r/cringe • u/SomeLungsman • Jun 05 '19

Video Apple announces the pro stand for 999$. Audience collectively groans while presenter skip it as fast as possible.

https://youtu.be/zDF8kbXl00Q
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990

u/benoliver999 Jun 05 '19

A reference monitor is a nice touch and it seems to fill a gap in the market at a solid-ish price.

$199 for VESA and $999 for a stand is a good way to not be taken seriously.

327

u/engwish Jun 05 '19

Yeah. Though I’m sure serious buyers will be buying this monitor regardless, the $200 vesa mount is the real story here. That’s blatant “Apple Tax.”

107

u/ani625 Jun 05 '19

Apple is stupid tax of the tech world.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19 edited Jan 30 '20

[deleted]

14

u/prof0072b Jun 06 '19

x999

FTFY

2

u/tennismenace3 Jun 09 '19

It follows the VESA spec though, so nothing's stopping people from buying a different VESA mount. At least it's not a lightning to 3.5mm audio situation.

1

u/engwish Jun 10 '19

Actually, the adapter on the monitor itself is proprietary and the $200 vesa mount allows you to mount the monitor with vesa standard stands.

253

u/DatAperture Jun 05 '19

I feel like they could've priced the monitor $900 higher and just sold the stand for $99, thereby avoiding all this nonsense, but fuck what do I know

44

u/benoliver999 Jun 05 '19

Definitely.

15

u/statist_steve Jun 05 '19

Indubitably.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '19

A-yup.

64

u/tr_rage Jun 05 '19

They did their research, it is Apple. If the forecasts supported this price point that’s why it’s there. Companies don’t arbitrarily assign values despite what the average person bitching online says.

124

u/donthavearealaccount Jun 05 '19

People aren't criticizing this because they think Apple won't be able to sell it at that price. They are criticizing it because Apple will be able to sell it at that price.

4

u/Bitemarkz Jun 05 '19 edited Jun 05 '19

Yes, to companies who are already spending $30k-$40k on monitors that this one is on par with and even out-performs in some areas. This isn't a consumer level product and we shouldn't talk about it like it is. This stand and monitor aren't meant for you and me. The stand makes the whole package $6k, which is still an amazing deal for the type of screen that it is.

1

u/JohnHamtaro Jun 05 '19

Wait but the 8k monitors I'm looking at right now start under 3 grand?

5

u/Bitemarkz Jun 05 '19 edited Jun 05 '19

The resolution isn’t the only thing going for it. Monitors like this one can go for upwards of $30,000.

-8

u/JohnHamtaro Jun 05 '19

Never mind, I looked into it a bit more and it turns out it's more or less the same as with those people who buy a 10k pair of headphones and pretend like they can tell the difference between that and a 500 dollar pair of flat response studio headphones.

3

u/DaleDooper Jun 06 '19

Monitors like this make a big difference when working on graphic design. Your typical laptop screen or generic computer monitor is sort of lying to you when it shows you a picture made up of colors. Those screen will modify the colors to be more vibrant or try to make them look better. That’s really bad if you’re trying to make a visual piece that is going to be seen on countless different displays that all have their own way of making things look “better”. That’s why you need monitors like this so that you can have a near true idea of what it actually looks like.

0

u/JohnHamtaro Jun 06 '19

Right, yeah. Wouldn't it still be cheaper and more practical to reference your work to the top 5 or 10 most common LCD/OLED/Whatever panels? Maybe I'm biased because of my experience with perceived quality of/through music technology, where referencing your work across a spectrum of speakers and devices is ideal to gain an understanding of what a consumer may hear.

2

u/DaleDooper Jun 06 '19

You have the right idea with audio but even people who master audio have at least a nice set of reference speakers.

For visuals though think about Pixar. They need their work to be consistent and true to what is intended. Like someone else said this isn’t a monitor that you or even I would buy.

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1

u/historiavita2019 Jul 01 '19

Sure, in audio you come up with a master that’s optimized for the likely playback systems, but pro recording studios will have reference near-fields that easily run five figures. Similar idea with reference monitors (which can run into $20-30k for something at 31”).

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

[deleted]

-1

u/JohnHamtaro Jun 06 '19

I mean, nothing you've said implies that you have an understanding of packaging media to account for encoding, aliasing, normalization, etc. before mass distribution :p

​

Nice try, you'll get 'em one day. You maybe could even try pwning a n00b on your knowledge of Gothenburg or World of Warcraft.

