He purchased a TB monitor to plug into a device that doesn't support TB and says "it shouldn't be this hard".<p>Commenters complain that it's 60 Hz but I don't know of an external interconnect that could drive that many pixels any faster.<p>HN is weird sometimes.<p>(I don't plan to buy this monitor either, but not for the reasons above. The LG 5K monitors are perfectly adequate for my needs. And like the post's author I was sorry to see target display go).
Not the author, but in response to the many variations of "why would you do this?", the answer seems simple: If you do most of your computing on a Mac, this is one of the few available monitors that has highly compatible resolution and behavior, and if you have a PC for gaming as well, not everyone has the space or desire to maintain a completely separate monitor expressly for the purpose of PC gaming.
To be fair, it's a 60hz refresh rate monitor, which would be considered pretty meh for any modern gaming pc, especially when you look at the price tag. It would be pretty insane to buy this monitor for specifically gaming. Hundreds of far better options for significantly cheaper...<p>None the less, it's Apple. None of this sounds surprising, sadly.<p>In Apple's defense, the specs are pretty clearly laid out with the ports: <a href="https://www.apple.com/studio-display/specs/" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/studio-display/specs/</a>
In the same way Apple has started to listen to users regarding their computer feature set they need to do the same for monitors, especially if they want to charge a premium. They make it hard to justify for anyone that uses a Mac + anything, which is honestly probably most people in the market for a $1,600 monitor. I have Mac, PC and gaming consoles at my desk. Do I buy a separate $1,600 monitor for my Mac and another monitor for everything else? Even if you take money out of the equation there are space considerations.<p>So here is what I think Apple should add if they ever want to get serious:<p>1. An HDMI 2.1 port.<p>2. Basic Windows and Linux support<p>3. AppleTV built in. If you are going to add an a14 you might as well use it for something (I have this fantasy that they will unveil a 24 inch consumer targeted monitor introducing this feature). You then add the ability to use this as a nice small tv or computer monitor, but they will probably never do it.<p>4. For $1,600 it should really be 120hz or higher, but I imagine if they do introduce this the Pro Display XDR will get it first.
I appreciated this post because I bought an Apple Studio Display to replace my LG 5K UltraFine that I should get in a few weeks (VESA option took longer to ship) and I was curious how much easier/harder it would be when using Windows. I'm primarily a Mac user but like the author, would like to use my external monitor with all of my devices if possible.<p>I built an AMD gaming rig last year with a motherboard with a TB3 port built-in (one of the few AMD options to support this) but because of how it is configured (there is only one DP-in port on the motherboard and you need two of them over DP 1.2 to get a 5K signal), the LG 5K only outputs at 4K. All things considered, that was a fine trade-off.<p>But it looks like the new display is DP 1.4 (at least in theory), meaning I can at the very least use the adaptor cable to just get 5K signal, even if speakers and webcam don't work.<p>I wish all of this were easier and that Thunderbolt were easier, because it's such a great technology and it is frustrating we have so few options.
I don't think this is totally accurate. Apple lists several non-TB devices as compatible like the iPad Air 5th Gen. In the Ars Technica review of it the author mentions it worked just fine on the USB C ports of their Radeon RX 6800 just with the devices running at USB 2 speeds. Perhaps something else is at play with the Nvidia card/drivers?
Reminds me of back in 2004 when I wanted to hook a 30” Cinema Display (the only display I knew at that size and resolution back then) up to a PC.<p>The same boy way to power a display of that resolution was over a dual link DVI connection which no PC consumer graphics card supported.<p>I ended up having to purchase an outrageously expensive CAD optimized card but the screen estate was absolutely worth it.<p>Plus I kept the display for a decade (and migrated to macs in 2006ish) only to replace it with a 27” retina iMac in 2015
Bingxing Wang has a similar post about connecting a Pro Display XDR if interested in going down this road <a href="https://www.imbushuo.net/blog/archives/1006/" rel="nofollow">https://www.imbushuo.net/blog/archives/1006/</a>
This seems to suggest that while the Studio Display can be driven at 5K by a raw DisplayPort signal (which is great) the audio signal is routed over USB rather than the Displayport audio channel. That is unfortunate, I was hoping to at least be able to get video+audio.
> Unfortunately, vanishingly few desktop gaming PCs have any Thunderbolt support. And even if your machine happens to include a Thunderbolt port, it’s unlikely to be able to route frames from your discrete graphics card, which would defeat the purpose of connecting it to your Studio Display to play games.<p>I solved this problem with <a href="https://www.delock.com/produkt/89582/merkmale.html?g=1112" rel="nofollow">https://www.delock.com/produkt/89582/merkmale.html?g=1112</a> . By a problem I mean connecting my monitor (DELL) via "thunderbolt" (it's actually usb-c dp alt) to desktop. I use my monitor as USB hub and I wanted to connect it with just a single cable (usb-c dp alt transfers both video and usb utils).
Reminds me of my 30" Dell Ultrasharp from ~2006 and the nightmare that thing is to drive if the situation isn't perfect. It only accepts dual-link DVI, even if the signal doesn't demand it.<p>Driving it on a modern device with anything other than a powered active adapter (near $100 until recently <i>apparently</i>) just doesn't work. I went through a lot of adapters before I stumbled on a USB-C to Dual Link DVI adapter that actually does the job.<p>I've tried and tried but hooking it to my Xbox has proven basically impossible.
