While I'm sure it'll display something if you plug in a Windows PC, things like the built-in webcam, auto brightness, and the ability to manually adjust display settings won't work.Īpple's XDR Display has a similar problem.
Unfortunately, I suspect the Apple Studio Display will be only partially compatible with Windows PCs. So, with Apple's Studio Display now a thing, have my dreams been answered? Partly.
And I'm shocked the high-end premium PC monitor industry hasn't adopted this yet. There's a reason why Apple's recent displays have all been in the 5K territory, and that's because this is the resolution required to achieve "retina" sharpness, which does matter. Apple users are all over this, and there are countless forums online from Apple customers looking for "retina" quality monitors and coming up blank because there just weren't any. Most of you likely don't notice that you can see pixels at those screen sizes and resolution, which is perfectly fine, but that doesn't mean it's not a thing. Now, I fully understand that for most people, 4K at 27 inches or 32 inches is more than enough. As I'm writing this, I'm starting to realise how much of a PPI snob I really am, but once you've tasted greatness at 192 PPI or above, you just can't go back. Text was smoother, rounded corners were nicer, and the glossy finish made colors punch much more than they did on the Envy 32.Ī 4K panel at 27 inches has a PPI of 163, which is just not dense enough to ensure you can't see pixels at a normal working distance. When having them side-by-side, the Surface Studio's display was just better to look at. It's a beautiful 4K 32-inch panel, but it just wasn't as sharp as my 28-inch Surface Studio.
When I test-drove the HP Envy 32 last year, the one thing that stopped me from keeping it full time was the display. This means with a display of that size and resolution, you'll still be able to see pixels when sitting at a normal distance from the monitor. 4K at those screen sizes is not enough to achieve a "retina" level of sharpness. 4K resolution is not enoughįor those of you who may not understand what I'm talking about, and think a 4K display at 27 inches or 32 inches should be more than enough, let me try to explain.
Even with a 16:9 panel and no touch, I'd be willing to make that sacrifice for a 217 PPI at 27-inches, which is firmly in "retina" territory, just like the Surface Studio's 28-inch display at 192 PPI. These aren't flagship specs in 2022, which is why I wish I could just take the Surface Studio's display and use it on something else.Ībove all else, I want a monitor that matches or beats the Surface Studio's PPI, and the Apple Studio Display does with a PPI of 217.
Microsoft still sells the Surface Studio 2 at full price, with an anemic 7th-gen laptop processor paired with NVIDIA 10XX series GPUs. I love my Surface Studio 2, but Microsoft has been terrible about updating it on a frequent basis. It's the whole package, and the Apple Studio Display is the first monitor in a long while that even comes close, which has reminded me how much I wish Microsoft would just make a Surface Studio monitor. It's the sharpest in the Windows PC space at this size, has the best aspect ratio of 3:2, with a sleek design, and includes touch. So, the Surface Studio display remains unique in this market. There are plenty of 4K monitors at various screen sizes, but nothing really in the 5K resolution space, and there's definitely nothing with 5K resolution and a 16:10 or 3:2 screen resolution, even more so if you throw in touch. The reason I make that comparison is because that's basically all that's available in the PC space so far. At 28 inches, it has a PPI (pixels per inch) of 192, blowing most 4K 27-inch and 32-inch displays out of the water from a sharpness perspective. To this day, the Surface Studio's display is one of the best displays in the PC space, and is likely the sharpest at its screen size. I've been looking for a display of this calibre in the PC space since Microsoft first unveiled the Surface Studio back in 2016. Available with anti-reflective and nanotextured glass, this is a high-class IPS panel that I wish existed for PCs. This is a 27-inch 5K Thunderbolt display, and it's drop-dead gorgeous. The one product that Apple did announce yesterday that has caught my attention is the new Apple Studio Display announced alongside the Mac Studio. It's pretty great looking, but that's not what stood out to me as a tech enthusiast. Dubbed the Mac Studio, it's a desktop Mac designed for professionals, housed in a super compact form factor.
Yesterday, Apple unveiled a handful of new products, including a new Mac mini (Mac Pro mini?) that's packing some serious power.