Apple Mac Studio and Studio Display

[Aurelius]

Announced at Apple's "Peek Performance" event.

In many ways, this is what people have been asking for: a "headless" Mac desktop that offers strong performance and isn't priced into the stratosphere (see: the $6K Mac Pro). The performance is also promising if you lean heavily on media editing tools or other apps that make good use of Apple Silicon. Not so much a pro Mac mini as a super-NUC that really can handle heavy-duty computing in a small form factor. I'm going to take the performance claims with a huge grain of salt, but Apple has so far shown that the M1 series is very strong in some areas. If I weren't sitting pretty at the moment, I'd get the base model.

My view of the Studio Display is... mixed. I'm sure the image quality is great, and features like the Center Stage camera (read: keeps people in frame) and Spatial Audio-capable speakers are pretty slick. But $1,599? Yeow. I suspect most people will just buy their own 4K/5K displays and roll the savings into any peripherals. You get the Studio Display if you either hate clutter or insist on a nothing-but-Apple setup. And yes, it's ridiculous that you have to pay $400 just to get built-in height adjustment.

I'm curious as to what the [H] crowd thinks of it. I'm sure it won't sway anyone who's a dyed-in-the-wool PC gamer, but to me it seems Apple is "getting it" and understands that it can no longer ask pros and prosumers to buy a 27-inch iMac (discontinued, by the way) to fit their needs.

 

[LukeTbk]

and features like the Center Stage camera (read: keeps people in frame)

Do we know if it is better than what RTX video card do ?

 

[Aurelius]

Do we know if it is better than what RTX video card do ?

It's comparable, but I'd say it's a bit better since NVIDIA Broadcast (I presume that's what you're thinking of) is a layer you have to specifically invoke where Center Stage just happens in any app that supports it.

 

[TrunksZero]

Apple must have had a crapload of those A13 chips n' ipad hardware laying around. Nice as apple devices didn't really have a great docking station solution, but the display is trash from a price/performance standpoint.

 

[Lakados]

Do we know if it is better than what RTX video card do ?

I can't say better but I can say equivalent?
I can't offer up a direct comparison, but I can say that the RTX A2000 i5 system running the Logitech Meetup in my presentation room looks and sounds amazing on the 85' 4K TV that it is hooked up to, but I can also say that the 2021 iPad Pro's we have also look and sound amazing. To the point where they are both doing what we need them too incredibly well so the end results are exactly what we want for the spaces they are in but they both do things differently one covers a whole room that can keep up to 12 people in frame sounding clear at once and the other is used with a Swivl for smaller groups of 4 or 5 mounted to a tripod.

 

[LukeTbk]

It's comparable, but I'd say it's a bit better since NVIDIA Broadcast (I presume that's what you're thinking of) is a layer you have to specifically invoke where Center Stage just happens in any app that supports it.

And could be just my pc and setup, but in terms of resource usage and always working (all 3 of mic-video-speaker) without having to ever look at it, does not seem already fully on point (at least in Microsoft Team).

 

[D-EJ915]

The price increase to the ultra is pretty steep since it's only $600 less than the total cost of the machine.

 

[sphinx99]

The Studio is appealing if one has a workflow that takes advantage of the hardware; if so, it’s basically the fastest piece of hardware that can be put on a desktop at any price, and pays itself off in weeks to months. Otherwise it’s the wrong tool for the job.

The display seems like a fantastic deal at $900 if the stand were included. Priced where it is, I have little interest.

 

[RussianJ]

The stand at $400, yikes

 

[TrunksZero]

The monitor is terrible. You could buy 3 monitors of about the same size(27"), feature set(charging, speakers, proper stand) & resolution(4k) from Dell(S2722QC) and still have money for a higher end webcam. OH and you could do all that for less money than this outstanding POS monitor from Apple.

 

[sphinx99]

A bit more thought on this.

The Studio, setting specialized silicon aside, is roughly on par to or slightly more performant than my Threadripper 3960x at what must be approaching 15% the same power, on strictly CPU centric tasks. It's also a tiny fraction of the volume. And that's before we discuss the GPU cores. So, for non-accelerated workloads I can see the hesitancy, but apples to apples, so to speak, it's impressive. That said, one could trade price for power efficiency.

