![]() The ship dates quickly slipped into February, however - especially for the new matte version of the monitor - which either indicates that demand was pretty strong or Apple didn't have a large supply of them at launch, or both. Like the new Mac Pro, the Pro Display XDR officially went on sale on Dec. By connecting a Blackmagic eGPU ($700) or Blackmagic eGPU Pro ($1,200), other Macs can also connect a Pro Display XDR. ![]() The 21.5-inch iMac and lower end 27-inch iMac models can drive one. The 15-inch MacBook Pro (2018), the 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019) and the high-end 27-inch iMac (2019) can each drive up to two Pro Display XDRs. Running the Pro Display XDR requires a powerful graphics card and Thunderbolt 3 "Titan Ridge." The new Mac Pro can power up to six of them. Nevertheless, it's good that Apple made it a separate purchase and didn't build it into the price of the monitor because a lot of professionals will prefer to just order the VESA mount ($200, £189, AU$349) and attach it to the monitor arm of their choice. As valuable as all of that is, it still feels like it should be priced at least half of the sticker price. It also has a tilting mechanism that allows you to spin it into portrait mode, adjust the height or put it at the perfect angle and hold it there. It is a thick, heavy piece of metal that is much weightier than the stand for an iMac, by comparison. It comes in its own box that's almost as large as the one for the previous "trash can" Mac Pro. Officially called the "Pro Stand," it's a substantial piece of hardware. ![]() Most of the people in the audience were expecting Apple's new monitor itself to cost about that much, so the cost of the high-end stand became a symbol of our sticker shock at the Pro Display XDR. Twitter and the tech press had a field day with that as soon as it went up on the screen in the keynote. ![]() When the Pro Display XDR was first unveiled at WWDC, what made the most headlines was the fact that the (optional) professional stand cost $999 (£949, AU$1,699). That's likely why it's a $1,000 upgrade to the standard model and can only be cleaned with a special polishing cloth (yes, it's included). This technique, which Apple has dubbed "nanotexture," has been used by others but the Pro Display XDR is one of the first consumer products to feature it. Instead, it etched micro edges into the surface of the glass to scatter the light rather than reflecting it. Then, the company developed a different kind of matte finish that doesn't involve slapping an antireflective coating on top of the screen. While most glossy monitors have about a 3% reflectivity, Apple was able to reduce this to 1.6%. To address this, Apple started by improving the standard glossy version of the Pro Display XDR. The downside of matte is that the coating can cause the display to lose some contrast and sharpness and result in a bit of haziness. (I ordered the matte finish on every MacBook I used while it was available, and have definitely missed it since we lost the option.) A lot of professionals opted for the matte because of the low reflectivity and the fact that it's more consistent in different types of lighting conditions throughout the day. ![]() If you've been around the Mac ecosystem for a while, you may remember when you used to have the choice to order a But having the team and listening to customers helped Apple identify one of the biggest pain points for teams of digital creators: Most of the workers in the pipeline don't have monitors that show the images or videos as they were captured, because their monitors don't have the contrast, brightness or color accuracy to match the content. The idea for the Pro Display XDR didn't come as a request from the Pro Workflow team. When Apple announced in April 2017 that it was going back to the drawing board and redesigning a new Mac Pro and a pro display to go with it, there was also a footnote: It was spinning up a new "Pro Workflow" team to help it create better products for creative professionals. They'd be thrilled to simply get the monitor-only version of the latest iMac without the computer tucked inside - and many would likely still pay around $1,000 for it. The bummer, of course, is that the vast majority of Mac fans who just want a decent Apple monitor to hook up to theirĪnd Mac Minis will never be able to afford the Pro Display XDR. ![]()
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