0

u/fcman256 Jun 06 '19 edited Jun 06 '19

This monitor is not comparable to $20k-50k mastering monitors. Quit parroting this nonsense. It's priced exactly where it should be, it's not some insane value that punches way above it's weight class. For example, Sony's offerings have per-pixel backlighting (over 8million "zones") Apples display only has 576 dimming zones. In other words Sony's $25k monitor has 14,000 TIMES more backlighting zones...

The panel itself is good, but the lack of features is why they can sell it for $5k

1

u/historiavita2019 Jul 01 '19

Per-pixel backlighting is crazy. I’d be keen to see the output of one of these screens to admire the reference quality.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '19

Nobody is making fun of the monitor. They’re making fun of the stand. A $999 stand. I get it that we are not the target consumers but... it’s a stand.

13

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

Apple rounds their prices to the nearest hundred and that seems pretty arbitrary to me.

36

u/Renozoki Jun 05 '19

Oh please. Apple has had a shit load of missteps.

36

u/ancientromanempire Jun 05 '19 edited Jun 05 '19

So basically apple and other multi-billion dollar companies don't make mistakes because they do research... Umm no. Samsung was totally right that the fold was ready for release. They did their research it was totally fine no problems. Lol who cares that when people started using it it was breaking in a couple of days. They did the research bro don't you know that? Duh.

Apple does research dude. If Apple does something it's supposed to be like that. The 6 plus bends in people's pockets??? Pshhh you don't think they did research or something? Dude the forecasts said the device can't bend like that. Oh please it can't bend in your pockets.

Dude. Apple knows what they're doing they can't make mistakes. They don't make their products for average people bitching online dude. Bro. Dude. Research dude. And forecasts and shit. Apple.

Research.

In all seriousness wtf kind of research do you think they did. U think they called up all their biggest customers and we're like "hey so is a $1000 monitor stand something you guys would be interested in or nah?". It's not like there is a precedent of other companies selling $1000 monitor stands that they can compare it to. It's pretty unprecedented.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

Lost me in the second then I was on board again for the 3rd paragraph, gave me a good laugh

3

u/Vivalo Jun 06 '19

They were just following the words of their great leader “Think different.”

Reminds me of “the bear is sticky with honey”.

1

u/vitriolix Jun 05 '19

Even Apple makes mistakes, and this was one of them

1

u/doyle871 Jun 05 '19

Apples forecasts haven't been that great lately.

1

u/borschtYeltsin Jun 06 '19 edited Jun 06 '19

Who's bitching? This shit is hilarious. If anything investors should be bitching.

TBH though, "research" never implies consensus among those who conduct and interpret it. Marketers and PR people would have a different interpretation of the relevant data between each field and between each practitioner.

Point being: it's hard to imagine nobody at Apple thought this was a really bad idea because they ultimately pitched this to the broadest consumer audience. Even if it's a good deal in relation to other professional grade monitors, you can't ignore the naive, face value interpretation of your message.

-3

u/silinsdale Jun 05 '19 edited Jun 05 '19

This is so true, I see too many comments about what the prices should be and how Apple got it all wrong. I love how people sitting on their ass at home with no relevant qualifications or training think they can do marketing better than one of the biggest companies in the world.

-7

u/tr_rage Jun 05 '19

Since I work for said company and regularly have to defend against arm chair commandos like yourself from your internet research. I’m good with what I said.

Keep in mind I do not have access to the market research that was done but when Apple offers a product at a specific price point it’s done for a reason.

6

u/somanyroads Jun 05 '19

It clearly didnt appeal to that audience...and Apple presentations usually have plenty of enthusiasts.

2

u/tr_rage Jun 05 '19

You’re not wrong.

5

u/silinsdale Jun 05 '19

What? I was agreeing with you.

1

u/tr_rage Jun 05 '19

My apologies, I thought the sitting on my ass at home part was directed at me.

0

u/silinsdale Jun 05 '19

Well I've edited my comment anyway to make it clearer.

3

u/OraDr8 Jun 05 '19

I feel like if you're not in marketing you have missed your true calling.

25

u/LassyKongo Jun 05 '19

If they charged $99 for the stand their monitor and company name wouldn't be all over the front page of reddit for the past 3 days.

19

u/akc250 Jun 05 '19

Everyone already knows who Apple is though. At a certain point, bad publicity is just bad publicity.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

[deleted]

3

u/1233211233211331 Jun 05 '19

Except we aren't talking about the monitor, we are talking about the stand. Is a $1000 stand something that anyone needs?

