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Cinema Displays polycarbonate versus aluminum
- Thread starter retta283
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Did the same with a 23" ACD taking it home from the seller when I went over a speedbump. The plastic stand was fine, the brittle hinge metal cracked. Every repair attempt flopped badly. Not even metal epoxy could withstand the shearing force the weight of the display brought onto the hinge and nothing except perhaps welding is ever going to fix it. I haven't glued the kickstand directly onto the back. Not sure how you did that but if I have time, I might see if I can get a VESA plate connected somehow. The whole kickstand mechanism is way, way too fragile to properly support the weight of the display. I don't know what the designers were smoking when they signed off on it.
Like Eyoungren I use 20" ACD (2006) every day for working on designs for large companies. No complaints as of yet. Timeless design, especially considering the bezels aren't too large. I could upgrade to an LG Ultrafine or something but it's not a priority. I also have a '17 MBP if I ever need to view any of my design work on a high PPI display for some reason.
Like many of Apple's products they tend to focus on aesthetics over function (to include reliability).
Although I love the design of the polycarbonate displays, I would pick an aluminum model over it because of the DVI interface alone. Its just much easier to connect it to a modern system. Just keep in mind that both of these use backlights that tend to dim/yellow over time, so I would be sure to check it in person before buying. Also, remember that these give off heat because they aren't LED backlit. In the summer it might feel like your face is cooking - especially the 30" DVI model.
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Ah. It looks like you found another hinge that would fit both the arm and somehow screwed it into the polycarb back lid. I might look into finding something suitable. I could easily live without the springloaded folding mechanism as long as the screw/glue combination doesn't crack the back lid under all that weight it has to support.
Funnily, I like the large bezels on the poly ACDs because they make the displays look bigger - the 20" feels big, the 23" feels huge. The first time I saw the alu 20" I thought it was tiny! But of course the bezels get in the way in a multi-monitor setup.
I like both types. My two 22” ADC Cinema displays are awesome & I have them right next to eachother - not a dual monitor set up at the moment but I have used them as such & the bezels don’t really bug me. You get used to it really fast. The asthetic is just perfect for my QS & MDD & yes they look massively awesome together. Conversely, Nothing beats a Aluminum ACD paired with my PMG5 or alongside a powerbookG4 or minig4 or early aluminum intel.
I see folks Practically giving the acrylics away Anymore I think because of the goofy ADC connector.
I see folks Practically giving the acrylics away Anymore I think because of the goofy ADC connector.
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The 22" is an odd one with a 1600x1024 resolution but it seems to be the highest that the Cube G4 is capable of serving with the default Rage 128 Pro in situ. I've tried it with the 23" ACD that has a 1900x1200 display, which the Cube is supposedly (per Everymac) capable of supporting and it doesn't like it. I wouldn't have thought 16MB of VRAM would be enough for HD displays, though.
I've run 1920x1200 at 32K colours from my Pismo with 8mb vram. It worked but just.
Pismo Pushing Pixels (or: Matrox DualHead2Go fun)
A PowerBook G3 FireWire ("Pismo") running a 23in acrylic ACD in a dual-monitor configuration. But.... how?! Must be something to do with that black box: VGA goes in, DVI goes out. :D 1920×1200 at 65,536 colours with the Pismo in clamshell mode. When using both screens, I get 1024×768 at...
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Not sure if this helps since I've never used a polycarbonate display, but fwiw I've got a 23" ACD HD which has been in constant use since the summer of 2008, connected to my MP3,1. Last summer I replaced it by an Eizo CG247X, but until then it was the monitor I used to edit all my film scans.
I have regularly calibrated the ACD with Spyder Elite and the display holds calibration quite well. The Eizo is in a different league of course but the ACD is not bad. I've never noticed any pink or other tint but perhaps mine, being from around 2008, is one of the silent upgrades, I don't know.
During the pandemic the ACD has been connected to my wife's 11" Air (2011 I think) and that works super well of course. Just an adapter needed.
One thing I like a lot about the ACD from a user perspective is the USB and FW hub. I have occasionally connected my film scanners to the FW ports.
I also have a retina MacBook Pro. For me as a photographer a glossy screen is simply unworkable when editing photos. I can stand it for other work but not for editing. The ACD has a lovely matte display that doesn't interfere at all with the image (it is also the reason I went for a matte Eizo).
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Philip
I have regularly calibrated the ACD with Spyder Elite and the display holds calibration quite well. The Eizo is in a different league of course but the ACD is not bad. I've never noticed any pink or other tint but perhaps mine, being from around 2008, is one of the silent upgrades, I don't know.
During the pandemic the ACD has been connected to my wife's 11" Air (2011 I think) and that works super well of course. Just an adapter needed.
One thing I like a lot about the ACD from a user perspective is the USB and FW hub. I have occasionally connected my film scanners to the FW ports.
I also have a retina MacBook Pro. For me as a photographer a glossy screen is simply unworkable when editing photos. I can stand it for other work but not for editing. The ACD has a lovely matte display that doesn't interfere at all with the image (it is also the reason I went for a matte Eizo).
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Philip
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I have a 2007 23" Aluminum set up with my mac pro and it's awesome. Lots of space and no pink or green issues. As mentioned before, I think later production models were tweaked so they're less likely to develop that issue. It really says something about these that they were introduced in 2003 and still stand up well 17 years later, both in design and technology. You can't say that about most monitors.
It's just too bad that it seems like there's more monitors out there than power supplies. Not sure why that is.
It's just too bad that it seems like there's more monitors out there than power supplies. Not sure why that is.