For workloads that are accelerated by the silicon, the last ~12 months (M1 -> M1 Max -> M1 Ultra) may be the biggest leap in performance we've seen since say 80286 to 80386, if not more so. Yeah, I'm impressed. I have a 16" M1 Max MBP that chugs through 4k and 8k raw footage for hours on end, on battery, faster than my TR3 3960X, and the idea of being able to yet double that is kind of amazing.

This is impressive stuff.

The monitor of course is... whatever. Buy a LG 42" or 48" OLED when you get a chance, instead.

 

[pendragon1]

 

[alexfort93]

The monitor is terrible. You could buy 3 monitors of about the same size(27"), feature set(charging, speakers, proper stand) & resolution(4k) from Dell(S2722QC) and still have money for a higher end webcam. OH and you could do all that for less money than this outstanding POS monitor from Apple.

It's a 5K monitor, for comparison, a similar LG monitor is $1300 (27MD5KL-B). Not sure how they actually compare specs-wise, but the price isn't that far off?

 

[cnick79]

It's a 5K monitor, for comparison, a similar LG monitor is $1300 (27MD5KL-B). Not sure how they actually compare specs-wise, but the price isn't that far off?

That LG is the only other alternative to the Studio Display and prior to the Studio Display there were no other TRUE alternatives to the LG UltraFine.

The Studio Display definitely has me interested because I've been craving an Apple produced monitor for some time, even though my Dell s3221qs has been good enough. Sure, the price might be on the higher end for what you get, but the only other comparable monitor out there is the LG UltraFine 5k and even that's $1,300.

Mac Studio has me scratching my head because I'm not sure who the target audience is for. It's like Apple is trying to fill the void of the short lived iMac Pro, which at the time felt like a stopgap for Mac Pro trashcan users. Apple might have just called Mac Studio, Mac Mini Pro. It seems like Apple has plenty of entry level options with the Mac Mini and iMac 24" but then you have to jump to Studio or Mac Pro. Notice you cannot get the M1 Pro in any desktop machine other than laptops?

 

[TheGardenTool]

I can say I’m glad I didn’t hold off on picking up a discounted M1 Mini before Christmas. Even though all these M2 rumors were flying around thought it sounded early. Maybe in a couple years one of these used would make sense, or if they get the price down lower on a refresh (though not typical Apple to lower price points).

The monitor may make sense for somebody wanting to replace an iMac Pro setup or need something now to step up from an Intel 27” to M1. Not really too many 27” 5k options out there right now. Don’t think that’s really anymore expensive than the LG 5k one they were pushing not too long ago was when it came out.

Where these things are going to be really interesting are the Mac Colo and dedicated server providers.

 

[paradoxical]

Mac Studio has me scratching my head because I'm not sure who the target audience is for.

It's for people who don't game and want the most powerful commercially available consumer targeted desktop in the world. That is a very large market. If I didn't need a laptop I would buy a totally loaded one in a second. As it is, I am picking up the entry level one as a video editing machine for one of my support employees who needs both MacOS and Windows at his station to support his customers. This kills two birds with one stone - provides him a modern MacOS machine to walk through troubleshooting things with customers, while also giving him a kick ass and silent video editing machine for support videos that is space efficient on his already crowded desk.

If you haven't used a M1 Max extensively it is difficult to convey how powerful it is for productivity. I have a loaded MBP 14 (Max, 64GB ram, 8TB) and cannot imagine how fast the ultra is. For context, I also have a Threadripper 3990x and a 9900k so I understand how different platforms perform for my applications.

As for the monitor, I get what they are going for but I'll pass in favor of the Samsung QD-OLED Ultrawide coming up.

 

[Aurelius]

The monitor is terrible. You could buy 3 monitors of about the same size(27"), feature set(charging, speakers, proper stand) & resolution(4k) from Dell(S2722QC) and still have money for a higher end webcam. OH and you could do all that for less money than this outstanding POS monitor from Apple.

That's... not really true. You can call it overly expensive without resorting to hyperbole.

To start (and as pointed out elsewhere), it's a 5K monitor. Dell isn't currently selling any monitors beyond 4K (it has sold higher-res screens in the past). From the reviews I've seen, Apple has superior color accuracy... rather important for creators. Then there's the other feature disparities. The Dell monitor doesn't have any webcam, let alone one that pans to keep people in frame. It has worse connectivity (two HDMI, one USB-C, one USB-A), including worse charging. It's much dimmer than the Apple monitor (350 nits versus 600), and it's guaranteed the Studio Display's speakers will sound much better.

