Best Monitor to use with iMac?

[InfernoUk]

Hey guys

I wanted to dual screen my late 2011 imac (thunderbolt). I wondered what the best screen would be that isnt the apple display since it seems massively overpriced.

I would prefer another 27" screen if possible, also one that dosent look really out of place next to the imac. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[flynz4]

Hey guys

I wanted to dual screen my late 2011 imac (thunderbolt). I wondered what the best screen would be that isnt the apple display since it seems massively overpriced.

I would prefer another 27" screen if possible, also one that dosent look really out of place next to the imac. Thanks for any suggestions!

I have not found a display that has similar resolution to the iMac (2560 horiz pixels) that is cheaper than the ACD or ATD. In fact, given the other features of the ATD... I think it is quite a bargain.

The next step down is to get a run of the mill 1080P monitor. They are about 1/4 the price for about 1/2 of the pixels. It is a big step down... but they are more affordable.

I think the iMac will output mini-displayport but you should check. You will probably want a monitor that has a display port input.

I went with the ATD. I use it with my MBA... and once I replace my iMac with the '12 model, I'll be able to use it as a dual display for my iMac.

/Jim

 

[SR20DETDOG]

Probably the closest monitor to the ACD/ATD would be the Dell U2711, it uses the same panel but is only slightly cheaper than Apple's, so if you're looking for a comparable 27" that matches your iMac I wouldn't pass them up too quickly. 27" displays with the 2560x1440 resolution are going to be expensive no matter what.

 

[mellofello]

I bought my gf a very highly rated HP 25 inch monitor for her office. It was just sitting there over the weekend so I hooked it up. I could not believe how much of a difference there was between the HP and my 27 inch imac. The HP looked the best of any monitor in best buy, but next to the imac it was terrible. The colors, and resolution are miles away from my imac. When not directly next to an imac I'm sure there are some great monitors out there, but for me I would just buy the biggest ACD, or Dell ultrashap I could afford.

 

[bottleneck]

different panels

Probably the closest monitor to the ACD/ATD would be the Dell U2711, it uses the same panel but is only slightly cheaper than Apple's, so if you're looking for a comparable 27" that matches your iMac I wouldn't pass them up too quickly. 27" displays with the 2560x1440 resolution are going to be expensive no matter what.

Apple Thunderbolt Display (LG Display LM270WQ1)
Dell UltraSharp U2711 (LG Display LM270WQ2)

 

[Sjhonny]

Probably the closest monitor to the ACD/ATD would be the Dell U2711, it uses the same panel but is only slightly cheaper than Apple's, so if you're looking for a comparable 27" that matches your iMac I wouldn't pass them up too quickly. 27" displays with the 2560x1440 resolution are going to be expensive no matter what.

The irony >.< here in Belgium the u2711 is ~half the price of an ATD (€530 vs €999). Anyway, here's a list of 1440p monitors currently available for less then the ATD:

Samsung Syncmaster S27A850D
HP ZR2740w
Fujitsu P27T-6 IPS, couldn't find a US-reseller​

 

[SR20DETDOG]

Apple Thunderbolt Display (LG Display LM270WQ1)
Dell UltraSharp U2711 (LG Display LM270WQ2)

You're right, they're not exactly the same, I should have said it uses 'pretty much' the same panel. However, I doubt many people would know of, understand yet alone be able to take advantage of what the LM270WQ2 offers over the LM270WQ1.

The irony >.< here in Belgium the u2711 is ~half the price of an ATD (€530 vs €999).

Here in Aus it's 75% of the price of the ACD/ATD, $899 vs $1199. I could be wrong but when I last checked, admittedly it was a while ago, the Dell was $999 vs Apple at $1199.

 

[PaulKemp]

And just so I's said, the Apple Cinema Display is available for 849$ refurb'd.

 

[sartios]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

Hazro make a screen much cheaper than the apple cinema display and it infact uses the same display as apple. It also comes in the glass front and uses the same high resolution.