Samsung's Smart Monitor M8, the successor to the company's successful Smart Monitor (M5/M7), went up for pre-order today in the US. The monitor looks heavily inspired by Apple's iMac (M1) in terms of design, the shape of the stand, and even color options. However, Samsung's monitor is quite affordable, practical, and smarter than Apple's.
The resemblance is uncanny… but Samsung's monitor is more practical
It comes in four colors—Daylight Blue, Spring Green, Sunset Pink, and Warm White—inspired by the Apple iMac's Blue, Green, Pink, and Silver variants. However, Samsung's monitor has thinner bezels all around, and its magnetic webcam is movable, making it more pleasing to look at while improving its practicality. It even comes with a tilt and height-adjustable stand.
It's also quite affordable, and smarter
Coming to the feature set and pricing, the 32-inch Smart Monitor M8 features a 4K QLED display with 400 nits peak brightness, 99% sRGB color gamut coverage, 1.07 billion colors, HDR10+, and 60Hz refresh rate. It costs $729 in the US. In comparison, the Apple Studio Display has a 27-inch screen with 5K resolution, 600 nits peak brightness, 1.07 billion colors, and a 60Hz refresh rate. It lacks any form of HDR playback capability.
The Smart Monitor M8 has a bigger display and slightly lower resolution, but it's also $870 cheaper than the Apple Studio Display. You can buy a Galaxy Book 2 360 (or a MacBook Air M1) with the remaining money. Plus, it runs Samsung's Tizen OS, which means that it can run all the popular audio and video streaming apps without a need for a separate computer or media streaming device. It even features built-in 2.2-channel speakers and a Full HD webcam.
It even fits well within the Apple ecosystem!
The Smart Monitor M8 has two USB Type-C ports, one of which supports up to 65W USB PD charging for a connected device (like the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro). It even features AirPlay 2 for wireless screen mirroring and multimedia streaming from iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Additional features include Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4.2, Alexa, Bixby, SmartThings, and Samsung Health.
While the Smart Monitor's design was inspired by the 24-inch iMac, Samsung ensured that it was affordable and easier to use. It can double up as a smart TV and fits well within Apple's ecosystem, thanks to features like AirPlay 2, Apple Music and Apple TV+ apps, and USB-C ports with PD charging. And all of this for $900 cheaper than the Apple Studio Display.
Join SamMobile's Telegram group and subscribe to our YouTube channel to get instant news updates and in-depth reviews of Samsung devices. You can also subscribe to get updates from us on Google News and follow us on Twitter.
