Was I Wrong About the Apple Studio Display? One Year Later.

I've been using the Apple Studio Display for a little more than a year. Meanwhile, I've also used a bunch of other monitors as well. How has the Studio Display held up and one year later do I still think it's worth the huge cost?
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[ChillumT]

As an IT professional working a lot from home, it’s the perfect monitor. I use the webcam for online meetings and it’s fine for that. It’s also a huge benefit that it has good speakers built in. This means that I can have a more clean desk. The built in microphone is also good enough. The combination of webcam, speaker and mic, means that I can have a clean desk without the need of using a headset all day.

[man-bagdammit]

Other than price point, its the perfect monitor for my workflow. It's a luxury item for me to use. Yes it's incredibly expensive, but I treated myself and I love it.

[koolsush]

A Bolly-Wood Film Editor here, and I must confess the Studio Display has turned out to be way better than I had anticipated. The image quality is top-notch, the colour accuracy is fantastic and the speakers surprisingly turned out to be great. I primarily edit with headphones, but the speakers are fantastic for previewing my edits. With the rise of online collaboration and zoom meetings, the webcam and the built in mics work great as well. Moreover the studio display also acts as a great hub, and all the wires which I need to connect various peripherals I use the Studio Display for it, thus freeing up precious Thunderbolt 4 ports on my MacStudio Ultra.

A few things which have stood out to me after a lot of usage. True Tone along with the ability to change the brightness of the display with your keyboard really helps me in preserving m eyes. When you are staring at a display for 12 hours straight, these things really help. With a normal monitor (I know this sounds a bit nit-picky) but once I set the brightness, I hardly changed it as that requires one to use the OSD of the monitor which is not very intuitive. The table setup too becomes extremely minimalistic due to the Studio Display housing so many functions.

All in all the Studio Display is definitely away more than the sum of its parts and one needs to use it and use it a lot in order to reap its benefits.

[leokimvideo]

Update 1, My stunning Studio Display blew up yesterday, belching smoke for 6 minutes before a final loud bang. Only lasted 18 months, very scary failure and I did get it on video. Posted pictures of the failure on my community tab and what to look out for before this failure. I can't post a video because I now have no display. Update 2 Initial Investigations are pointing at the slim internal power supply thats failed, the left hand side section when looking at the display from the front. The staff at the Apple store have seen all my videos of the failure and they were astonished, looked over the Display with a fine tooth comb but never opened it up. They could see from the video it's a very destroyed unit. I purchased it from Apple 18 months ago and I'm in the refund process. Sadly that refund process isn't as automatic as it should be. And what's wild is they didn't keep the very damaged Studio Display. I'm the proud owner of a bricked, burnt out Studio Display. Surely a Apple fan collectors item now.

[jeffpv.]

I said I would never spend that for a monitor. I picked up a Mac Mini recently, and started my quest for a budget 4k display. Through my searching, I found scaling issues, flickering, wobbly stands, backlight bleed, and cheap plastic. Turns out, if you're not buying a Apple display, and want things to scale decently, a 2k monitor at 27 inches is about the best you can hope for. I bought the Studio Display a few day ago, and I'm still questioning why I paid that much for a monitor, but every time I turn it on I'm blown away by how good everything looks on it!

[huubjoanfranssen]

My only real wish is that the come with 32inch variant as well. I work allot with Technical drawings.
I would like that Apple allows for Daisy chaining a dual (/Multi) screen setup and an easy way to stereo-pair them (also with other airplay devices).

[peterchu]

would you recommend to get it with applecare+ after one year of usage?

[man-bagdammit]

I agree the camera isn't fantastic, but continuity camera with your iPhone blows away anything on a monitor or MacBook.

[nigelgolledge]

Cheers Jason you hit the nail on the head with the overlooked benefits of the working environment this display offers in addition to it undoubtably being a true precision tool that’s perfectly suited to its audiences actual requirements. Keep up the the honest reviews. Much appreciated thank you.

[pgaray]

No one seems to mention how great the built-in mic is. You could seriously record a keeper recording with it. Totally overlooked!

