Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Mac execs call $1,599 Studio Display ‘very accessible’

By

The Studio Display has been receiving mixed reviews since its release, specifically around it’s $1,499 price. But when discussing the Studio Display in a recent interview, Apple executives described the display as “very accessible, very mainstream.”

Tom Boger, VP of Mac and iPad product marketing; Shelly Goldberg, senior director of Mac and iPad product design; and Xander Soren, the Pro Apps product marketing boss were recently interviewed by TechCrunch about the Mac Studio and Studio Display. Beyond the notes about the intention of the Studio Display, it’s an interesting talk and an intriguing look into why Apple made some of their design choices.

The Mac Studio at Apple's Peek Performance event.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

For example, the Mac Studio was meant to be a sort of middle ground between the MacBook Pro and the Mac Pro (despite the Mac Studio being more powerful for now). Boger noted that, while some customers prefer the portability of the MacBook Pro, others preferred a more permanent desktop setup. Also, despite the Mac Studio looking like a Mac Mini on steroids, that wasn’t the actual goal.

Recommended Videos

“Our philosophy was not at all to take a Mac mini and scale it up, it was ‘we know we’re working on this M1 chip and we want to bring it to those users who want performance and conductivity and a modular system,’” said Boger. “And let’s allow it to live right on people’s desks so it’s within easy reach.”

On the one hand, Apple’s Mac Studio is the result of the negative feedback from frustrated professionals who could not use previous generations of Macs due to lack of performance. Apple issued a rare apology five years ago and promised to cater to pro users with the 2019 Mac Pro iteration. On the other hand, professionals aren’t likely to be wowed by Apple’s Studio Display due to lack of performance.

Sporting an A13 Bionic chip, Apple’s new Studio Display was supposed to be a jump up from the previous LG UltraFine 5K display, but it ended up not being as “pro” as many wanted it to be. Missing features and poor webcam performance has marred what could’ve been Apple’s finest hour, especially considering how impressive the Mac Studio’s performance has been.

The interview reveals the discrepancy in perception between what Apple sees as an accessible alternative to the Pro Display XDR and what the average Mac buyer thinks.

“We wanted it to be a great, very accessible, very mainstream display for all of our Mac users,” Boger explains. “It’s a great display if you want to hook up to the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Studio, Mac Pro, whatever. And we know that there are still users out there who are using Intel-based Macs, and so putting A13 in there processes the audio for Spatial Audio and makes the magic of Center Stage happen. While the Pro Display XDR is an amazing display and, we feel, the best display for pros anywhere – there are also millions of users out there that wanted Apple to offer a mainstream display for whatever Mac they’re on.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
David Matthews
David Matthews
Former Digital Trends Contributor
David is a freelance journalist based just outside of Washington D.C. specializing in consumer technology and gaming. He has…
Have the M3 MacBook Pros made the Mac Studio irrelevant?
Apple Mac Studio front view showing ports.

It might seem strange to compare a desktop PC to a laptop. After all, one is intended for stationary work, and the other is meant to carry around. They have different internals, different connectivity, and usually different performance.

But Apple's Mac Studio and MacBook Pro (especially the 16-inch variant) are a different story. For Mac users, both represent the fastest Apple computers you can buy. Depending on how you use a desktop PC, either machine can suffice. So, which one is right for you?
Specs and configurations

Read more
Macs may finally be moving on from 2020
The MacBook Air on a table in front of a window.

In 2020, Apple started a Herculean undertaking: transitioning its Macs to Apple Silicon. Despite its success, there's been one Mac that Apple has kept in the lineup since its initial launch over three years ago. The M1 MacBook Air.

But now, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has just asserted that Apple will soon make a major change to the MacBook Air to finally bring it into the modern age, leaving behind its outdated processor once and for all. This can only be good news for Apple fans. As I’ve argued previously, there’s not really any reason to buy the M1 MacBook Air over its M2 successor these days. Without the M1 in the picture, people seeking out Apple’s lightest laptop would have much better options to choose from.
There are still problems

Read more
Apple just dashed our iMac hopes and dreams
The back of a silver iMac in an office.

Apple has confirmed it has no plans to release a 27-inch iMac in the immediate future. The news comes on the same day that reviews for Apple's 24-inch iMac M3 and MacBook Pro M3 went live, with the company urging pro users who had been waiting for a 27-inch iMac update to go with a Mac Studio or Mac Pro instead.

An Apple representative confirmed that a 27-inch iMac with Apple silicon won't be arriving soon to The Verge. Apple last updated the 27-inch iMac in 2020, just a few months before Apple silicon was released to the world. It never saw Apple Silicon, instead being stuck on older Intel chips. Apple discontinued the product in 2021, eventually delisting it the next year.

Read more