Mac display screens: Pro Display XDR – Apple

Pro Display XDR – Apple

Believing is seeing.

The first 32-inch Retina 6K display ever. Up to 1600 nits of brightness. An astonishing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and superwide viewing angle. Over a billion colors presented with exceptional accuracy. And dynamic range that transforms the professional workflow. Introducing Apple Pro Display XDR, the world’s best pro display.

XDR. Dynamic range to the extreme.

The contrast your eyes see between brightness and darkness is very challenging to reproduce in a display, leading to the development of High Dynamic Range (HDR). With breakthrough backlighting technology, Pro Display XDR takes brightness, contrast, and color to a new level. Far beyond HDR, it’s Extreme Dynamic Range (XDR).

A brighter idea.

Typical desktop displays have sustained brightness around 350 nits. Some pro displays exceed this, but most can only sustain it for short periods of time. Pro Display XDR produces an industry-leading 1000 nits of full-screen sustained brightness and 1600 nits at its peak.¹ It gives you the power to maintain extreme brightness without ever dimming. Along with efficient backlight control, this delivers outstanding contrast between the brightest brights and the blackest blacks. The result is an incredible 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and stunningly real XDR imagery.

1000 nits
full-screen sustained brightness

1600 nits
peak brightness

1,000,000:1
contrast ratio

Show your truest colors.

Pro Display XDR always gives you the truest representation of your work. A P3 wide color gamut provides a color palette capable of creating the most vibrant imagery. With true 10-bit color, Pro Display XDR can produce more than a billion colors with extreme accuracy. State-of-the-art calibration and a sophisticated algorithm ensure that you get the highest-quality color possible.

10-bit
color depth

P3
wide color gamut

LED in a whole new light.

True-to-life imagery requires having extremely bright areas of the screen right next to extremely dark areas. Without precise backlight control, this can cause an unintended glow called blooming. Pro Display XDR is able to dramatically reduce blooming using advanced LED technology, light shaping, and intelligent image processing.

LEDs

Light mixing and shaping

Color transformation sheet

Micro-lens array

TCON

Innovation in every layer.

Every aspect of the light imaging system in Pro Display XDR is crucial to the overall quality of what you see onscreen. Each element builds on top of the last to create a display with unbelievable brightness and contrast.

576 blue LEDs work together.

Typical LCDs are edge-lit by a strip of white LEDs. The 2D backlighting system in Pro Display XDR is unlike any other. It uses a superbright array of 576 blue LEDs that allows for unmatched light control compared with white LEDs. Twelve controllers rapidly modulate each LED so that areas of the screen can be incredibly bright while other areas are incredibly dark. All of this produces an extraordinary contrast that’s the foundation for XDR.

Light is mixed and shaped.

For even greater control of light, each LED is treated with a reflective layer, a highly customized lens, and a geometrically optimized reflector that are all unique to Pro Display XDR. Through a pioneering design, light is reflected, mixed, and shaped between two layers to minimize blooming and provide uniform lighting.

Color is transformed.

Converting blue light to white is a difficult process that requires extremely precise color conversion. It’s why most display makers use white LEDs. Pro Display XDR accomplishes this conversion with an expertly designed color transformation sheet made of hundreds of layers that control the light spectrum passing through them.

Brightness is taken to the edge.

Pro Display XDR extends exceptional image quality to the very edge. To ensure that LEDs along the sides of the display mix well with adjacent ones, a micro-lens array boosts light along the edges. This creates uniform color and brightness across the entire screen.

One chip makes it all possible.

With a massive amount of processing power, the timing controller (TCON) chip utilizes an algorithm specifically created to analyze and reproduce images. It controls LEDs at over 10 times the refresh rate of the LCD itself, reducing latency and blooming. It’s capable of multiple refresh rates for amazingly smooth playback. Managing both the LED array and LCD pixels, the TCON precisely directs light and color to bring your work to life with stunning accuracy.

Superwide viewing angle.

