Apple Pro Display XDR Review

Apple Pro Display XDR Review

ByRamsha Mehmood

For pro-level, Mac-bound multimedia makers, Apple’s Pro Display XDR is a must-have. At a price that appears to be costly on the surface, it boasts reference-level color fidelity and highly powerful HDR capabilities. Alternatives such as the Asus ProArt PA32UCX are better for Windows or Linux-based producers. After all, this is the first HDR display that Apple has ever offered.

Design and Features:

The Apple Pro Display XDR boasts a unique, avant-garde look that is sleek and stylish, yet critics and users have had conflicting reactions to it. The monitor has a silver coating that matches that of Apple’s products, making it scratch and age resistant. Connecting it to a Mac Pro or MacBook Pro is the only method to turn it on or change its image settings. The parts are constructed of metal and are of good quality and precision, but their price makes them feel like a cash grab. Since it’s also a capable monitor for HDR movies, high-fidelity audio would be ideal.

LED not OLED:

Apple’s Pro Display XDR is an IPS LCD with 576 individually controllable LEDs as a backlight. It’s not an “OLED” display with individual pixels that can be turned off for “perfect” contrast. Apple explored utilizing OLED technology but decided against it in favor of an IPS panel “because of its improved uniformity, sustained thermal and brightness performance, off-axis viewing characteristics, and resistance to permanent burn-in.”

Display and Performance:

The Apple Pro Display XDR sports a 32-inch IPS with Oxide TFT panel with a fantastic resolution of 6016 x 3384. Most users won’t need to calibrate this monitor for its intended function because the default accuracy is excellent, with a delta average of 0.57. The screen has vibrant colors with just the appropriate amount of depth, and there are no apparent discolorations or deviations. The Apple Pro Display XDR’s panel uniformity is outstanding, with no apparent deviances in the backlight spread or leakage around the corners. The screen is also devoid of visible clouding, so you won’t have to worry about the common defects that plague ordinary IPS displays. At 60Hz, the input lag is 20ms, which is tolerable given that it wasn’t built for gaming in the first place.

Anecdotal Testing:

The Apple TV+ app or 4K HDR files you’ve saved locally to the system are the only ways to watch 4K content in HDR or Dolby Vision. With a 32-inch panel, it’s unlikely that anyone will use this monitor as their primary source of HDR material. Anecdotal game testing was impossible because we only had a MacBook Pro to connect to the Pro DisplayXDR.

Pros:

  • Color accuracy is exceptional. 
  • DisplayHDR 1600 has a stunning appearance. 
  • The contrast ratio is high. 
  • Constructed with sturdiness in mind. 
  • It has a lovely design. 
  • Compatibility with Windows in Boot Camp or specific broadcast-workflow devices.

Cons:

  • Stand with a hefty price tag. 
  • There are no input options other than USB-C.

Conclusion:

Apple’s Pro Display XDR offers superior color accuracy and build quality at a price that’s comparable to reference-grade pro monitors. It’s beautiful enough that the astronomically high price of its Pro Stand is justified.

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