So you are, in fact, getting a lot more. The question is whether or not you're getting enough to justify a $1,599 outlay, and that's a tougher ask. The Studio Display makes the most sense if you insist on 5K and want more than the LG UltraFine 5K (same core panel) can offer. It's a one-stop shop of sorts. The concern, of course, is that many people would be more than happy with a relatively plain 4K monitor like Dell's. But I don't think Apple is trying to compete with the S2722QCs of the world — it's trying to carve out a niche.

 

[LukeTbk]

It's for people who don't game and want the most powerful commercially available consumer targeted desktop in the world.

Which would seem would not care much about the super low power, size and many of the plus, it is nice that the product is so interestingly and significantly good that it still scale to something that achieve that.

People that care about desk space/noise like you describe in an office (that put their PC on the desk instead of the ground, if their desk are crowded?) just later one seem maybe more the target audience in mind otherwise I do not understand the form factor/harddrive options (or it is simply that 10gig make that somewhat obsolete ?).

I.E. People that want the most powerful machine in the world that do not take place nor make noise.

 

[paradoxical]

Which would seem would not care much about the super low power, size and many of the plus, it is nice that the product is so interestingly and significantly good that it still scale to something that achieve that.

People that care about desk space/noise like you describe in an office (that put their PC on the desk instead of the ground, if their desk are crowded?) just later one seem maybe more the target audience in mind otherwise I do not understand the form factor/harddrive options (or it is simply that 10gig make that somewhat obsolete ?).

For video editing people will be working off a NAS or locally attached thunderbolt storage arrays. I expect most of those machines to be sold with 1-2TB.

 

[Balkroth]

I am really excited to see how Asahi Linux rolls out on these guys, figure the GPU side is probably the biggest issue, but getting the cpu side up and running well for a m1 max/ultra would probably make me pick up one, if nothing else just to play with.

 

[paradoxical]

I am really excited to see how Asahi Linux rolls out on these guys, figure the GPU side is probably the biggest issue, but getting the cpu side up and running well for a m1 max/ultra would probably make me pick up one, if nothing else just to play with.

I am dying for this man. Functional linux on my MBP 14 would be absolutely insane for scientific work. As is I can do 90% of what I need on MacOS but there are a few times I have to grab a much slower intel based computer just to use Linux.

 

[TrunksZero]

That's... not really true. You can call it overly expensive without resorting to hyperbole.

To start (and as pointed out elsewhere), it's a 5K monitor. Dell isn't currently selling any monitors beyond 4K (it has sold higher-res screens in the past). From the reviews I've seen, Apple has superior color accuracy... rather important for creators. Then there's the other feature disparities. The Dell monitor doesn't have any webcam, let alone one that pans to keep people in frame. It has worse connectivity (two HDMI, one USB-C, one USB-A), including worse charging. It's much dimmer than the Apple monitor (350 nits versus 600), and it's guaranteed the Studio Display's speakers will sound much better.

So you are, in fact, getting a lot more. The question is whether or not you're getting enough to justify a $1,599 outlay, and that's a tougher ask. The Studio Display makes the most sense if you insist on 5K and want more than the LG UltraFine 5K (same core panel) can offer. It's a one-stop shop of sorts. The concern, of course, is that many people would be more than happy with a relatively plain 4K monitor like Dell's. But I don't think Apple is trying to compete with the S2722QCs of the world — it's trying to carve out a niche.

I just find it hard to justify this display... your right though I went a little overboard.

- Colour accuracy - if you work where color accuracy is important you have a colormeter. You can bring most decent displays inline.
- 4k vs 5k is a lame duck argument. Especially when you can buy 2 to 3 27" 4k displays, colormetre and a killer high-end webcam for less than this things price
- 600nits, is utterly pointless in display that can't really do HDR. Unless your sitting in direct sunlight and trying to use a screen... which would be uncomfortable to start with.
- Connectivity is comparable enough to not matter.
- Webcam - You can buy a real PTZ webcam that would blow this thing away and still spend buckets less money.

It is not a bad monitor. It's just a bad price/performance ratio for what it is.

