expiredphoinix | Staff posted Dec 20, 2024 11:17 AM
Item 1 of 4
Item 1 of 4
expiredphoinix | Staff posted Dec 20, 2024 11:17 AM
27" Apple Studio Display, 5120x2880 5K Retina, 600 nits, Tilt Stand, Standard Glass
+ Free Shipping$1,300
$1,599
18% offAmazon
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RTINGS review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ5Dj3
Mediocre for photo and video.
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First of all, USB-C docking is on both monitors, and it's a game changer. Laptop, iPad, or Steam Deck plugged into one of these and (usually) it's like an instant desktop setup. No need to share accessories like Keyboard & Mouse, big storage HDDs (no need to transfer data if it's on the HDD), or USB audio devices for nice speakers or headphones. iPad connected to one of these screens is incredible, you can finally run multiple apps at the same time and it can handle higher res pretty well for office tasks. It's also convenient for keeping everything charged, fast! I had accessory docks which had some of these benefits but also some jank and encouraged less managed wire mess. Also, both screens will work right out of the box with Macs and tablets (maybe even phones? I don't have a USB-C one yet to test, haha).
The Philips OLED is on a price special now for just $569.99. OLED is fantastic for color and video, the 175 Hz refresh is about as smooth as you can see (or smoother) with VRR, HDR, and a lot of other acronym goodies, plus it is a little more power efficient. The ultrawide aspect is great for drag-and-drop office tasks, saving space compared to multiple monitors. The screen is curved gently too, which I'm quite enjoying for immersion and keeping the corners as close to my eyes as the center of the screen. 1440p is also a very balanced resolution for good visuals and good gaming performance, 4k and up requires more expensive GPUs and even the best GPU's don't bring 4k or 5k with Ray Tracing and high frame rates. I'd say the Philips (which uses the same OLED panel as Samsung, Alienware, etc) is a superb gaming and movies monitor.
But I think the Apple would be better for office tasks and graphic design. The sub-pixel layout on those 1440p ultrawide 34" OLED and especially VA monitors actually doesn't line up to make perfectly crisp type characters, and while I think either is fine for photo or video editing I would give the Apple IPS display the edge for vector graphics or computer animation. The 5k resolution also means you can sit closer, make onscreen elements smaller without losing detail, and the Apple screen will FEEL like a larger canvas than the OLEDs which will have you sitting back more. The more standard aspect ratio on the Apple will also be more recognizable for different inputs; no black bars or weird stretched aspect ratio in games or less flexible devices like the PlayStation 5. Apple won't have the occasional Chinese character inserted into the English menus like the Philips does. The Apple IPS display also will not need to periodically run a pixel-refresh routine for several minutes like the OLED display asks for every 4 hours of accumulated usage, and the IPS display will be free from burn-in concerns long term. I'll also give the Apple a "just works out of the box" nod here, though I don't know how the PS5 will work with the 5K resolution… on the Philips OLED monitor, the PlayStation refuses to recognize a 1440p mode, so it's either 1080p or wasted 4k output downsampled by the monitor to 1440p, and then I actually have to dive into the Philips' menu system to set it to 27" mode to add black bars on the sides of the screen, otherwise the Philips has ugly blurry stretched aspect ratio. Same deal with my Steam Deck, though I found that if I set the Steam menu system's settings to the ultrawide aspect 1440p resolution, the Deck will add black bars for games that only support 16:9 aspect ratio (I have an LG 1440p VA monitor which automatically preserves the aspect ratio, so I think Philips just didn't go the extra mile here).
Ultimately, I think each person knows their budget, and hopefully this extra info gives a deeper dive into how these options can be differentiated. I also think the PlayStation is a PITA for using with anything besides a TV 😆
Despite popular belief, Apple is actually a better value in many instances and that's the reason I opt to use them, other than the fact that they're very durable and have nice aesthetics and simple setup.
Got my M4 Mac Mini 16gb for $499 along with a beautiful Thunderbolt Display for $50, and it works and looks great.
Despite popular belief, Apple is actually a better value in many instances and that's the reason I opt to use them, other than the fact that they're very durable and have nice aesthetics and simple setup.
Got my M4 Mac Mini 16gb for $499 along with a beautiful Thunderbolt Display for $50, and it works and looks great.
Mediocre for photo and video.
Awesome Snazzy Labs review: https://youtu.be/Bw65SS3AveM
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It's completely foreign to people that will never buy this monitor
Sound works and is better than any other monitor sound I've heard. Webcam and mic works also.
I've also tried Linux, various distros, fedora seems to work best though overall a bit hit or miss. Wayland doesn't seem to work too well with extended multi monitor, sometimes display scaling didn't work etc.
overall, I'd give it an 8/10 out of the box experience for windows and maybe a 6/10 on Linux. I have only tried USB-c and thunderbolt, not hdmi or display port.
I've thought about getting the new asus 5k, but it doesn't have webcam and speakers suck. Biggest drawback is 60hz resolution. My gaming laptop does 240hz and it's so buttery smooth, now I want that same experience on a monitor. 60hz is fine obviously, but if you've seen 120 or 240hz.,even 75hz, it's hard to go back to 60hz, you just can't unsee it.
RTINGS review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ5Dj3
There are good products in Apple's catalog, especially M4 batch this year, but Studio Display never one of them, just fit a very niche user segmentation and overpriced.
They are absurdly expensive, but if you appreciate crisp text and nice colors for Mac, there's not much out there. If you add glossy screen to the list, the list is tiny.
Absolutely hate there's just a single input for these.
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RTINGS review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ5Dj3
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