Why buy $3499 Cinema HD Display? Bought 42" HD for $2999, thanks Gateway!

Got a link to it?

[edit]I see you've just put one, thanks![/edit]

A plasma TV is not the same as an LCD MONITOR. But, yes, Apple needs to update their LCD line and prices...

Ooops.

Plasma TVs aren't good to look at for fine details.

I know, I have one. Don't expect it to be a replacement for a monitor.

As the others have said, the screen res on a plasma is poo. The 23" Apple has a fantastic native res of 1920x1200 (I think), but most plasmas are around 1024x768 if you're lucky.

Check out the resolution on this one. Pretty bad for a computer monitor. Not sure about TV or DVD, but looking at spreadsheets on this thing must be really bad for you...

Key Features
Diagonal 42-inch Screen Size
16:9 Wide Aspect Ratio
852 x 480 native pixel with progressive scan
600:1 Contrast Ratio
570 cd/m2 Brightness
Integrated Tuner and Speakers
HDTV Signal Compatible
160 Degree viewing angle

This display is an pretty good tv, and the equivalent of a 14" CRT resolution wise.

You bought size, and not detail. You will have a good DVD experience, an okay TV experience, and a bad computing experience.

The best monitor in the world in the IBM T221. It has a resolution of 3840 x 2400.

An anology for the detail specs you seem to have missed is the digital camera's megapixel measurement. You bought a 1 Megapixel monitor, which is 42" diagonally. IBM has a 9 megapixel monitor which is 22" diagonally. Apple has a 2.3 megapixel moniter which is 23" diagonally.

The more meapixels, the better the image. The less size per megapixel, the sharper the image.

Re: Why buy $3499 Cinema HD Display? Bought 42" HD for $2999, thanks Gateway!

Originally posted by peter2002
I was in the market for the biggest HD display for least amount of money. Today, I got my Buy.com catalog in the mail and they had a 42" display "on sale" for $4299. I thought that was kind of high. (Jeez, I can still remember when the prices at Buy.com were the cheapest.)

Later by chance I was reading an article today about the new Intel 3GHZ P4 system that Gateway is selling and now Gateway is selling a 42" HD flat panel display. I clicked and the price is just $2999 for a killer flat plasma monitor with VGA, DVI In, RS-232, VGA Out, NTSC RF Antenna, Composite Video, Component Video(2), S-Video, Audio In, Audio Out connections.

Apple needs to update their flat panel monitors big time. Hopefully a 42" display will be revealed at MWSF 2003. Apple's puny 23" Cinema HD Displayis so obsolete.

Anyway, I just bought my 42" from Gateway. Can't wait until it arrives. Finally you can get a monitor that works with a computer but looks stylish and not geeky for watching DVDs too. Thank you Gateway!

Peter

http://www.gateway.com/home/prod/hm_plsmtv_proddetail.shtml

Click to expand...

Sorry, but I looked at the site, and no where does it say that the monitor is High Def. It's just a VGA plasma.

Re: Re: Why buy $3499 Cinema HD Display? Bought 42" HD for $2999, thanks Gateway!

Originally posted by mcrain
Sorry, but I looked at the site, and no where does it say that the monitor is High Def. It's just a VGA plasma.

Click to expand...

If you click on "More Specs", you'll see how it "is" an HDTV.

What it does is take the HDTV signal (either 1080 or 780) and "digitally" fit it into the 852x480 screen. It does the same thing with computer video signals up to 1280x1024.

I guess it's better than a standard TV, but nowhere near as good as a dedicated computer monitor or a true HDTV set.

Gee, thanks gateway for the crappy plasma 42 inches of poo. Go and look into buying a Plasma TV, the knowledgable salesmen will say hold off, they aren't any better then LCD's and will be placed soon by that other tech with the light or something, can't remember now.

Enjoy your wasted money, thanks GateWay

Originally posted by Kid Red
Gee, thanks gateway for the crappy plasma 42 inches of poo. Go and look into buying a Plasma TV, the knowledgable salesmen will say hold off, they aren't any better then LCD's and will be placed soon by that other tech with the light or something, can't remember now.

Enjoy your wasted money, thanks GateWay

Click to expand...

