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20" Apple Cinema Diplay Grainy?

TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
I used to own a MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 15" with a very grainy matte display. I posted a thread about it here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/251352/

Anyways, I returned it because I couldn't stand to look at it anymore and now I'm considering getting a Mac Pro with a 20" ACD along with it. I looked at the 20" at the Apple Store where I was returning my MacBook Pro and I noticed a little bit of the sparkles or grain or whatever you call it but, it was not as bad as my MacBook Pro... but yet it was also not as clear as the iMac display. The screens I was looking at had a lot of fingerprints/dirt/scratches on it so that may have been the reason for seeing this effect on it.

Can anyone who owns a 20" ACD confirm whether their screen is really smooth and clear (if they keep it clean) or if it's more like I'm describing in the MacBook Pro thread. Any helpful descriptions or observations about the quality of the display, please let me know. I don't wanna spend that kind of money on a display that's too sparkly looking.

As a test... try opening a blank Safari page and move it around on the screen... do you see a static pattern that does not move. Then note whether this is hardly noticeable or very noticeable to you. Thanks.
 
A

akadmon

Suspended
Aug 30, 2006
2,006
2
New England
TheSpaz said:
I used to own a MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 15" with a very grainy matte display. I posted a thread about it here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/251352/

Anyways, I returned it because I couldn't stand to look at it anymore and now I'm considering getting a Mac Pro with a 20" ACD along with it. I looked at the 20" at the Apple Store where I was returning my MacBook Pro and I noticed a little bit of the sparkles or grain or whatever you call it but, it was not as bad as my MacBook Pro... but yet it was also not as clear as the iMac display. The screens I was looking at had a lot of fingerprints/dirt/scratches on it so that may have been the reason for seeing this effect on it.

Can anyone who owns a 20" ACD confirm whether their screen is really smooth and clear (if they keep it clean) or if it's more like I'm describing in the MacBook Pro thread. Any helpful descriptions or observations about the quality of the display, please let me know. I don't wanna spend that kind of money on a display that's too sparkly looking.

As a test... try opening a blank Safari page and move it around on the screen... do you see a static pattern that does not move. Then note whether this is hardly noticeable or very noticeable to you. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I've been closely following the C2D MBP screen saga. Originally my plan was to get the 17" model, but with the first pics of the freshly delivered machines showing serious flaws with backlight bleeding (as yet nobody has complained about the graininess) I've decided to not to go that way. I have already purchased a 24" Del monitor (shipped today), so my choices are pretty much limited to the high cost/high performance Mac Pro and the low cost/OK performance 2.16GHz 15" C2D MBP. I'll be saving about $600 if I go with the low end MBP (screen quality won't be a huge issue since I will be using it most of the time with the external 24" monitor), but the speed and upgradability (not too mention reliability) of the Mac Pro are oh so tempting!

Anyway, getting back to your post, why not consider the 24" Dell instead of the 20" ACD? It's essentially the same price, but gives you more working area, brighter screen (of course you can turn it down if it's too bright for you), and a lot more inputs. The Dell monitor seems to be getting excellent reviews to boot.
 
S

SRSound

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2005
489
0
TheSpaz said:
I used to own a MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 15" with a very grainy matte display. I posted a thread about it here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/251352/

Anyways, I returned it because I couldn't stand to look at it anymore and now I'm considering getting a Mac Pro with a 20" ACD along with it. I looked at the 20" at the Apple Store where I was returning my MacBook Pro and I noticed a little bit of the sparkles or grain or whatever you call it but, it was not as bad as my MacBook Pro... but yet it was also not as clear as the iMac display. The screens I was looking at had a lot of fingerprints/dirt/scratches on it so that may have been the reason for seeing this effect on it.

Can anyone who owns a 20" ACD confirm whether their screen is really smooth and clear (if they keep it clean) or if it's more like I'm describing in the MacBook Pro thread. Any helpful descriptions or observations about the quality of the display, please let me know. I don't wanna spend that kind of money on a display that's too sparkly looking.

As a test... try opening a blank Safari page and move it around on the screen... do you see a static pattern that does not move. Then note whether this is hardly noticeable or very noticeable to you. Thanks.
Click to expand...

My 20" ACD is beautiful. No problems as mentioned.
 
TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
SRSound said:
My 20" ACD is beautiful. No problems as mentioned.
Click to expand...

When did you get yours? I looked at one again tonight at Circuit City and it was the same... grainy... but, not as bad... it's more tolerable than the MacBook Pro 15".

One weird thing was... I looked at the 24" iMac and the display looked very clean and sharp... I was impressed... but, I don't want an iMac.
 
THX1139

THX1139

macrumors 68000
Mar 4, 2006
1,928
0
My 23" ACD has it. I got my ACD 2 months ago and noticed the strange speckled pattern right away. The speckles on mine are multi-colored and really noticeable when you drag a white window around the desktop.

I never returned my ACD because I thought that was normal. I confirmed it by going to an Apple store and checking out the ACD's there, and they all had the speckling. I thought I'd get used to it, but now that you brought it up, it still bugs me. Now I wonder if this is indeed a defect on a certain batch of panels and I should try to get a return?
 
A

asencif

macrumors 6502
Dec 21, 2005
323
0
I have the same thing on my 23" ACD. The higher you have the brightness, the more you will notice it. I think also since these displays have higher specs on the brightness, it is more noticeable. I am trying to see when I can take mine back. I have the slight pink hue on greys, backlight bleed which is noticeable on a complete black background, and the grain.
 
S

SRSound

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2005
489
0
TheSpaz said:
When did you get yours? I looked at one again tonight at Circuit City and it was the same... grainy... but, not as bad... it's more tolerable than the MacBook Pro 15".

One weird thing was... I looked at the 24" iMac and the display looked very clean and sharp... I was impressed... but, I don't want an iMac.
Click to expand...

Ive had my ACD for about a year and a half now, still in perfect condition.
 
TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
SRSound said:
Ive had my ACD for about a year and a half now, still in perfect condition.
Click to expand...

What model number do you have? I've only just started looking at them days ago so I don't know if the older ones are better or if this is a new thing they're doing to all their displays. What gets me is, why in the heck do the 24" iMac screens look perfect and then you look at a 20" iMac or a 17" iMac or ANY Apple Cinema Display and see a grainy display? It's maddening... what am I supposed to do? All of the third party displays I looked at either weren't widescreen (which is what I want) or they were very cheaply built (not very sturdy and made out of crappy plastic). I saw one Samsung display that I liked and it was very solid and stylish but, it didn't come in widescreen and it was black (kinda want silver to match my upcoming Mac Pro). So the deal is with me, get the Cinema Display because it's got a way better build quality to it and suffer with the grain or get a 3rd party display that looks like I have a PC under my desk. I dunno.
 
r6girl

r6girl

Administrator/Project Manager
Staff member
Sep 6, 2003
1,732
79
New England
i just got a 20" apple display along with my macbook last month. it has a build date of late september. it is absolutely perfect - no graininess or other flaws. the minute i received it, i hooked it up to the 15" powerbook i had at the time and pretty much put my face as close as i could get to it and still focus :)p ) to inspect every pixel and found nothing wrong.
 
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