When multiple people review work together on a single screen, it’s critical that everyone sees the same thing. While most pro desktop displays claim a wide viewing angle, in reality, color and image quality become distorted when seen off-axis. With industry-leading polarizer technology, Pro Display XDR achieves a superwide viewing angle that maintains exceptional color and contrast.

Up to
25x
better off-axis contrast
than a typical LCD

Nano-texture glass.

Light scattered to further reduce glare.

Less glare.
And even less glare.

Every Pro Display XDR screen is engineered for extremely low reflectivity. And if you’re in an especially uncontrolled lighting environment, there’s an innovative matte option with nano-texture glass. Typical matte displays have a coating added to their surface that scatters light. However, these coatings lower contrast while producing unwanted haze and sparkle. The nano-texture on Pro Display XDR is actually etched into the glass at the nanometer level. The result is a screen with beautiful image quality that maintains contrast while scattering light to reduce glare to the barest minimum.

Goes with the workflow.

Professionals require a lot from their displays. But each person has different needs. Resolution, reference modes, reliable calibration. Pro Display XDR has everything you need in a modern workflow, bringing a new level of efficiency to every production. It wasn’t just made for the pro workflow. It redefines it.

Retina 6K. Expand your view.

Higher resolution means more than just a better-quality image. With a Retina 6K display, Pro Display XDR gives you nearly 40 percent more screen real estate than a 5K display. While most displays max out at around 150 pixels per inch (ppi), our Retina display has 218 ppi, providing astoundingly sharp and detailed imagery. It’s a massive creative canvas that easily fits 4K content, your tools, and much more all in one screen.

218 ppi
Retina 6K display

On location.

From the start of a shoot, Pro Display XDR reveals the content you’re capturing with incredible accuracy.

Post-production.

Image reproduction remains consistent across every point of your workflow, ensuring that everyone is always on the same page.

Reference modes.

It’s easy to adjust Pro Display XDR to match the requirements of HDR, HD, SD video, digital cinema, and broader uses such as photography, web development, design, and print. Just select a mode, and the display reconfigures itself to match a specified color space, white point, gamma, and brightness. You even have the ability to create custom reference modes.

True Tone.

The lighting around you can affect the way you see onscreen colors. True Tone on Pro Display XDR uses a breakthrough dual ambient light sensor design — with a sensor on the front and another on the back — to better gauge your overall lighting environment. This facilitates more exact adjustments to the color and intensity of your display, so you can have accurate viewing in all lighting conditions.

Expertly calibrated.

Pro Display XDR is optimized to more than meet the standards of creative professionals. Every display goes through our state-of-the-art color calibration. Each of the display’s 576 LEDs is also individually calibrated and has its light profile stored. An algorithm then uses this information to determine the exact light intensity at which each LED should be modulated to produce the best possible image.

A beautiful picture is only part of the story.

Pro Display XDR is stunning every way you look at it. Its screen stretches edge to edge with just a 9 mm border, so your work takes center stage. The aluminum enclosure is just an inch thick and features an innovative lattice pattern that reduces weight and increases airflow.

More air than metal.

The lattice pattern machined into the aluminum has many advantages. It more than doubles the surface area exposed to air, facilitating additional airflow and acting as a heat sink. This allows for fast and quiet cooling, enabling Pro Display XDR to sustain an extreme level of brightness indefinitely. Inlet and exhaust vents work through this pattern to draw in cool air and eject hot air away from the system, limiting the potential for hot air to be reingested.

Elevate your work. And rotate it, too.

Every aspect of Pro Display XDR was designed with pros in mind. Pro Stand is no exception. Height, tilt, rotation — it’s completely adjustable. It’s stable without taking up much space. And its ability to rotate to landscape or portrait makes it perfect for any type of work.

Fine-tuned fine‑tuning.

Pro Stand makes every adjustment of your display feel seamless. Precision tilting and 120 mm of height adjustment help Pro Display XDR adapt to any viewing condition. The angle of the display stays true even as you adjust the height. With Pro Stand, you get a display that feels weightless, moves effortlessly where you want it, and stays exactly where you leave it.

