Paul Haddad 
Samsung insanity! *
* Via app + student account
Samsung deal is dead. Was it a price mistake, guess I’ll find out soon enough
I really underestimated how terrible the OSD for a monitor could be, and I've used some terrible monitors. Samsung you've really outdone yourself!
My review of the S9, ignoring the OSD. Noticeably sharper than a 4k 27", good color, can get really bright, actual thunderbolt connectivity with fast USB downstream ports. Wake from sleep is a bit slow, but not terrible. Camera/speakers are usable, but I wouldn't use the speakers other than for emergencies.
Main display issue is the very aggressive matte coating on this display. I guess good if you have a bad office but I find it distracting and seems to really cut down on the viewing angle.
It's 100% not worth $1600, but neither is the Studio display. I'd say it’s a solid deal for a Mac productivity monitor at $500-$600. At $300 it’s a freaking steal and I'd buy another one if it ever hits that price again.
I've been running the Samsung 5k display consistently for over a week now and have been surprised at how good it has been. Wakes up when it should, goes to sleep when it should, doesn't wake up when it shouldn’t. When it wakes up it's always at the right resolution, refresh & bit rate. No black screen "flashes”. Haven't had to touch the OSD. Basically has just worked.
Doesn't sound like something to be very excited about, but Apple's 3rd party monitor support is not great…
Sam Strong@paul It took me a long time to find the network (?!) setting in Mac OS that was preventing my LG monitor from properly sleeping when running off thunderbolt. Even now it seems to power up every so often then immediately go to sleep again.
This Samsung sounds amazing.
Jonathan 
@SamStrong @paul funny enough a Samsung monitor I got had the same issue so I returned it… interestingly though the Dell i got didn’t have that problem. Both were running over thunderbolt. Maybe the issue you’re having with the LG and the network setting was just a coincidence since it still happens sometimes?
@JTostitos The problem was that when the MacBook (M3) went into standby the monitor never disconnected properly (backlight stayed on). Telling it to never wake for network access fixed it.
This random Reddit comment was the solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/s/Dwgu5Qhm5P
@SamStrong interesting. I’ve never seen that before. My issue happened on Intel not sure if it would still happen now with Apple Silicon. Glad you were able to mostly fix the issue
@JTostitos Every situation seems different. This only started happening when I removed my work’s HP thunderbolt dock from the equation.
Of course this discussion now has me looking at what the 4k equivalent of my monitor is…
Mike Noe@paul I have that samsung app setup with my son's .edu email. I keep checking to see if that deal ever comes back. I’ll snap up two of these if I see anything remotely close to what you had a couple weeks ago.
@mikenoe I've been looking every day or two, hoping to score one more.
Miguel Arroz@paul How do you compare the picture quality with the LG 5K or the Apple 5K display?
@arroz I can’t, I don't have the Studio display and don't currently have access to my 5k iMac for another couple of months. I'm sure I'd prefer the Studio display because it's glossy and the Samsung has a super aggressive matte coating. That being said I'm also sure I prefer having an extra $1k in my bank account…
Rick@paul that sounds very exciting to me! I wish Apple would freeze the desktop configuration while in display sleep.
Aaron 
@paul Does the 5k resolution stop the WindowServer process from gobbling up tons of memory?
I run dual 4k’s (scaled resolution because… 4k is tiny) and WindowServer easily eats 1/3 of my mac’s RAM.
@Aaron WindowServer is showing 3.24GB in Activity Monitor.
@paul Not too bad. Mine’s at 5.71GB right now. And i’m not about to sacrifice my uptime just to flush it. I just got these dual 4k’s last year, but maybe I’ll jump on a good 5k deal if one comes around next year. You happened into an awesome price!
Steven Op de beeck@paul never had a monitor not do what you just described, connected to my Mac ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Dell, HP, LG, Samsung, Asus. All 4K or less though.
Dell, HP, LG, Samsung, Asus. All 4K or less though.
Mat Gadd@paul 1st para - great.
Apple’s third-party monitor support not great?! A monitor is a monitor. I have never in my years bought an Apple display. 😂
Joel Parker@paul Would you say it’s a $900 monitor? How does it stack against a $1300 Apple Studio Display at $900?
Luca Nalin@paul are you still running it? Any additional thoughts?
Torstein@paul do you think the Apple Studio Display should also cost 500-600$?
@torsteinv probably 7-800, with the better stand.
Mike Brogan@paul may I just say that I really appreciate these mini reviews. I’m in the market to replace an aging 32” 4K Dell that I have so it’s helpful to follow along with your journey.
Jamie Blumberg@paul Agreed. I got one of the S9’s last year in the realm of $600-$700 and don’t regret it. (Missed getting another in the deal earlier this week.)
I also got a used LG 5K ultrafine recently and it does look nicer without the aggressive matte. So whenever I work with video or photos I’ll be using that monitor.
@jamie_blumberg any issues/weirdness from long term usage?
@paul Once I set up Soundsource to control the volume and DisplayBuddy for the brightness I’vebeen good. I don’t even ever have to touch the silly little remote.
The only real “problem” I’ve had is that the “High Dynamic Range” option in System Settings makes everything look terrible. But as long as you don’t touch that and also are cool with the matte display it is a solid high-res monitor.
Diego Petrucci@paul What’s the model?