*laaaate edit as I think I should tone it down. I'm going overboard. sorry about that*

 

[Twisted Kidney]

That's an expensive 27" display. I'm sure the build quality will be much better than the LG it shares glass with, but not THAT much better. The cheap plastic has no effect on what I see from the front of the monitor.

 

[hmz]

Looks like a nice Apple stuff as usual, unfortunately I've been attached to Dell monitors and Windows for so long I can't even image using it no matter how nice they are. On the other hand, I am looking forward to a new iPad.

 

[Lakados]

That's an expensive 27" display. I'm sure the build quality will be much better than the LG it shares glass with, but not THAT much better. The cheap plastic has no effect on what I see from the front of the monitor.

It’s more the convenience factor than anything else.
For example every machine in our board office has speakers, 1080p camera, sound canceling mic, and a high brightness monitor. That’s just a lot of wires that no matter how good the cable management is are always in the way. This replaces all of that with a single USB-C cable. Clean and easy, the stands aren’t really an issue at all because every desk uses some VESA mount or another for one ergonomic setup or another. Also simplifies the whole, “which mic/speaker set am I supposed to be using again” conversation I have at the start of every office managers zoom/teams calls every day, because they can never remember it for more than a few hours and the software never remembers the GD settings.

 

[IceCaveMan]

- Colour accuracy - if you work where color accuracy is important you have a colormeter. You can bring most decent displays inline.

This just isn't true at all. Most monitors have limited color gamut and nothing in the world will change that. A colorimeter can only go so far.

Don't get me wrong: I won't be buying one of these monitors. But someone who does professional color grading at a studio would just chuckle at this.

 

[Aurelius]

I just find it hard to justify this display... your right though I went a little overboard.

- Colour accuracy - if you work where color accuracy is important you have a colormeter. You can bring most decent displays inline.
- 4k vs 5k is a lame duck argument. Especially when you can buy 2 to 3 27" 4k displays, colormetre and a killer high-end webcam for less than this things price
- 600nits, is utterly pointless in display that can't really do HDR. Unless your sitting in direct sunlight and trying to use a screen... which would be uncomfortable to start with.
- Connectivity is comparable enough to not matter.
- Webcam - You can buy a real PTZ webcam that would blow this thing away and still spend buckets less money.

It is not a bad monitor. It's just a bad price/performance ratio for what it is.

*laaaate edit as I think I should tone it down. I'm going overboard. sorry about that*

In addition tto what IceCaveMan said about color accuracy (i.e. you still need a good panel to get the best accuracy):

I'm sitting in front of a 27-inch iMac with the same base panel right now. 5K is great. You can scale the UI to get plenty of room without sacrificing crispness, and a lot of greater-than-1080p content will display natively while still leaving plenty of space for other things (it helps that macOS generally handles UI scaling better than Windows 10/11). I wouldn't say 600 nits is pointless. It's more than you'll typically need, for sure, but there are moments when I'm thankful for it.

And I'm sorry, but the connectivity is simply better on the Studio Display than that Dell screen. Thunderbolt 4 delivers more power, and the three USB-C ports on top of that mean you can likely hook up every external peripheral you need. The webcam situation is also not quite as clear-cut as you might think. You can certainly get webcams with better base optics, but intelligent panning and zooming to keep people in frame, without needing extra software? Not so sure. I'd also like to know how Apple's image processing fares on the Studio Display compared to some of those cameras, since it might help close gaps in image quality.

I'll agree the price is still pretty steep for what you're getting; if I were buying, I'd probably get an ultra-wide monitor instead. I'm starting to think this makes more sense for the MacBook Pro than it does the Mac Studio — it's basically a one-stop dock.

 

[Silentbob343]

I just find it hard to justify this display... your right though I went a little overboard.

- Colour accuracy - if you work where color accuracy is important you have a colormeter. You can bring most decent displays inline.
- 4k vs 5k is a lame duck argument. Especially when you can buy 2 to 3 27" 4k displays, colormetre and a killer high-end webcam for less than this things price
- 600nits, is utterly pointless in display that can't really do HDR. Unless your sitting in direct sunlight and trying to use a screen... which would be uncomfortable to start with.
- Connectivity is comparable enough to not matter.
- Webcam - You can buy a real PTZ webcam that would blow this thing away and still spend buckets less money.

It is not a bad monitor. It's just a bad price/performance ratio for what it is.

