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30" screen cheaper than Apples?

The big Dell's look good, they just don't look as good an the big Apple's.

Value for money wise the Dell beats the Apple, and by a large margin.
 
aneks said:
opened up and checked the Dell's, Apple's, Sony and Samsung's all have the same LCD panel. Depending on your region Dell can be as much as $1000 cheaper. I use a 23" ACD at work and a 24" Dell 2405 fpw at home, I have placed them side by side and they are increadibly similar. I would much rather purchase the dell as it has a lot more inputs including analog and vga, plus it has a usb hub and 5 in 1 card reader.
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Are you sure on this?

I thought the Dell and Apple uses Philips panels while the Samsung uses.. erm.. samsung panels?
 
generik said:
Are you sure on this?

I thought the Dell and Apple uses Philips panels while the Samsung uses.. erm.. samsung panels?
Click to expand...

I don't know about the panels, I seem to remember reading that the 30" ACD and the 30" Dells have the same panel but different backlights which made the biggest difference.

The Apple screens are much nicer looking than the Dell screens going from the images on the Dell website. The smaller sizes are a tougher call because they're significantly cheaper than the Apple screens and offer many more connections. The 30" Dell screen isn't discounted as much as the smaller sized ones and if you have access to the HE discounts then the Apple screen is basically the same cost.

I'd guess that the two screens are pretty similar in all ways apart from the materials used. The Dell's made out of plastic, the Apple's made out of aluminium.
 
dmw007 said:
I have to agree with iGary, the 30" ACD wins hands down when it comes to looks. 🙂
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I also think it wins, but the Dell isn't hideous. I would just spend more for the ACD, but the Dell is still a smart choice.
 
The 24" has HDMI and the 30" doesn't? That's interesting. Is an update to the 30" expected in the near future? Looks like I may wait a bit before buying.
 
YoYoMa said:
The 24" has HDMI and the 30" doesn't? That's interesting. Is an update to the 30" expected in the near future? Looks like I may wait a bit before buying.
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I've got a feeling that dual link HDMI doesn't exist yet. The 24" screens have a resolution of basically 1080p which is what all the high res HD screens are doing right now and that's going to be the limit for HD content for a good few years to come. 2560x1200 is better than any of the current HD standards.
It'd be hard to convince someone that the 23" ACD is a better deal than the 24" Dell since the Dell has so many extra connections, an extra inch in size and is way cheaper. The 30" screens on the other hand aren't as far apart in price, have the same kind of connectivity and differ only in looks and materials used. I would recommend the Apple screen over the Dell screen in this size range any time.
 
I thought HDMI had more bandwidth than DVI? Also, I thought I heard something like DVI is only capable of transfering 8bit color, and HDMI can handle 12bit. If DVI can handle all that blue-ray and HD-DVD can throw at it, then I most certainly wouldn't wait for an HDMI enabled 30". Are there any benifits that the HDMI connection could offer the 30" over the dual link DVI?
 
After 2 years one of my Dell monitors developed an intermittent fault (2001FP 20" LCD) where if running through DVI @ 1600x1200 it would sometimes just blank out. I called them on Friday afternoon, my replacement was here at 8:40am this morning (Monday). Cant complain about a 3 year swapout warranty that was included in the price 😀

Once I get the funds up for a mac pro I will be getting a 24" widescreen to sit in the middle of the 2 20"'ers.

As for looks....I really dont think they look bad at all. Not quite as nice as the ACD's but certainly not what I would call hideous and for the money I think they represent a far better buy.
 
Ezekiel said:
It depends on your usage, if you need a reliable color consistent monitor, Dell isn't even close.
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i have an apple and believe me its not perfect either, and while the apple is a little bit better it litterally is a "little bit" better, fractionally. its isn't a huge gap between the two in performance, color or ability to say something like Dell isn't even close. come on.
 
mashinhead said:
i have an apple and believe me its not perfect either, and while the apple is a little bit better it litterally is a "little bit" better, fractionally. its isn't a huge gap between the two in performance, color or ability to say something like Dell isn't even close. come on.
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I've had and have both, the dell v apple is no contest in my opinion.
 
personally, i find the dell's 20 inch monitor to have an even higher percentage of savings. it was around $3498 HK for the 20 inch widescreen dell monitor, compared to $5600 from apple's hong kong store. i also looked 20 inch widescreen up on samsung and lg but they don't specify the price nor do they have an online store.
 
well i just got my 24 and hooked it up, there is banding so i might end up swalling my words but i'm calling dell to see if there is a firmware update, if not, it might go back and its acd for me. but the design is ok.
 
