Need to buy 25 good LCD displays...help!

[joemama]

My school system has given me the green light for a new Mac lab for next year that includes 25 student workstations. We will be doing graphics, layout, web design and video editing. I have been looking at the new iMacs which have the display built in, as well as the G5 towers as another option. Of course, these would need displays.

Our tech. director will not purchase Apple LCD's because they are too extensive and more importantly, do not have a 3 year warranty (we lease in 3 year cycles). I would like to get either one 19"+ widescreen display or two 17"s, and they have to be on the less expensive side.

Any ideas? Please help, thanks!

[Sun Baked]

Like memory, there is no reason to stick with Apple's option.

But in a school or high PC setting there is more reason to buy a lower cost alternative -- that's on-screen controls.

The software controls on the Mac screens make it a PIA, if you need to move the screen to a PC.

[neonart]

http://www.thenerds.net/productpage.asp?un=183343&s=1

$480 19", DVI, Warranty + 2 more years for $52

Or

http://www.formac.com/p_bin/?cid=solutions_displays_gallery1900_01

$698 with 3 year warranty. Cream of the crop in it's size.

Not too many widescreens in 19". Also remember to count the pixels! Apple's "widescreen" 20" is actually not any wider in than Formac's 2010, and has 240,000 less pixels at the bottom. :eek:

[jimsowden]

As much as I dislike dell, and how this pug fugly monitor would clash with a beautiful G5 tower, I think this is the smart money:
DELL UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?sku=320-4111&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=5194&first=true&page=productlisting.aspx)
I know dell does alot of special education pricing and leasing for large orders like yours.

[efoto]

I would have to second the Dell option, as much as it hurts. The only product I have ever personally purchased from Dell is a 2001FP, which so far has been the best LCD for the money I have seen.

Definitely suggest either the 2001FP or the 2005FP, but personally I bump the 2001 for its widely accepted 1600x1200 resolution.

[joemama]

I would have to second the Dell option, as much as it hurts. The only product I have ever personally purchased from Dell is a 2001FP, which so far has been the best LCD for the money I have seen.

Definitely suggest either the 2001FP or the 2005FP, but personally I bump the 2001 for its widely accepted 1600x1200 resolution.

Hey question on these Dell's: How do they interface with the mac video card? just plug right in? can the USB ports be used, etc? The page says S-video and component in, but I do not see the ports? ANy know?

thanks

[Sun Baked]

Hey question on these Dell's: How do they interface with the mac video card? just plug right in? can the USB ports be used, etc? The page says S-video and component in, but I do not see the ports? ANy know?

thanksLook in the tech specs for the Dell monitors...

Port(s) Total ( Free ) / Connector Type: 1 x 15-pin D-sub, 1 x 24-pin Digital DVI-D, 1 x S-Video, 1 x Composite Video, 5 x USB (1 Upstream and 4 Downstream)

The Macs have 1 DVI port and 1 ADC (USB/Power/DVI combo)...

Plug them into the DVI port for 1 monitor, use a ADC-to-DVI converter for a second.

---

Apple is switching back to the DVI standard, so most of the DVI monitors should NOT be a problem -- plug them in the same way you would on a PC (video card, wall socket, and the USB port.)

[efoto]

What he said ;)

I have not had my own personal Mac hooked up to this yet, however I have had a powerbook hooked up (a friend's over schoolterm) and it worked fine, just glorious actually. I really should not complain over this product from dell, other than that their name is slapped big on the front...although "big" is relative to the o-so-nice thin-frame. They really are nice.

[CanadaRAM]

> We will be doing graphics, layout, web design and video editing.

What is the reason for LCD monitors (other then the obvious items of deskspace and power consumption)? For design, colour accuracy in LCD's is not as good as CRTs, and for video, the pixel lag of an LCD will be a minor to not-so-minor issue, depending on the quality of the LCD panel.

Guaranteed, the lowest priced LCDs will miss both targets.

Why not 19" CRTs at half the price, with beter colour and video performance?

Otherwise, be prepared to spend for a good quality LCD. Tip: ask the colour calibration companies like Pantone which LCD models they will guarantee consistent calibration results on. This will be a short, short list.

