Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Displays Apple Technology

Apple Unveils 6K 'Pro Display XDR' Monitor That Starts At $5,000 (cnet.com) 237

One of the most ridiculous announcements made at Apple's WWDC on Monday was the new Pro Display XDR monitor. It's a monitor made to pair with the new Mac Pro, complete with top-level specs and a staggering $5,000 starting price. CNET reports: The monitor's chief feature is high-dynamic range, aka HDR. Doing HDR correctly requires a lot of horsepower to illuminate the screen, and the XDR monitor can get exceedingly bright -- and stay that way. Apple says an advanced cooling system can maintain its 1,000 nits brightness "indefinitely." The monitor has a full-array backlight with 576 zones of full array local dimming -- more than just about any similarly equipped TV available. That advanced dimming tech likely contributes to the incredibly high 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio specification.

At 32 inches and a resolution of 6,016 x 3,384, the Pro Display XDR is Apple's largest retina display ever. While not used in many TVs (which are either 4K or 8K), the 6K resolution is increasingly popular for video capture, with cameras like the Pansonic Lumix S1H, Sony Venice, and models from Red doing 6K. Apple has also improved the screen to better control reflections and offers a new matte option called "nano-texture, with glass etched at the nanometer level for low reflectivity and less glare." The matte option brings the price of the monitor up to $6,000. Apple also talks up its polarizer technology and wide off-axis viewing angle. Pre-set reference modes include HDR video (P3-ST 2084), Digital Cinema (P3-DCI) and Photography (P3-D65).
In traditional Apple fashion, the Pro Display XDR does not ship with a stand -- you'll have to buy that separately. The optional $999 Pro stand allows users to articulate the screen and place it in various positions. It has tilt, height, and rotation adjustment, meaning you can rotate it from landscape to portrait mode, juts like your iPhone.

Apple is also selling a VESA mount adapter for $199, but that will require you to buy another third-party stand.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Apple Unveils 6K 'Pro Display XDR' Monitor That Starts At $5,000

Comments Filter:
  • Ridiculous ? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @05:13AM (#58705934)

    The only ridiculous thing for Apple would be to refrain from milking their cash cows.

    • Apple: sells 6K display for $6k (with no stand $999 extra WTF apple)

      Also Apple: Makes sure most of the web is 72dpi

      Also also Apple: Lets never make sure our machines are never good for gaming

      So what's this for? Super Hi-res home videos or formats which won't be mainstream (geddit) for a while now?
      • Not even home videos and formats; you can get an 8K, 65" screen for $4500. That would at least support all previous formats AND the new standard. 6K? WTF?
      • So what's this for? Super Hi-res home videos or formats which won't be mainstream (geddit) for a while now?

        Please don't take this to be me attempting to be some Apple fan here, just reiterating what's on their website.

        * There's their FPGA daughter board Afterburner that's specifically made for working with 4K and 8K RAW files. Provides a custom connection to the Xeon W Thunderbolt 3 bus for straight from source to RAM/Processor editing without intermediary. So I guess somebody in filming or live TV?
        * Co-processor T2 for handling secure enclave. Again this seems to be a custom co-processor for TPM that can ru

  • by EnsilZah ( 575600 ) <EnsilZah@@@Gmail...com> on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @05:18AM (#58705952)

    $5K for the display, $1K for the stand.
    Some Apple supporters are going to be left without a leg to stand on.

    • haha, when i see a apple fanboy i will say: "wheres your legs now? you had them when you was standing in line at the apple store"
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I wonder what this will do to 5k display prices. Currently you can get an Iiyama with the same panel that Apple uses for â650, which isn't a bargain but isn't as bad as they used to be either.

    • Adjust for inflation (Score:5, Informative)

      by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @06:50AM (#58706264)

      $5K for the display, $1K for the stand.

      Most of the people who would even think of buying this monitor likely already have a VESA mount and thus the stand isn't really that important to that crowd. This monitor appears to be targeting certain far more expensive pro (yes actual working pro) equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars. Whether the people in this market will have any interest in this monitor? I have no idea.

