Price: Simply Elite vs. Astronomical
The base price for the Apple Studio Display XDR is $3,299. According to Apple, the 27-inch screen’s standard glass is engineered for extremely low reflectivity, but you can opt for nano-texture glass, which further minimizes reflectivity, for $300 extra.
Included in the base price is your choice of either a stand, which supports height and tilt adjustment, or VESA-mounting hardware for wall- or arm-mounting the monitor. Either way, you shell out a good chunk of change for the Studio Display XDR, especially considering that some of our favorite Mac-friendly creator displays—the Asus ProArt 6K PA32QCV, BenQ PD3225U, and Asus ProArt OLED PA32UCDM among them—cost around half its price or less.
Price-wise, however, the older Pro Display XDR is in a league of its own. It has a steep base price ($4,999), and that’s even before being nickel-and-dimed (or in Apple’s case, C-note-and-granded?) for its accessories. It comes without a stand—or even VESA-mounting hardware; Apple’s Pro Stand will set you back another thousand dollars if you can even find it nowadays through a third party, as it's also been discontinued; the VESA hardware costs $200. And to get the version of the Pro Display XDR with the nano-texture screen treatment would set you back yet another grand. (Of course, the Pro Display XDR is a bigger panel, at 32 inches, so there is that partial offset.)
Winner: Studio Display XDR
Screen: Exquisite Contrast, High Brightness, Abundant Reference Modes
The Apple Studio Display XDR’s 27-inch panel is a 5K Retina XDR display with a 5,120-by-2,880-pixel resolution and a pixel density of 218 pixels per inch (ppi). XDR, which stands for "Extreme Dynamic Range," is a marketing term Apple uses to distinguish its monitors that push brightness, contrast, and color beyond standard HDR.
Featuring mini-LED backlighting with 2,304 individual dimming zones, the Studio Display XDR has a rated SDR brightness of up to 1,000 nits, with a peak HDR brightness of up to 2,000 nits. Its rated contrast ratio is 1,000,000:1. Contrast ratio is defined as the brightness difference between the brightest white tones and the darkest blacks, so this implies that the Studio Display XDR can turn off (fully blacken) the pixels within dimming zones.
(Credit: Apple)Apple highlights the Studio Display XDR’s ”access to” P3 and Adobe RGB, though it doesn’t specify what percentage of those color spaces the panel is supposed to cover. Both P3 and Adobe RGB are accessible from the same default preset. The monitor offers a big host of reference modes, including the following:
- Studio Display XDR (P3-2000 nits)
- Studio Display XDR (P3 + Adobe RGB-2000 nits)
- HDR Video (P3-ST 2084)
- HDTV Video (BT.709-BT.1886)
- NTSC Video (BT.601 SMPTE-C)
- PAL and SECAM Video (BT.601 EBU)
- Digital Cinema (P3-DCI and P3-D65 modes)
- Design and Print (P3-D50 and Adobe RGB-D50 modes)
- Photography (P3-D65 and Adobe RGB-D65 modes)
- HDR Photography (P3-D65)
- Internet and Web (sRGB)
- Medical Imaging (DICOM-350 nits and DICOM-600 nits modes)
The 32-inch Pro Display XDR has a 6,016-by-3,384-pixel, aka 6K, native resolution, and it is rated for the same 218ppi pixel density as the Studio Display XDR. Its peak HDR brightness is rated at up to 1,600 nits, with SDR brightness at 500 nits. Apple has noted that the Pro's LED-backlit IPS display employs a feature known as "full-array local dimming," or FALD for short, which allows 576 different areas of the scene to be brightened or dimmed independently. This sounds a lot like the new model’s dimming zones, although the Studio Display XDR has four times as many as the Pro Display XDR. Apple rates the Pro's contrast ratio at the same 1,000,000:1.
Apple rates the Pro Display XDR for 99% DCI-P3 coverage, and it effectively matched that in our testing. It offers many of the reference modes (or variants) that the Studio version does, though not the DICOM medical imaging. That's new with the Studio Display XDR and could be a deciding factor for medical use in Mac-based practices or labs.
While the Studio Display XDR has a 120Hz refresh rate and supports (unspecified) adaptive sync, the Pro Display XDR lacks adaptive-sync support and is limited to 60Hz. Also, as mentioned earlier, as an alternative to the standard screen, Apple offers a low-reflectivity nano-texture glass option for both the Pro Display XDR and the Studio Display XDR. This option costs $1,000 for the Pro Display XDR, or $300 for the Studio Display XDR.
The Studio Display XDR offers many screen enhancements over the Pro Display XDR. It does so at the expense of screen real estate, as the Pro Display XDR's screen is 40% larger by area than the Studio's. The choice comes down to which you value more: the size of your screen, or the enhanced features that the newcomer offers. To me, it comes out as a wash in the big picture.
Winner: Draw
Ergonomics: Adjustable Stand vs. Optional VESA Hardware
The Studio Display XDR comes with your choice of a tilt- and height-adjustable stand or VESA-mounting hardware for wall- or arm-mounting. When using the stand, you can tilt the monitor's screen up to 25 degrees away from you or 5 degrees toward you, and adjust the height up to 4.1 inches.
(Credit: Apple)In contrast, the Pro Display XDR ships without a stand. The $1,000 Apple Pro Stand has been discontinued and is no longer available through major retailers. It is unclear whether the numerous university bookstores that still offer it at the moment (for online order only) will be able to fulfill many orders. VESA mounting (its hardware a $200 extra) may be the only option for many.
Winner: Studio Display XDR (by a first-round knockout)
Connectivity: Thunderbolt and USB-C
Port selection for both these monitors is limited to Thunderbolt and USB-C.
The Studio Display XDR has one upstream (meaning that it can connect to a computer or other data or video input source) Thunderbolt 5 port for connecting to a Mac. It can also connect to other computer with Thunderbolt connectivity, or one that supports DisplayPort over USB-C, but the latter comes with limitations on controlling brightness, contrast, and other functionality. It also has a downstream Thunderbolt 5 port that can be used to daisy-chain a second Studio Display XDR or connect to peripherals. The upstream Thunderbolt 5 port, which offers 140-watt power delivery, can power and/or charge a MacBook connected to it. In addition, you get two downstream USB-C ports for connecting to peripherals.
The Pro Display XDR also has four ports: an upstream Thunderbolt 3 port with 96 watts of power delivery, and three downstream USB-C ports.
Winner: Studio Display XDR
Audio and Video: The Sound System and the Webcam
The Studio Display XDR has a built-in 12-megapixel Center Stage webcam. It also incorporates a six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers, which supports spatial audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos. It also packs a three-microphone array. It does not have an audio-out jack, but the monitor is otherwise a ready-to-go audio solution.
The Pro Display XDR, in contrast, lacks both a webcam and an audio system. It also doesn't have an audio jack, so any audio signal must be routed from your computer, whether to headphones or external speakers. It's designed for use in a professional environment that's already equipped with solutions for audio and video conferencing.
Winner: Studio Display XDR
Audience: Mac-Based Graphic Artists and Studios
Both the Studio Display XDR and the Pro Display XDR are strongly geared to Mac-based artists. They can be used with Windows PCs that support DisplayPort over USB-C, but some features, such as control over brightness and contrast controls, may be compromised or disabled.
The Pro Display XDR's sky-high price limits its appeal to successful artists, graphic arts design/production studios, and wealthy show-offs. The Studio Display XDR is no doubt expensive, too, but it offers excellent value to those who can afford it, including startups and a broader range of creative professionals.
Winner: Studio Display XDR