Apple Studio Display 15" (1998)
Apple's first LCD monitor: a 15-inch flat panel announced in 1998, months before the iMac made translucent plastic famous.
© raneko · CC BY 2.0 ↗ Resized, no crop or retouching.
Specs
| Panel | 15" LCD, 1024×768, 4:3, 180 cd/m² |
| Connectivity | DA-15; two ADB ports, S-Video, composite video, RCA audio and headphone jack |
| Key feature | first translucent Apple product since the eMate, per Wikipedia |
Launch
Jobs announced it on March 17, 1998 at the Seybold Seminars keynote in New York, alongside the Power Macintosh G3/300, per MacTech's report: $1,999 with availability promised for May, shown against a $3,500 Compaq flat screen. Per Wikipedia, it was Apple's first LCD monitor and required System 7.5 or later.
Marketing
Its translucent blue casing predated the iMac G3 by a few months and was, per Wikipedia, Apple's first translucent product since the eMate, although the Power Mac G3 of the day was still beige. Macworld wrote in June 1998 that the price would have seemed aggressive months earlier, but with falling LCD prices it landed in the middle of the pack. In January 1999 a white-and-blueberry revision matched the Power Mac G3 Blue and White, brighter (200 cd/m²) and cheaper ($1,099), per Wikipedia.
Flaws and fixes
Its DA-15 and ADB connections tied it to the Macs of its era; an August 1999 revision moved to DVI and USB, and in July 2000 the M2454 model adopted the Apple Display Connector with a clear stand, per Wikipedia. The 15-inch Studio Display was discontinued in January 2003, leaving the 17-inch as the last of the line.