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con2apple

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 25, 2024
124
474
Germany
I am new here and would like to start with a thought.

The Studio Display is really nice. It can't do much, but it looks very good and thanks to Samsung we know that it's not as expensive as we all thought at first. It's also virtually unique on the market in terms of build quality. The Pro Display XDR is also almost alone. Why won't anyone offer 5K or 6K? Never mind, another topic.

But the monitors are a bit old-fashioned. No 4K camera and, above all, no ProMotion aka 120Hz or better.

We know Apple loves minimalist design. Preferably one cable or less.
I still use an older Dell UP2715K, basically a studio display with everything, but I have to connect it with two DisplayPorts for 5K.
Something Apple would never have offered. They only launched their 5K on the market when everything could run via one Thunderbolt cable.

Thunderbolt 4 only manages 60 Hz. So Apple would need two cables for 120 Hz. What the company won't offer because it doesn't fit in the design philosophy.

Thunderbolt 5 manages 120 Hz via one cable. Even three 4K displays with 114 Hz via one cable. Or one 6K with 120 Hz via one cable.
I am therefore convinced that we will only see Apple's new displays when the most important Macs are equipped with Thunderbolt 5.

Thunderbolt 3 was introduced in summer 2015, and the first Macs with this connection arrived in fall 2016.
The Display Pro XDR was available from winter 2019.

If Apple is quick, we will see the M4 Pro with Thunderbolt 5 in summer 2025 and the new displays perhaps at the turn of the year for 2026.
However, because the monitors can only be fully and conveniently operated with Macs, I wouldn't find it unusual if Apple waited until almost all devices are updated. So with the M5 Standard and until the end of 2026.

These are just my thoughts. Conclusions, if you like. No rumors and no information from the supply chain. Just thinking ahead.


Sources:
 
The Pro XDR monitor came with the 2019 Mac Pro. Any replacement will come with a new Mac Pro Mx Extreme (double Ultra).
The Studio Display came with the demise of the 2020 iMac 27". Any successor will come when they have waited long enough to see how many new Pro XDR Extreme displays they can upsell to Mac mini users. o_O
 
From what I understand, 5k @ 120Hz is already possible with TB4 via Display Stream Compression. DSC is already used for the Pro Display XDR to run 6K @ 60Hz so I don't think that's a factor stopping them.
 
The M2 Pro and above can do 120Hz over Thunderbolt 4.

The M2 Pro can address displays with up to 240 Hz, that's right. But only with 4K resolution. Or one 8K with 60 Hz.
That's all Thunderbolt 3/4 can handle.

I wrote in my post about 5K. Thats some more pixels than 4K.
 
From what I understand, 5k @ 120Hz is already possible with TB4 via Display Stream Compression. DSC is already used for the Pro Display XDR to run 6K @ 60Hz so I don't think that's a factor stopping them.
Do you have a source for that?
Intel says "Maximum two 4K @ 60 Hz" and Apple says "higher refresh rates of up to 240Hz when using 4K resolution"

 
The M2 Pro can address displays with up to 240 Hz, that's right. But only with 4K resolution. Or one 8K with 60 Hz.
That's all Thunderbolt 3/4 can handle.

I wrote in my post about 5K. Thats some more pixels than 4K.
I see. My mistake!
 
Someone shared this in another thread. According to the following support page the Mac Studio can support 6k at up to 120Hz. TB4 is not likely holding us back from having a ProMotion display. Apple already uses DSC, so there is no reason they can't continue doing so for 6K at 120Hz.

Use the Thunderbolt ports to connect one external display with up to 8K resolution at 60 Hz or up to 6K resolution at 120 Hz.

 
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Yes, TB4 isn't holding us up here, but we all know how infrequently Apple updates their displays unfortunately.
 
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Every time the screen quality bar is raised, I become obsessed with only seeing such screens. It’s a curse. With OLED 120Hz on my phone and iPad, my Studio Display really suffers now in my eyes. However. in my more lucid moments, I still recognise it’s an amazing set of trade-offs and, in most day-to-day situations, I never even think about the lack of refresh and OLED.

That said, I never activate Stage Manager on the Studio Display, the image blur for expanding or contracting windows is awful to behold.
 
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I haven't seen any thunderbolt 5 chips released (only for a thunderbolt 5 usb4 drives) and only from china
 
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