This is not for consumers. This is for AV industry professionals whose companies are footing the bill.
Apple has, rightly, been under fire lately for forgetting about the pro market. This display, in the context of the presentation, is intended to demonstrate that their professional focus is back.
This is a pretty unique monitor. There are very few monitors available over 4K and none that I'm aware of with this level of brightness/dynamic range.
The LG UltraFine 5K which has sort of been the de facto "Apple monitor" over the past few years since they stopped making their own is $1300.
Dell has a 32" 8K wide gamut color accurate monitor (UP3218K) which is higher resolution but doesn't get anywhere near as bright. MSRP is $3900, it currently sells for $3400 and includes a stand.
Not with their target audience. The cheapest Red camera body is $14950, without a lens -- and that's a 5k camera. The cheapest 8k Red body is $25k. Panavision rents for $800-2500+ per day.
So about $11k for a complete editing computer with the power to handle multiple 8k streams isn't expensive at all in the context of those industries.
The Mac Pro isn't a "web developer" machine or an advanced spreadsheet runner -- it's a computer designed for people that actually need that sort of power in a desktop workstation. The last thing people in the AV industries are complaining about with this new machine is the cost. It's a bargain.
Are there concerns amongst these companies about the lack of hardware updates to products like this by Apple? What hardware are these companies using at the moment? iMac Pros? And before that they were using 2013 Mac Pros? I think there was a 4 year gap between those products I think? I'm surprised that more companies in industries that use this type of hardware haven't left the apple ecosystem. I have a home recording studio, so I have some desire for good hardware but I can get away with a regular iMac. It's hard for me to have perspective on this stuff.