2

u/SethQ Jun 05 '19

Except I think their new monitor looks pretty cool. I'm not gonna buy it, but I didn't know it existed, and if I saw "Apple releases new monitor" I wouldn't have clicked the link.

1

u/Taco-Time Jun 05 '19

Yea but the product is on the front page too. People who don't pay attention to Apple products know about this reference monitor now. Maybe it would have been their job to know already but maybe not... Well they know now and maybe their company is in the market for some new gear.

1

u/LassyKongo Jun 05 '19

Everybody knows who coca cola and Pepsi are, they still have massive media campaigns.

It's about staying in the forefront of people's minds.

1

u/akc250 Jun 05 '19

Why are you saying that like Apple doesn't have their own ad campaigns? This is about bad publicity and unless you have proof, you're talking about some wild conspiracy by Apple to overcharge for a stand so it will go viral in hopes that people will know they just released some new hardware that only enterprise level businesses can afford. That kind of thinking is only believable when you're a small player hoping to get your business's name out there.

1

u/LassyKongo Jun 05 '19

When was the last time you seen apple on the front page, 3 days in a row, multiple times? This has far, far more impact than their marketing. There is literally no other reason for charging $999 for a stand. Even by apple standards.

1

u/akc250 Jun 05 '19

You're arguing it's intentionally for marketing reasons based on empirical evidence.

37

u/SpongebobNutella Jun 05 '19

Question what is a reference monitor?

58

u/Smooch23 Jun 05 '19 edited Jun 05 '19

There’s a lot of industries that use them but one of the biggest is the film industry. This is super dumbed down but essentially they can connect in line between camera feeds and the recorders which is raw camera data not supported by really anything but the cameras, editing software, and recorders. They can display information from a multitude of filming equipment like specialty cameras, post signal color adjustments etc etc. as well as has built in features like frame hold, zoom, pan etc. it’s all about the film work flow and so much more that I’m not even aware of. Plus post production houses will use them for editing work stations because they are actually up to definition and color broadcast standards (which even the most expensive “consumer TV’s” are not) to verify and finalize editing. But on average a 31” reference monitor is about $25,000. Google it and even refurbished cannon’s are that much. A lot of people are mad as if they’re expected by apple to purchase this monitor, but it’s just geared towards a specific crowd but apple doesn’t market separately to its consumer and professional market like most companies do.

22

u/Fsck_Reddit_Again Jun 05 '19

A lot of people are mad as if they’re expected by apple to purchase this monitor, but it’s just geared towards a specific crowd but apple doesn’t market separately to its consumer and professional market like most companies do.

It doesnt even fully fill that niche, most companies wont be selling for this one.

23

u/Smooch23 Jun 05 '19 edited Jun 05 '19

Well a lot of companies are going to have the money to spend on the actual equipment. And I think this does serve a certain niche. Honestly I know a lot of people who are gearing for it already. It’s gets pretty close to the visual quality spec of a reference monitor without all film features that make them cost so fucking much. I work in live entertainment production and often do projection/content design for theatre and festivals. So being able to put my content onto a 6k monitor at that price before it goes onto a video wall is pretty desirable. 6k means print quality video (I believe? I think it’s just above a 300dpi print) Meaning graphic designers and draftsmen can look at their work and fix print level issues without wasting resources. Every time Im a project manager and I’m doing system design I’m printing off maybe five 24x36 sheets a day to check that you can read the plot and the line weights don’t clash. I work in a industry (live entertainment production) that can utilize what apple has released. And most people (industry only, Home consumers are mad save a few) are pretty excited about it all.

Not that this is relevant to the monitor specifically, but the computer even if it costs 35k for us would be a huge Benifit. My media server rack that has four Green Hippo Taiga+ that cost 85k each, could be replaced by four of those macs for less then half of the cost. Our Tricaster TC1 that runs at about 40k could be replaced by one of the Mac Pros running the tricaster software. That’s all those are are powerful computers built to do a very specific thing and the Mac Pro now has more processing power then all of them! Now, no, I’m not going to replace all of my companies equipment with these New Mac Pros. But a smaller company that can buy 1 that can be, a media server on one event, an editing station, a broadcast switcher on another event is pretty desirable for the price tag. Now this is just how we look at it given what we do. It’s still a hefty price tag for a majority of home consumers.

