Studio Display Schematic
You’re about to experience the Studio Display in a whole new way!
I am incredibly pleased to be releasing the next wallpaper in my schematic series, The Studio Display. It's my most ambitious wallpaper to date, building on the experience I gained from the countless hours building schematics for the iPhone 12, iPhone 13 Pro, & MacBook Pro.
A New Display Has Appeared
The Studio Display is Apple's first consumer-grade display since it discontinued its Thunderbolt Display in 2016. Since then, options for an Apple monitor have either been:
Third-party monitors like the LG UltraFine.
Buying an iMac, or,
Dropping $6,000 on a Pro Display XDR.
These were weird options, and none of them slaked people's desires for what they wanted from an external display.
Although some bristle about the not-insignificant price ($1,599), the quality of the webcam, and a lack of innovation since this display is kinda recycling the panel of the 27" iMac, at the end of the day, it hits many of the boxes most of us were asking for. More importantly, it suggests that Apple wants to be a serious player in the display business for its products. Hopefully, this is the first of many consumer displays from Apple.
The Process
The value of underestimating an undertaking is that it leads you to take on things that you would have otherwise flatly shied away from. What I mean is that when I first looked at the teardown of the Studio display, it didn't look so bad. The teardown revealed two large fans, a lot of space on the upper half, and three "circuit-board-type-thingies" that didn't look complicated at a distance. I figured I could hammer it out in a day or two.
Thousands upon thousands of components needed to be crafted and carefully placed to replicate the internals of the Studio Display.
I was wrong. Utterly and completely wrong. As soon as I began to zoom into the components, I realized how intricate and detailed the innards of the Studio Display were. I'm talking thousands upon thousands of individual pieces that had to be meticulously crafted and repetitively placed across the schematic hundreds and hundreds of times. There were unique pieces that took nearly an hour to create and others that took hours to lay down simply due to the sheer volume scattered across the display. When I released the MacBook Pro schematics, I boasted that the 16-inch model had 3,624 pieces comprising the finished design. The Studio Display, my "in a day or two" project, comes in at just over 6,100 pieces, 70% more than the MacBook Pro. The project, on and off, took over four weeks to complete.
Shading, gradients, & subtle textures were added to create a sense of depth in the schematic.
Another challenge I set for myself when making the Studio Display schematic was creating a sense of depth and dimensionality. I used a broader grayscale range to provide more contrast than I had previously used in my designs to achieve this effect. Secondly, I carefully added shading across dozens of elements to help create a sense of volume to many components. For example, you can now see a subtle shading on parts of the fan blades in addition to a separate shadow below them, giving the impression that the casing, fans, and base live on three distinct planes inside the display. And finally, I added textures across select components to help create a bit of vitality to the elements inside the Studio Display.
A closeup showing a portion of the integrated Power Supply inside the Studio Display.
The finished product is a beautiful 5K wallpaper that looks gob-smackingly stunning, if I may say so myself. I've gotten lost staring at my display, absorbed in the details, components, and circuity that lie mere mm underneath the pixels, giving me a further appreciation at the sheer complexity of a display like this. I hope you adore this wallpaper and that I'll be lucky enough to have it showcased on some of your devices. Enjoy.
Wallpapers
Six versions of the Studio Display schematic are available at launch, including four based on Apple's M1-chip lineup (Ultra, Max, Pro, & M1). Additionally, I've included two more versions: Deep Teal & a WWDC22 variation inspired by the colours of Apple's dub-dub invite.
Note: I don't have a Studio Display (although when designing this wallpaper, I nearly pulled the trigger at least a half-dozen times), but I've been using these on my iMac and think it looks pretty nifty on there. So even for us Studio Display-less folks out there, I can attest that this wallpaper will look pretty damn fine on your monitor too!
SUPPORT
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
