Finally got my display yesterday. This is a second large display as I need one for work and one for home. I also have a 30" HP 3065. Compared to the HP, the following things are most striking:
1) I'm amazed by how much I notice the difference in screen size, be it only 15% in the vertical in terms of number of pixels. This might have to do with the fact that I tend to have most of my work intensive windows (Terminal, plots, etc) in the bottom 50% or so of the HP, so a lot is missing in that sense.
2) It's too bad the display doesn't have height adjustment. My natural working posture is such that my eyes follow the area starting at just a few (maybe 10?) degrees above my keyboard/hands. I can't do that with the TB display.
3) Glaring reflections! Last night I didn't notice, but now that the room is brightly lit, it is quite noticeable, though doesn't hit the threshold for being unbearable.
4) Bezel. I couldn't care less for the enormous black bezel. I guess I just don't get the design choice. If it's supposed to act as a frame for images, having it be a centimeter thick is enough for my taste.
5) Colors are cool in comparison to the HP. Doesn't bother me for work work, but for looking at images I favor the HP. Perhaps this can be improved on the Apple (?).
6) It looks MUCH prettier than the HP from the side, but from the front reason 4) above simply turns me personally off.
This is not supposed to be a negative review, just summarizing my personal impressions. It's a nice monitor, however IMHO it could be nicer.
Overall, I'm actually considering replacing it, but will give it 2 weeks. I really need a TB hub to attach Gbit ethernet and a TB external drive to my Air, so Apple is smart to not sell such a hub separately -- for me it would be a no-brainer to go with a TB hub and another 30" monitor that has more vertical space, height-adjustment, no glare and a thinner bezel. I'm all for practical design and with this product, as pretty as it is, Apple has IMHO not met the criteria for it. I personally just don't understand some of Apple's recent design decisions.
1) I'm amazed by how much I notice the difference in screen size, be it only 15% in the vertical in terms of number of pixels. This might have to do with the fact that I tend to have most of my work intensive windows (Terminal, plots, etc) in the bottom 50% or so of the HP, so a lot is missing in that sense.
2) It's too bad the display doesn't have height adjustment. My natural working posture is such that my eyes follow the area starting at just a few (maybe 10?) degrees above my keyboard/hands. I can't do that with the TB display.
3) Glaring reflections! Last night I didn't notice, but now that the room is brightly lit, it is quite noticeable, though doesn't hit the threshold for being unbearable.
4) Bezel. I couldn't care less for the enormous black bezel. I guess I just don't get the design choice. If it's supposed to act as a frame for images, having it be a centimeter thick is enough for my taste.
5) Colors are cool in comparison to the HP. Doesn't bother me for work work, but for looking at images I favor the HP. Perhaps this can be improved on the Apple (?).
6) It looks MUCH prettier than the HP from the side, but from the front reason 4) above simply turns me personally off.
This is not supposed to be a negative review, just summarizing my personal impressions. It's a nice monitor, however IMHO it could be nicer.
Overall, I'm actually considering replacing it, but will give it 2 weeks. I really need a TB hub to attach Gbit ethernet and a TB external drive to my Air, so Apple is smart to not sell such a hub separately -- for me it would be a no-brainer to go with a TB hub and another 30" monitor that has more vertical space, height-adjustment, no glare and a thinner bezel. I'm all for practical design and with this product, as pretty as it is, Apple has IMHO not met the criteria for it. I personally just don't understand some of Apple's recent design decisions.
