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23" Cinema Display vs 2 x 20" Cinema Display

Glenn Wolsey

Glenn Wolsey

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 24, 2005
1,230
2
New Zealand
I'm planning to purchase a Mac Pro in a few months time, and I'm tossing up the idea of one 23" Cinema Display vs 2 x 20" Cinema Displays.

With the 23" I get 2.3 million pixels of workspace... with 2x 20" I get 3.5 million pixels of work space.

The 20" is $950, and the 23" is $1400. (NZD)
 
i suppose 30" is out?

What do you plan to do with it? I was contemplating between a 30" or 2 23"s, then i realized that if I were to watch TV or movie on my computer at some point, having the image split between 2 is gonna be a big no-no
 
Have you ever used dual 20"s?

Some people don't mind, but personally I feel that gap in the middle is TOO irritating...oh well...
 
23''...I'm not a fan of 2 monitor in general. If you are, I'd still say go 23'' because later on you ca upgrade to 2 23'' ones/
 
This all depends on how your "workspace" will be used. Actually, it depends on how you like to work. Having "application/tools" windows open on one monitor and dedicating one monitor to the "product" really sped up workflow for me. The gap psychofreak mentions was a plus for me, because it helped me focus on two different types of thinking.

While the 30" looks beautiful, I found it was either too close for me to scan the entire field comfortably, or to far for my mind to feel totally engaged in what I was doing. You really have to test this out yourself.
 
Glenn Wolsey said:
I'm planning to purchase a Mac Pro in a few months time, and I'm tossing up the idea of one 23" Cinema Display vs 2 x 20" Cinema Displays.

With the 23" I get 2.3 million pixels of workspace... with 2x 20" I get 3.5 million pixels of work space.

The 20" is $950, and the 23" is $1400. (NZD)
Click to expand...

Ultimately it really depends on the type of work... if you are working full screen with one app, go the 23, if you are working multiple apps, or say are working in app where you can have controls in one window and a fullscreen of the object being worked (graphics, video, auto) then two screens can be really useful.

of course if your one 23" screen goes out you may not have a back up, with 2 20's you have some form of a backup.

Do they have an apple store down there where you might be able to see it setup in such a way?

Unfortunately each person is different and some may find duals a right royal pain in the rear end where others find it a god send.
 
Legolamb said:
This all depends on how your "workspace" will be used. Actually, it depends on how you like to work. Having "application/tools" windows open on one monitor and dedicating one monitor to the "product" really sped up workflow for me. The gap psychofreak mentions was a plus for me, because it helped me focus on two different types of thinking.

While the 30" looks beautiful, I found it was either too close for me to scan the entire field comfortably, or to far for my mind to feel totally engaged in what I was doing. You really have to test this out yourself.
Click to expand...

As you can from the other's posts, this is really a preference issue. You may also find yourself changing your mind after awhile. I have tried most of the combinations. My favorite is the dual 30". But, that is not perfect. It is difficult to view the 'edges' at max resolution. My least favorite is the dual 24" wide screen format. The width/height perspective is really not optimal. I liked the dual 20" standard screen set-up and the dual 23" ACD.

psychofreak mentioned a dislike for the middle gap. No question, that is an issue. I can be irritating at times, especially pop-ups, which use center screen as the default.
 
The 23" gives you more vertical room for application menus and for the dock. For that reason I'd go with the 23".

I wish Apple would release a 24" model with an Isight camera built in. :)
 
-Alan- said:
I wish Apple would release a 24" model with an Isight camera built in. :)
Click to expand...

a 24" model would most likely not increase in resolution from the 23", so your useable space is exactly the same.

right now I've got 2 17" monitors and I really want to exchange one out for a 23"ACD. Getting rid of both and going 30" would be amazing, but unrealistic (financially of course).
 
Displays

Hey,

In Feb 2005 I bought a 2GHz PM with a 23'.

I paid over double the price today for that 23'. Get the 23' and stop moaning! They are incredible screens and will just continue to blow you away every time you turn it on!

F
 
get the 23, dig up an old crt from under a pile of junk somewhere and get the best of both worlds.

