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30" ACD vs. 30" Dell

P

paulinbognor

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 5, 2006
76
0
West Sussex, UK
I'm only a few days away from ordering my Mac Pro I was planning to buy the 30"ACD to go with it until I happened to check out dell:
30" display reduced to: £1026.66
30" ACD £1549

The ACD has always been more expensive but always in teh same kind of area as the Dell. This reduced price for the Dell seems too good to miss though.

So the real question is whether the ACD is £500 better than the Dell! I know the Dell doesn't look anywhere near as nice but...£500 is £500 :D
As I understand it they both use the same SIPS panel.

Any help/advice would be appreciated:)
 
paulinbognor said:
I'm only a few days away from ordering my Mac Pro I was planning to buy the 30"ACD to go with it until I happened to check out dell:
30" display reduced to: £1026.66
30" ACD £1549

The ACD has always been more expensive but always in teh same kind of area as the Dell. This reduced price for the Dell seems too good to miss though.

So the real question is whether the ACD is £500 better than the Dell! I know the Dell doesn't look anywhere near as nice but...£500 is £500 :D
As I understand it they both use the same SIPS panel.

Any help/advice would be appreciated:)
Click to expand...

I went with the DELL, have not received yet. But if you do go with the dell, remember this is an offer that goes until 25 nov. or so, so you should make your decision a few days before that date to have right to the 25% savings.
 
Hate to say it, but the Dell is cheaper and has better options and features. You can always cover the logo. I only wish Apple had multiple input options.. I'd be willing to pay more.
 
Go with the Dell unless the ACD's design is worth half a grand to you. Dell displays really aren't that bad, except for design. And really, I don't think that the ACD's design is worth it when there's a perfectly good option out there.
 
thanks all. Thats what I thought but in the back of my mind I had the old 2 if it looks too good to be true it generally is" :D

I wonder if Dells price drop is because they are about to release something new? or whether its just a random offer?
 
There are alot of things that you need to consider.

Macs and their accessories have good resale value so if you lets say in some years time need to sell your ACD 30" you'll get a good price for it whilst the Dell I would assume will not. I always think about investment when i buy something.

The Dell has only I think 4 USB2 ports - if you need USB2 ports then that's advantage for you - you need to carefully think about what you need.

ACD has 2 firewire ports and I find that more convenient then USB2.

Check also the power usage for each. And before you buy drop by your local electronics store if you can to have a look at the Dell 30" and/or ACD 30" and compare them.

I would without hesitation go with the ACD because I believe it has better quality and build, but if money is an object the Dell is cheaper but compare the price also after the discount (25%) and see what the difference is between as the price quoted is only promotional.

I party on Wednesday's :p
 
thanks for the reply ironjaw. I hear what you are saying about resale value and thats a fair point.

In terms of usb v.s firewire I have 8 usb ports on my current monitors and I've never used them :( and my only firewire devices are firewire800 so this isn't a concern.

I've read up a lot about the two screens and it seems pretty much that they are identical picture quality-wise which is whats important.

Its the 25% discount thats attracted me and if i go Dell I will order soon to take advantage of this buying two 30" screens and saving over £1000 is quite an incentive!!
 
paulinbognor said:
thanks for the reply ironjaw. I hear what you are saying about resale value and thats a fair point.

In terms of usb v.s firewire I have 8 usb ports on my current monitors and I've never used them :( and my only firewire devices are firewire800 so this isn't a concern.

I've read up a lot about the two screens and it seems pretty much that they are identical picture quality-wise which is whats important.

Its the 25% discount thats attracted me and if i go Dell I will order soon to take advantage of this buying two 30" screens and saving over £1000 is quite an incentive!!
Click to expand...

You make a valid point. But note one thing, then I would recommend the Dell. But note one thing if your a professional user ie. in video or photograhy then you might want to know that one of the users under the thread:

<a href="https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=3033989#post3033989">Dell 24" Widescreen vs Apple Cinema 23"</a>

said that the Apple LCD is TW-IPS. Pro
Dell LCD is PAV. Poor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#IPS

It might not make a difference to you but just a note, I'm still trying to find that specs on the ACD. A link would be nice, anyone?
 
I'm 99% sure (I'll try and find the link somewhere) that the 30" screens from Dell and Apple both use the same SIPS panel. There was a lot of talk earlier in the year about the fact that Dell seemed to drop the SIPS panels from their smaller screens but as far as I'm aware the 30" screen is still SIPS.
 
ironjaw said:
You make a valid point. But note one thing, then I would recommend the Dell. But note one thing if your a professional user ie. in video or photograhy then you might want to know that one of the users under the thread:

<a href="https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=3033989#post3033989">Dell 24" Widescreen vs Apple Cinema 23"</a>

said that the Apple LCD is TW-IPS. Pro
Dell LCD is PAV. Poor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#IPS

It might not make a difference to you but just a note, I'm still trying to find that specs on the ACD. A link would be nice, anyone?
Click to expand...

The Dell 20" and 30" utilizes the same S-IPS panels that Apple uses in their 20" and 30" Cinema Displays.

It's the Dell 24" that uses a different panel than the 23" Apple Cinema Display.
 
Dell's 30 inch monitor didn't fare very well in this test. I can't find a test for the Apple 30" on that site to compare with, though.
 
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