When my Samsung 21" CRT died I decided on a top-end Sharp 19" LCD (CAN$900) with switchable DVI & VGA inputs for sharing between my G4 1.25 MHz DP and P4 machine. Text sharpness is better than the Samsung, especially in its latter days, however I can definitely see the difference in areas of solid colour compared with a CRT, and lower quality motion video.

But then, I had the Samsung repaired for CAN$130 and gave it to my wife. That would not have been possible on an LCD. Repairs and backlight replacement are very expensive on LCDs.

Tip: Use a big screen CRT and then set the resolution to 1024x768 -- makes it easier to read for people who -ahem- don't admit to "needing" reading glasses...

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

[trailblazer]

doesnt the warranty that comes with the powermacs cover the lcds? i know you dont want to buy them, but i'm pretty sure it does doesnt it..maybe not for education.

[aldo]

Apple's displays are insanely priced atm. Go for the Dell ones, they are fantastic quality and extremely well priced. Hell, get two of them for the same price as one Apple one :D.

I wouldn't go with CRTs, they are bulky (pain if students have paperwork they want to copy off) and they use a lot of power. You'll save around $40/yr in using LCD over CRT per monitor, and 25 is $1000/yr - not a trivial amount. They also put a hell of a lot of heat out which depending on your location may be a problem in increased AC load.

Is there a genuine requirement for Macs? You could save a hell of a lot buying Dell or similar. Yes, I know it's Windows etc but lock them down properly and use Firefox and you'll have few issues. Just a thought though - a lot of graphic places are moving towards Windows now, so it may be more relevant for the future for the students.

[sushi]

Also remember to count the pixels! Apple's "widescreen" 20" is actually not any wider in than Formac's 2010, and has 240,000 less pixels at the bottom. :eek:
Understand your point.

However, I only get 156,000 pixel difference (1600x1200 vice 1680x1050).

Sushi

[JasonL]

I haven't had a chance to post an official product recommendation, but I can tell you that I love my Princeton Graphics SENergy 714. It's a great 17" LCD (dual input VGA/DVI) that I got from Monitors Direct (http://www.monitorsdirect.com) for a bit more than $300. When I use it as an external display with my PB I am amazed at how much nicer it is than the PB display.

[Sun Baked]

It's a school, they don't always buy based on how much room it takes, the energy it uses, the reliability, or quality -- sometimes it's all based on cost.

If he has to pair decent CRTs with Powermac G5s to get them in the school, it would probably be worth it -- compared to Gateway's low prices.

[fuzzwud]

if Apple or an Apple reseller would be willing to negotiate on the price, wouldn't your school want to reconsider getting the Apple LCDs? I make purchases for our small business with purchase orders of about $15,000. You're going to be making a purchase much more in sales to them. Although our business purchased from Macwarehouse (now CDW), I'm sure whoever you deal with would be willing to negotiate. An ideal price would be to have them include the extra Applecare warranty so that each LCD unit + 3 yr warranty is equal to as close to the regular price of the LCD unit itself.

[stronghand]

I just picked up 2 of these for work a couple of weeks ago at Best Buy:

http://www.lge.com/catalog/prodmodeldetail?actType=search&page=1&modelCategoryId=CTG1000499&categoryId=CTG1000496&parentId=CTG1000439&modelPrefix=400000&globalCode=L1780U&globalSuffix=000000&unit=NOTHING&model=NOTHING#

Normally I avoid Best Buy but the monitor was $430 with an $80 rebate. I added the 3 year extended warranty for $50 and I'm still only at $400 apiece. All of the specs are pretty comparable to Apple's panels, some are in fact better: 160°/160° h/v viewing angle, 12 ms response rate, 500:1 contrast, 250 brightness. It has thin bezels for putting 2 next to each other and it has both DVI and VGA connections.

I wouldn't bother with 19" panels from anybody, as the res is the same as the 17" panels (1280 x 1024), so the only thing you get is larger pixels.

After working on a 23" Cinema Display (the old ones) at my old job, I have to say these stand up pretty well...