I swapped my Studio Display for this QD-OLED Mac monitor — and it works just as well on my gaming PC

The MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G is a 4K QD-OLED monitor designed with creative professionals in mind — specifically those who prefer Mac over Windows. Despite its Mac-centric design, it manages to pack in many of MSI’s best gaming features to make it an ideal display for both work and play.

I remember when I first saw the MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G back at CES, as it left an immediate impression on me. Unlike the Studio Display or Studio Display XDR, you won’t find any of Apple’s usual limitations here. Instead, this is a full-featured QD-OLED monitor with all the ports you could ever need — and then some.

After using the Pro Max 271UPXW12G as my daily driver for the past month across both macOS and Windows, I’m just as impressed as I was when I first laid eyes on it. From its sleek, minimalist design to its packed array of ports and, of course, its 4th-Gen QD-OLED panel, this display has served me well both on and off the clock. Still, while I appreciate that it has built-in speakers, they do leave a bit to be desired.

My MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G review will help you decide if this is the best monitor for your Mac (and even your gaming PC or PS5) — or if it’s worth paying the Apple Tax for a Studio Display instead.

MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? A 27-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor designed for Mac that you can also game on.
• Who is it for? Creative professionals who need full color accuracy on Mac or Windows and don’t want to deal with the limitations and higher price of Apple’s Studio Display.
• What does it cost? The MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G costs $999, but now you can find this monitor for $710 in white or $650 in black and often for even less when it’s on sale.
• What do we like? Its sleek design, the vibrancy and detail of its 4th-Gen QD-OLED panel, the integrated Mac controls, its 120 Hz refresh rate, the full-featured ports and its built-in KVM switch.
• What don’t we like? That the monitor auto-mounts a drive on both Mac and Windows and that the built-in speakers leave something to be desired.

MSI MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G: Specs

MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G: The Ups

The MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G is an incredibly capable professional monitor in a sleek and stylish package. You’d be hard-pressed to find a similar port array on even more expensive displays — and beyond creative work, it manages to hold its own against top-tier gaming monitors even if that isn’t its primary focus.

As clean as can be

Just like with MSI’s MPG 321URXW gaming monitor I reviewed last year, the Pro Max 271UPXW12G is incredibly thin thanks to its QD-OLED panel. On the top and sides, the display is razor-thin at four to five millimeters (0.16 to 0.2 inches) — with its internal components and built-in power supply housed in the center.

Underneath the Pro Max 271UPXW12G’s display, you’ll find an AI Care Sensor that houses a CMOS camera/sensor and an NPU used for features like presence detection and adaptive brightness. This monitor also comes with MSI’s OLED Care 3.0 tech to protect its panel from burn-in.

Around back, there’s a joystick and two buttons for navigating the monitor’s OSD menu to adjust its settings. While the Pro Max 271UPXW12G has a circular cutout for the included monitor stand, MSI includes a standard 100 x 100 VESA mount adapter if you want to use this display with one of the best monitor arms. There’s also a square plate in the box in case you want to mount a mini PC like the MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG or the updated 3MG behind your monitor.

Speaking of the monitor stand, it’s made entirely from metal — and to date, it’s one of the highest-quality included stands I’ve seen yet. I typically use a monitor arm, but with the Pro Max 271UPXW12G, I didn’t even consider it.

I also really appreciated that MSI includes every cable you need right in the box — from DisplayPort to USB-C. The ones that came with my review unit were color-matched to the white version of the Pro Max 271UPXW12G I tested, blending in seamlessly with the rest of my setup too.

A multi-workstation hub

Although MSI designed the Pro Max 271UPXW12G with Apple’s Macs in mind, you wouldn’t want to limit yourself to one operating system (or device) with this monitor. While other displays have built-in KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switches to let you use the same peripherals seamlessly across two computers, this one actually supports three.

As such, the Pro Max 271UPXW12G is outfitted with an impressive selection of ports. For video, you get dual HDMI 2.1 connections, DisplayPort 1.4a, and two USB-C inputs with power delivery. While one is limited to 15W, the other delivers 98W of power so you can use and charge one of the best laptops simultaneously. For the KVM switch, there’s a USB-B port alongside four USB-A ports.

Since I switch between computers quite often while reviewing the best mini PCs, I like to use my mouse and keyboard’s 2.4 GHz USB dongles instead of Bluetooth. Even with a webcam connected too, I still had one free USB port — which was really impressive.

Another detail I really like about the Pro Max 271UPXW12G is its internal power supply instead of a bulky power brick. This made cable management under my desk a lot easier — and if you ever need to replace this monitor’s power cable, it uses the same standard one as a desktop PC.

Sure, you could plug in one of the best MacBooks or even a Mac mini M4 into the Pro Max 271UPXW12G and call it a day. However, by doing so, you’d be wasting one of its best features: the built-in KVM switch. With a Mac on one side of my desk and a PC on the other, switching between the two and using the same keyboard and mouse was almost instant. Likewise, it worked like a charm over both USB-C and with the included USB-B cable.

Crisp, colorful and Mac-friendly

In the past, it was often difficult using a third-party monitor with a Mac due to how macOS handles pixel density. This causes text fringing, where the words on your screen look fuzzy or blurry. Fortunately, MSI considered this when developing the Pro Max 271UPXW12G and gave it a higher pixel density of 166 PPI.

One of the best things about the Studio Display and the Studio Display XDR I reviewed is being able to use your keyboard to adjust things like brightness and volume — which you can’t do on a lot of third-party displays. To address this, MSI created a dedicated Mac app called M-Mate. After installing it from the App Store, not only can you control this monitor using the keys on your MacBook, but you can also match the Pro Max 271UPXW12G’s color profile with your Apple laptop or even your iPad.

