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The screen might be too small for some people who have gotten used to massive screens. I use a 32-inch Dell UltraSharp widescreen curved monitor at work. The Studio Display looked small when I first plugged it in, and I found myself missing the curve on my work monitor. But there aren’t many options if you need the 5K resolution. The $1,299 5K LG Ultrafine — now discontinued at Apple stores — is $300 less. It’s the same size and resolution, but it’s not made by Apple and the speakers and webcam are worse.

But if you have a bigger budget, I still think the best phones for most people are the $799 iPhone 13, or the smaller $699 iPhone 13 Mini if you like that size. You can unlock those phones with your face, they have nicer screens, they take better pictures, and they have better battery life. If you want to go all-out with the smoothest, brightest screen and nicer stainless steel materials, then the iPhone 13 Pro models are your best bet. 

I like that it supports wireless charging if you have a Qi charging pad around the house, but it doesn’t support Apple’s newer MagSafe pucks, which magnetically attach to the back of the phone and charge even faster wirelessly.  Finally, while most people looking for a budget phone are probably fine with 64GB of storage, I recommend spending $479 for the model with 128GB if you plan to download and save more apps, movies and games. 

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I found myself wishing that the Studio Display had more distinguishing features. Apple says it’s powered by an iPhone chip, but it doesn’t have an interface or other common monitor features, such as the ability to switch between inputs without plugging and unplugging cords. You can’t display inputs from multiple computers in split-screen, either, and it doesn’t let you stream media or act as a wireless speaker like some other displays. It also doesn’t support high refresh rates, which makes scrolling smoother and is important for gamers. Apple has started to include the feature on its phones, laptops and tablets under the marketing name “ProMotion,” so it may become a standard Apple feature during the lifetime of the Studio Display, but as it stands the monitor is less “future-proof.” For most people, this won’t be a deal-breaker.

The six-speaker setup is also excellent, although audiophiles will still likely opt for separate studio monitors or headphones. But the built-in speakers are good enough to listen to rock or pop music and more than sufficient for watching movies. Many monitors don’t have built-in speakers or webcams, so both are a nice touch. The Mac Studio is not user-upgradable. Apple says it is “modular,” which refers to the fact that the screen isn’t built-in. But that means power users can’t add additional RAM, graphics cards or storage space, unlike on high-end Windows desktops.