Samsung insanity! *

* Via app + student account

Samsung deal is dead. Was it a price mistake, guess I’ll find out soon enough
Yep I do hate “smart” monitors.
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.

@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.