*laaaate edit as I think I should tone it down. I'm going overboard. sorry about that*

This monitor also contains an A13 chip. Not sure what it is being used for, but guessing the LG version does not make use of this SOC.

 

[Silentbob343]

It’s more the convenience factor than anything else.
For example every machine in our board office has speakers, 1080p camera, sound canceling mic, and a high brightness monitor. That’s just a lot of wires that no matter how good the cable management is are always in the way. This replaces all of that with a single USB-C cable. Clean and easy, the stands aren’t really an issue at all because every desk uses some VESA mount or another for one ergonomic setup or another. Also simplifies the whole, “which mic/speaker set am I supposed to be using again” conversation I have at the start of every office managers zoom/teams calls every day, because they can never remember it for more than a few hours and the software never remembers the GD settings.

Your office needs to buy better monitors that act as hubs. My previous employer rolled out new monitors that used thunderbolt/usb-c.

Users connected with a single cable, charging and video output in one, use the network jack on the monitor or use wireless on the laptop and they no longer needed docking stations.

Integrated webcam is neat, though you can plug a webcam directly into the monitor and that gets passed over the single thunderbolt/usb-c to the laptop.

That said, monitors with hubs tend to be a on the more expensive side.

 

[Lakados]

Your office needs to buy better monitors that act as hubs. My previous employer rolled out new monitors that used thunderbolt/usb-c.

Users connected with a single cable, charging and video output in one, use the network jack on the monitor or use wireless on the laptop and they no longer needed docking stations.

Integrated webcam is neat, though you can plug a webcam directly into the monitor and that gets passed over the single thunderbolt/usb-c to the laptop.

That said, monitors with hubs tend to be a on the more expensive side.

The girls in my office are all about “blue light reduction” they think their monitors are perfect. And for email, excel, word processing, and updating the websites. They really are, but my opinion on their setups doesn’t count for much because as HR put it “I’m not a certified ergonomics professional” the yeah I’ve only been setting them up and using them for 30 years doesn’t count. I should get certified I would imagine it’s just a website with some pictures you click through. I have a hard time believing the expert they used is capable of completing a buzzfeed quiz let alone a degree.

 

[Aurelius]

This monitor also contains an A13 chip. Not sure what it is being used for, but guessing the LG version does not make use of this SOC.

The LG monitor doesn't have it. Apple is using the A13 for Center Stage, Spatial Audio and "hey Siri" voice commands. Not a huge amount of heavy lifting, but it's nice to know that your webcam or voice assistant won't chew up your main processing power while you're working on a big project.

 

[Lakados]

This monitor also contains an A13 chip. Not sure what it is being used for, but guessing the LG version does not make use of this SOC.

It’s handling all the video/audio processing; features like spacial audio, motion tracking, noise reduction, and image sharpening can consume more resources than you think. If you’ve got an RTX card you can see how much it chews into your system playing with the NVidia equivalents in the Broadcast suite.

You are correct the LG does not.

I want this monitor, I don’t have a reason to own it, I do nothing that would take advantage of it, but I want it, no way I could justify that expense though.

Perhaps on my next refresh I could snag the Alienware 4K along with what ever laptop I get along with it.

I doubt work would let me order an Alienware but I’m sure I could sell them on a G15.

 

[TrunksZero]

This just isn't true at all. Most monitors have limited color gamut and nothing in the world will change that. A colorimeter can only go so far.

Don't get me wrong: I won't be buying one of these monitors. But someone who does professional color grading at a studio would just chuckle at this.

That's fair. I was far to vague. But still you don't need to spend anywhere near this things price to get a colour accurate monitor.

In addition tto what IceCaveMan said about color accuracy (i.e. you still need a good panel to get the best accuracy):

I'm sitting in front of a 27-inch iMac with the same base panel right now. 5K is great. You can scale the UI to get plenty of room without sacrificing crispness, and a lot of greater-than-1080p content will display natively while still leaving plenty of space for other things (it helps that macOS generally handles UI scaling better than Windows 10/11). I wouldn't say 600 nits is pointless. It's more than you'll typically need, for sure, but there are moments when I'm thankful for it.

