That's quite strange.
What Mac with what OS are you using? Are we talking about the latest Studio Display ? https://support.apple.com/en-us/docs/displays
Have you just bought it recently ? Used second hand or not ?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Studio Display - Owners Thread
- Thread starter KPOM
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
What Mac with what OS are you using? Are we talking about the latest Studio Display ? https://support.apple.com/en-us/docs/displays
Have you just bought it recently ? Used second hand or not ?
Most recent sequoia then installed most recent 26. Always had this monitor. Never knew about brightness setting. The issue occurred because I wanted to add applecare one but it wasn't showing up like my other studio display.
Again, what Mac is connected while you having that trouble?
Also if you have an other ASD, what do you see if you connect the other ASD to your Mac? Same problem ?
What is the firmware version of the display?
Maybe this video (even if older) will give you some more info about what problem you are dealing with. It doesn’t tell you exactly how to get your settings back, but there are some hints where to look and check.
Hi guys,
new ASD owner here (got a refurbished one with a huge discount—almost new).
To the experienced ASD users: how to you manage powering your ASD connected to a Mac?
My setup: MBP M5 hooked up to the ASD via a single Thunderbolt cable provided in the box.
I m using my MBP (almost exclusively) in clamshell mode. When I set my MBP to sleep, the ASD will go also to sleep, which seems to be correct. However, the 2 fans of the ASD keep on running while in sleep mode. I do think this is not good in the long-term, fans constantly running 24/7 (wear).
I think when I shut down my MBP instead of sending it to sleep, the display will power off—and the fans will stop (?). But will my MBP still be powered via the attached Thunderbolt cable? Or will the battery of my MBP now be drained because there is no power source any more (because the ASD is off)?
What is your recommendation/experience?
Thanks a lot!
Kind regards!
new ASD owner here (got a refurbished one with a huge discount—almost new).
To the experienced ASD users: how to you manage powering your ASD connected to a Mac?
My setup: MBP M5 hooked up to the ASD via a single Thunderbolt cable provided in the box.
I m using my MBP (almost exclusively) in clamshell mode. When I set my MBP to sleep, the ASD will go also to sleep, which seems to be correct. However, the 2 fans of the ASD keep on running while in sleep mode. I do think this is not good in the long-term, fans constantly running 24/7 (wear).
I think when I shut down my MBP instead of sending it to sleep, the display will power off—and the fans will stop (?). But will my MBP still be powered via the attached Thunderbolt cable? Or will the battery of my MBP now be drained because there is no power source any more (because the ASD is off)?
What is your recommendation/experience?
Thanks a lot!
Kind regards!
I'm not sure if you have much of control here, since ASD has its own brain (technically there is an iPhone inside)
the moment you plug it to the wall that thing is on.
Yes, I know..it is more or less an iPhone 11 with the A13 Bionic 
However, anyone tried the following or experienced the following:
- Shut down Macbook/Mac mini/studio --> ASD goes off
- Let the ASD power cord plugged in
- Let the Thunderbolt cable plugged in the Macbook so that it is still connected to the ASD.
Questions:
- Will the fans of the ASD still keep on spinning despite the Macbook is shut down?
- Will the MacBook still be powered via the Thunderbolt cable despite the ASD is off or will it now drain the battery?
Or is the only possibility to stop the ASD fans by either:
- Detach the ASD power cord from the power socket
- Detach the Thunderbolt cable from the Macbook (but then the Macbook won´t be powered anymore therefore draining battery)
Just to make sure, I want to set up the best configuration while in clamshell mode.
Kind regards!
However, anyone tried the following or experienced the following:
- Shut down Macbook/Mac mini/studio --> ASD goes off
- Let the ASD power cord plugged in
- Let the Thunderbolt cable plugged in the Macbook so that it is still connected to the ASD.
Questions:
- Will the fans of the ASD still keep on spinning despite the Macbook is shut down?
- Will the MacBook still be powered via the Thunderbolt cable despite the ASD is off or will it now drain the battery?
Or is the only possibility to stop the ASD fans by either:
- Detach the ASD power cord from the power socket
- Detach the Thunderbolt cable from the Macbook (but then the Macbook won´t be powered anymore therefore draining battery)
Just to make sure, I want to set up the best configuration while in clamshell mode.
Kind regards!
@C0re0 "Will the MacBook still be powered via the Thunderbolt cable despite the ASD is off..."
If the sleeping MacBook Pro is still charging whilst connected to the ASD, then the ASD's internal PSU will be providing that power, and the fans will be needed to cool it, so will be 'on'.
