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ACD 20 and 23

T

thebrain74

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 25, 2006
225
0
I have pretty much decided to get an ACD for my MBP.

They are expensive as everyone here knows, so I will be going the refurb route. Typically I have heard that Apple refurbs are very good, does this apply to their displays aswell.

I am somewhat undecided on size. I want to go for the 23'' but I have also heard that that panel has more problems than the 20 or 30, anyone care to elaborate or have I just been hearing things.

By the why I decided to go with the ACD because of the IPS panel and the viewing angles.

P.S. what are the specs for the panel in the SR MBP, since I thought it would be interesting to compare to an ACD

thanks everyone for your time
 
Another question, does anyone know the ppi of a MBP screen vs an ACD vs a typical (say a dell) 24'' screen?
Thanks
 
thebrain74 said:
Another question, does anyone know the ppi of a MBP screen vs an ACD vs a typical (say a dell) 24'' screen?
Thanks
Click to expand...

No, but I do know that if you buy a Dell 24" display you get the ability to connect more than one device to it at a time through a multitude of different connections, rather than just having a single DVI input.
 
There were loads of intial problems with the 23" in 2005-2006, I imagine everything you found would have been olderr threads, I had 4 23" before I found one that didn't look pink and could pass the iTunes test.

I've since used a few 23" at work etc and I have another at home and all probles are well and truly sorted so get a 23" remember it's HD the 20" isn't so in that respect it's a little more future proowf ad any .mkv HD rips you may encode or download are gonna look lovely.
 
Glad you are going with the ACD. It's quality is only matched by the other professional monitors on the market, and in some cases it's a bit cheaper.

I haven't heard of too many issues with the 23" only the earlier issues with pink tinting in models that only appeared over time, but there hasn't been too much of that lately. I say go for the 23" mainly for the high definition aspect, as was stated. The 20" is wonderful for low res viewing, i.e. text and lists with text in them.

The price is amazing as well, a great high end dispaly for $550 or so. The 23" gives you the best of the 30" at about half the price. The only other monitor I'd put the ACD up against is a NEC, LaCie, or the Dell/HP 30" monitors, all of which cost about the same.

As for the cheaper stuff, don't believe the hype like I did. Once you do the research you see why the $250 24" displays are so cheap, cheap being the key word.
 
Digital Skunk said:
Glad you are going with the ACD. It's quality is only matched by the other professional monitors on the market, and in some cases it's a bit cheaper.
Click to expand...

While I'll agree that the build quality of the enclosure of the ACD is practically unsurpassed, I believe the panel itself is similar in quality (if not the same as) the ones used in Dell and other displays.

Certainly the ACD is not worth the $450 extra which it costs over the 24" Dell in my opinion.
 
neiltc13 said:
While I'll agree that the build quality of the enclosure of the ACD is practically unsurpassed, I believe the panel itself is similar in quality (if not the same as) the ones used in Dell and other displays.

Certainly the ACD is not worth the $450 extra which it costs over the 24" Dell in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing, but the panel fanatics gave me a good rundown on the differences. Especially the difference between a TN panel and IPS panel, and way the latter is great for gaming but not color specific application, and the former is best for color specs, but not gaming. The ACD being the IPS panel.
 
I went with the 23" ACD from the Canadian refurb store, and have been very happy with it. There was an initial problem that took a couple of days to diagnose since it could have been the new computer as well. It turned out to be a bad power adapter on the ACD. Apple sent a new one (different model) and I sent the old one back, and everything has been good since. I had to ask for a DIY repair.

I find the size is just right for me, large enough for a few open windows.... not so large it dominates the office. The USB and FW connectors are a bit of pain to reach - hard to see them - so I leave the keyboard and mouse plugged in there. Use the keyboard connectors for memory sticks, camera connection, etc.
 
I know that an IPS display isn't optimal for gaming, but is it really that bad. This is going to be a dorm display and will be used for text, graphics (Photoshop, illustrator), possible video editing, TV, and gaming. So I really am spanning the whole range and I thought the ACD would be the best bet
 
thebrain74 said:
I know that an IPS display isn't optimal for gaming, but is it really that bad. This is going to be a dorm display and will be used for text, graphics (Photoshop, illustrator), possible video editing, TV, and gaming. So I really am spanning the whole range and I thought the ACD would be the best bet
Click to expand...

I personally use IPS panels, (24" iMac and 20" ACD) for minor gaming and I can say they are fine. The saturation on the 20" isn't that great compared to the iMac or any Dell that I have used, but it gets the job done. If you are going to be doing things that are color specific, and you want the most accurate and consistent color you can get, grab the ACD.

If you aren't worried about it that much since you are in college, and will be doing more TV, gaming, basic stuff, then save the bills and grab a Dell or any other monitor out there. There is an army of Dell 24" monitors at my paper being used for non color specific jobs and it's not like they are flickering or anything.
 
cbtlr said:
There were loads of intial problems with the 23" in 2005-2006, I imagine everything you found would have been olderr threads, I had 4 23" before I found one that didn't look pink and could pass the iTunes test.
Click to expand...

What is this itunes test you speak of?
 
the itunes test was: within itunes where the tracks are listed there are blue/grey stripes on every second line - part of the look of itunes but this became used to test whether you had a faulty 23 (which coincedently were made in different countries to the 20" and 30") with the bad 23"s you couldn't see the bars on the very left of the screen especially if you dragged the open itunes window to the left, there was massive problems with this and the pink problem, but this was the main one for me working with graphics. no definition on a third of the lower left of the screen, almost looked yellow and faded out.
This problem is fixed now with everything that came out late 2006/2007, but check yours out with this test.
If you have an old mac anything product you can get it's history where it was born etc here:
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html try enter your old ipod or powerbook, powermac, apple anything blah blah serial number here and it'll tell you where it was made which week etc etc, I don't know how this site came to be only that newer serials don't seem to work.
I haven't checked it out for awhile but I noticed that a year ago my new macbook pro serial didn't work, I think remember seeing that the 23" used to be made in taiwan and the 20" & 30" in China.
 
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