I’ve spent almost 2 years telling you that the Studio display is the superior display
when pairing with a Mac and 4K displays are really not great. And I do love my
studio display for the way it works with macOS and its built-in features,
but I have also been stubborn in not thinking about everything that third party displays
have to offer. You can get lots of features in something like this Dough Spectrum 4K
and many others, that you can’t get on an Apple Display… and It’s usually cheaper.
So in this video I want to tell you what I have been blindly loving about the Studio display
these last couple of years but also a lot of reasons you may want to consider something else.
And to be up front, the studio display I have is the $2000 dollar model that comes with the
height and tilt adjustable base that is $400 more than the base model with tilting stand,
but this stand is super nice. I mean, really, the entire design aesthetic of the studio display is
super nice, classy, neat, and inoffensive to my desk. The entire case is made of aluminum
with symmetrical bezels and perforations on the top and bottom for speakers and cooling.
This overengineered stand can raise and lower the studio display with a single
finger and just feels balanced and sturdy, and you just can’t find this craftsmanship,
through and through on any other third party display.
Besides the display, I like the built-in facetime camera, which does its job… OK, I guess…,
the “studio quality” 3 mic array is pretty good for zoom, facetime, teams meetings and any other
web calls, and the built-in speakers are actually really really good and better than any other
speakers that are built into a display. It’s a 6-speaker sound system with spatial audio and
I use them for watching video, editing my videos, meetings, music,
everything. You just are not going to find good built in speakers in other displays.
You also are not going to find a display like the studio display when it comes to
integration with macOS. When you plug in the studio display or wake your mac,
the display wakes almost instantly. The buttons on a Mac keyboard fully control the volume and the
brightness and if you want true-tone and auto brightness, it all just works and works well.
And one of the biggest reasons I have been loving the Studio
display…at least what I had convinced myself of, is the scaling with macOS.
I have shown in multiple videos how 5k with macOS just looks better compared to
a 4k display at the same 27” size, when screen elements are scaled to the same
size. Apple’s 5k display resolution is 5120 x 2880 but they display everything at 2560
x 1440 by doubling the pixels so what would be 1 pixel on a 1440p display is
now 4 pixels. This makes objects the size they would be at 1440p, but much sharper.
A 4k display has less pixels on a 27” display and if you double them
to make everything look sharper, you get a 1080p sized display, compared to 1440p,
and everything looks a bit too big for macOS. Sure, you can use the settings to scale to the
size you want, but then things are less sharp because the pixels don’t exactly line up.
So for all those reasons, that is why I have loved and have recommended only
the studio display in the last few years…….But, that was wrong of me.
There are many good reasons to look at a 4k display, or other displays rather than the
studio display for your Mac. Maybe you don’t want or need all the features, or there are
things you want like a high refresh rate for gaming, or maybe it just comes down to price.
But I would bet, for a lot of you, it’s about port options. The studio display
only has a single Thunderbolt out port and a couple of USB-C ports so you don’t get hdmi,
displayport or any other connectivity options.
This Spectrum 4k with gorilla glass, for example, has dual HDMI, displayport and
displayport over USB-C for input allowing you to connect up to 4 different computers
or game consoles. You are not stuck to only using devices with thunderbolt or USB-C
There are usually additional USB ports for peripherals on the 4k displays and
some displays might have even more input options, but honestly, you are better
off using a dock or hub for connectivity anyway like from channel partner CalDigit.
$$$$$$$$$$$$ CalDigit makes Thunderbolt docks
and Hubs like the Element Hub, the Thunderbolt Station 4, and the Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus,
and all of these thunderbolt devices support high refresh rate displays, like the Spectrum 4K.
With a single cable from the TS3 Plus, you can quickly connect your Mac or PC to a 4k
or 5k display while adding 15 ports of connectivity for everything you need,
like USB, ethernet, and SD card readers.
The TS4 gives you even more with 18 ports of connectivity, including 2.5Gb Ethernet,
and allows you to connect to even higher resolution 6K or 8K displays.
And the Element Hub allows you to build in just what you need with 4 extra
10Gb/s USB ports and 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports for loads of fast storage,
other Thunderbolt 4 docks, or high res 6 and 8K displays.