      Yes the stand is nice and yes it is probably overpriced. Anyone who would actually buy the stand probably doesn't care anyway. No they aren't going to sell these in huge numbers and Apple knows that. It's more of a halo product than it is a mass market one. This is consistent with Apple's approach as a quasi-luxury brand. Apple is going to continue to make most of their money from the iPhone and other products. This is just so they can keep saying they have some of the best tech available to the masses even if few people actually buy it.

      Bear in mind too that adjusting for inflation that an Apple II purchased in 1977 would cost around $5400 [usatoday.com] in today's dollars.

      • Odds are good that Apple didn't have to do anything but design the case for this display, anyway. That's a relatively small investment. Meanwhile, they will wind up in every movie from here to Timbuktu. The advertising value alone probably justifies the cost of the design.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Yes the stand is nice and yes it is probably overpriced. Anyone who would actually buy the stand probably doesn't care anyway.

        Don't make excuses for them. The stand is a straight up rip-off. It's insane gouging. You can get a similar one for 50 bucks.

        The biggest danger is that this starts a trend where other monitor manufacturers think it's okay to have stupidly expensive "accessories" that are really a standard, important part of the monitor. We have to stamp down on this bullshit now*, before it becomes a thing.

        * I could have phrased that better.

        • Don't make excuses for them. The stand is a straight up rip-off. It's insane gouging. You can get a similar one for 50 bucks.

          You can get one for $50 but it won't be similar. And it isn't a rip off. Nobody is being cheated and Apple isn't hiding the cost. It will be worth it to some people and not to others. Clearly you fall into the "not" category and that's fine. Apple can ask whatever price they want and people will decide whether it is worth it to them. That's how capitalism works.

          The biggest danger is that this starts a trend where other monitor manufacturers think it's okay to have stupidly expensive "accessories" that are really a standard, important part of the monitor.

          "Starts a trend"? Luxury goods have ALWAYS been a thing. You think a Rolex watch keeps time better than a $20 quartz digital watch? You thi

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            You can get one for $50 but it won't be similar.

            Have you seen the stand? It's nothing special.

            "Starts a trend"? Luxury goods have ALWAYS been a thing.

            Yes, but monitor stands have not been luxury goods until today.

            It's like what happened with memory in phones. Apple made it acceptable to charge massive amounts for memory upgrades. Compared to OnePlus who will give you an extra 2GB of RAM *and* 128GB of flash memory for $30.

    • Is a 6k display really worth it?
      4k displays are good enough for us not to see pixels, How much higher resolution do we need, where the computing power to run such a display can be used to a better purpose.

      • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
        If you are watching YouTube videos or gaming, no. If you are a video editor or pro photographer, then yes.
      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        4k at 32" is only about 130 PPI. It's a bit low for something you sit so close to. For comparison my phone is 534 PPI, and an old 17" 1280x1024 4:3 was about 96 PPI.

        For a desktop monitor you really want 200 PPI for really good text rendering and invisible pixels, which comes out as:

        24" - 4k
        28" - 5k
        32" - 6k

        And sure enough that's what Apple have stuck to.

    • by leonbev ( 111395 )

      The funny thing is that the prices of these workstations are starting to get insane price levels that we saw for Next computers back in the 90's.

      If a remember right, they didn't sell all that well because of that pricing. Perhaps Apple needs to learn from the past pricing mistakes of Steve Jobs (again) now that he's no longer with us?

      • The funny thing is that the prices of these workstations are starting to get insane price levels that we saw for Next computers back in the 90's.
        If a remember right, they didn't sell all that well because of that pricing.

        It wasn't just pricing. They didn't run any other platform's software, and there was very little software produced for the platform. You could pay an arm and a leg on top of the limbs you'd already given up for the system price to get some Adobe applications, and that was most of what was available. The system was superior in a lot of ways, but it didn't offer you the ability to do anything you couldn't do in some other, cheaper way. Even at price parity, they'd have been a hard sell.

      • by jwhyche ( 6192 )

        What kind of use would you have for one of these overpriced monsters? I can see use for general purpose processors, i5 and i7 run the business world. An multicore Xeon monsters with dozens of cores for virtual server farms. But I just can't think of a use off hand for same classes of Xeon processors in desktop workstations.

