The owner of today’s MacBook Pro setup chose two Studio Displays over one Pro Display XDR to suit his workflow and because he realized he could bag one of the monitors at half price. Lucky him.
Several folks on social media noticed the damage, and some said they’d grab that deal, too, if they could.
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M1 Max MacBook Pro setup gets dual Studio Displays at a discount
Redditor ryopang (“Pang”) showcased the dual-Studio Display setup in a post entitled, “So happy with the dual!” He drives the two Studio Displays using a 16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro. They’re plugged into two of its Thunderbolt ports.
He also uses an 12.9-inch iPad Pro running Sidecar and a Google Echo Show, though he prefers his paired HomePods for music — and who wouldn’t?
When someone asked about it, he also noted he can route audio to both monitors,
And when someone asked if he thought about a Pro Display XDR, Apple’s $5,000+ 6K 32-inch monitor, he replied, “I don’t think my day to day requires XDR, I found it more useful in my use with two screens.”
Oh, and he got one of the Studio Displays for about $750 to $800 rather than the usual $1,500 to $1,600. That may have played a role in the decision.
Here’s where that 50% off came from
Several Redditors noticed a crack in the left screen.
“Good grief, those screens look amazing! But that … thing on the left, did you get shot while trying to buy the monitor on the left, lower side it looks chipped or my eyes are tired?” one said. “It looks chipped or something but I pray it’s just the reflection.”
“Yep you are exactly right,” Pang replied, “the left one has a small chip (not in the display area) so I got it used for 50% off, that was what gotten my foot into the door of the wonder of the Studio Display!!”
“Wow, well it’s not as bothersome I guess after a while but for 50% of the price I believe I’d tolerate it too, nice steal!!” enthused the commenter.
“That’s exactly right, lucky it’s not touching any screen area just the bezel,” Pang clarified. “It was an eye sore for a few, but now I got two screens and all the way on the far side, I don’t see it at all.”
One glossy, one matte? Nope.
“I see that you have one glossy and one matte (nanoglass) displays,” another commenter wrongly observed. “Which one do you prefer?”
“Both are glossy actually, just different angles next to the window. I am very happy with glossy finish, to me the image is much sharper and I don’t have any issues with glares at all, the screen is plenty bright,” Pang said.
So how does he use the displays? Here’s his reply to a person wondering if he favors one side rather than looking at the bezels meeting in the middle:
I don’t like windows overlapping. My work does lot of emails and meetings, so calendar and email on the left, meetings and browser on the right, chats on the iPad. I do need to look left and right for all but it’s not too bad.
And another person wondered if the display buzz at all, saying they have that problem. Pang said, “No I don’t have any issues with the audio so far, fingers crossed!”
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If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to info+setups@cultofmac.com. Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches, challenges and plans for new additions.
Not as good as Apple's Pro Display XDR, but the 27-inch Apple Studio Display packs an impressive panel coupled with a six-speaker system and studio-quality microphones.
