Picked mine up at my local Apple store today and although only played with it for about half an hour, I love it.
Sounds and looks great.
Don’t care about the webcam as we don’t use them on our conference calls.
According to Jason Snell, even the non-VESA versions of the Studio Display will automatically rotate the image if you turn them on their side (though you have to rotate them clockwise, not counterclockwise). The webcam will automatically rotate it’s image as well.
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What product (laptop, iMac, etc.) do the speakers sound closest to for you?
It’s a bit funny that the cable is removable but that Apple doesn’t want people to do it, so they assert otherwise. I’m sure longer third party cables will be available soon.
I can understand where you’re coming from. It probably depends on what you’re used to. I haven’t had a decked out PC speaker system since my gaming days, so compared to the little bookshelf speakers I had hooked up to my Mac Mini, and compared to the iMac at the office, these are amazing. But if I still had a pro-level speaker system, I might feel different.
You know, for whatever reason, I’m not having the camera quality issue. My display arrived with 15.3 and the camera looked… quite ok. I updated to 15.4 and the camera looks still quite ok. I don’t understand if it’s just that I have very good lighting conditions here and so the “buggy” camera software still creates a very decent picture or if the software bug is not universal. For the record this is plugged in to a 14” MBP.
As for the speakers I concur with @anon20961960. While decent for built in speakers, these don’t compete with my Denton 85s — obviously. But they’d be ok to watch the odd clip or movie or for background music while working.
FYI for those using Monterey Beta: I was using the Monterey Beta profile for my Mac. I was only able to update the Apple Studio Display firmware from v15.3 to v15.4 when I changed to the default Monterey profile (non-Beta).
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I don’t have a Studio Display but I have watched a lot of YouTube videos attempting to show the problem. In side by side comparisons I have not been able to see much of a problem either. The exposure has been different amongst the various cameras shown. Different, but not necessarily worse.
The only problem I’ve noticed is that the Studio Display’s webcam seemed to have an excess of “skin smoothing” …like the problem seen on some of the early iPhones with the Portrait feature. Are other new Studio Display owners seeing a quality issue?
Anyone else not having the update show up for the Studio Display?
System preferences is showing everything up to date. Not on the beta track.
Did you look at the system report to see which version of the firmware you have?
Yeah, still on 15.3.
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Plugged it back in and it’s just appeared… odd. Ah well.
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I am returning my Studio Display after 3 days because:
The WebCam is astonishingly bad. I don’t trust Apple to fix it. There has already been one patch that appeared to make no difference.
The Studio Display does not work with pre-2018 Mac minis even with adapters. (Connects nicely to a M1 Mac mini)
The height is less that the old Thunderbolt display. Enough to be annoying. Don’t want to use a riser. The extra cost of an adjustable stand is crazy.
Lack of ports on the back. Could have had TP4 port. (I use the Ethernet, Firewire and TB1 ports on the back of my Thunderbolt display but obviously would not expect them).
The speakers and mic are much improved but not good enough to justify the high base cost.
==
While the display is crisp and bright it is not enough to make up for other deficiencies.
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all valid points @sw2015 I am still indecisive. The webcam patch may seal the deal but if it doesnt arrive within my returns period, I will be returning the studio display.
@sw2015 What are going to use after returning the studio display?
With speakers, the issue always comes down to physics. I really have been impressed with the speakers on my 16" MBP M1 Max, which I think is consistent with @anon20961960’s observation:
For me, I find them loud and they seem to have a decent sound stage… for builtins. My audioengine a5+ speakers are substantially better and provide the audiophile experience that I crave. That said, I don’t feel cheated by the speakers in my MBP when I’m away from my office and I can happily listen to music and feel that it sounds great (not as great, but still great). Maybe I’m more tolerant than my other audiophile friends.
Either way, I do recognize what @anon20961960 and @va1984 are pointing out – the speakers are great in context, but you have to have that context otherwise it creates unrealistic expectations – e.g., saying goodbye to one’s bookshelf speakers is an unrealistic expectation for those of us who want our music to sound like the concert hall.
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I can’t help but notice that it looks like you poured yourself a nice malt beverage before taking this photo 
I like the setup. Thanks for sharing!
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I have gone back to the old Apple Thunderbolt display.
Am not missing the new display at all.
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It didn’t happen every day but I’ve had to replace several iMac, etc. power cords. We had power outlets in the floor that people were always hitting with their feet. And there is always some low level manager who thinks the rule against moving equipment doesn’t apply to them.
I could see this being a problem for businesses that don’t want to buy a couple of $1600 monitors to keep as spares. YMMV
I don’t think you’re being snobby at all. When I listen to music, sound quality is important (not audiophile important, but still important). Anything that has (a) speaker(s) in it but is also something that’s not a speaker generally doesn’t have audio quality that measures up to (even lower end) dedicated speakers.
I think context is important. Compared with other laptops, my 16" MBP sounds great, but in no way is it something that I’d use for listening to music.
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I really have to see the nano-textured version before I decide whether or not to buy one of these. I hate glare, but I also hate less-than-sharp text and I’ve heard that the nano-textured displays are noticeably less sharp. If that’s the case then I can stick to my 4K scaled to 1440p (same resolution that the 5K presents).