceTime/Zoom. Seem with the display not being black enough. It offers lots of extra USB-Cs.

The specs of the display are aligned with pretty normal core audience of Apple customers who want elevated design, easy to use and explainable feature set at a premium price. If you want pro feature, they have a pro display and there are even more niche competitors

@Julian Upgrade compared with what? It’s worse than the cameras that are built into Macs. More USB-C ports would be great, but the main problem is that they aren’t fully reliable.

I kind of wish Apple just didn't include a camera with the current Studio display, especially if it were $100-200 less.
I do wish the Studio display were a better value, but as someone who often buys refurb gear, at $1200, I do feel much less bad than $1500. (Though, I'd be really quite happy if the current package were $999 and no camera....)

I do agree with getting a dock. Acasis (a lesser known brand) makes some nice Thunderbolt accessories and have a new 21 port dock for a decent price.

This, as with so many other problems with Apple, is a result of Tim's supply-chain ethos. He will not countenance a refresh or update to an SKU if there are still items on the warehouse shelves. The end result is that customers end up footing the bill for Tim's misguided expectations, which is just a really s***** way to do business.

> For the price, the camera is a massive upgrade for users who mainly want it for FaceTime/Zoom. Seem with the display not being black enough. It offers lots of extra USB-Cs.

Fully disagree. The camera on the 2020 iMac is better. As is the camera on the M-series 14/16 MBP. And I'd argue the LG UltraFine camera was better too.

I feel the same way about my Studio Display that I do about my AirPods Max (which I just upgraded to USB-C, despite constant deserved complaints about the pricing and feature set): it is infuriatingly overpriced and missing basic features that every other display in its class/price-range has. It is not a good value no matter how you try to justify it yourself. It is missing basic features that displays 1/5 the price have (a power button, multiple video inputs, proper HDR, VESA without having to purposefully buy the VESA version as I did, which then requires a $200 Ergotron arm, or at least that what I chose so I could match my iMac, which is also VESA). And yet it has a few key features that I can’t find in any other display on the market, such as true 5K resolution, good build quality, and a consistent part of the Apple ecosystem. So for me, a person who has used a 5K display either via an iMac or an LG UltraFine, as at least one of her computers for the last TEN years, my unfortunate reality is that if my Studio Display broke tomorrow, I’d buy another one immediately. And I’m very seriously considering using my work home office budget to get a second one. I wish macOS did retina scaling better, but it doesn’t and so for me, I need that 2x scaling from a 5K display. It’s just what my eyes demand.

If I could more reliably use it with my non-Mac machines, I’d be less critical, but that's part of the insanity of this display. It’s old as hell from a panel perspective, has a terrible camera, limited i/o, and costs probably twice what it should (but let’s just say Apple should charge $999 and still make a massive profit), and to add insult to injury, won’t work without adapters with non-Mac devices (and even those devices need to be specific). It’s insulting. And yet, as I said, I’d absolutely replace it tomorrow at full price if mine broke. In fact, I pay for the AppleCare+ each year just in case.

At least I didn’t buy a Pro Display XDR.

All-in-one computers should be forbidden by law, because they are a significant environmental aggression. CPU may last seven years until Apple macOS stops supporting it (another thing that should not be allowed), but displays may last for more than 20 years. Soldered CPU, RAM or SSD should not be allowed, as well as proprietary connectors or blocking using the ones from other sellers. Easy access to such parts should be compulsory.

My current studio display plan is to dust off my hosed 2017 27" iMac and put one of those adapter cards in it that lets me use it as a display.

I haven't had any problems with my Studio Display since the second or third software update for it. (So like eight or nine months after it came out.) The camera isn't the best available but it's still better than the ones used by 2/3 of my colleagues whenever I'm in a Zoom meeting.

It's certainly too expensive for what it is and the camera needs to be upgraded. But if it were $500 less then it would be a great deal.

The sad reality is that Apple has almost no competition for 5K displays so there's no pressure on them to improve it. (All the other 5K displays out there have been similarly overpriced and most have not been widely available.) I think there would be a big market for a lower-cost 5K display (with no camera and possibly no audio) but nobody seems to want to sell that.

As for the Pro Display XDR there's really no competition for it at all.

> Fully disagree. The camera on the 2020 iMac is better. As is the camera on the M-series 14/16 MBP. And I'd argue the LG UltraFine camera was better too.

> I kind of wish Apple just didn't include a camera with the current Studio display, especially if it were $100-200 less.

> Upgrade compared with what? It’s worse than the cameras that are built into Macs.

> The camera isn't the best available but it's still better than the ones used by 2/3 of my colleagues whenever I'm in a Zoom meeting.

I think @tim said it best. The camera is completely fine if youre using the display for a normal desk job zooms where half the people have terrible lighting and weird camera angles. Overall I'd call it not a deal break on the display and if you want something much better, you're best server buying a third party like opal and plugging it in