Apple Studio Display - Owners Thread

[gabicava83]

I've been contemplating getting an ASD Setup.

I have previously gone from 3 x 24" Dells, to 3 x 25" Dells, to 1 x 38" Dell (Damn Dell) and for my workflow (no gaming, no movies, just geeky stuff) multiple screens is best. I do like a tidy 1 cable setup like I do now. I did consider the 40" Dell.

So, I have caved in will be getting 3 x ASD's.

I am undecided on stand vs VESA. I see someone on here (lovely setup BTW) has 2 x VESA and 1 x height adjustable stand.

Some others have just the normal stands and some all VESA.

I am thinking of 2 x VESA and 1 x height adjustable..

My three concerns are;

1) Bankruptcy (nothing we can do here)
2) Wobble - I think the stand would reduce wobble vs VESA (Ergotron LX) ?
3) Damage to the screens - the glass goes right to the edge, I would want all three screens to be as close together on the edge if that makes sense? I have seen lots in Curry's where they have been damaged on the ends/sides due to people clipping them.

I'll get them from Costco as they are reduced there in the UK.

I need to make the purchase before midnight tomorrow ideally

Any thoughts/advice/help would be kindly appreciated.

Thank you in advanced

 

[Jay-Jacob]

2) Wobble - I think the stand would reduce wobble vs VESA (Ergotron LX) ?

I have standard stand for mine. I only have one. It is pretty solid, take bit of effort make it move. Defo most solid stand for any monitor I have used home or work.

 

[xraydoc]

I've been contemplating getting an ASD Setup.

I have previously gone from 3 x 24" Dells, to 3 x 25" Dells, to 1 x 38" Dell (Damn Dell) and for my workflow (no gaming, no movies, just geeky stuff) multiple screens is best. I do like a tidy 1 cable setup like I do now. I did consider the 40" Dell.

So, I have caved in will be getting 3 x ASD's.

I am undecided on stand vs VESA. I see someone on here (lovely setup BTW) has 2 x VESA and 1 x height adjustable stand.

Some others have just the normal stands and some all VESA.

I am thinking of 2 x VESA and 1 x height adjustable..

My three concerns are;

1) Bankruptcy (nothing we can do here)
2) Wobble - I think the stand would reduce wobble vs VESA (Ergotron LX) ?
3) Damage to the screens - the glass goes right to the edge, I would want all three screens to be as close together on the edge if that makes sense? I have seen lots in Curry's where they have been damaged on the ends/sides due to people clipping them.

I'll get them from Costco as they are reduced there in the UK.

I need to make the purchase before midnight tomorrow ideally

Any thoughts/advice/help would be kindly appreciated.

Thank you in advanced

If you have a good arm and a solid desk, they shouldn't wobble any more than a stand-based monitor will. I have a very solid desk and the VESA arms I've got mine on are pretty tight, so there's no wobble at all with typing or other normal desk stuff. If your desk more easily bumped, then perhaps there could be some wobble. But that would occur with any VESA mounted display, not just the ASDs.

Multiple ASDs does mean multiple power cords and a Thunderbolt cable to each, but not really much can be done for that. At least each one gives you back a few USB-C ports for keyboards, mouse dongles, power for lightbars, etc.

 

[gabicava83]

If you have a good arm and a solid desk, they shouldn't wobble any more than a stand-based monitor will. I have a very solid desk and the VESA arms I've got mine on are pretty tight, so there's no wobble at all with typing or other normal desk stuff. If your desk more easily bumped, then perhaps there could be some wobble. But that would occur with any VESA mounted display, not just the ASDs.

Multiple ASDs does mean multiple power cords and a Thunderbolt cable to each, but not really much can be done for that. At least each one gives you back a few USB-C ports for keyboards, mouse dongles, power for lightbars, etc.

Thanks for the reply.

I do have a standup desk, which I will be removing as even though it was very expensive, it does wobble slightly and winds me up a treat.

With the alignment of your screens | - | do you ever get concerned about clipping the glass/breaking it as they are touching each other? I am considering - - |

Thank you very much

 

[tstafford]

Thanks for the reply.

I do have a standup desk, which I will be removing as even though it was very expensive, it does wobble slightly and winds me up a treat.

With the alignment of your screens | - | do you ever get concerned about clipping the glass/breaking it as they are touching each other? I am considering - - |

Thank you very much

I've had three ASD side by side - two tilt and one VESA. The VESA one is now with my kids (replaced with a Dell 6K).

FWIW - the VESA one wobbled on my desk when on an arm. Drove me nuts. I switched it to a heavy desk stand mount which worked fine but defeated the purpose of having a VESA version. If you're worried about wobble, go with the tilt - they don't wobble.