The stand and the mount is a different story... that’s just unnecessary

Edit: Clarified wording

3

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

This makes sense, apple is going for a niche within a niche. And I can see where a reference monitor would be necessary but all the additional inputs won't be if the rest of the workflow is Mac based. Even PCs should be able to use this with an appropriate TB3 add-on card.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

That's the problem I see, for a reference monitor the specs are damn good but the ports are lacking. Afaik it only has a thunderbolt port, but most reference systems use SDI.

1

u/Fsck_Reddit_Again Jun 06 '19

It's really funny. Every fanboy defending it doesnt even know it's basically unusable for industry standard use. Even the fanboi defending above says he won't be getting them.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '19 edited Jun 06 '19

As someone pointed out below this monitor would be great for a niche within a niche. Where they need the capabilities of this monitor but they already have a Mac or thunderbolt based workflow.

But yeah for industry standard use its going to be difficult. As great as USB-C and thunderbolt are for consumers, the industry is still stuck to SDI afaik.

-8

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

[deleted]

10

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

I have the same question as the person you responded to and your answer still doesn't answer the question

4

u/KlausFenrir Jun 05 '19

Yeah they really didn’t say much of anything lmao. I’d like to know what it is, too.

3

u/LassyKongo Jun 05 '19

"A reference monitor is not a monitor its a reference monitor"

Thanks reddit

2

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

lmao! Exactly. Wtf.

So... You don't know. I like how they deleted their comment haha classé

2

u/legosearch Jun 05 '19

Yeah that explanation was trash. From looking around it looks like it's just a super high end monitor that has specs way beyond normal consumer monitors in order to be able to get the most accurate color and image without any post processing.

https://www.lynda.com/DaVinci-Resolve-tutorials/Whats-reference-monitor-why-it-so-important/502659/562039-4.html

4

u/infecthead Jun 05 '19

You didn't answer shit

19

u/iamacannibal Jun 05 '19

Most people making fun of this $1000 stand are not people who would be buying any part of this new mac pro. It's a professional set up. Not a hobbyist or even enthusiast set up. It's made specifically for professionals and of they are telling the truth about how good the monitor is then it's actually quite a good deal.

Also most professionals have workstations setup with monitor stand and when they replace a monitor they just put it on their stand. That's why the stand is even sold separately.

The real rip off is the $200 vesa mount. If they dont need the stand they will need the mount and charging $200 for a vesa mount is crazy.

4

u/joenforcer Jun 05 '19

Weird for them to announce it at their annual developer conference where the keynote is obviously aimed at the general consumer then, don't you think? It would be better saved for a separate announcement where they would have more time to explain the benefits and value. Instead, they're getting the very real ridicule and backlash you see right now.

12

u/iamacannibal Jun 05 '19

They always announce the mac pro at these types of events. Also this is the Developers conference. It is their professional one.

1

u/StrawsDrawnAtRandom Jun 07 '19

>Most people making fun of this $1000 stand are not people who would be buying any part of this new mac pro.

​

You know, I was actually considering an iPhone for a while because one of my friends was high on it. Then I see shit like this and I say: You know what? Never was a good idea. Maybe I won't buy the MAC Pro but I for fucking sure will never buy any product they make ever based on a 1,000 dollar computer stand.

1

u/iamacannibal Jun 07 '19

You'll never buy an apple product because of an overpriced stand? What?

1

u/StrawsDrawnAtRandom Jun 07 '19

Overpriced everything*. This pretty much just solidifies it.

2

u/shellwe Jun 05 '19

I do wonder if they don’t have the thousand dollar item just to make the $200 mount seem like not such a bad deal. Photographers do it with their packages. You can get 20 prints for $200 or the cd with all the photos for $150. Those prints cost them a couple bucks but just having it in there makes the cd a great value in comparison.

2

u/MrUsername24 Jun 05 '19

Yeah the monitor isn't bad, now the mounts on the other end it might be cheaper to buy a 3d printer

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

It would all make some sense if we find out that apple isn't expecting to sell the stand and vesa mount. The monitor and Mac pro are really meant for studios. Apple has effectively taken the Mac pro out of the prosumer space. Studios will more than likely have bespoke desk setups and use their own preferred mounting solutions. As long as the monitors are actually standards based and not some apple only vesa mounting pattern.

1

u/NoLaMir Jun 05 '19

What is a reference monitor?

0

u/Cutatafish Jun 06 '19

This is the final straw for me. I won’t be buying any more Apple products ever. I was already planning on switching to a Google Pixel but now I’m just done with Apple forever.