I'm usually a fan of having 1 main screen, however I've found that having a second screen of any sort is quite handy for various things. I use my old 17" flat crt from 2000 as a second monitor and it has worked out great. I like having the whole screen dedicated to what I'm working on (photoshop or lightroom for example), but i also like to have itunes or a quicktime audio window for the stern show or this american life etc., plus i can have a finder window of the files i'm working with over in the little screen, or a video, a web browser, gameday live if there's a sox game, etc etc etc. Expose is great, as are virtual desktops, but i prefer moving my eyes to the side a bit instead of activating expose and searching for the right window. For a while I even used a 15" ibm monitor from about 1997 for the job, it looked lousy but who cares when it's just a finder window or itunes.

it also allows me to watch a video on one screen while my girlfriend works on the other.

if the ugly old beige crt bothers you aesthetically, you can always wrap it in aluminum foil, then run a stiff paint brush over it, i'm sure it'll look just like an apple.
 
Im pretty anti Apple 23" due to it sometimes having color reproduction and backlight issues. I went from a defective 23" to 2 20s" and it was pretty nice. To me, the color and image quality was more important, and yes, you do get more pixel real estate with 2 screens.

Just be aware that you will have a very WIDE desktop.
 
The other option is to go with the 23" Apple Cinema Display, then I can add another 23" Apple Cinema Display at a later date.

Cheaper in the short run. More expensive in the long run.
Less screen res in the short run. More screen space in the long run.
 
yeah i htink it all depends what you are going to be using it for.. and also personal preference, best thign to do go to a store and check out both options, i find myself having to back up a lot of times to see better when the screen is too big... then a gain im used t my macbook screen thats probably why
 
juanster said:
yeah i htink it all depends what you are going to be using it for.. and also personal preference, best thign to do go to a store and check out both options, i find myself having to back up a lot of times to see better when the screen is too big... then a gain im used t my macbook screen thats probably why
Click to expand...

Pretty much using it for general computing tasks/multitasking. I tend to use Aperture quite heavily at times too.
 
The 23" ACD feels better to me than the 20" ACD. Better vertical height, but not too huge. I've owned the 15", 17" Apple Studio LCDs and the 20" ACD and I really love this 23" the best. P.S They just lowered the prices on the ACDs...
 
California said:
The 23" ACD feels better to me than the 20" ACD. Better vertical height, but not too huge. I've owned the 15", 17" Apple Studio LCDs and the 20" ACD and I really love this 23" the best. P.S They just lowered the prices on the ACDs...
Click to expand...

So you find the difference from the 20 to the 23 considerable? I'm starting to learn toward the 23" Apple Cinema Display idea, with the intention of adding another 23" when funds will allow.
 
FireArse said:
Get the 23' and stop moaning! They are incredible screens and will just continue to blow you away every time you turn it on!

F
Click to expand...
The Apple 23" ACD is the dog's bo**ocks. I totally agree with FireArse, when you turn it on it just amazes you. :)

FJ

ps
FireArse, what a awesome user name. :cool:
 
I have both 20" and 23",

Vertical Space - important for word related documents, also fantastic for web browsing... (hard to contemplate the difference at this point, but when you have both, the advantage is quite noticeable and appreciated)

High Definition - I thought movies and tv on 23" is a lot better than 20", maybe its just my preconception, but to me its quite a big difference. (others might dispute me)

Heat - the 23" actually emits quite a lot of heat - dont know about teh specs, but i tried using one after the other, and the temperature difference is quite noticeable

Dual Screen - I actually find it quite difficult to do dual screens with ACDs, because they're so much wider than the normal monitors. So looking from one end of the monitor to anotehr is quite a chore. (not being sarcastic)

CAD - I do a lot of CAD work, so dual screen is fantastic, whereas just the 23" feels a bit cramped...

that's all i can think of now, maybe more later...
 
AVID said:
High Definition - I thought movies and tv on 23" is a lot better than 20", maybe its just my preconception, but to me its quite a big difference. (others might dispute me)
Click to expand...

The 23 is better for movies etc because (according to the Apple store) the 23" and 30" ACD are HD

The 20" is not.
 
hhmmmm 23' goodness

FireArse said:
"...and will just continue to blow you away every time you turn it on!"
Click to expand...

I just thought about how dirty that sounded - but damn it can be true!

Movies look stunning on it, 1920x1200 resultion and the sheer fact that they look just gorgeous on/off helped me decide 23' (or over) is the only way to go!

FatherJack, the username is my nickname from school/uni - I was given it on my first day of school in yr 9. It's stuck ever since!

F
 
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