Every side is its good side.

Pro Stand gives you the ability to move between landscape and portrait whenever you want. All you have to do is unlock the slider and turn the display. Whether you’re a developer, a photographer, or a composer, you can see more of your work without endless scrolling.

Detach. Move. Attach.

Having the freedom to move between being on set and working in the studio can make a big difference. The magnetic connector on Pro Stand makes it easy to attach and detach from its polar-opposite magnet on the back of Pro Display XDR. These magnets guide the connection while latches automatically engage and securely lock the stand to the display. Detaching it is as simple as unlocking the slider.

Available VESA Mount Adapter.

Many pros have unique mounting setups for their displays. The VESA Mount Adapter attaches to the display in a matter of seconds for quick and easy mounting.

Powerful partnerships.

Pair Pro Display XDR with Mac Pro to create the ultimate professional workstation. Or connect it to your MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 3.²

Use AR to see Pro Display XDR in your workspace.

Open this page on your iPhone or iPad to view Pro Display XDR in AR.

View in AR

Power to change everything.

Learn more about Mac Pro

Here’s why Samsung and Dell’s new monitors are so exciting for Mac users

CES/
Gadgets/
Tech

We’re finally getting some competition in the 5K and 6K monitor space.

By Dan Seifert, an editor overseeing The Verge’s product reviews and service journalism programs. Dan has covered the technology world for over a decade at The Verge.

Jan 6, 2023, 4:04 PM UTC|

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Samsung’s ViewFinity S9 5K monitor.Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

A weird thing has happened at CES this year: display manufacturers not named Apple have announced true 5K and 6K monitors designed for creative work and productivity. These new monitors, which will appeal to Mac users for reasons other than “it’s white and doesn’t have RGB lights,” are providing some actual competition to Apple’s Studio Display and even an alternative to the staggeringly expensive pro-level Pro Display XDR.

It’s hard to overstate how rare this actually is. Though there have been many monitors marketed toward MacBook owners over the years, with features such as USB-C connectivity, high-wattage charging, and nicer than average designs, they’ve typically all had traditional 4K panels and sub-par pixel densities, as opposed to the higher-resolution displays that Apple puts in its devices. There was always a compromise required with one of those other monitors if you hooked a MacBook up to it.

A lot of people wonder why you can’t just use a large 4K monitor with a Mac, of which there are many, many options available. You certainly can, and many people do, but if you’re a designer or artist or just someone who’s particular about how text and images are rendered on a screen, you want a higher-resolution screen. Due to the way display scaling works in macOS, pixel resolution and brightness are more important qualities than fast refresh rates and response times, which are typically featured in monitors marketed toward PC gamers.

The way display scaling works in macOS demands more pixels than the typical 4K monitor offers

Developer Marc Edwards at Bjango has gone deep on how display scaling works and the compromises you make when using a lower-resolution screen with a Mac, and I encourage you to read his post to learn about it. The extremely condensed version is that you want a screen with roughly 220 ppi or more for the best fidelity. That means 4K resolutions (3840 x 2160 pixels) max out at 24 inches — 27-inch screens require 5K (5120 x 2880 pixels), while you’re looking at 6K (6016 x 3384 pixels) for something over 30 inches.

The history of Apple-oriented display options has been fraught for the past decade or so. When Apple came out with its “retina” MacBook Pro in 2012 (and then followed up with the 5K iMac two years later), the monitors of the time couldn’t match the roughly 220 ppi pixel density or sharpness of the displays available on a laptop. The average 1080p or 1440p monitor that worked great for the past decade suddenly became fuzzy and pixelated compared to the MacBook’s screen.

