Ultra-wide monitor beats out Studio Display in Mac setup

The turf war between standard displays and ultra-wide monitors continues — sometimes within one computer setup. Today’s M4 Mac mini user went back and forth multiple times before their Samsung ultra-wide OLED display retook the crown from their Studio Display, which is now “gone.” And that’s the case despite their acknowledgement that “Studio Display is the best monitor for Mac, no discussion.”

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Samsung ultra-wide monitor finally prevails over Studio Display in Mac mini setup

Redditor Ok-Mulberry6597 (“Ok”) relayed the back-and-forth display saga in a post titled “The Studio Display is gone🫣.” Cult of Mac‘s Setups coverage ended up covering their hemming and hawing over the displays in a previous post, among other gear changes over time. And this time around, it’s not just about the Samsung’s victory. The M4 Mac mini makes for a new addition, plus some other items in the gear links list below.

“So I decided to skip the Apple Studio Display for this Samsung OLED G8. Now running Xbox, Mac mini M4, Apple TV and the iPad Pro M4 … and I actually love it!” Ok said. “Yes yes, the Studio Display is the best monitor for Mac, no discussion, but this Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED, is just wow.”

Then another person jumped in with a common Studio Display criticism — it’s standard, Mac-friendly 60Hz refresh rate is low for gaming.

“Nice, I too switched away from the Studio Display,” they said. “It’s great and all as it matched my MacBook screen, but that 60Hz refresh rate is piss poor in 2025.”

What’s the difference?

Others agreed with the sentiment above. At least one person noted that $1,600 is too much to pay for a display with such a low refresh rate. Others defended Studio Display for it’s crisp text and brilliant color, but noted it’s not necessarily worth buying for people who don’t work as graphic designers, video editors and others who need to do color-accurate work.

Then someone asked Ok what the difference between the two displays is.

“[Samsung G8] is a gaming monitor, 175Hz OLED, Studio Display is a productivity monitor 5K crisp 60Hz,” Ok replied. “So for me, the possibility to connect Xbox, Mac, Apple TV and iPad is a plus. And since I don’t (any more) do any video or photo editing, the Samsung is the right solution. And I got the Samsung display and the Mac mini for the price of the Studio Display😅.”

Another commenter asked about PPI (pixels per inch), concerned about text crispness on the Samsung. Studio Display packs in 218 PPI.

Here’s Ok’s reply, which defines the different tasks suited to each monitor:

“I had the Studio Display for a little over a year. [It’s] stunning, crisp and bright. I used it for text and photo work. But I can get away with the iPad Pro doing that work, and this monitor is actually okay for that kind of work. The PPI on the Samsung is 110…The Odyssey is for gaming and watching movies, and casual work, and it´s the 34-inch version.”

One last Studio Display gripe

Then another Studio Display owner offered another gripe that seems on-target here:

“My biggest gripe with my Studio Display is that you can only connect one device at a time and it has to be a USB-C Thunderbolt connection,” they fumed. “Apple sells Macs with HDMI connectors, how about one more input so I don’t have to buy a bunch of gadgets to plug anything else in? Why does Apple always do this, they come out with the almost perfect device but cripple it in one key area?”

Cripple it? Ouch.

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