So that would be an expected behaviour...
If the sleeping MacBook Pro is still charging whilst connected to the ASD, then the ASD's internal PSU will be providing that power, and the fans will be needed to cool it, so will be 'on'.
So that would be an expected behaviour...
Best configuration.. for your MBP battery longevity? I would imagine clamshell mode is not it. But I digress…
ASD will provide power to your connected MBP, and USB devices attached to the display, when MBP is shut down.
A week passed and no repair yet. Has anyone received a completely new/refurbished one in a white box? (in cases where they cannot just change out the front display)
Hi,
I bought a refurbished ASD from the Apple refurb Store and it came in a white box. I think all Apple refurbished products will be shipped in a white box.
Hi have observed the following:
Yesterday morning - before a short leave from home - I set my MacBook to sleep and consequently the ASD went off (ok, normal behavior because the ASD did not get any input signal). I noticed that the fans of the ASD kept on turning for about 10 seconds and then went off.
However, when I was back I realized that the fans of the ASD were running while the Macbook was still asleep. Therefore, the display itself was obviously not in a sleep state.
Yesterday evening, I shut down my MacBook - and the fans of the ASD went off (ok, that´s normal).
This morning, the fans of the ASD were still off and turned on once I booted my macbook.
To summarize, there is no real "sleep state" of the ASD - the fans will be running from time to time. Probably when the MacBook does some background activity but I do not know. But it's really some kind of frustrating that there is currently no real power-saving mode of the ASD in which the fans don't run in the long-term. Regarding power consumption, this is an issue.
I also did some research on the internet. Apparently, there are numerous threads describing the same problem, and it seems to be caused by MacOS, especially with the introduction of version 15.4.
Nach update auf macOS 15.4 Studio Display Lüfter im Dauerbetrieb | Hardware | Forum | MacTechNews.de
Immer aktuelle Apple-News, Tipps, Tricks und Testberichte rund um Mac, iPhone, iPad und Co.
Still not solution available. Therefore you either have to shut down your Mac, or unplug the Thunderbolt cable, or unplug the power cord of the ASD to really turn off your ASD.
Kind regards
Thanks for bringing this up and for your detailed observation regarding the ASD fans.Hi have observed the following:
Yesterday morning - before a short leave from home - I set my MacBook to sleep and consequently the ASD went off (ok, normal behavior because the ASD did not get any input signal). I noticed that the fans of the ASD kept on turning for about 10 seconds and then went off.
However, when I was back I realized that the fans of the ASD were running while the Macbook was still asleep. Therefore, the display itself was obviously not in a sleep state.
Yesterday evening, I shut down my MacBook - and the fans of the ASD went off (ok, that´s normal).
This morning, the fans of the ASD were still off and turned on once I booted my macbook.
To summarize, there is no real "sleep state" of the ASD - the fans will be running from time to time. Probably when the MacBook does some background activity but I do not know. But it's really some kind of frustrating that there is currently no real power-saving mode of the ASD in which the fans don't run in the long-term. Regarding power consumption, this is an issue.
I also did some research on the internet. Apparently, there are numerous threads describing the same problem, and it seems to be caused by MacOS, especially with the introduction of version 15.4.
Nach update auf macOS 15.4 Studio Display Lüfter im Dauerbetrieb | Hardware | Forum | MacTechNews.de
Immer aktuelle Apple-News, Tipps, Tricks und Testberichte rund um Mac, iPhone, iPad und Co.www.mactechnews.de
Still not solution available. Therefore you either have to shut down your Mac, or unplug the Thunderbolt cable, or unplug the power cord of the ASD to really turn off your ASD.
Kind regards
First, my setup is a Mac mini M4 connected to a ASD. The biggest problem is the difference between setups ASD with a Mac mini and setups ASD with a Macbook. Some users just connect the Macbook with the TB cable to the ASD so it is getting charged via TB from the ASD power supply. In this case it seems to be just logical that the ASD needs to cool his power supply and the ASD fans run all the time.
After reading how to setup clamshell mode (I don’t have or use a Macbook) it seems there is no need for the ASD to deliver power to the Macbook because it's connected to his own power supply. So if this is correct, the conclusion could be, a Macbook in clamshell mode connected to a ASD should behave like a Mac mini connected to a ASD.