Need more than 1 external display to really get stuff done? The TS3 supports up to 2
4k displays at 60Hz and the TS4 and Element Hub can support up to 2 6K displays at 60Hz
So, if you want to expand what you can connect to your computer, check out the
CalDigit Hubs and Docks using the links below and my thanks to CalDigit for sponsoring this video.
$$$$$$$$$$$$
Moving on to high refresh rate displays, which can be great
for getting a smoother gameplay experience, they are also great for everyday computing.
My MacBook Pro has a high refresh rate display and everything on the system feels smoother and
faster from scrolling on web pages to OS animations, and even just the feel of the
cursor. High refresh is something you won't find on the studio display but this Dough spectrum 4k
has a 144hz refresh rate and this display is nearly half the cost, without a stand.
And you might think… without a stand? … Yes, this is actually a feature because
you have the option to add the stand if you want one for your desk setup,
or you can save $100 and use any vesa stand or floating display arm you want. You get to decide,
and you are not stuck with one choice or the other because the display is
not permanently attached to a stand, like the stand on the studio display.
What about displays larger than 27” or ultra wide displays? The Samsung Odyssey G9 can give
you something you will never find from Apple which is a crazy wide 49” curved display. This
display is a 1440p display in sharpness but it is like having 2 of them side by side,
plus it has a high refresh rate of 240hz, built-in speakers, and it is OLED, so real blacks and HDR.
Maybe you are looking for a “smart” display that can act as a media hub without a
computer even attached to it like the Samsung ViewFinity S9. This is actually a 5k display,
like the studio display, with a camera, speakers, and full on smart tv interface with media apps and
game streaming support. This is for someone who I guess also wants the display to act like a TV,
maybe for a dorm or studio apartment to save space. You can usually find this on
sale for about 11 or 12 hundred dollars but after using it for a couple weeks,
I don’t think the smart features are worth paying for, and the built in
speakers and camera were not great, but that’s OK because you can get a display without them!
Most third party displays out there from Dell, hp, benq, whoever,....do not have all the extras
built in, like a webcam and speakers. Maybe you just don’t need them, so why pay more?
Maybe you already have a good webcam like the Opal C1 or the Elgato Facecam.
These cameras are going to give you a picture far better than the ultrawide
facetime camera in the studio display that actually kinda sucks. They also
allow you to manually control the settings to get the look you need.
Same with speakers. There are a ton of great desktop speakers out there that can give you
more sound and better stereo separation than what you will find in the studio display. I
like the Kanto YU2 speakers because they have a built-in DAC so you can control the volume with
the Mac keyboard and they sound really good for their size and price. And the more I think about
it the more I miss the bigger soundstage of those speakers and realize I need to set them back up.
But maybe you just like what you have built-in to a laptop or you just plain
do not need a camera or speakers for your desk, there’s no need to pay for them.
I like the color on the studio display, and it works well for
me and my videos and photos that I edit, but there are better displays out there
for real color work like the Eizo Color edge which has a true 10-bit panel that
actually shows more colors than any of these other displays I’ve talked about.
And finally, if your main concern is price, you can get something simple like this Samsung Ur55
4k, 28” display. It’s not great, but I used 2 of these for quite some time
and with a little color adjustment, they are more than enough for everyday work,
and you can usually find them for about $250, or less, which I will link to below.
So yah, there are a lot of options available for features you can't find on the Studio display,
and it has me rethinking my stubbornness on the scaling size of macOS objects. So
what if things are slightly bigger in the UI, I’m not getting any younger,
and most of you don’t care or wouldn’t notice. It would be nice to see more 5k
or higher resolution options than 4k but I no longer see it as a deciding factor.
Would I still recommend a studio display? Absolutely… It is still the easiest,
most seamless display experience for a Mac user with the added benefits of actuall good built
in speakers and a cleaner desk setup…..The macOS integration is super convenient and you
just cannot beat the simple, clean, premium design….but if all of those things combined
are not important to you, there are lots of great options to get exactly what you want.
So, I hope that this was helpful, but I am curious what display you are using now and
if you are looking to change or upgrade… let me know in the comments down below. If you want to
see more about this Dough Spectrum 4k, check out this video right over here… Hit the thumbs
up button if you liked it, hit subscribe if you want and I’ll see you next time.