It took quite some time, but Apple has finally re-entered the consumer desktop monitor space with the Studio Display. A decade has passed since Apple last made and sold a consumer desktop monitor; the long-beloved Apple Cinema Display was discontinued in 2011. Apple instead partnered with LG to sell monitors the South Korean company made for Macs through Apple's online store. LG's monitors generally received decent reviews, but they weren't much to write home about, all things considered.

The new 27-inch monitor supports 5K resolution with over 1 billion colors via 14.7 million pixels. It also has True Tone technology to attenuate color warmth in different lighting situations, reaching up to 600 nits. Overlayed on the display is an antireflective coating, but there is also a nanotexture glass option to further reduce glare.

To facilitate the video experience, the Studio Display has six speakers—four force-canceling woofers with two tweeters that support surround sound and spatial audio with Dolby Atmos. That's paired with three studio-quality mics, the same 12 MP camera found on the latest iPads, and Apple's Center Stage technology for homed-in video calls. An A13 Bionic chip helps to run all of this.

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As far as connectivity goes, the monitor has three USB-C ports and a Thunderbolt 4 port that can deliver up to 96 watts of power. It can work as one of many monitors simultaneously connected to the new Mac Studio desktop and its new M1 Ultra Chip. Or it can be one of three Studio monitors connected to the new desktop.

There will be three options for mounting the monitor. You can choose from the traditional tilt-adjustable stand, free things up more with a tilt- and height-adjustable stand (for $400 more), or mount it using a VESA mount adapter.

Orders for the Studio Display start today from $1,599. Shipping starts on March 18.

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Listing image by Apple