Apple, having gotten out of the monitor game a few years earlier, enlisted LG in 2016 to produce a line of monitors that did match the pixel density of its MacBook Pros: a 22-inch 4K display, a 24-inch 4K model, and most interestingly, a 27-inch 5K standalone monitor that effectively used the same screen as the 5K iMac. These LG UltraFine monitors integrated well with Apple’s laptops at the time, including supporting a single USB-C cable connection, brightness and volume controls from the MacBook’s keyboard, and offering integrated camera, microphones, and speakers. The display panels, particularly on the 5K model, looked great, with sharp images and great color reproduction. But they were plagued with issues, including shoddy build quality, poor reliability, and high prices.

There were very few other options for large high-resolution displays — Dell made one for a short period of time, but that’s about it — until Apple finally returned to the monitor market itself in 2019 with the 32-inch 6K Pro Display XDR. This new larger monitor maintained the pixel density and sharpness of the laptops and iMacs but added new local dimming display technology that allowed it to hit up to 1,600 nits of brightness. It also started at a staggering $5,000 and didn’t even come with a stand — that would cost you another $1,000.

The Pro Display XDR has 6K resolution and a $5,000 price tag. Nice, but uh, not attainable.Photo by Avery White for The Verge

In 2021, Apple finally responded to the calls for a more accessible monitor with the Studio Display, a 27-inch 5K monitor that effectively took the same display technology and panel (albeit with slightly higher brightness) as the LG 5K UltraFine and 27-inch iMac, wrapped it in a sleeker aluminum frame, and improved its built-in microphones and speakers (but sadly, saddled it with a worse webcam). The $1,600 Studio Display is more affordable than the Pro Display XDR, but it’s far from cheap and feels a bit small in this world of many bigger options. But if you wanted pixel-perfect resolution from your Mac, it’s basically the only realistic option. (LG’s 5K UltraFine remains available but hasn’t meaningfully changed since its launch and still commands a price well over $1,000.)

That, of course, was until this week, when Samsung and Dell both announced new monitors clearly meant to appeal to Mac users. These new screens aren’t just run-of-the-mill 4K panels with USB-C ports and white plastic — they have the actual high-res pixel densities that work best with macOS and match the sharpness of Apple’s displays. They also offer the “whole package” of integrated webcam, microphone, and speakers that Apple sells with the Studio Display, providing a whole desk setup through one cable.

Samsung’s new ViewFinity S9 is a 27-inch 5K monitor that goes toe-to-toe with Apple’s Studio Display. It has the same 5120 x 2880 resolution, matches the brightness and color space fidelity, and uses Thunderbolt 4 for connectivity. It also includes integrated microphones and speakers and comes with what will hopefully be a better performing webcam. The aesthetics of the S9 are very similar to the Studio Display, too, with a sleek design and minimalist stand. There’s no gamer RGB here — you can fit this in a stylish design studio or include it in a desk porn setup on Instagram without getting ridiculed.

Samsung’s ViewFinity S9 matches Apple’s Studio Display spec for spec and even apes its design. It also has more ports and features than Apple’s option.Image: Samsung

Samsung goes on to one-up Apple with more connectivity options, including HDMI and DisplayPort, making it much more practical to use with two computers or a game console. It even comes with a remote and has Samsung’s smart TV software built in so you could use it to watch streaming services when the workday is done (or in the middle of the day — I’m not your boss).

Perhaps more interesting is the new Dell UltraSharp 32, the first monitor I’m aware of that matches the Pro Display XDR’s 32-inch size and 6K resolution. It doesn’t have the same HDR-capable local dimming display technology as the XDR, instead using an IPS Black panel sourced from LG, but it comes with integrated speakers, microphones, and a beefy 4K webcam, all of which are lacking from Apple’s high-end option. The UltraSharp 32 may be best described as a bigger version of the Studio Display, as it provides all of the necessary desk peripherals most people need but with a larger — just as sharp — panel. The Dell also tops out at 600 nits of brightness (the same as the Studio Display and Samsung’s S9) and comes with a whole litany of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 (with up to 140W of power delivery), HDMI 2.1, ethernet, and four USB-A ports. It’s basically a complete Thunderbolt dock built into the back of the display.

