(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Apple Studio Display XDR
Editors’ Choice
4.0
Excellent
What Our Ratings Mean
- 5.0 – Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 – Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 – Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 – Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 – Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 – Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 – Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 – Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 – Dismal: Don’t even think about buying this product
Read Our
Editorial Mission Statement
and
Testing Methodologies.
The Apple Studio Display XDR, Apple’s new flagship creator monitor, takes over the Pro Display XDR’s role while costing about half as much. With a 27-inch screen, it’s smaller than its 32-inch predecessor, and it offers 5K resolution instead of the Pro Display’s 6K, but it maintains the same high pixel density. The Studio Display XDR is notable for its extreme HDR brightness and a wide range of reference modes, its mini-LED screen with local dimming that delivers superb contrast, and its webcam and high-quality audio system.
Apple doesn’t tout the Studio Display XDR as competing with master reference monitors such as the Sony BVM-HX310, which can anchor a film production studio and cost well into five figures. Instead, the company pitches it to a more general professional audience. We are not aware of any monitor in its price range that has quite the set of elite features found in the Studio Display XDR. That means it easily earns our Editors’ Choice award as a Mac-centric creator monitor.
Still, we do want to mention a few other Mac-friendly options that are moderately priced. All are capable monitors, but they fall short of the XDR in some key areas. Casual Mac users or ones involved in, say, producing art for the web but who don’t need HDR, ultra-high contrast, and some of the Studio Display XDR’s reference modes (DICOM and Adobe RGB for example) should be fine with the regular 2026 Apple Studio Display, which comes in at about half the price of the XDR and is very bright for an IPS display.
The BenQ PD2770U ($1,699), currently in PC Labs for review, is rated for 99% coverage of both Adobe RGB and DCI-P3. It is Mac-optimized, with an M-book mode preset and Display Pilot 2 software, which allows you to control monitor brightness, volume, and color modes directly from your Mac keyboard. It also includes a built-in calibrator and supports ICC profile management. It’s a 4K IPS panel, though, with a BenQ-rated 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and although it supports HDR, BenQ makes no claim for extreme brightness.
The LG 32-Inch UltraFine evo ($1,999 list) is a 6K monitor that also claims excellent DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB coverage (98% and 99.5%, respectively), as well as Mac-friendly features. It is rated at VESA DisplayHDR 600, which, although it is a good figure, is well short of the Studio Display XDR’s rated and tested HDR luminance. Likewise, its IPS Black panel has a rated 2,000:1 contrast ratio. That’s impressive compared with a standard IPS screen, but it pales in comparison with the Studio Display XDR’s extreme contrast.
Finally, the Editors’ Choice-winning Asus ProArt 6K PA32QCV ($1,299) is far more affordable, has a larger screen, higher resolution, and a wider port selection. But although it has a couple of Mac-friendly presets, the PA32QCV lacks the wide range of reference modes of the Studio Display XDR, its seamless Mac integration, and the wondrous contrast of its mini-LED screen. The PA32QCV may be a better choice for most Windows users, but the Mac faithful, especially those who are relatively well off, will be more than happy with the Studio Display XDR.
SHOULD I UPGRADE?
Unless you’re a radiologist or work with medical images, for which the addition of the DICOM mode should prove a compelling reason to acquire a Studio Display XDR, we see no need to get one if you already have a Pro Display XDR, although you might want to do so to expand your screen area. With the Studio Display XDR’s daisy-chaining function, you can connect to your computer via the monitor’s Thunderbolt-in port and run a cable from its Thunderbolt-out port to the Pro Display XDR. (Note, though, that the two panels will be different sizes and resolutions.)
