Skip to main content

Apple is charging $400 for Studio Display height adjustment

Apple’s spring event — dubbed Peek Performance — has featured some pretty incredible new products, including a fancy new monitor called the Studio Display. Yet even the slickest Apple promo video can’t hide one thing: Apple is charging $400 to let you adjust its new monitor’s height, setting you back $1,999 in total. Whew.

As the world’s most prominent technology company, basically anything Apple does is bound to grab the headlines. You’d think CEO Tim Cook and friends would know that and try to avoid, well, silly mistakes, but the Studio Display has just proved the company still can’t help but make itself meme-worthy.

Related Videos
Apple's new Mac Studio desktop costs $1.500.

I’ve used Macs for years, including in a busy office with hundreds of Apple computers, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen an iMac that wasn’t propped up on a pile of books. It was a comical statement on the predicament Apple had put us in — spending thousands on a computer, yet unable to natively move its screen up and down a few inches. Even 10 years ago, it was ridiculous.

With the Studio Display, Apple has signaled it is more than happy for that ridiculousness to continue. Charging one-fifth the price of the entire display for such basic functionality? It’s fodder for the trolls, naysayers, and meme creators — and will likely become a justified criticism from ordinary users.

Mac Studio comes with different stand options.

Maybe Apple thinks people who are paying $1,599 for a monitor already won’t care about another $400. But that just makes it seem even more like a tone-deaf cash grab. It’s reminiscent of when the Mac Pro launched in 2019 and Apple came humbly asking, cap in hand, for $699 in return for four little rollers. It boggled the mind then — just as the Mac Studio’s height adjustment price does today.

So, while I’m excited for the Studio Display itself and what it has to offer, I still can’t believe Apple is sticking to bad habits. I mean, $400 just to raise your new monitor up and down? No thanks, I’ll stick to Tolkien’s finest for my height boost.

Editors' Recommendations

Apple’s XR headset could get one of the Mac’s best features
Apple VR Headset Concept by Antonio De Rosa

Apple is known for the strong ecosystem that lets all its devices work pretty seamlessly together. A new patent suggests the company’s upcoming Reality Pro headset will be a full-fledged member of this ecosystem -- and get one of Apple’s best features in the process.

According to the patent, Apple might bring its Continuity system to its upcoming mixed-reality headset. That means you’ll be able to send work from one device to another with just your eyes, all through the power of the headset’s augmented reality tech.

Read more
Apple confirms a new Mac Pro is coming — but when will it launch?
Tim Cook presenting the Mac Pro on stage at WWDC in 2019.

It’s been a long wait for Apple to launch a new Mac Pro powered by an Apple silicon chip, but Apple is still committed to making it a reality. That’s according to a senior Apple executive, who confirmed the news in an interview with India Today.

The statement from Bob Borchers, Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, is the first time Apple has given any official word on the upcoming Mac Pro since the company’s hardware exec John Ternus said in March 2022 that it was “for another day".

Read more
Apple’s security trumps Microsoft and Twitter’s, say feds
Apple's Craig Federighi speaking about macOS security at WWDC 2022.

Apple has long held a reputation for rock-solid security, and now the U.S. government seemingly agrees after praising the company for its security procedures. At the same time, the feds have suggested Microsoft and Twitter need to pull their socks up and make their products much more secure for their users, according to CNBC.

In a speech given at Carnegie Mellon University, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly pointed to Apple as a company that took security and accountability seriously, and suggested other companies should take note.

Read more