While plenty of people find Apple’s Studio Display a bit too expensive, many owners of Mac setups love it. Today’s MacBook Pro user justifies the expense because they use Studio Display for photo editing. But others disagreed that the $1,600 monitor is all that great a display for photo editing, with one person calling it “less than ideal” and backing that up with several technical points, below. They might not worry casual users much, but could be worth considering for pros like graphic designers.
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Display for photo editing: Is Studio Display great or ‘less than ideal?’
The 27-inch Apple Studio Display packs an impressive panel coupled with a six-speaker system and studio-quality microphones.
It’s not as beautiful as Apple's Pro Display XDR, but the Studio Display costs thousands less.
- Crystal clear 5K resolution
- Excellent color accuracy
- 12MP Center Stage camera
- Expensive
- Lacks HDR
- Height-adjustable stand costs extra
Redditor 1ogic2 (“Ogic”) showcased the more-or-less minimalist setup in a post entitled, “Updated living room setup for photo editing.” They use a MacBook Pro in clamshell mode to drive a Studio Display. Input devices are a Magic Keyboard mini, the ever-popular Logitech MX Master 3S mouse and a Magic Trackpad 3. Last week I covered the usefulness of the Magic Trackpad and mouse combo, which commenters often question because they suspect it’s redundant (though it’s really not). Today I’ll look more closely at the Studio Display, which Ogic and commenters discussed in some depth.
As always, people mentioned how expensive 5K Studio Display is, at about $1,600. That’s a lot cheaper than the 6K Pro Display XDR, which goes for about $5,000. But Studio Display’s price is pretty steep for many users, who often look for less expensive 5K and 4K options. I’m not going to dwell on price in this post.
Will the next Studio Display have a faster refresh rate?
Studio Display’s refresh rate is an Apple-friendly 6oHz. Many third-party displays are ranging much faster than that, especially for gaming.
“Wish the Studio Display could be 120Hz so I can connect my Xbox to it,” said a commenter. “Would buy it in a heartbeat cause it really does look stellar in setups.”
“From rumors I’ve seen, the next Studio Display may still lack 120Hz,” Ogic replied. “I’d like to imagine the updated Pro Display will have it, at least to justify its price tag. Truth is, to the average user 120Hz doesn’t make a difference. I love ProMotion on my phone, but I don’t scroll like that on my monitor, and I don’t game on it either. It would be nice, but it’s not a deal breaker for the majority of their target audience.”
How is Studio Display for photo editing?
Photo: Apple
“While the Studio Display is hard to justify financially, it just completes the setup so perfectly,” noted a commenter.
“I don’t think I could’ve justified it if I wasn’t using it for photo editing,” Ogic replied. “Got it while Best Buy was running a 20% off sale.”
But not everyone agreed Studio Display is all that great for Ogic’s main use, photo editing.
“I do like the ASD, but for photo editing it’s a less than ideal choice,” a commenter said.
“I know there are probably slightly better options but I do think ‘less than ideal’ is inaccurate,” Ogic replied. “It matches my MBP display perfectly, 5k and colors are beautiful and the user experience, build quality and aesthetic are 10/10 for me.”
‘Ahead of its time 10 years ago’ in iMacs
The critical commenter justified their view with these technical points:
- Compared to most other consumer displays it’s pretty good out of the box, but usually contrast/gamma is to high and color temperature is to high/cold.
- Display-P3 color space coverage is fine if you only edit for digital consumption. If you want to print with a good printing service or a good photo printer, then you’d want AdobeRGB coverage, and that is quite lacking in the ASD.
- Most importantly, it’s not 10 bit, not hardware calibrate-able, and even for software calibration it lacks the hardware adjustment for RGB gain. So to match gamma and whitepoint to the desired levels more adjustments need to be done in the graphic cards LUTs, which can lead to more severe banding.
- In general it was ahead of its time 10 years ago when they started to put it into the iMacs but today it has been surpassed by OLED and MiniLED. Don’t get me wrong it’s still good compared to many consumer grade monitors, but if you don’t need 5K, there’s way better offers for photo editing for that kind of money.
“I suppose I can just connect to my OLED TV if I find the ASD to be lacking,” Ogic replied. “So far though, no complaints with my workflow, especially considering I had been editing exclusively off my 14-inch MBP display. I also don’t print much.”
And if you like the wallpaper showing on the screen, you can find it here. And take note, that clock-looking gadget to the right of Studio Display’s base is actually an old Springfield analogue temperature and humidity gauge.
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The 27-inch Apple Studio Display packs an impressive panel coupled with a six-speaker system and studio-quality microphones.
It’s not as beautiful as Apple's Pro Display XDR, but the Studio Display costs thousands less.
- Crystal clear 5K resolution
- Excellent color accuracy
- 12MP Center Stage camera
- Expensive
- Lacks HDR
- Height-adjustable stand costs extra
Display:
Computer:
Input devices:
Accessories:
If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to [email protected] (iPhone pics usually work fine). 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.