Are you thinking of OLEDs? Organic Light Eminating Diodes. This is a very promising technology.

Personally, I'm holding off on HDTV until ...

1. I buy my house

2. The standards become set in stone

non apple flatscreens

in my local microcenter the other day, i decided to check out other vendors' flatscreens, thinking maybe i could get something cheaper (and upgrade my 15" flat)

i saw 2, one by sony, the other by (i think) toshiba, hooked up to XP machines.

both were horrible -- out of focus, fuzzy. my eyes hurt and i knew i'd get a headache if i looked at it too long. i could barely read the icon labels.

i'm wondering if they were set up incorrectly, or if they're just that bad. suddenly i love my apple flat panel again.

edit: i went back today and asked. as it turns out, they've got one PC driving a wall of daisy-chained monitors. i.e. set up incorrectly

Re: non apple flatscreens

Originally posted by zimv20
in my local microcenter the other day, i decided to check out other vendors' flatscreens, thinking maybe i could get something cheaper (and upgrade my 15" flat)

i saw 2, one by sony, the other by (i think) toshiba, hooked up to XP machines.

both were horrible -- out of focus, fuzzy. my eyes hurt and i knew i'd get a headache if i looked at it too long. i could barely read the icon labels.

i'm wondering if they were set up incorrectly, or if they're just that bad. suddenly i love my apple flat panel again.

Click to expand...

Take a look at Cornea monitors. I got a 17" flat panel with built-in TV Tuner for $650 (and I think you can get them now for well under $600). It has VGA, DVI, S-Video, and composite video inputs (as well as coaxial cable input for TV tuner). I haven't done a side-by-side comparison with an Apple LCD, but I'm totally satisfied an the price was definitely right.

Looks fantastic as a TV, by the way, and it's even wall mountable...

Re: Re: non apple flatscreens

Originally posted by lmalave
Take a look at Cornea monitors. I got a 17" flat panel with built-in TV Tuner for $650 (and I think you can get them now for well under $600). It has VGA, DVI, S-Video, and composite video inputs (as well as coaxial cable input for TV tuner). I haven't done a side-by-side comparison with an Apple LCD, but I'm totally satisfied an the price was definitely right.

Looks fantastic as a TV, by the way, and it's even wall mountable...

Click to expand...

Wow, I've been considering the Envision EN-7500, which is also a 17" LCD with TV-tuner...but the Cornea doesn't look that bad, and it has DVI...

Ah looks like I have a choice

Originally posted by ftaok
Are you thinking of OLEDs? Organic Light Eminating Diodes. This is a very promising technology.

Personally, I'm holding off on HDTV until ...

1. I buy my house

2. The standards become set in stone

Click to expand...

Yea thats it! I was holding off, but i broke down and got a Panasonic HDTV 36" flatscreen. It rocks. We have TimeWarner cable and they have HD for no extra charge so i get 8 channels right now. If it will be a while I recommend getting one now. The OLEDs are off a few years at least, especially if you have HD channels avilable in your area. Mine has now come down to about $1700 which is a great deal once you see my picture. I was tempted by the plasmas but the guy said 'why? They are no better then regular LCDs, wait for the OLEDs'. But I got my HD and love it. HD rocks!

btw- The house thing is a good idea, these beasts weigh 350+ lbs and I had to hire movers just for the TV because I wasn't going to chance dropping a 3 months old $2k TV.

It digitally resamples a 1280x1024 screen reolution onto an 852x420 screen. Thats an approximate 70% loss of screen resolution. Forget anti-alias, forget image quality... forget being able to read a 12point font. You're going to have to run this thing in its native resolution or it will look like total ass. Even then, youll have to get used to less than 800x600 resolution... OUCH!

If you were buying a home theatre... great job. If you were buying a new monitor, you seriously ****ed up. Anyways, Mac screens are overpriced and (compared to new models) poorly designed - it is time for a return to pedastal (sp?). I hopy you enjoy your purchase, I am jealous of a home theatre with one of those!

HDTV

Yea, for x-mas, my dad got a HDTV. Its a Mitsubishi 65" Widescreen.