And I'm sorry, but the connectivity is simply better on the Studio Display than that Dell screen. Thunderbolt 4 delivers more power, and the three USB-C ports on top of that mean you can likely hook up every external peripheral you need. The webcam situation is also not quite as clear-cut as you might think. You can certainly get webcams with better base optics, but intelligent panning and zooming to keep people in frame, without needing extra software? Not so sure. I'd also like to know how Apple's image processing fares on the Studio Display compared to some of those cameras, since it might help close gaps in image quality.

I'll agree the price is still pretty steep for what you're getting; if I were buying, I'd probably get an ultra-wide monitor instead. I'm starting to think this makes more sense for the MacBook Pro than it does the Mac Studio — it's basically a one-stop dock.

If it was closer to a grand it would be a far more appealing n' impressive. I can't help but think the price is inflated because it's essentially using iPad/iPhone hardware to do simple things that could have been handled far more affordably and efficiently with a less powerful chip.

 

[Lakados]

If it was closer to a grand it would be a far more appealing n' impressive. I can't help but think the price is inflated because it's essentially using iPad/iPhone hardware to do simple things that could have been handled far more affordably and efficiently with a less powerful chip.

If you have an RTX card, take a look at the NVidia broadcast suite, it does essentially the same things as this, you may be surprised how many system resources the video and audio filtering actually take up, compound that with the facial recognition for video framing and it goes up from there.

If you are working in an office where the LG 5K Ultrafine was on your shopping list then this is a very serious contender, if you are already a Mac-centric shop and you were needing a monitor upgrade from their previous entries in this space or were again looking at the LG 5K Ultrafine then this becomes a no brainer.
Apple has been offering the LG Ultrafine 4K and 5K monitors as the price-friendly alternative to their XDR display, this fills the gap here very nicely and compares very nicely to them.

 

[TrunksZero]

If you have an RTX card, take a look at the NVidia broadcast suite, it does essentially the same things as this, you may be surprised how many system resources the video and audio filtering actually take up, compound that with the facial recognition for video framing and it goes up from there.

If you are working in an office where the LG 5K Ultrafine was on your shopping list then this is a very serious contender, if you are already a Mac-centric shop and you were needing a monitor upgrade from their previous entries in this space or were again looking at the LG 5K Ultrafine then this becomes a no brainer.
Apple has been offering the LG Ultrafine 4K and 5K monitors as the price-friendly alternative to their XDR display, this fills the gap here very nicely and compares very nicely to them.

The RTX broastcast stuff it's both buggy and unoptimized. Things like face tracking and video filtering is easily enough handled when the hardware it there to handle it (Hell AI face tracking is built into something like the OBSBOT Tiny PTZ). Same goes for the audio elements like back ground noise canceling. A feature Discord has built in, via KRISP, and is AI software accelerated just fine. The spatial audio in particular has been something PC gaming has been doing for over 2 decades and moved from dedicated hardware to software acceleration at least a decade ago. It's really not hard to do, especially Dolby's tech for doing it

And I'm aware. I have clients I've setup with LG Ultrafine 5k's. It one of the few docking style solutions for Apple hardware that works well. But that's more on Apple than anyone else. Still, it's $2000 bux for what is essentially a 5k 60hz monitor with a Docking station built in. Plus no matter how good the camera is, Zoom, Teams, Facetime etc are going to compress the hell outta the video to the point where it won't really matter much. It's webcam, not a device for video production.

 

[Algrim]

The Mac Studio (either M1 Max or M1 Ultra) is an instant-win contender to replace our aging video capture station. I wouldn't mind one on my desk but I'm getting a 16" MBP with the M1 Pro soon to replace my aging 2017 Intel-based model which will be enough for my needs (Adobe workflow). For rendering I usually use the old Mac Pro or using an AWS ARM nano instance which has insane ffmpeg H.264 rendering performance.

The monitor is about 200 USD too expensive, IMO. I guess that's your Apple logo tax right there. I want this monitor though I don't need it. When I'm not working with my wife's 49" LG TV I'm in the office stuck on my MIL's cheap 32" Samsung. This monitor would be a welcome upgrade for it.

