The device actually sounds like the ideal monitor for the Mac: Samsung’s ViewFinity S9 comes with 27 inches and 5K resolution and also visually matches an Apple setup. In addition, at under 1400 euros, the price is lower than that of the comparable Apple Studio Display. As it now turns out, however, there are still some difficulties in the current version of the display firmware in connection with macOS. If you operate two S9s in a dual display configuration, this could potentially cause problems.
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EDID data always the same
Report about it User as well as the IT blog tech-blogger.net. Neither Samsung nor Apple has yet provided a solution, although the bug has been known since at least 2022. In practice, the error means that two S9s log on to a Mac with incorrect (or always completely the same) EDID data. If the Mac is taken out of standby or rebooted, the arrangement of the screens is suddenly reversed – with a 50:50 chance.
Blogger Falk Jeromin was able to read the EDID data via the I/O registry database (via ioreg) and found that they were identical. So for the Mac it looks like the same display is connected twice. At least this doesn’t mean that the screens are automatically just mirrored; Apparently the ID transmitted by the Thunderbolt hub helps to somehow tell them apart.
Multimedia with Tizen
Jeromin suggests that Samsung fixes the problem with new S9 firmware, which will then ensure that the EDID data is no longer completely the same. You can also try connecting one of the screens to the Mac via DisplayPort, but this requires a suitable cable. If you don’t want to constantly correct the setup in the settings, you can leave the S9 active all the time – but that’s not advisable in terms of saving energy or longevity.
As mentioned, the S9 is an interesting alternative to the Studio Display. Like the old 27-inch iMac 5K, it achieves full Retina scaling under macOS. Multimedia features including a remote control are also integrated, although they were implemented with the rather bulky Tizen operating system.
(bsc)