For me, its frustrating to not see an option without all the webcam, microphone, octuple speaker array, A13, 100w charging, TB hub, madness. I have to imagine that adds significant cost, and at $1600 we're not in the territory where this stuff can be included just 'cause.
I like it, but I imagine some professionals would like to do what Apple's marketing images all show; buy two, maybe even three. I'd love to have one with all that stuff, but not all of them need the bells and whistles; and there's value in having all your displays be identical, especially in work that needs color calibration (not to mention, it looks nice).
So, maybe I grab one if the reviews look solid. And hopefully in the future they release a version without all that extra stuff for closer to the $1200-$1300 an LG 5K ultrafine display can be had for.
Except if you compare it to the LG 5K, it's worth the extra cost in build quality alone. The LG monitors are notorious pieces of junk with flaky connectors that come loose like clockwork.
The new Studio display is expensive, but I think the features somewhat justify the price compared to the "competition".
It's not hard to beat the notoriously bad build quality and reliability of the LG UltraFine and Apple has a track record of building solid displays (I have an LED Cinema Display that's going on 13 years old with nary a single issue).
I think your experience has been a constant of most Apple products for the last 22 years or so. Some people have no issues ever, some people have constant issues all the time. That said, I loved the Cinema displays and they did have a good track record, but if memory serves, the Thunderbolt Display variant was notoriously flaky [0]. Since they've put out so few external displays, it does stain their reputation a bit.
Everything I've heard about the Pro display XDR's has been that all the things like USB/Thunderbolt connectivity are rock solid.
This suggests Apple's display group has their goods together, and the Studio Display is likely to be solid too.
My personal take: my two 27" 4K LG monitors run GREAT here. I like the extremely small vertical bezels on both of them (one is a 144Hz and the other is a 60Hz). Connectors are fine. The monitors don't move at all, so build quality issues are imperceptible here. I think I paid something like $600 for each one at different points in time.
Yeah I know its just anecdata but I've been using mine daily for over 4 years now, all day every day, and never had an issue. I love the single cable + built in peripherals and am puzzled at the lack of competition around it. I had really questioned whether I was reaching when I purchased it for ~$1200 but 4+ years later, there's still very little to compare it to. (Tons of great options if you don't want built-in peripherals / single cable of course)
I’ve had 5 ultra fines since they were released in 2016/15ish, both 3x4k 21.5”, and now 2x5k 27”. Never experienced any issues, build quality is quite high in my opinion and the stand is surprisingly solid, much better then my Dell UltraSharps and LG UltraWide.
Of course not at the level of the Apple Displays but they are really outliers in the industry.
Apple is not interested in releasing a cheap dumb commodity PC-compatible monitor and never will be. It just doesn't make sense for them. For a lot of reasons.
I don't feel that's a reasonable take, in this case.
Apple's own marketing images show tons of these displays side-by-side with one-another. And that makes total sense; the M1 Ultra can run four of them IIRC. Apple customers, especially big businesses, will buy multiple of these just for the sake of them looking good next to one-another. Not unreasonable.
But what's the point of having three webcams & microphones? 18 speakers? Its just needless cost overhead; not to mention, I'm calling it here, when these things start shipping we're going to get a Verge article or something of people with dual+ displays complaining about how the webcam selection dialog in Zoom/etc is confusing because they're all ambiguously named like "Studio Display Webcam (1) (2) (3) etc". I can see it now.
I think it behooves Apple to offer one of these without all the bells & whistles. Knock $200 off the price or not, I'm not sure that's relevant; but as a secondary display, the bells & whistles actually get in the way. Its not about being a cheap dumb commodity PC compatible monitor; its just about serving what their customers are overwhelming going to want.
It doesn't matter whether you think it's reasonable. It makes no sense for Apple to try to do this.
You're entirely right that it makes no sense to have multiple sets of Dolby Atmos sound systems and cams and mics. But that doesn't mean it makes sense for Apple to do commodity displays. They're clearly betting that one 5K display will be enough in many cases.
Stocking multiple SKUs of large displays just doesn't make sense in their retail stores. I suspect the profit margins are iffy as well compared to, say, iPhones obviously, where the margin is circa 40% and the size of the box is tiny.
This entire comment just screams "it is how it is, until it isn't". Whether or not they decide to do it has nothing to do with anything you've said.
They're already stocking six Studio Display SKUs in-store (if they decide to stock them all in-store, that is). Two variations of glass finish times three variations of stands. Yes, that's right: "Each stand or mount adapter is built in. They are not interchangeable, so it’s important to consider your workspace needs at the time of purchase." They're not a separate component, and not even easily swappable outside the factory.
Their profit margins are fine. They can charge whatever they want for it, its not relevant because, clearly, if they were concerned about being price competitive with other displays they would not be charging $1600 for this one. Even the LG 5K Ultrafine is $400+ cheaper. In one comment you assert that Apple isn't interested in being a commodity monitor manufacturer, and in another you assert that the profit margins are low; so, which is it?
You could be right if they end up actually stocking those in all stores. I'm not sure whether that will be the case.
One small counterpoint to that part of what you said is that the 27" iMac has apparently now been pulled from the lineup, so, that should clear up some space in the stockroom.
As for the "which is it?" question, I don't feel those two points were mutually exclusive, so therefore I don't think your question is really valid. I think both of my arguments were true and valid; that's why I made them to begin with. You might disagree, of course. :)
I like it, but I imagine some professionals would like to do what Apple's marketing images all show; buy two, maybe even three. I'd love to have one with all that stuff, but not all of them need the bells and whistles; and there's value in having all your displays be identical, especially in work that needs color calibration (not to mention, it looks nice).
So, maybe I grab one if the reviews look solid. And hopefully in the future they release a version without all that extra stuff for closer to the $1200-$1300 an LG 5K ultrafine display can be had for.