SAMSUNG 27" ViewFinity S9 Series 5K Computer Monitor, Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort, Matte Display, 4K Slimfit-Camera, Slim Metal Design, AirPlay, Smart-TV Apps, Gaming Hub, LS27C900PANXZA, 2023

If you do not have the budget to buy an apple display. This is a good alternative. You just have to set it to DCI P3- display and change it to HDRI. And you got your self a 5K monitor with good colors as an alternative against apple display. Keep in mind the colors are a bit more saturated so you have to adjust accordingly depending of the lighting of the room or where you set this monitor up. So far am happy with the outcome and when I try to review the artwork on my MacBook pro M4. It’s almost the same quality. A slight difference in the tones of yellow and blue, it’s a bit less saturated but that is fine. It really works well and highly recommend it to people who would like to use this as an alternative to expensive apple displays.

I got this monitor to bolster my home office setup. I am running a MacBook Pro with a Sonnet Echo 20 docking station. I wanted a monitor that would support daisy chaining in the future however, so that meant thunderbolt compatibility or USB connectivity. I found this monitor with Thunderbolt 4 support and 5k resolution instead of "just" 4k. I've always had good experiences with Samsung displays, TV's and monitors. Anyway, the closest competition I could find really were the Apple displays themselves, which, while VERY nice are just hugely more expensive. I didn't want to spend that kind of $$ right now. The monitor arrived and literally took 5 minutes to fully assemble. I set it up and it went thru an initial configuration process that was easy and step by step. The included remote feels nice and not cheap as well. Bottome line, this display is fantastic. Everything is easy on the eyes and the picture is so sharp and detailed. I was also impressed with and surprised by the built in speakers the monitor has. I feed my computer audit through some Apple HomePod speakers so won't be using the built in speakers but during the initial setup, audit played thru those speakers and was nice and clear, with surprising range and bass for "built in" speakers on a monitor. Overall, I'm very happy with this monitor and if I do add the second monitor soon, I'm pretty much certain I'll be getting another of these to link up!

Overall, the monitor worked poorly with Mac. I had an M3 MacBook Pro, and M1 Mac mini that I connected it to. Neither of them worked well with the connections. It would wake up randomly and go to a count down screen for one minute that was very bright. Also, there is an issue with connecting devices with the USB-C in the back and I had to send it back for warranty. I should’ve just returned it. The warranty takes Forever with Samsung. I don’t think I’ll buy a Samsung again for any product line if I can help it. The money saved was not worth it. They’ve had it for a month, finally said they couldn’t fix it, and they were gonna procure a new one, and then after a few weeks they said they didn’t have one. I will never use Samsung warranty again. I did like how the monitor looked while I was actively using it so I thought I would try and go through the warranty. Big mistake. If you’re buying a 5K monitor, this one is really not worth the money that you save. It’s also filled with Samsung‘s bloatware that their smart TVs are filled with, so it makes no sense to the user that they would install that junk on a work oriented monitor. Switching inputs is difficult as well if you have multiple devices connected. Sometimes the other devices inputs disappear from the UI. So you have to completely power off and power on the monitor to switch devices sometimes. Overall, a big mistake ordering this, if you’re looking to save some money from the Apple studio monitor I would look at some of the other alternative such as Ben Q now has a 5K, or Asus has one as well.