[KevPez-IS]

I’m torn. I’m looking into getting a 16inch MBP with M2 Max. I know there are other options that are probably cheaper and close enough quality…but I know this will be excellent and work out of the box. Less fuss. 16 Inch screen and a studio display, sounds perfect to me.

[kevinMaquino]

I have really been thinking about this. Glad to come across your video!

The only thing that has been niggling is that I have a 5K iMac Retina display which was beautiful until the hard drive died. I really wish I could just use that Mac as monitor for my M2 MBPro. I wish I could use this screen - not over remote/airplay - but just use it like a normal monitor.

[hytbudl]

My display wont plug and play! ive tried on both my air and pro, nothing! its powered on and charging devices.. all I'm met with when powered on is 3 loading dots and that's it... any advise?

[transitengineer]

Thank you, for this excellent one year review from your time using Apple's Studio Display. Own an Apple 27-inch LED (none thunderbolt) display and, I wanted to replace it with the Studio Display but, the Studio Display just...fell flat down somewhere on its way to the market place. If buying today, I would pay the extra money and, just pick-up the 32-inch Pro XDR display with no web camera and no speakers (smile...smile).

[boyakoosha]

I couldn’t agree more. Love it, just wish it was a few inches bigger!

But there is no better monitor out there for the Mac except for the XDR Pro.

I’ve come from using a 34in Ultra Wide Dell on my Windows PC and can never go back now

[Mrpint]

Do you have the matte display coating?

[dalelangehennig]

I use my 2 LG 5K (Same panel as the SD and same I/0) with my windows laptops and my MBP16. I love them with Windows, thought I wish you could control brightness etc, but they work and I normally crank up the brightness anyway, so no real issues. I will say that on Windows I have to plug the laptp in as well as connect eh monitor or the screen goes black after a few minutes, so that ties up an additoional Thunderbolt port on my Windows laptop. So thats a bummer but I have been able to make it work. Tht being said, I, like you, and considering going back to Mac only for other reasons. The Studio Display is hands down the best monitor I have ever used or seen. I don't like using y 4k's any more at other locations. I love the interated camera. Having only one cable to hook up my entire setup on my mac is just a thing of beuty. The MBP16 is the bet computer ever made. That Silicone chip is nuts.

[ellisz]

Couldn't agree more. I bought one about 7 months ago. Yeah, it was crazy expensive. But since I spend 8 - 12 hours a day in front of it, it was the best investment I could ever make. My eyes thank me. The speakers are really good. (and helps clear my desk!). The mic is very good also, but I do have a Blue Yeti, which I still use. (I live in video calls and creating video content). The webcam, well, it's adequate if you have proper lighting. (My setup is close to a studio if you will). No regrets.

Wish it were easier to use with Windows. Wish it were easier to switch between Macs. Beyond that, quite happy.

[dimitrimendrinos]

Thank you for your "honest' opinion. I just ordered an M2 iStudio and have been agonising about what monitor to get. It's a toss up between the Samsung 34" G8 QD-OLED or the studio display. I can get the Samsung for about half the price of the studio display but after watching your review I think I will just go for the Studio display. I'm coming off a 27" iMac that has the 5k display. Thank You again. D

[PeterEmery]

I bought one 6 days ago to replace a cheap 4k ACER display that has a DisplayPort connection which broke inside the monitor, leaving it with a pair of HDMI ports, one of which is also flaky.
The speakers are great, the camera OK. I tried it in a Zoom meeting yesterday, the USB Condenser boom mic having a more suitable sound for the target audience.
I have stopped using a Thunderbolt 4 dock and a 2.1 stereo soundbar with subwoofer. I only used the Dock to connect backup drives and my iPad Air 5, these duties are well covered by the (up to) 10 Mbps-capable USB-C ports on the display.
I love it.
Since originally posting this reply I have upgraded to using an Insta360 Link USB 4k webcam. That fixes the Studio Display's camera issue. This camera has built-in selectable tracking.