 

[xraydoc]

With the alignment of your screens | - | do you ever get concerned about clipping the glass/breaking it as they are touching each other? I am considering - - |

No. They don't touch -- they're barely separated by a slight air gap. While they're just a few mm apart, my desk doesn't wobble enough for me to be concerned at all. Having a minuscule gap lets me easily move the one on the height/tilt stand without disrupting the other two.

 

[Arctic Moose]

Camera is a slap in the face, but I have only made two video conference calls in my life, so no loss for me, just feel insulted at this price point.

😆 👍

As a plus to anyone reading this, now that I have purchased my third and final ASD, Apple should be announcing their price drop and mini-LED panels next week!

Excellent, thanks! Hopefully they go 6K/32" too. I have my credit card ready.

 

[Arctic Moose]

With the alignment of your screens | - | do you ever get concerned about clipping the glass/breaking it as they are touching each other? I am considering - - |

Mine are actually touching, I even put a strip of electrical tape over the gap on the back because I do not want the light behind them bleeding through. I have never had any issues.

FWIW - the VESA one wobbled on my desk when on an arm. Drove me nuts. I switched it to a heavy desk stand mount which worked fine but defeated the purpose of having a VESA version. If you're worried about wobble, go with the tilt - they don't wobble.

Wall mount! I can shake my desk all I want, the monitors don't move at all.

The only issue is that the height range of the arm is not quite what I would prefer for going from sitting to standing and it is slightly more cumbersome to adjust the desk and the monitors separately, but it works.

 

[eldho]

I even put a strip of electrical tape over the gap on the back

Is this a ventilation gap that you are blocking?

 

[gabicava83]

I've had three ASD side by side - two tilt and one VESA. The VESA one is now with my kids (replaced with a Dell 6K).

FWIW - the VESA one wobbled on my desk when on an arm. Drove me nuts. I switched it to a heavy desk stand mount which worked fine but defeated the purpose of having a VESA version. If you're worried about wobble, go with the tilt - they don't wobble.

What is the 6K one like, in comparison to the ASD's? Do you have a pic of your setup?

 

[gabicava83]

Mine are actually touching, I even put a strip of electrical tape over the gap on the back because I do not want the light behind them bleeding through. I have never had any issues.



Wall mount! I can shake my desk all I want, the monitors don't move at all.

The only issue is that the height range of the arm is not quite what I would prefer for going from sitting to standing and it is slightly more cumbersome to adjust the desk and the monitors separately, but it works.

That looks ace, I am thinking of getting 3, but by looking at your picture, the 2 look massively wide! Not had 27" monitors before, I was thinking of - - - or - - | but not quite sure. The electrical tape, placed correctly is a good idea.

 

[Arctic Moose]

Is this a ventilation gap that you are blocking?

No, the gap between the two monitors, so that there is not any light shining through between them.

 

[tstafford]

What is the 6K one like, in comparison to the ASD's? Do you have a pic of your setup?

I posed a detailed write up on the Dell 6K. See post 727 in that thread. (Note: ignore the comments in that post about HDR and the "hack". macOS has fixed this issue since then)

Net/net: What I want doesn't exist - a 32" ASD. The Dell is the closest thing going. In every regard the ASD is superior except for size and height/rotate. If I could only have one monitor, I'd want the Dell. If I had $3K to spend, I'd get two ASDs. (Dell is regularly $2.2K but two ASD would be better). If I wanted I could take back my third ASD but I prefer the Dell as my third monitor because of the real estate - it has tiled windows of email, calendar, messages, notes and podcasts.

 

[Eric_WVGG]

...

how does looking at the same landscape three times not drive you mad

 

[Rafterman]

I posed a detailed write up on the Dell 6K. See post 727 in that thread. (Note: ignore the comments in that post about HDR and the "hack". macOS has fixed this issue since then)

Net/net: What I want doesn't exist - a 32" ASD. The Dell is the closest thing going. In every regard the ASD is superior except for size and height/rotate. If I could only have one monitor, I'd want the Dell. If I had $3K to spend, I'd get two ASDs. (Dell is regularly $2.2K but two ASD would be better). If I wanted I could take back my third ASD but I prefer the Dell as my third monitor because of the real estate - it has tiled windows of email, calendar, messages, notes and podcasts.

View attachment 2373314

Apple needs a tween monitor. Right now, you got ASD at $1500 and XDR at $5000. Nothing in between. Like an ASD 27, but with 120hz and HDR. Or, as you said, a 32 inch 4K ASD. Price it around $2500.

 

[Rafterman]

I have to say, now that I have had an ASD for a week, I appreciate its strengths. True, it is only 60 hz and no HDR. It has a limited stand and a better one is ridiculously expensive. Plus, only one input, no easy multiple computer solution. All negatives, true. And expensive.

