I have made no secret about my interest in new displays from Apple. I was happy to see the new Studio Display and Studio Display XDR this morning, but I’m a little conflicted about what we got.

I’m going to largely ignore the base Studio Display for the duration of this post and focus exclusively on the XDR version.

At around half the price of the previous-generation Pro Display XDR, the Studio Display XDR offers the following:

  • 27″ and 5K resolution (compared to 32″ and 6K in the Pro Display XDR) 
  • 120hz VRR display (mysteriously not marketed as ProMotion, which probably doesn’t indicate anything), compared to 60hz in the Pro Display XDR and similar display tech in the MacBook Pros 
  • 2,304 mini-LED local dimming zones, compared to 576 in the Pro Display XDR, 2010 in the 14″ MacBook Pro, and 2,554 dimming zones in the 16″ MacBook Pro
  • Nano-texture (some questions about this below)
  • 2000 nits of HDR brightness and 1000 nits of SDR brightness, compared to 1600 nits HDR and SDR in Apple’s other Mac panels
  • A webcam and speakers (not built into the Pro Display XDR)
  • And the price includes a height-and-tilt adjustable stand

Overall, this is clearly an upgrade, but also a mixed bag. For $3,500 USD (or $4,500 CAD), you’re getting a monitor that is substantially cheaper than its best prior comparison. The technology has gotten better. I will miss the Pro Display XDR’s cheese grater aesthetic, but that design was because the Pro Display needed a heatsink, and the lattice design clearly increased manufacturing cost. 2,304 dimming zones is four times what was available in the larger Pro Display XDR’s screen.

But at 27″, the Studio Display is smaller. I think Apple fumbled here; I would love a 32″ Studio Display XDR. And while 2,304 dimming zones is more than the ​“one” dimming zone on the standard Studio Display, it’s comparable to the dimming zone count in the MacBook Pros. 

I want to hammer home the latter point, because it would be better if the Studio Display XDR had more dimming zones. The equivalent, proportionally, would be closer to 10,000. I don’t know if any display manufacturer makes a 27″ or 32″ screen with 10,000 dimming zones, but Apple’s own 13″ iPad Pros offered 10,000 mini-LEDs grouped into 2,500 zones years ago.

Again, I don’t know if this technology exists at these screen sizes. It’s just what I wished for. 

Otherwise, this really does look like a great monitor for professionals.

Apple’s P3 colour gamut has now added Adobe RGB support, in addition to P3. They also say they have more than 80% Rec. 2020 coverage. Rec. 2020’s gamut is significantly larger than Adobe RGB. The Pro Display didn’t support Rec. 2020, and the laptops offer a bit over 60% of Rec. 2020. So this is a much more detailed (and hopefully even more accurate) display.

And why would you care about that? It’s very useful for print design and photography (especially for printing), and having it built in to the default P3 mode is great for keeping workflows easy. If you’re a working professional who cares about colour accuracy across multiple mediums (hello, it’s me), then this is a big deal.

My plan right now is to buy one and upgrade my current Studio Display, because this level of colour accuracy and HDR support is very useful for my work. But I dearly wish a 32″ 6K option were available. 

I am waiting to read and watch reviews first before I place my order.

I have a few questions I’d like answered:

  1. What’s the nano-texture display like on this model? I love nano-texture on my MacBook Pro, and I’d like it on the Studio Display. On the MacBook Pro, the nano-texture is chemically etched. On the first-generation Studio Display, it was physically etched. This meant the first-gen Studio Display’s nano-texture implementation made the display looked much blurrier than the MacBook Pro’s chemically-etched one. I would like to see the new nano-texture implementation on the Studio Display XDR myself before I order it.
  2. Is the claim of 80% of Rec. 2020 coverage accurate? Are they underselling or overselling?
  3. How noticeable are the dimming zones? 
  4. Is the power cord detachable? It drives me insane that it is not detachable on the first-generation Studio Display. (I suspect this has not changed, but I can dream.)
  5. For the first time in over a decade, you can now daisy-chain multiple Apple monitors with a downstream Thunderbolt 5 cable. (This is nice because it means you only plug one cable in to your computer, but can chain multiple monitors to it.) How does this work in practice? Is there any quality degradation with daisy chained monitors?