Except for the 5K resolution, the Studio Display is garbage.<p>It's a 5 year old LCD screen, where given price it's reasonable to expect better dimming. It's outdated in color accuracy as it scores well on DCI-P3, yet poorly on AdobeRGB (86%). For normal monitors these are good values, but they fail to impress for studio work. Further, factory calibration is shit, the white point is far too warm.<p>Where Apple brags about "billions of colors", it's not a true 10 bit screen. You just can't trust a single thing they say.<p>It's only 60hz. It's not a gaming screen but I'm just looking for any feature, any at all, to justify the price.<p>It's intentionally consumer hostile. Not only will it not really work on Windows, it also doesn't have a single button, not even a power button. It's entirely software controlled, and that should make you anxious.<p>There's no HDR support at all. Come on!? This is no longer a niche thing, it's a core need for videographers.<p>The stands, both options, do less than the cheapest stand on any other monitor.<p>All of this fits nicely into their line-up of non-pro screens. Like the bigger Pro Display XDR, according to Apple comparable to Sony's 35K$ reference monitor. Except that it isn't. Apple's display is not uniform and blooms all over the place. It's not a bad pro monitor, it's not a pro monitor at all. It literally cannot be used for color-critical work.
I don't know why anyone would buy this goofy monitor, the LG 27GN950-B has a gorgeous 4K@144Hz HDR screen, works great for gaming and for reading text / coding, and is cheaper too. You could get this monitor, a pair of great AudioEngine A2 speakers and a webcam, and still have money left over
I recently purchased an Asus X570 ProArt motherboard, and it comes with a nice thing... Two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a Display port input that loops in from the discrete graphics card so that the signal can be shipped over Thunderbolt<p><a href="https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/ProArt/ProArt-X570-CREATOR-WIFI/" rel="nofollow">https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/Pr...</a><p>The result of this built in magic is that a single USB-C cable leaves my PC and goes to my desk. At this point it terminates into a CalDigit TS3+ and sprawls out to all the devices on the desk.<p>I would be curious to see whether this motherboard could work directly with the studio display fully featured. Not that I expect it to be good, I expect Apple have added something so that the display only shines when connected to an Apple device.
Plugging a Macbook into a normal high-end monitor requires a USB-C to DisplayPort cable. Doing the opposite requires...the exact same type of cable. The only weird part here is that it's 5K.<p>You should be able to send audio over DisplayPort too, but I wouldn't be surprised if Apple doesn't support that.
I remember the times where Apple’s display had just a standard connector that worked on any device. Apple’s anti-consumerism keeps showing.<p>Ah well, plenty of other displays available. There’s no real reason to buy a Apple Studio Display for 1600$ for a PC, as there are plenty of other great displays for that price. I got a 27” 4K 120Hz HDR1000 G-Sync display for that amount (Acer ConceptD CP7 / CP7271 or something).<p>Sure, it’s not 5K, but other than that is is a great display and doesn’t look “gamery”. It uses local dimming for HDR and gets really bright. Looks really good!
Had a similarly frustrating experience trying to connect a new gaming PC to a LG Ultrafine 4K.<p>The all-USB C aspect of the monitor was fine when I only used it with my Macbook, but made it terribly painful to use with anything else.<p>In the end I found a HDMI to USB C dongle which worked, also included a plain USB 2.0 cable for audio.<p>Apparently I was ‘lucky’ to have the 4K rather than 5K, because, from my research at the time, nobody knew of any dongles or cables that would support the latter at full resolution (I think this is the same issue as in your article)
The LG counter part of this monitor does pretty well for driving both a Mac and a PC. With a simple usb switch you can even share mouse, keyboard, webcam and a 4th device via one cable attached to laptop or pc. For 3090 though, you need <a href="https://evedevices.com/pages/spectrum" rel="nofollow">https://evedevices.com/pages/spectrum</a>. I’m waiting for mine to ship.
It looks like it only has a 60hz refresh rate, interesting that someone would pay that premium for it as a gaming monitor. I would much rather have 120hz with a quarter of the resolution, personally. Guess it depends on what kind of games you play.
This monitor being 60Hz is a joke, both for gaming and regular desktop use. Get a gaming monitor instead.<p>I use a DisplayPort and USB KVM switch to comfortably switch between my gaming PC and Mac mini.<p>Both PC gaming and Mac work in 144Hz, PC also with G-SYNC.
I'm surprised his PC doesn't have a Thunderbolt connector. At least with all the laptops I've worked with recently they have at least 1 thunderbolt 3 connector, maybe its not as common on desktops.
User connects a premium low market share monitor not designed for gaming or for a PC really, despite some software supplied to the vendor, to a gaming PC and then complains about how difficult it is even though it eventually all works anyway.<p>I don't get these articles or why you'd even buy one of these monitors for this case, even though I own one. I'd grab a random 144Hz 4k jobby instead. But I'm not a fan of punching myself in the balls over and over again for the hell of it.<p>So far with this monitor I've read pages of whining from people who shouldn't have bought it or didn't buy it. Everyone who should have bought it and did buy it seems quite happy. I know I am!
Why is the HDMI port not an option here. It presumable can do sound and picture. Is the problem just wanting to use like the webcam and build in ports and such ?
This is nice. But... I'm waiting for the one that will "hack" the internal iDevice so it'll become a smart AppleTV :) and an A13 gaming device
If you're using a product in a manner inconsistent with the specs, you should only do a write-up if it works. Otherwise it's a lot of drivel about how an elephant can't fly.
The author appears to have bought a monitor that's advertised as requiring a Thunderbolt 3 connection, and being compatible with a limited number of Apple products, and is complaining that it doesn't integrate nicely with his gaming PC (which has neither Thunderbolt 3 graphics connectivity nor appears on the compatibility list).<p>I don't want to be the Apple apologist here, but ... really?