I have an Apple Studio Display but wanted to use it from my Windows/Linux PC. My PC Video cards do not support thunderbolt out (do any?) so I had to use a separate monitor for them. I was excited about this monitor because it was similar to the Apple Studio Display in specs and also supported display port in which would allow me to use it with my PC. The Pros: * Displays seems comparable to the ASD in terms of brightness, contrast and pixel clarity * Display port allows me to easily share it between my PC and Mac (ASD cannot) * Can pivot to portrait mode (ASD cannot) * Cheaper if you want matte finish and height adjustable features (both $ upgrades on ASD) * Can be mounted on stand or with VESA mount (ASD only does one of those at a time and requires Apple to change the hardware costing $$) * Can display a remote screen over the network via AirPlay - this is an awesome feature! Cons: * The included camera does not handle changes in light as well as the ASD Camera. I have to close my blinds when using this camera, not with ASDs camera. Unclear if this can be fixed with a software update or not * The included camera is much wider than the ASD camera - too wide for my liking. * The built in speakers are poor compared to the ASD speakers * My MBP has kernel paniced 3 three times over the past 2 days. I think this is related to the latop going to sleep or being hot unplugged from the monitor. There is a CalDigit TS3 between laptop and monitor so not sure where the issue is, but probably in the monitor. I am hoping they can fix this via a software update in the future * Cannot adjust brightness or volume using apple keyboard. They include a remote to do this, but the experience is not as good as the ASD Conclusion: There is a lot to like about this monitor over the ASD. I am on my mac all day doing conference calls so the cons are very noticeable vs the ASD. I am likely going to return this monitor because of those which is too bad as I really wanted to love this monitor

I spent quite a bit of time deciding between this monitor and the Apple Studio Display. I knew going in that the S9 would require some compromises relative to the Studio Display, but I couldn't bring myself to spend so much more on the Studio Display while giving up the ability to adjust the stand. Unfortunately, I had to return the S9. Here are the reasons: 1. Dead pixels on delivery. I don't want to make too much this. It happens, and it's just luck of the draw. Still, it's indicative of a lack of focus on quality. 2. Brightness (or lack thereof). This monitor is HORRIBLY dark when it's put into HDR mode and HORRIBLY bright otherwise. Sure, there are some adjustments you can try to make (more on that below), but there's just something off with the brightness. 3. Text sharpness. I tried everything I could on the Mac side, but the text just isn't as crisp as it ought to be for a monitor at this price point and of this caliber. 4. The setup. Never in my life have I been so frustrated while setting up a piece of hardware. Remember the days when you would plug your monitor into the wall, connect it to your computer, turn it on, and then you were off to the races? Samsung seems to think that that made things WAY too easy. It took me probably ten minutes to get the monitor set up once it was turned on. Not calibrated or optimized, but just to get to a point where I could see the output from my Mac. I had to scan a QR code which directed me to download an app, which I then had to use to set up on account using a half-baked web-view interface before starting the QR code scanning process again, connecting my monitor to wifi, waiting while took its sweet time, starting for about 3 minutes at my phone telling me to continue on my monitor and my monitor telling me to continue on my phone, and then breathing a sigh of relief when my Mac's picture finally showed up. HORRIBLE experience. Personally, I think it's dumb to build in all of those "smart" features, but I'm sure the good folks at Samsung meant well. However, forcing people to go through that process just to get to the point where they can use their overpriced monitor as a monitor is not okay. It's a customer-hostile decision. It provides no upside. Close enough to zero people are going to use those features that it isn't worth making everybody go through the process. Give me ONE option, maybe - something like "Set up smart features now? Yes or no." - but don't force me into it. It improves nothing. All it does is add friction. Other than the dead pixels, the brightness issues, the poor text rendering, and the total pain it was to get set up - oh and the MASSIVE power brick - it was fine. I don't think it looks cheap. The colors were nice, I guess. I really wanted to like this monitor, but I was very disappointed.

I bought this on sale at Amazon for less than half the cost of the Apple Studio monitor. Some reviews say this isn't as good as the Apple monitor, but 'm not a graphic artist or a pro-level video/photo editor, so this has been great for me. At full 5K resolution (5120x2880), text is sharp and I can read it, but it's more comfortable at 3360x1890. The stand, while a bit cheap looking, is height-adjustable. It has a matte screen; that's an additional cost for the Apple monitor. I had no trouble connecting this with my Mac Mini. I haven't used the camera. It's not integrated with the monitor but attaches magnetically. It looks and feels a bit cheap. My only real complaint after using the monitor for a week is that I can't control brightness with the Mac keyboard, but that's a minor thing. Overall, I'm very pleased.