The Mac Studio Display

I held onto my 2014 27" 5K iMac (the OG) for over 7 years hoping for an M1 replacement, but alas it was not to be. Instead, Apple is pushing us to buy a Mac Studio ($2,000) and the Mac Studio Display ($1,600). That’s a total of $3,600 for the base models compared to the $1,800 I paid for the iMac. Sure, inflation has been up, but it's not been 100% in 7 years.

Of course, I could get an M1 Mac Mini ($1,100 for a 16 GB RAM + 512GB SSD model) with the display, for a cheaper $2,700 total, but that's still a lot of money.

No matter how you slice it, $1,600 for a display is a lot of money in 2022, when you can pick up any number of highly rated 4K 27" monitors for under $400.

Here’s what's irksome - in 7 years the computer industry has failed to produce a viable 5K monitor with a glossy screen (which has sharper and more vibrant colors than the usual matte). Yes, there's the LG Ultrafine, which has the same panel as the 27" iMac, for… $1,300, and that's about it.

This is an example of a market failure. If Dell had a 5K Ultrasharp display in the market today for around $800, they's make a killing. But somehow they don’t.

So, it looks like I'll have to settle for a Mac Studio (base model with a 1TB SSD) and a "cheap" 4K monitor, or two.

Related: Tech.