        My first thought is CAD and Animation rendering but the grunt work of those would be handed off to custom GPU cards for the actual work.

  • Why does anyone even need this?
    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @05:41AM (#58706050)

      Apple’s done a very good job of making something for the professional medium-high end video market.

      No-one needs a 6k HDR display to play Fortnite and thats ok.

      Its very much for the “real” pro market - ie if this kind of display isn’t going to help you make money in your job, then it probably isn’t for you unless you have an awful lot of free cashflow.

      There pricing actually isn’t crazy - they weren’t kidding about it competing against $40k monitors.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        So why would you get one of these instead of a Dell 8K monitor? The Dell is only $4,000 (including stand) and will work with PCs as well. It's got 10 bit colour and similar coverage of the various standards.

        What makes Apple's display worth an extra $2,000?

        • by Build6 ( 164888 )

          I think a key differentiator is actually their custom backlighting setup - it's no joke to be able to promise 1000-nits *sustained*. And the contrast ratio!

          I think the Dell has 400 nits? and a 1,000-something-to-1 contrast ratio. If these things matter to you for your work, you'll be handing the extra money over to Apple and be glad of it.

          • by Build6 ( 164888 )

            OK it's specified as 400 nits and 1300:1 contrast ratio -

            https://www.dell.com/en-us/sho... [dell.com]

            Apple's "XDR" (I don't like the name but I'm not in charge so oh well) is specified as 1000 nits sustained and 1600 nits peak, and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio ...

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            But what does this actually do for you? Normally monitors are calibrated at 120-150 nits, with 200 considered being too bright for comfortable everyday use. Any professional is going to arrange things so 120 nits is enough.

            So having a peak of 10x that, which requires a fan, seems rather pointless.

          • by hawk ( 1151 )

            It was bad enough when we started attaching rodents to our computers, but now they're *advertising* displays with lice???

            Do you have *any* idea how many lice you get from 1000 nits???

            hawk

        • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          For the same reason that they buy Sony Trimaster (seriously, go price those) monitors now instead of that Dell 8K. Resolution isn't the only spec they look at.
    • Why does anyone even need this?

      Do you seriously think Apple never considered that question?

      There is a market for it. Just because you almost certainly aren't in that market is not relevant to the decision to make and sell the product. I don't pretend to know how successful this product will be for Apple. My guess is that it is more of a marketing play than a serious attempt to bring in profits but that has it's place too. Most likely it is an attempt at a halo product [wikipedia.org].

      There are lots of products that only a handful of customers will a

      • No, 'wants' create a market. I didn't ask who would 'want' this. I asked who would 'need' this. No one needs a sports car.

        I'm just trying to nail down whether people really do need it, or if it is just completely ridiculous egomaniacs that want it.
  • by sad_ ( 7868 )

    it must have been a great day at the Apple top floor office when they came up with the $999 price for a monitor stand.
    And they know people will buy it too, really absurd.

  • http://32by32.com/wp-content/u... [32by32.com]

    $1995 in 1986. Adjusting for inflation would make it $4595 in 2019 money.

  • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @05:53AM (#58706074)

    My last CRT Eizo 21" costed more over a decade ago.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The Dell UP3218K monitor, which is 8k, is only $4000. It's factory calibrated, 10 bit colour, etc. etc.

      No fan either.

      • by Build6 ( 164888 )

        https://www.dell.com/en-us/sho... [dell.com]

        400 nits and 1,300:1 contrast ratio, vs. the Apple display's 1000 nits sustained/1600 nits peak and 1m:1 contrast as specified

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Sure but you really want to be using your monitor at about 250 nits for comfort in a normally lit room. 1000 nits is outdoor viewing levels and will set your eyeballs on fire. The only reason it goes that high is to get the ridiculous 1m:1 contrast ratio.