If Apple’s color profile isn’t the one you use for photo or video editing, no worries — this monitor comes with a ton of other popular ones too. With a few clicks on the joystick around back, you can switch between sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, and several other color spaces depending on the task at hand. Though not for everyone, creative professionals will really appreciate this feature.

During my time testing out the Pro Max 271UPXW12G, I started with my Mac mini M4 on one side and the Khadas Mind 2S mini PC — equipped with Khadas’ Mind Graphics 2 eGPU — on the other. From there, I swapped out the Mac mini for a 16-inch MacBook Pro M5 Pro, which let me take full advantage of that USB-C port with 98W of power delivery. Everything worked and looked great on MSI’s Studio Display alternative, but I wasn’t done there….

Made for more than work

Having used both the Studio Display and Studio Display XDR, I’m still a bit baffled by how both monitors only come equipped with Thunderbolt ports. I’d love to hook up a gaming PC or a console to one of Apple’s monitors alongside a Mac, but unfortunately, I don’t know if that will ever be possible.

Fortunately, with the Pro Max 271UPXW12G, you can actually do this — and at higher frame rates too, since its QD-OLED panel has a refresh rate of 120Hz. Now, I know that isn’t as high as what you’ll find on dedicated gaming displays, but this is a monitor designed around productivity after all.

To put the Pro Max 271UPXW12G’s gaming capabilities — and aesthetics — to the test, I hooked it up to the Minisforum G1 Pro mini PC, which features a desktop-grade Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU. In addition to finishing Death Stranding 2 on PC this way, I also played through a bit of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Both games looked incredible on the Pro Max 271UPXW12G, with a bit of help from Nvidia’s DLSS tech. However, I wasn’t done there.

As I simultaneously reviewed the Pro Max 271UPXW12G alongside Splatoon Raiders, I hooked up my Nintendo Switch 2 to MSI’s monitor as well. The colorful hues from the game’s ink-filled battles looked amazing on the panel, and just like with Death Stranding 2, I actually ended up beating the game while using MSI’s display.

There are definitely higher-refresh options out there if you're looking for one of the best gaming monitors. However, this is the only productivity-focused monitor for creatives I know of that lets you jump straight into gaming without severe limitations.

MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G: The Downs

The MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G sets itself apart as a third-party Mac monitor with some solid gaming chops to boot. However, it’s not without a few slight downsides — one of which I’m still thoroughly confused by.

An auto-mounting annoyance

Following the recent controversy with LG’s monitors auto-installing software, imagine my surprise when I saw an auto-mounted drive from MSI on both my Mac and PC after connecting the Pro Max 271UPXW12G. Fortunately, we’re dealing with a different beast entirely here.

You see, instead of auto-installing software, the monitor’s onboard microcontroller automatically mounts the contents of a tiny flash storage chip whenever a device is connected via USB-C or through the USB-B cable for its KVM switch.

This drive doesn’t force-install anything, but it does give you a direct download link for MSI Productivity Intelligence on Mac or MSI Gaming OSD on Windows.

The software itself lets you adjust settings like brightness and contrast with your mouse and keyboard so you don’t have to reach for the physical joystick around back. In theory, this is meant to be a convenient shortcut for end users so they don’t have to hunt down extra software on MSI’s support page. In practice, however, I found it fairly annoying — especially on Mac.

Due to how macOS operates, any connected volume automatically mounts directly onto your desktop. While you can turn this off by going to Finder > Settings > General and unchecking External disks under “Show these items on the desktop”, this is still a minor nuisance. Alternatively, you could skip connecting your computer via USB-C or avoid using the included USB-B cable for the KVM switch altogether, but that defeats the entire point of buying a feature-packed, productivity-focused monitor like the Pro Max 271UPXW12G.

Good but not great built-in speakers

Unlike with MSI’s gaming monitors, its business and productivity-focused ones often come with built-in speakers. This is a feature that’s always nice to have in a pinch since you can test your audio easily, and if they’re good enough, you don’t have to bother cluttering up your desk with extra hardware.

The Pro Max 271UPXW12G has dual 2.5W speakers, and for attending meetings or other less demanding tasks, I found they worked well enough. Since their wattage is on the lower side, they do sound a bit tinny, though.

I relied on the Pro Max 271UPXW12G’s built-in speakers for the most part during my testing. However, when it was time to put its gaming capabilities to the test, I opted for a pair of Kanto Ora 4 bookshelf speakers, which made a massive difference.

Now, if you’re the type who wears headphones while working or gaming, this won’t be a problem. The built-in speakers are good enough, but if you want more volume or bass, I’d recommend going a similar route with a pair of the best computer speakers.

MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G: Verdict

The MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G is a breath of fresh air when it comes to Mac-focused monitors. Not only can you control its brightness and audio with your MacBook’s keyboard, but you can also match the display’s color profile directly with your Apple laptop. All of those full-featured ports and the built-in KVM switch also make the Pro Max 271UPXW12G a productivity powerhouse for anyone who relies on multiple operating systems and devices for work.

The 4th-Gen QD-OLED panel is another major highlight thanks to its vibrant colors, deep contrast, and anti-glare, low-reflection finish. Similarly, MSI deserves credit for including every cable you could ever need alongside plenty of extra accessories right in the box.

Still, I do wish you could permanently disable the auto-mounting drive on the monitor itself, and the built-in speakers leave some room for improvement. Overall though, if you want a more affordable Studio Display alternative that doubles as a high-performance gaming monitor, the MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G is an excellent choice — especially given its more competitive pricing post-launch.