This thing is a monster. Time Warner gives us 4 HD Channels, and it looks soooo good. The x-mas before this last one, we got him a Bose sound system, Acoustomas 6 or somethin with a JBL Reciever, and DVD Player. Our setup rocks

Originally posted by Kid Red
Yea thats it! I was holding off, but i broke down and got a Panasonic HDTV 36" flatscreen. It rocks. We have TimeWarner cable and they have HD for no extra charge so i get 8 channels right now. If it will be a while I recommend getting one now. The OLEDs are off a few years at least, especially if you have HD channels avilable in your area. Mine has now come down to about $1700 which is a great deal once you see my picture. I was tempted by the plasmas but the guy said 'why? They are no better then regular LCDs, wait for the OLEDs'. But I got my HD and love it. HD rocks!

btw- The house thing is a good idea, these beasts weigh 350+ lbs and I had to hire movers just for the TV because I wasn't going to chance dropping a 3 months old $2k TV.

Click to expand...

Well, I'd love to have an HDTV right now, but where I'm at, I don't even have cable (not my choice). I'll be buying a new house in a few years, maybe the OLEDs will be ready by then.

The thing that gets me about HDTV is that I thought they'd be standard and widely accepted by now. Heck, I thought it would have had 75% penetration by 1998. The FCC really screwed the pooch on this one

i saw a 42 inch monitor from toshiba at costco and this thing was sharp...definitely sharp enough for any kind of work one would throw at it

but why would a digital video editor, gamer, or graphic designer need such a large screen?

where would you put it in the space you use right now?

Originally posted by ftaok
Well, I'd love to have an HDTV right now, but where I'm at, I don't even have cable (not my choice). I'll be buying a new house in a few years, maybe the OLEDs will be ready by then.

The thing that gets me about HDTV is that I thought they'd be standard and widely accepted by now. Heck, I thought it would have had 75% penetration by 1998. The FCC really screwed the pooch on this one

Click to expand...

and also what happened to bluetooth coming on fast and furious like experts predicted?

and fiber?

and cicso unseating microsoft in the networking world?

and especially, the dot.com making us all rich?

some technologies do take over the market but may be sleepers and take some time to catch on...in the early 1980s, it looked like computers would propogate themsleves over the next ten years until everybody in america who had a phone would also have a computer

...that was before there was such a term as "digital divide"

You should never throw your money away on anything from Gateway. I'm not being rabidly pro mac here, I just want everyone to know that even if you're lucky enough for your gateway product not to break (it probably will), you shouldn't support that crap bull**** company or its thievery.

Re: non apple flatscreens

Originally posted by zimv20
in my local microcenter the other day, i decided to check out other vendors' flatscreens, thinking maybe i could get something cheaper (and upgrade my 15" flat)
i saw 2, one by sony, the other by (i think) toshiba, hooked up to XP machines.
both were horrible -- out of focus, fuzzy. my eyes hurt and i knew i'd get a headache if i looked at it too long. i could barely read the icon labels.
i'm wondering if they were set up incorrectly, or if they're just that bad. suddenly i love my apple flat panel again.

Click to expand...

I was able to to find the right monitor to replace my Apple 15" flat. It's by the company that makes the LCD's for apple anyhow. Samsung.
At CompUSA they had a new G4 driving an apple 17" and a Samsung 19" (191T) side by side. It looked amazing! The only diffrence is that both have the same resolution so the Apple does have a finer pitch.

I looked into it and this monitor sells online for just over $720. But it gets better. They make an 18" (181T) wich has the same res, making it have a smaller pixel pitch. The 181T (only) also has a buit in power supply in the monitor wich takes care of clunky power boxes. And the surrounding bezel is only .75" which looks great!

I really don't know why Apple has not changed this. They have picture frame monitors with a 1.75" frame while the imac has a fantastic neck that can be used in LCD's and the TiBook has a screen so slim and almost frameless that would be incredible on a desktop. They could incorporate the two into a desktop LCD that would put all others to shame.

In any case, I was very impressed with Samsung's 181T and 191T monitors and will be replacing my 15" DVI Studio Display with one of these soon.

From experience prefer to purchase Apple, 3rd party if you get into trouble your out of luck. Prefer not to worry about compatability!