So far in our testing, the Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor touchscreen works pretty well with macOS drawing apps, and the Omni Fold stand Mac mini dock is cool. The combo costing more than a Studio Display is a turn-off.
We talked about this pair in a news post a few months ago, you guys had opinions, and I knew almost instantly that we'd have to get it on our test bench. We've had this combo for all of 24 hours at this point, and we thought we'd talk a bit about it now, in advance of a full review later.
Let's get into the hardware. The Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor touchscreen is a decently-performing 4K display, with integrated touch. The main issue with touch here is not the hardware, but macOS.
While Liquid Glass is very clearly user training for a macOS touch interface, it's not there yet. There are still rough spots in the interface, and more taps than I strictly want, just because the tap targets are so small.
Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor: The monitor rotates, tilts, and adjusts up and down
Where the Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor touchscreen shines so far though, is in the use of a stylus. The stand can lower the monitor down pretty far, almost completely flat as you can see above, for use as a giant drawing tablet.
Alogic Aspekt Touch
After driver install, and using Affinity products, the included stylus supports hover effect, pressure, sensitivity, and flip-around to erase, which is a nice touch.
The monitor does have Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) support which delivers pressure and stylus angle sensing to a compatible host computer when using later Surface tablet styli. We have not tried any compatibility checks with other fancy styli yet on macOS, but we will in time for the full review.
Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor: It's a 4K display which can look fuzzy up close
The tech specs are decent but not fantastic for the price. Leading the features, the 4K matte touch screen is 10-point multitouch, with that MPP 2.0 support. The IPS panel has 95% DCI-P3 color coverage.
Brightness is a little low for the price at 400 nits, with the Studio Display sitting at 600. It has a refresh rate of 60Hz, the same as the 5K Studio Display.
It has 145W power delivery with up to 90W supplied to the host computer.
Ports are plentiful on the display, both in and out.
Aspekt Touch 4K monitor - Video ports
- One HDMI 2.0
- One DisplayPort 1.4 in
- One DisplayPort 1.4 out - which does nothing on macOS
- One USB-C
Aspekt Touch 4K monitor - Accessory ports
- Two USB-C 5gbit
- 2x USB-A 5gbit
- Gigabit ethernet
- 3.5 audio
Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor: The back has several ports, with an addition Type-C and Type-A located on the left edge for easy access
There is a Mac driver provided by the company which enables the touchscreen, and allows for gestures customizable by the user. So far, we haven't found a way to enable Magic Trackpad gestures automatically on the monitor, but again, I've had it on my desk for all of about a work day.
I'll be evaluating the monitor aspects more in the coming weeks.
That Mac mini dock
You're reading this because of that Mac mini dock, and I know it. That was the overwhelming point of interest when Oliver published the news about it, and we expect that's the case today.
Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor: The Mac mini holder is machined nicely
The company has two versions of this stand. One has the Mac mini dock, and the other does not. The price difference between the two is $50 or so, so it's not like it's a giant expense if you need or want it.
I'll be frank. The stand is cool. It's fun, it's machined perfectly, and the M4 Mac mini, and presumably the M5 one, fits like a glove.
Cables to the monitor are not run inside the stand, but instead, along clips on the side of it. This is a decent and clean solution, and prevents the scenario of an internal cable rendering the entire assembly worthless.
Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor: You can access the ports and power button while the Mac mini is docked
We haven't seen anything quite like this in a long time. For the old-timers, like me, Apple's 34-year-old Duo Dock was more mechanical, with it pulling in a PowerBook Duo like a VHS tape.
This is not that. This is a machined volume to hold the Mac mini, and little else. The ports are all still exposed to the user, and there is that modicum of clean cable management, instead of internal ports and the like.
And that's fine. It's still pretty slick, and looks good on the desktop.
That price is a problem
At a first glance, the Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor is okay. The display specs and performance don't stack up well to the new Studio Display, and folks used to Retina pixel density will be disappointed here.
For me, that pixel density isn't so important. My main work monitors are a pair of 4K 32-inch LG displays. Your mileage may vary.
The stylus feature is nice, and if you need it you know it. It won't replace a higher-end drawing tablet, but it's pretty close.
Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor: The Mac mini is nicely on display
I really like the stand, the Mac mini dock and ensuing cable management are impressive, and more inputs that the Studio Display does not have is a nice addition. The cost may be an issue, though.
The monitor itself retails for $1950, with the monitor and stand briefly evaluated above sitting at $2200 retail. That same price is a bit more than the Studio Display with Tilt and Height adjustable stand, or with the Nano etching and the regular stand.
While this applies to the Studio Display too to some extent, I'm not certain how many people are going to pair a $2000 monitor with an integrated Mac mini stand. The higher-end Mac mini configs (check prices) are increasingly being bought for AI and being used headless, and the productivity folks looking at Pro Mac minis are for the most part making the jump to Mac Studio.
It's a cool setup, but kind of expensive for what you get
I don't see a way to buy the stand separately, as it looks very VESA-esque and in theory may work as one with other monitors. I'll look into that as the full review process runs on.
For now, though, I'm going to use this as my main driver for my Mac mini station for a while, and let a resident artist play around with the tilt feature to use it as a sketch surface. I'll let you know how it goes.
Where to buy the Alogic Aspekt Touch 4K Monitor with Omni Stand
You can pick up the Aspekt Touch 4K UHD Monitor with the Omni Stand for an M4 Mac mini directly from Alogic for $1,979.99 in what appears to be a limited-time sale. Exclusive promo code INSIDER5 knocks another 5% off, bringing the price down to $1,881.
If you only want the display, and not the Mac mini docking stand, B&H has the lowest price at press time thanks to a $200 in-cart coupon that knocks the matte version in silver down to $1,699.99.