 

[Lakados]

The RTX broastcast stuff it's both buggy and unoptimized. Things like face tracking and video filtering is easily enough handled when the hardware it there to handle it (Hell AI face tracking is built into something like the OBSBOT Tiny PTZ). Same goes for the audio elements like back ground noise canceling. A feature Discord has built in, via KRISP, and is AI software accelerated just fine. The spatial audio in particular has been something PC gaming has been doing for over 2 decades and moved from dedicated hardware to software acceleration at least a decade ago. It's really not hard to do, especially Dolby's tech for doing it

And I'm aware. I have clients I've setup with LG Ultrafine 5k's. It one of the few docking style solutions for Apple hardware that works well. But that's more on Apple than anyone else. Still, it's $2000 bux for what is essentially a 5k 60hz monitor with a Docking station built in. Plus no matter how good the camera is, Zoom, Teams, Facetime etc are going to compress the hell outta the video to the point where it won't really matter much. It's webcam, not a device for video production.

But as you say the RTX broadcast is buggy and unoptimized, and if does all that and more is well optimized and isn't buggy and does it all with next to zero load on the computer running it then I would call it a good product. All those features you mention PC's have been doing for years through all sorts of software solutions and they do add up with both CPU load and memory usage. Exact numbers change system to system but if this offloads audio processing to a dedicated piece of hardware that it has been well optimized for then that is only to the benefit of the end-user. If you put the Apple and the LG side by side is the Apple too expensive yeah but depending on how well the speakers sound and the camera looks probably only by $150, not bad for the Apple tax.

 

[TrunksZero]

But as you say the RTX broadcast is buggy and unoptimized, and if does all that and more is well optimized and isn't buggy and does it all with next to zero load on the computer running it then I would call it a good product. All those features you mention PC's have been doing for years through all sorts of software solutions and they do add up with both CPU load and memory usage. Exact numbers change system to system but if this offloads audio processing to a dedicated piece of hardware that it has been well optimized for then that is only to the benefit of the end-user. If you put the Apple and the LG side by side is the Apple too expensive yeah but depending on how well the speakers sound and the camera looks probably only by $150, not bad for the Apple tax.

Your forgetting that the M1's have allot of AI acceleration H/W as well. So offloading it to the M1 hardware would be transparent. On Intel systems it would also be, because this type of stuff is not process intensive enough to matter. None the less, if they had the hardware to do this why not. In the end by putting it in more places, it could bring the cost down.

The RTX broadcast stuff is buggy and unoptimized because it's after thought feature for nVidia. Not because it hard to do, process intensive or takes up meaningful amounts of ram.

Spatial audio in particular is easy. I used gaming as an example, but it may not have been the best one. The feature has existed on PC's and Mac in one form or another going back to the Pentium 3 era at least(if not further). The type of audio processing done by Dolby's tech isn't process intensive and never was. You can do it perfectly with super cheap DSP's and the same goes for noise canceling on Mic's. Apple choose to do it this way because it was likely easier and helps them justify, rightly or wrongly, the higher price tag.

 

[Lakados]

Your forgetting that the M1's have allot of AI acceleration H/W as well. So offloading it to the M1 hardware would be transparent. On Intel systems it would also be, because this type of stuff is not process intensive enough to matter. None the less, if they had the hardware to do this why not. In the end by putting it in more places, it could bring the cost down.

The RTX broadcast stuff is buggy and unoptimized because it's after thought feature for nVidia. Not because it hard to do, process intensive or takes up meaningful amounts of ram.

Spatial audio in particular is easy. I used gaming as an example, but it may not have been the best one. The feature has existed on PC's and Mac in one form or another going back to the Pentium 3 era at least(if not further). The type of audio processing done by Dolby's tech isn't process intensive and never was. You can do it perfectly with super cheap DSP's and the same goes for noise canceling on Mic's. Apple choose to do it this way because it was likely easier and helps them justify, rightly or wrongly, the higher price tag.

Maybe, but having it all work as a single plug-and-play hardware solution as opposed to a big software one is more Apple's style. But yeah nothing Apple puts out is cheap, and generally doesn't win in the bang for the buck category. But Apple probably doesn't expect to sell a lot of these things either it's a boutique item that doesn't get the luxury of any economy to scale. It's going to businesses who need the feature set, or to people who just want it because, Businesses can easily justify those expenses on more than a few fronts, and the people who want it don't need to justify it. I know I fall into neither of those categories, but I do know if I had some of that FU money this would be on my radar for sure.

 

[Algrim]

That display is probably going to see a lot of use attached to an M1 Mac Mini which does not have the acceleration vectors built-in, unlike the M1 Pro/Max/Ultra. The monitor + Mini combination is essentially the 27" iMac with cables.