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DROP View - Monitor That Matches Fit and Finish of DROP Mech Boards?

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TLDR: DROP should make a high res monitor that matches the ALT/CTRL/SHIFT boards in design language + fit and finish. Just drop a good pre-existing panel in an aluminum enclosure with that signature LED acrylic strip and a controller board that doesn't lock you into the Apple ecosystem to control more than 4k. If LG can get $1500 for a crappy plastic monitor, and Apple wants $6k for 6k, there has to be some in between market. More wishful thinking: Has anyone else out there been looking for external monitors for WFH and realized that there are essentially three camps, and that you don't fall into any of them? Camp 1: Crap you'd find in Office Depot. They probably don't list their resolution because their customer base probably doesn't know or care what that means unless they saw it in operation. Cheap, but not as cheap as they should be. Camp 2: Gamer monitors. Seemingly prioritizing nothing but refresh rate with a resolution that is almost certainly at or below 1440p. Almost always plastic, almost always black (and when it isn't, the accent colors make you wish it were). Expensive and still not very useful for doing video or graphics work where a lower refresh rate is okay in exchange for higher DPI or overall pixel count. Camp 3: Recent Apple Tech. 5k or 6k, but at the cost of a small car. Why is Apple the only company on the planet that realizes there is an audience willing to pay for tech inside of a nicely finished aluminum enclosure? Also, good luck getting one iMac 5k to work as a monitor for another. Or just kit yourself out in Mac Pro + XDRs for a cool $19k. There are people who gut 5k iMacs and mod them with custom controller boards to work as a display, but that's a lot to spend on a potential to fail or be finicky hobby build. I feel like Drop could make a pretty penny doing a custom monitor now that they have the experience they do in mechanical keyboards. Imagine a 21:9 6k ultra wide based off the Apple Pro Display XDR via simple anodized aluminum body in Space grey with whatever that hole bored pattern on the back is for cooling. Or just a standard larger but higher res 16:9 with that fit and finish using already manufactured panels and an improved DROP version of the kind of custom controller boards you can get on Ali Express. Make a 5k space grey not-so-pro Display XDR with that auto-tilt function and you've got something a lot of folks would love. The 5k LG panel that LG puts into its boxy crappy plastic 5k apple displays is plenty bright and has that Retina resolution. No need to get super duper fancy with the color space stuff to try to compete with reference monitors. Just bright enough to be HDR or work in an office with some ambient light. Just make it VESA compatible and you don't even have to sell a stand with it at first. Put some of that sandwiched acrylic and programmable light diffusion around the edge, maybe the back. You could always do something really cool with a couple hot swap mech key switches on the back or some side for the menu buttons.
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griponreality
190
Jan 16, 2021
Update: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/15/apple-lower-priced-external-display-rumor/ This and if M1 iMacs bring back target display mode (probably won’t for a generation or so, if ever) should take care of this need, albeit sadly without support for non Apple OS’s.
FatherMathew
22
Jul 21, 2020
There is a fourth category, it's the Dell UltraSharp lineup. Below Apple in quality and price, but far above the gamer monitors in quality and looks
greggman
0
Jul 19, 2020
Honestly what I want is a 38"+ wide HD-DPI monitor. No one makes any. If you have HD-DPI you're stuck with a 4:3 or at best a 16:9. I have a LG 38" (aspect 12:5) but it's only LD-DPI (3840x1600) which sucks. No other device I own in 2020 is LD-DPI. All my phones, tablets, laptops, watches, TVs, etc are all HD-DPI. So yea, a ~38 inch wide monitor with 7680x3200 resolution is what I'm after. I'd pay ~$2k-$3k (assuming it was actually good, has all the inputs (HDMI, Displayport, USB3, etc..), non crap controls, reasonable sound ... yea I know I should use separate speakers but still don't want it to sound like complete crap), etc...
Driftpin
5
Jul 17, 2020
I have been in enterprise IT for years, and if you are not buying Dell IPS, you're wasting money (with very few exceptions, Apple not being one). I would love to see a Drop monitor on a good LG IPS panel that is factory calibrated.
salahalghamdi
0
Jul 16, 2020
I cannot wait to see it ^_^
JonnyJ
246
Jul 16, 2020
As much as i love the idea, the vast monitor seemed to be mixed reaction with QA issues, I personally had to send back without replacement due to vertical lines, now using an alienware ultrawide. Drop still did me good with a refund so no complaints, but i understand if drop stays away from displays for a bit.
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