But it has a number of positives. 220dpi. Good speakers, really good mics, an adequate web cam. Solid metal and glass construction. 600 nits brightness. But its best feature, IMO, is its integration into MacOS. Windows users won't see it, but the way it becomes part of your Mac is great, controlling sound and brightness though the OS, firmware updates right through the the updater app, even the way it wakes up instantly from sleep, like your MacBook screen does.

One of the reasons I stick with Apple. Everything fits together tightly.

 

[gabicava83]

Thank you all. Really appreciate your replies.

I've gone for 2 x Vesa mount ASD's and 1 x Adjustable stand.

For the Vesa mount monitors I've bought 2 x Ergotron LX's.

Im thinking the two externals on the LX's and the Middle on the height adjustable stand. I did consider the normal stand but I think it would be harder to align everything.

I'm hoping this will be a good setup. Been procrastinating for a couple of years about this.

 

[tstafford]

Thank you all. Really appreciate your replies.

I've gone for 2 x Vesa mount ASD's and 1 x Adjustable stand.

For the Vesa mount monitors I've bought 2 x Ergotron LX's.

Im thinking the two externals on the LX's and the Middle on the height adjustable stand. I did consider the normal stand but I think it would be harder to align everything.

I'm hoping this will be a good setup. Been procrastinating for a couple of years about this.

You'll love it.

 

[gabicava83]

You'll love it.

I hope so. The bank won't do though

 

[gabicava83]

Confirmation it is coming in the next couple of days. Let's see how I get on.

I do wonder, I am buying these screens to get good clarity on my Mac, specially when using RDP/Teams and so on. But it is an insane amount of money.

Then I think, maybe I should just get a windows NUC like the UDM790 pro and get 3 x Dell monitors and that would solve the clarity issues, although it is obviously using Windows but I use both OS's in general so I am not too bothered.

Always overthinking...

Mac Solution.

£3500 for laptop (M1 Max, 64GB, 4TB)
£4500 for monitors
£300 for stands.

Total £8300

Windows solution

£620 for mini PC (64GB ram, 1TB SSD)
£1500 for monitors
£450 for stands.

Total £2570

Yikes, when I put it like that, what a difference.

 

[Rafterman]

Confirmation it is coming in the next couple of days. Let's see how I get on.

I do wonder, I am buying these screens to get good clarity on my Mac, specially when using RDP/Teams and so on. But it is an insane amount of money.

Then I think, maybe I should just get a windows NUC like the UDM790 pro and get 3 x Dell monitors and that would solve the clarity issues, although it is obviously using Windows but I use both OS's in general so I am not too bothered.

Always overthinking...

Mac Solution.

£3500 for laptop (M1 Max, 64GB, 4TB)
£4500 for monitors
£300 for stands.

Total £8300

Windows solution

£620 for mini PC (64GB ram, 1TB SSD)
£1500 for monitors
£450 for stands.

Total £2570

Yikes, when I put it like that, what a difference.

My own exereince...

For years, I was a Windows guy. Then I built a Hackintosh on a Dell in 2011, then bought an actual MacBook. And I dabbled going back to Windows from time to time. The Dell XPS (which was upgradable, with things like 64GB RAM, 16TB of storage and Nvidia graphics), was a favorite. Also, Surface Pros and that really cool Surface Studio Laptop 2 most recently.

But I always ended up back with the Apple ecosystem. Now with a space black 16" MacBook Pro M3 Max, 48GB RAM, 40 core processor.

Expensive, but I just like the interoperability with the Apple ecosystem (even the monitor, if you have an ASD or XDR), along with iPhones and iPads. Nothing beats that.

 

[LiE_]

I've joined the ASD team once again. Very refreshing putting away my headset/webcam/speakers and just using one device. I have ethernet and a wired mouse into the ASD and I switch between my work and personal MBA by moving the 1 cable.

 

[Rafterman]

Apple's monitors really need a second thunderbolt port to attach an external thunderbolt port hub or a second monitor for daisy chaining. The three USB-C ports should have been thunderbolt.

 

[gabicava83]

Well, I now have three monitors in my office. 2 x Vesa 1 x Adjustable height. 2 x Ergotron LX stands in black and 1 x Bambu Labs X1C haha! All in boxes though.

I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about 3 x cables being plugged in , I walk from the office to the house sometimes and unplugging one cable is ok, 3 not sure

Did look at the Caldigit TS4 but it's £400 and seems like a lot of money for that.

 

[tstafford]

Well, I now have three monitors in my office. 2 x Vesa 1 x Adjustable height. 2 x Ergotron LX stands in black and 1 x Bambu Labs X1C haha!

I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about 3 x cables being plugged in , I walk from the office to the house sometimes and unplugging one cable is ok, 3 not sure

Did look at the Caldigit TS4 but it's £400 and seems like a lot of money for that.

I'm not sure the TS4 would solve it - I think that will just turn three cables in to two. But I'm not sure.

This is part of the reason I splurged and bought a base M1M Studio . . .