Professional colorist and YouTube HDTV reviewer Vincent Teoh says he cannot recommend Apple’s $5,000 Pro Display XDR to creatives who do commercial color grading.
But the pricey monitor’s “beautiful design will look good in the office of a divorce lawyer,” Teoh says.
Teoh doesn’t just crack one-liners as he compares the much-hyped Apple Pro Display XDR to Sony HX-310 reference monitors. But if you watch the 12-minute video he posted to his HDTVTest channel, you likely will appreciate his deadpan humor as he speaks the complicated language of nits, low-light color accuracy and localized luminous fluctuations to make his case.
Apple Pro Display XDR vs. Sony HX-310
He compared the $5,000 display with Sony’s $43,000 monitor because that’s exactly what Apple did at last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference to promote the long-awaited Mac Pro. CEO Tim Cook called Apple’s offering the “world’s best pro display.”
“Apple’s marketing team may have been a bit overzealous,” Teoh said in his review. “For a monitor to be used for commercial color grading, there can be no doubt about the picture on the screen. It’s a no-go for serious professional colorists. It doesn’t deliver the consistency and accuracy of reference monitors.”
The Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR started shipping to customers in December. Teoh bought one, but said he ran out of money to spend the extra $1,000 on the Pro Stand for the display.
Pro Display XDR review: Pros and cons
Teoh said the Pro Display XDR exhibited several shortcomings. He dinged the high-end monitor for looming artifacts and a lack of contrast at peak brightness. He also cited poor color accuracy in the dark areas of a scene.
Two things impressed Teoh, however: the monitor’s sharpness, and factory calibration out of the box.
In the end, Apple’s Pro Display XDR is “just an IPS display,” Teoh said. The Sony monitor uses dual-layer LCD technology for pros to dial in true colors. See the difference for yourself in Teoh’s video below.