Dell’s UltraSharp 32 has the same size and resolution as the Pro Display XDR but without the local dimming tech and probably the sky-high price tag.Image: Dell

One major area that the Dell differs from Apple’s or even Samsung’s display is in design. Instead of the sleek, minimalist designs of the others, the UltraSharp 32 looks just as homely as any other Dell monitor, and it has a comically large “forehead” bezel at the top to house its oversize webcam. I have a feeling many people will forgive that if the webcam performs better than the Studio Display’s, though, which it shouldn’t have much trouble beating.

As is typical with early in the year CES announcements, neither Samsung nor Dell have provided pricing information for these new displays. But it’s highly likely that they will undercut Apple’s prices, particularly for the Dell. Even if it comes in over $2,000, that’s still three thousand dollars less than you could buy a 32-inch 6K display for before this. I’d be surprised if Samsung’s S9 isn’t itself at least $500 less than the Studio Display.

We also don’t yet know how well these displays perform in practice — we had good impressions of the S9 when we briefly saw it in a demo space this week, but that’s far from using it in the real world. We don’t exactly know how well the microphones and speakers perform (both of which are Certifiably Good on the Studio Display) or how much better Samsung and Dell’s 4K webcams are.

Pricing is still TBD, but it’s a safe bet that Samsung and Dell will undercut Apple here

Open questions remain about how well they integrate with Apple’s peripherals, too. You will likely have to give up Apple-specific features like True Tone with these monitors, and if you’re connecting them to a MacBook Pro 14 or 16, you won’t get the ProMotion smoothness or brightness pop that comes with the Mini LED screens on those laptops. (To be fair, you don’t get those things with the Studio Display, either.) Lastly, we don’t know how committed either Samsung or Dell are to this market — after all, Dell made a 5K display for a time before discontinuing it a short period later.

Still, it’s exciting that we’re finally starting to see actual options for high-resolution displays that are designed to make the most of macOS after so many years of either middling or overpriced (or both) options. Apple has been rumored to be working on as many as three new monitors as well, including options that use the same Mini LED tech found in the MacBook Pro displays.

If you’re in the market for a new monitor for your MacBook or Mac Studio, it’ll be a good year.

Change display settings on Mac

In Displays preferences on Mac, you can adjust resolution, brightness, and other display settings.

Not all of the options described here are available for every display model, and some of them only appear when a Mac is connected to an external display.

To change these settings, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Displays in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down the menu.) Once your Mac is connected to the display, click its name on the right to select the options you want.

