Apple’s newly introduced 27-inch Studio Display its first under $5,000 in a few years. Now we know that Apple says that it will work not only with Macs, but with Windows systems too, bringing all their advantages to a wider audience. However, there are some limitations on non-Mac platforms.
Officially, Apple’s 27-inch Studio Display (featuring a 5120×2880 resolution and claimed 600 nits of brightness) is compatible with a wide range of Macs released in 2016 and later as well as some iPads. But the new Studio Display will also work with Windows PCs equipped with graphics adapters supporting a 5K resolution at 60Hz and color formats, Apple told MacRumors.
For a regular user, the coolest features of Apple’s 27-inch Studio Display are the integrated 12MP webcam with Center Stage support (a MacOS feature that centers the image on a person during video calls), a six-speaker audio subsystem with Spatial Audio for music as well as Dolby Atmos for video support and a built-in microphone array with ‘Hey Siri’ support. The webcam and the audio subsystem will work with Windows as regular USB webcam and speakers/microphone, but Center Stage, Spatial Audio, and Dolby Atmos require MacOS. Some of those features are powered by one of Apple’s own A13 chips.
From a graphics or video professional point of view, the biggest advantage of the Studio Display is that it supports a wide range of (presumably factory calibrated) reference modes, including Apple Display (P3-600 nits), HDTV Video (BT.709-BT.1886), NTSC Video (BT.601 SMPTE-C), PAL and SECAM Video (BT.601 EBU), Digital Cinema (P3-DCI), Digital Cinema (P3-D65), Design and Print (P3-D50), Photography (P3-D65), and Internet and Web (sRGB). All these color modes will be supported by Windows PCs, assuming that they are equipped with graphics cards that support those color gamuts as well as a 5Kp60 resolution. Keeping in mind that the display only has Thunderbolt 4/USB-C inputs, this might be a challenge for some desktop PCs.
Apple’s Studio Display will be available later this month starting at $1,599 which looks rather expensive for a 27-inch 5K monitor equipped with a webcam and an audio subsystem. But considering the fact that the display is designed for graphics and video professionals as well as the fact that it supports most popular color modes used in today’s workloads, this seems like a pretty universal workhorse that can be used for a variety of jobs, the price does not look completely unjustified.