Lots of if, could and would. You can read details about behavior of the ASD (with Mac mini) in this thread. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s-are-in-sleep-mode-since-macos-15-4.2457769/
There are still some important differences between Mac minis and MacBooks because MacBooks have additional and/or other settings in energy settings, what makes it impossible to compare a device behavior even with the same settings because there is always the chance that one setting the other devise doesn’t have makes that tiny little difference why or if the ASD fans keep running.
In fact I’m watching the ASD fans since December 2024 and it is 100% confirmed from other users, the ASD fans changed behavior right with / after the macOS 15.4 update.
Can you provide us a screenshot of your energy settings and what macOS you use (not sure what OS Apple did put on that brand new device or if you use any beta) Also pleas check the ASD firmware version.
I wasn’t able to find any Mac mini user with macOS 15.4 and later where the ASD fans stop after the background tasks of the Mac mini. Did not take any attention to Macbook users because of the mentioned differences.
We need to get rid of this unnecessary wear and tear. If the ASD Display is black and no power gets delivered to an other device, there is absolutely no reason for the ASD fans running.
It is interesting you found your ASD without fans running this morning. Need to know more about that. Thanks.
Hi,
Thank you for your post which is also very interesting!
I will post battery settings later - currently I m not at home. I agree that there should be a power saveing mode on the ASD.
As an „experiment“: Connect the Macbook to the power socket with the USB-C cable and Apple 70W/96W power adapter while also being connected to the ASD via the Thunderbolt cable. Would the Thunderbolt cable in this situation only deliver the picture to the ASD without power/charging the Macbook?
When finished with work, I would shut down the Macbook and detach the thunderbolt cable. The ASD will shut off, but the Macbook will then be charged via the USB-C power adapter.
Would that be an option?
Kind regards!
Yes, I noticed this too. ASD seems to be always on and maybe it is because Apple wants the monitor to turn on immediately when coming out of sleep mode. We might just have to accept this as I don’t see Apple changing this. If they did, then there would be a longer delay for the monitor to turn on.Hi have observed the following:
Yesterday morning - before a short leave from home - I set my MacBook to sleep and consequently the ASD went off (ok, normal behavior because the ASD did not get any input signal). I noticed that the fans of the ASD kept on turning for about 10 seconds and then went off.
However, when I was back I realized that the fans of the ASD were running while the Macbook was still asleep. Therefore, the display itself was obviously not in a sleep state.
Yesterday evening, I shut down my MacBook - and the fans of the ASD went off (ok, that´s normal).
This morning, the fans of the ASD were still off and turned on once I booted my macbook.
To summarize, there is no real "sleep state" of the ASD - the fans will be running from time to time. Probably when the MacBook does some background activity but I do not know. But it's really some kind of frustrating that there is currently no real power-saving mode of the ASD in which the fans don't run in the long-term. Regarding power consumption, this is an issue.
I also did some research on the internet. Apparently, there are numerous threads describing the same problem, and it seems to be caused by MacOS, especially with the introduction of version 15.4.
Nach update auf macOS 15.4 Studio Display Lüfter im Dauerbetrieb | Hardware | Forum | MacTechNews.de
Immer aktuelle Apple-News, Tipps, Tricks und Testberichte rund um Mac, iPhone, iPad und Co.
Still not solution available. Therefore you either have to shut down your Mac, or unplug the Thunderbolt cable, or unplug the power cord of the ASD to really turn off your ASD.
Kind regards
As long as you’re aware and OK with nothing that is plugged into the ASD being powered when you do this, the solution I’ve been using for the last 3.5 years and change is to just plug the ASD into a smart powerstrip I picked up off Amazon. The one I got was just for Alexa (but I use Home Assistant so it works fine with HomeKit in the Home app) but there are decent HomeKit ones available now like this https://www.amazon.com/Tapo-Extender-Protector-Individual-P306/dp/B0CYGSFFFW/ — I have mine assigned and basically can say “Alexa turn on Studio Display” or “Alexa turn off Studio Display” — but you could do it with Siri too.
Then I just have it attached to a smart outlet and choose to manually power cycle it or turn it off when I’m going out of town. The one caveat is that it takes at least 5 seconds to turn on, when you power it from being off. Which isn’t the end of the world, but is a bit longer than other monitors that have an actual power button.
If you don’t need a full strip, you can get individual smart outlets too.
I think not having a power button on a display that has an old iPhone inside it and sometimes gets software updates is a bad design choice, even if the default option would be to leave it powered on at all times. I feel the same way about AirPods Max. I like the ease of use of always-on, but headphones should have a proper power button, even if the default way of use would be to have them go into deep sleep or whatever.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.