Open display settings

Parameter				Description
9 0002 Arrange				Drag the displays to the desired location. To enable video mirroring for displays, hold down the Option key and drag one display onto another. To change the position of a menu bar, drag it to another display. This option only appears if an external display is connected to the Mac. Extended Mac desktop and image mirroring across multiple displays.
Pop-up menu				Select display for mirroring or desktop extension.
Use as				Select whether to use the display as a mirroring or desktop extension, or as the primary display. This option only appears if an external display is connected to the Mac.
Optimized for				Select to optimize for external display or desktop. This option only appears if an external display is connected to your Mac.
Resolution				Select the amount of detail on the display screen. Choose Default to automatically use the best resolution for your display, or choose another option to manually set the resolution. Mac screen resolution selection.
Brightness				Select how light or dark the image appears on the screen. To make the image brighter, move the slider to the right; to make it darker, move the slider to the left. Change the brightness of your Mac screen.
“Auto adjust brightness” or “Ambient light compensation” (depending on the display)				The brightness of the display will be automatically adjusted based on ambient light. This option is only available if your Mac has an ambient light sensor.
True Tone				Display colors will automatically adjust based on ambient light.
Color profile				Change the color profile used by the display. Detailed information about all the color profiles installed on your Mac (and used by connected cameras, printers, and displays) can be viewed in the ColorSync Utility (located in the Applications > Utilities folder). See ColorSync Utility User’s Guide. You can also create your own color profile by calibrating the display.
“Rotate” or “Rotate” (depending on the display)				Rotate the image on the display screen by the specified angle. Rotate an image on a Mac screen. This button appears only when a supported external display is connected to your Mac.
Refresh rate				Adjust the screen refresh rate. If the frequency is set too low, the screen will appear to flicker. If the frequency is set too high, a black screen may appear when the corresponding frequency is not supported. See your display documentation for the best refresh rate setting. On a supported display, you can set the refresh rate to dynamically adjust using the Adaptive Sync feature. This option appears only if an external display is connected to the Mac that supports changing the refresh rate.
Show Sidebar				Choose how the sidebar appears on your iPad: it can be displayed on the left, right, or not displayed at all. This option is displayed only when iPad is used as the second display.
Display Touch Bar				Choose how the Touch Bar appears on the iPad: it can be displayed at the top, at the bottom, or not at all. When you use an application that supports the Touch Bar on iPad, the Touch Bar appears in the location you choose. The buttons available on the Touch Bar vary depending on the current application and task. This option is displayed only when iPad is used as the second display.
Enable double-tap on Apple Pencil				Check this box to allow you to double-tap the bottom of your Apple Pencil to switch between drawing tools in some apps (if the Apple Pencil supports it). See Apple Support article Connect Apple Pencil to iPad. This option is displayed only when iPad is used as the second display.
Overscan				Select this option if you are using a TV as your display and the menu bar is not displayed. This option only appears on supported TVs.
Underscan				If you are using a TV as a display and do not want vertical black bars to appear on the sides while watching movies or TV shows, select this option. This option only appears on supported TVs.
Extras				Adjust settings to connect to a nearby Mac or iPad and save power. Mac or iPad connection. See Use your keyboard and mouse or trackpad to control multiple devices with Universal Control. Battery and power. Dim the screen slightly when on battery power, or disable the Mac from auto-sleep when the computer is connected to a power source and the display is off.
Night Shift				Bring the display color closer to the warm tones of the spectrum. The warm colors of the screen make your eyes less tired when you use your Mac at night or in low light. See Using Night Shift.
Search for displays				The system will search for displays connected to the Mac. Press and hold the Option key to show this button instead of the Night Shift button, then click the Search for Displays button if your Mac doesn’t recognize the newly connected display.

You can also use Control Center to adjust display brightness, control screen mirroring, and access Displays settings. Click Control Center in the menu bar, then choose Display or Screen Mirroring.

See also Accessibility settings on Mac

Closed screen mode on MacBook with external screen

Many of you have purchased one of these adapters to be able to supply our MacBook with external screens. They are Mini Display to HDMI or VGA Adapters (Microsoft is now also equipping its Surface with this critical adapter.) And is an accessory that will allow us to have two screens on our Macs to make working much more convenient . Also, with Mavericks you will have sort of two devices, as on two screens all the menus will be filled as if they were two different devices.

You might need I only want to use this external monitor Remember that if you use your MacBook’s screen and an external one, you will duplicate the work of your graphic cards… As we say you have the option to use only an external screen and use your MacBook only with this screen (This is also compatible with MacBook Pro and Air). Then we will leave you the steps that you need to follow to be able to use the “closed screen” mode of the MacBook .

First of all you will need a mouse and an external keyboard Obviously, if your MacBook’s screen is closed, you won’t be able to access your MacBook’s internal peripherals. You will also need MacBook Power Adapter this mode only works when we are connected to a power source; and last (and not least) we need an external screen .

We will definitely have plugged our MacBook into an outlet with the power adapter.
We will connect a mouse and keyboard to our MacBook (in case they go by cable). If we have a wireless mouse and keyboard, we will have to pair them first on the Bluetooth panel of our MacBook.
We will verify that in the System Preferences panel we have activated the option “Activate the computer via Bluetooth devices” so that we can pause the equipment and start it again from these external devices (when they are connected via Bluetooth).