Desktop space is an issue for me, but I'd love to get a 30" monitor with Mac Pro. Can the Dell 30" be used in a compressed state?

Dell's specifications say the monitor is 18.49 inches compressed and 22 inches extended.
 
😀 😀
mashinhead said:
well i just got my 24 and hooked it up, there is banding so i might end up swalling my words but i'm calling dell to see if there is a firmware update, if not, it might go back and its acd for me. but the design is ok.
Click to expand...


Dell won't help you. Chances are you got an A02 rev. Which is the rev where Dell said they fixed the banding. So they won't let you swap it out for the A03... which some are claiming the problem has been fixed with A03.

I got rid of my Dell, I went with it initially for the savings. Had the banding and the "extra" connections looked horrible. Which is what everyone raves about. Basically for the monitor to look good at all (including getting rid of the banding) you have to use the VGA connection. Which is a waste.

A computer monitor is a computer monitor, not a TV. You can't tell me Dell didn't cut corners to get those inputs in that display. Which is why they look so awful.

To the guy who said the 20" ACD has better color consistency, I have news. The Dell uses the same S-IPS panel as the Apple. So aside from having to mess with the Dells OSD to get everything right, they are the same. The Dell just comes looking like crap out of the box and you have to spend hours getting it to look right, and no the calibration does nothing because the Dell has so many options built into it.

If you need a cheap display get the Dell. If you have the cash and want a monitor that is nice and matches your other Apple products, get the Apple.

However, if you are remotely thrifty you can get the Apple for a reasonable price. I got mine brand new (latest rev) for $750, only $50 more that I paid for the Dell.
 
its says A03. i have a black Mb so it looks fine but theres banding in one area


suneohair said:
😀 😀


Dell won't help you. Chances are you got an A02 rev. Which is the rev where Dell said they fixed the banding. So they won't let you swap it out for the A03... which some are claiming the problem has been fixed with A03.

I got rid of my Dell, I went with it initially for the savings. Had the banding and the "extra" connections looked horrible. Which is what everyone raves about. Basically for the monitor to look good at all (including getting rid of the banding) you have to use the VGA connection. Which is a waste.

A computer monitor is a computer monitor, not a TV. You can't tell me Dell didn't cut corners to get those inputs in that display. Which is why they look so awful.

To the guy who said the 20" ACD has better color consistency, I have news. The Dell uses the same S-IPS panel as the Apple. So aside from having to mess with the Dells OSD to get everything right, they are the same. The Dell just comes looking like crap out of the box and you have to spend hours getting it to look right, and no the calibration does nothing because the Dell has so many options built into it.

If you need a cheap display get the Dell. If you have the cash and want a monitor that is nice and matches your other Apple products, get the Apple.

However, if you are remotely thrifty you can get the Apple for a reasonable price. I got mine brand new (latest rev) for $750, only $50 more that I paid for the Dell.
Click to expand...
 
mashinhead said:
its says A03. i have a black Mb so it looks fine but theres banding in one area
Click to expand...

One area? That isnt even possible. What are you using to test for banding?

Did you switch it to desktop mode?

Good to know that the problem isnt even fixed in the A03.
 
suneohair said:
One area? That isnt even possible. What are you using to test for banding?

Did you switch it to desktop mode?

Good to know that the problem isnt even fixed in the A03.
Click to expand...


i changed the color profile in the mac system prefs, to apple rgb and that helped a bit. i'm didn't really test it. I have apples standard desktop image. Thats where i'm noticeing the banding and noise, not really in applications. The lower left hand quadrant is where it is noticible.

edit, i'm cycling throught apples deskop images to test more. some are find, but the gradient ones, apple's signatrure ones, some look awful. if you cycle through those you'll see what i'm talking about, doesn't handle gradation well.
 
they're sending a new one, if i have the same problem i'm returning it, but i did hook them both up to my desktop now, previously it was on a laptop, and the dell is much brighter, a but the apple has better resolution, i think thats the diff. The 24 dell and 23 apple have the same resolution.

acutally there was one final thing which coudl have an effect, the sharpness on the dell, has a setting, but i can't adjust it, its greyed out, and at 50%
 

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I understand this "banding" issue, but is it really that big of a deal? Do all models have it?
Reason: I've convinced my buddy to sell me his Dell 3007 for $900 (it's 2 months old). Should I just buy it on the spot? If there are issues, could I still send it in to Dell and get it replaced even though I'm buying it from him?
 
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