          • That's not at all a ridiculous contrast ratio. It's the dynamic contrast ratio. It's not even that impressive of one.
            Now- with 572 light regions, it may be superior to the competition in that department. The last time I tore one apart, it had like 30 something light regions.
        • 400 nits and 1,300:1 contrast ratio, vs. the Apple display's 1000 nits sustained/1600 nits peak and 1m:1 dynamic contrast as specified

          Are we seriously back to comparing virtual contrast ratio penis length? Spare me.
          The Dell is stating their static contrast ratio. The dynamic for it is 5m:1.

      • It also comes with free backlight bleed, and will only last about a year before dying. By the way what is factory calibration? What kind of an idiot came up with that marketing scheme? Screens for critical applications generally need to be calibrated once a week, doing it in the factory is pointless.

    • > My last CRT Eizo 21" costed more over a decade ago.

      Well then you're a poor shopper as most 21" CRTs I saw, including the pair of excellent Mitsubishi ones I used went for about $1000 each in the early 2000s, and those were flat tube Trinitron style.

      Even in the early 90s a quality 21" CRT cost no more than around $2500.

  • Apple have got themselves into a mode where they're only interested in designing the best possible device in terms of features/tech/looks. Sadly all design is a set of compromises, and by being entirely uncompromising on features/tech/looks - it means price has to suffer.

    I have no doubt that this is a great monitor and stand for the top-tier 'Lamborghini' crowd. You can probably even argue that they're good value for what they offer.

    I'd love to see what Apple could do for some 'mid-range' products. St
    • by swilver ( 617741 )

      Looks and features/performance are not actually always compatible. Apple has comprimised more than once on features and performance because of form.

    • The lowest iMac starts at $1100. It however is not aimed for high-end Pro users. If we are aiming for car analogies: this isn’t a Lamborghini; this is a diesel semi truck. A diesel semi is going to cost you way more than a Ford F-150. This thing is for work, not play.
  • by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @06:03AM (#58706106)
    I remember not too long ago when crappy LCD screen where $10,000
  • by Camembert ( 2891457 ) on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @06:43AM (#58706236)
    I read in a few reports from journalists who saw it that it is competitive with high end reference displays costing a multiple. If you are in the top video business, this screen means that more people in the company can judge colours precisely.
    It may be overkill for the submitter's needs, that doesn't make it ridiculous.
    • by nagora ( 177841 )

      A 6K screen, unless it's about 400' wide, is beyond anyone's needs. The HDR may or may not be visible (or matter) but, yes, this screen is ridiculous. As for "journalists" that cover this sort of utter garbage, they're of the same species that review Hi-Fi equipment - and as completely bribe-able.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I'd take reports with a bucket of salt. Exhibition hall, no opportunity to use verified test and measurement tools etc.

      No doubt it's good but let's wait for some detailed reviews in controlled conditions.

  • by e3m4n ( 947977 ) on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @07:27AM (#58706388)

    There could be a number of reasons to justify the cost of the technology that went into the display that drove the cost to $5000. But there is not one who can justify $999 for a stand. For that kind of a price for fancy collection of ball joints, swivels, metal, and plastic; the damn thing better blow me as soon as I sit down at my desk. And $200 for a VESA mount? Its litterally a piece of metal that matches up purposefully proprietary holes with the standard vesa geometry.

      I’ll give it a few months before some Chinese knock off of both of these things show up on Amazon. And Apple will have deserved every bit of the lost revenue. There’s no reason why that damn vesa mount should cost more than $35. Possibly $200 for the fancy articulating stand. It’s not like it’s the only articulating stand out there. Buy your $35 vesa mount knock off and use an articulating stand that has a vesa mount, save $800.

      However I’m sure there’s plenty of Hollywood elitist that will pay $1000 so they can rock the logo. It’s like the people that I see paying eight dollars on a cruise for a mocha at the Starbucks counter when they can get a mocha at the ships café, made with Seattle’s best, that’s included with the alcohol beverage package that they already purchased. Apparently it taste different when the cup says Starbucks. As my grandmother used to say there is no fixing stupid

  • They should offer a $500 power cord as well. Audiophile grade, silver conductors, improves the quality of the image, just like that $3K inch thick "danceable" power cable and wooden knobs in your audiophile sound system.

This place just isn't big enough for all of us. We've got to find a way off this planet.

Working...