Hands-On With Apple's $4999 Pro Display XDR and $999 Stand

Alongside the Mac Pro, Apple launched the Pro Display XDR, a 6K professional display that's designed to be used with the ‌Mac Pro‌ and other high-powered Apple machines.

We picked up a Pro Display XDR alongside our Mac Pro, and it arrived today, so we thought we'd do an unboxing, hands-on, and first impressions video for MacRumors readers.


As a display designed for professional use, the Pro Display XDR has a $4,999 price tag that's not exactly consumer friendly, and Apple is charging an additional $999 for the stand that we have here, which has resulted in endless jokes.

Basically, if you want a functional display, you need to shell out $6,000, because unless you're going to mount the display using the $200 VESA mount, this is the only available stand at the current time.

The Pro Display XDR ships in an all-white pull tab box like the ‌Mac Pro‌, and it comes with a microfiber cleaning cloth, a braided power cable, and a braided Thunderbolt 3 cable.

We've got the Pro Display XDR without the matte nano-texture, which is $1,000 more expensive and not shipping yet, but if you do buy that nano-texture version, it's worth noting that you can only clean it with this included cloth if you don't want to damage it.

The Pro Display XDR connects to the standalone stand using super strong magnets, and the whole setup feels sturdy and high-quality, as it should at this price point.

Design wise, the Pro Display XDR has the same lattice design as the ‌Mac Pro‌ for the back of the display, used for ventilation and cooling. There are four USB-C ports on the Pro Display XDR, with one serving as a Thunderbolt 3 port for connecting to the ‌Mac Pro‌.

You can swivel the Pro Display XDR into portrait mode or landscape mode using a little button on the monitor stand, which is handy for those who prefer to use their displays in vertical mode. Tilt and height are also able to be adjusted.

The display itself is 32 inches in size with a resolution of 6016 x 3384, and unsurprisingly, it looks fantastic. It features 1,600 nits of peak brightness and 1,000 nits of sustained brightness, along with a super wide viewing angle and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. In a nutshell, it's an incredible display.

The color accuracy is impressive and suitable for professional use, and the HDR paired with the 1600 nits of peak brightness is excellent for those who are editing HDR content.

Apple is charging a minimum of $4,999 for this display, which sounds outrageous, but it is a display for professional use and when it comes to the quality and the feature set, it is a solid deal and competitively priced compared to other pro-level monitors.

Reference monitors used by Hollywood studios for TV and film editing, for example, can cost five times more than the Pro Display XDR with the same specs as the Pro Display XDR.

The Pro Display XDR was designed to be used with the ‌Mac Pro‌, but it is also compatible with 2018 or later 15-inch MacBook Pro models, the 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌, and the 2019 iMac models. You can also use it with the 2017 ‌iMac‌ Pro, but not at the full 6K resolution.

What do you think of the Pro Display XDR? Let us know in the comments.

Related Forum: Mac Accessories

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

iPhone SE 4 With Apple's Own 5G Modem 'Confirmed' to Launch in March

Tuesday November 19, 2024 12:12 pm PST by
Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley and his colleagues recently traveled to Asia to meet with various electronics manufacturers and suppliers. In a research note this week, outlining key takeaways from the trip, the analysts said they have "confirmed" that a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem is slated to launch towards the end of the first quarter next year. In line with previo...
airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock

Apple Releases iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 With Security Fixes

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 come three weeks after the launch of iOS 18.1. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iOS 17.7.2 for...
at t turbo indicator iphone 16 pro max v0 8hrh7w5f3w1e1

AT&T Turbo Indicator Showing Up in iPhone Status Bar for Subscribers

Wednesday November 20, 2024 3:42 am PST by
AT&T has begun displaying "Turbo" in the iPhone carrier label for customers subscribed to its premium network prioritization service, according to reports on Reddit. The new indicator seems to have started appearing after users updated to iOS 18.1.1, but that could be just coincidence. Image credit: Reddit user No_Highlight7476 The Turbo feature provides enhanced network performance through ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Rumored to Surpass iPhone 6 as Thinnest iPhone Ever

Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick. "We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote. If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
bug security vulnerability issue fix larry

Make Sure to Update: iOS 18.1.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 Fix Actively Exploited Vulnerabilities

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:52 am PST by
The iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 updates that Apple released today address JavaScriptCore and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says have been actively exploited on some devices. With the JavaScriptCore vulnerability, processing maliciously crafted web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. The WebKit vulnerability had the same issue with maliciously crafted...

Top Rated Comments

retta283 Avatar
64 months ago
All I know is Apple made a grand, grand PR mistake by not just including the stand with the monitor and adding $1000 to the price. They could've avoided all the memes and hate comments.

That's assuming it wasn't done for that exact reason.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Simmias Avatar
64 months ago
The video was frustrating to watch. I was waiting to hear “first impressions“, but it was just a recitation of features and specs that we already knew. What is it like to use the display? Is the subjective quality head and shoulders above something like an iMac? Only noticeable to the trained eye? Is it quiet? How bright is the maximum brightness? A monitor can only be judged in person, so I was anxious to hear about the actual experience, not just info you can find on the product page.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
InfoTime Avatar
64 months ago
I worked for Apple dealers in the late 80s and early 90s. A 20" CRT used in desktop publishing applications routinely sold for $4,000 to $5,000. The NuBus graphics cards to drive those displays were a couple thousand as well. So in today's dollars, $6,000 for a 32" flat screen with the quality and resolution of this one is not that ridiculous.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chrjy Avatar
64 months ago

All I know is Apple made a grand, grand PR mistake by not just including the stand
I see what you did there.... ?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Krizoitz Avatar
64 months ago

All I know is Apple made a grand, grand PR mistake by not just including the stand with the monitor and adding $1000 to the price. They could've avoided all the memes and hate comments.

That's assuming it wasn't done for that exact reason.
The people making memes and hate comments were never going to buy one of these in the first place.
Apple was/is right to ignore them.
Some people, especially tech fanatics, just can't get that not everything is about them.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mdriftmeyer Avatar
64 months ago

All I know is Apple made a grand, grand PR mistake by not just including the stand with the monitor and adding $1000 to the price. They could've avoided all the memes and hate comments.

That's assuming it wasn't done for that exact reason.
Not at all. Every single professional using that new stand raves rightly so about its capabilities. You people meaning you non-professional consumers have absolutely zero clue on the Kinematics and interior working parts of that assembly, and yet expect it to be included in the price.

You will never buy a reference monitor so just stop whining already.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)