Apple's Studio Display vs. LG's UltraFine 5K Display

The UltraFine 5K display that has been on the market for a number of years was immediately compared to Apple's new 27 inch 5K studio display.

We decided to compare the two displays to see which is a better value because the Studio display is $300 cheaper than the LG display.

The viewing experience is the same between the two displays, but the UltraFine has a higher brightness than the studio display, which means a noticeable difference.

The UltraFine looks a bit more vibrant than the Studio Display, but it still offers deeper blacks and brighter areas, and it doesn't blow out the highlights. The UltraFine has seen a lot of complaints about image retention over the years, but we haven't seen any issues with that on the studio display.

Both models have additional features beyond the display itself, one of which is a webcams. The studio display has an Ultrawide camera with Center Stage that is designed to help keep you centered in the frame and incorporate additional people as they come in and out of view.

We have seen the same poor image quality issues for the studio display, so until the issues are addressed with updates, we have to say that the UltraFine and the studio display have pretty similar webcam quality, which is not great.

The speakers of the Studio Display offer a decent amount of low end and a full sound that should be sufficient for most users. In our testing, the microphones on both displays performed well, and we didn't have much of a reason to prefer one over the other, though audio captured by the studio display sounds a bit more full.

Both displays offer a Thunderbolt port and threeUSB-C ports on the rear, but the Studio Display has faster 10 Gbps transfers, so you will see better performance for more demanding accessories.

The studio display won hands down. The UltraFine is encased in black plastic and the Studio Display is made of aluminum.

The studio display only comes with a tilt adjustment, and an upgrade to a tilt and height stand is $400. The display on the UltraFine can be easily removed if you want to convert it to a VESA mount, but it does have a bit of wobble.

Taking into account the $300+ price premium over the UltraFine, the Studio Display is the better buy. The Studio Display has a better design and build quality, a superior display panel, and a history of issues like image retention and reports of compatibility issues, which should last users for many years. Apple should be able to fix the webcam through the updates because it is a key issue.