iGary, how should I put this? Let me just say that
misinformed people like you are the
reason I made the original article, this misconception that the only differences between the monitors are looks, contrast and brightness has to stop. You just propagated that misconception yourself, due to not knowing any better. In the end it just hurts the other would-be buyers; a designer might buy a Dell thinking that he will get perfect results AND save money, and he's in for a surprise when his graphics come out looking different elsewhere (where the color representation is accurate, such as a print studio). If you can't see the difference between 262,144 colors (Dell 24") and 16,777,216 colors (ACD 23"),
and the more accurate and stable (no shifting) color reproduction of the professional S-IPS type of LCD panel that Apple chose for their displays (
Anything less than S-IPS is unsuitable for professional graphics work), then you are NOT, I repeat,
NOT a professional as you claim you are, and indeed a Dell will be perfect for you and all the other people that
don't need accurate colors and would rather save some money. And when faced with information that you didn't like, you shrugged it off with a comment like "
If you care about aesthetics and don't care about .0000004555676 difference in <insert spec here> get an Apple.", which suggests that you believe that the Dell monitor has better specifications simply from having (solely) read the brightness and contrast values, ignoring what the actual display is made of, and that's
exactly the misconception that I'm fighting. The Dell monitor has better contrast and brightness due to using a consumer-grade S-PVA panel, a panel type which provides higher contrast and brightness at the cost of having terrible color accuracy. I never would have thought I'd see anyone propagating the misconceptions in this thread, so I highly suspect that you did not read the original article, and that you're in la-la land thinking that this is just another run-of-the-mill ACD vs Dell thread. It's not, as you'd have known if you had read the
original article.
Why do we do this like three times a week?
If you want a plastic, cheap monitor with better specifications (that most people will likely not notice [anyway]), get a Dell.
If you care about aesthetics and don't care about .0000004555676 difference in <insert spec here> get an Apple.
Geebus.
Posts like yours may be the reason why. You are trying to minimize the differences that the OP went to great lengths to describe, so that people do understand the differences.
Typical consumers might not care, as he points out, but professionals surely will.
I'm a professional (I hate that term, really), have used both and the difference is neglible, even with a calibrated ICC profile.
Sure it's educational, but yes, we do this all the fracking time. Just tired of seeing the Dell versus ACD discussion, I guess.
Just my worthless .02, 
As for your observation "
Why do we do this like three times a week?"; this thread is meant to clear things up and put an end to the discussion once and for all. I'm as tired as you are of seeing endless threads pop up, where most of them lack the input from someone knowledgeable who knows the real differences and cares to share them. Even though threads
do exist where someone has come along and explained that there's a huge difference between the displays,
and that the difference is not in the contrast or brightness, their posts go to waste after a few days when those threads have been buried and new ones pop up. Therefore, I decided that it was time for a central post that clears up the misconceptions and explains the differences in-depth, so that it can be referenced next time there's a "Which display should I pick, ACD 23" or Dell 24?" thread. -- Which I suspect will be in about 5 minutes from now.
(I have to respectfully agree with the several users who have commented in favor of stickying this thread. The discussion of ACD 23" vs Dell 24" is so common that stickying this thread would make their search easier, and clear up the boards.)
