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Yes of course. It will be easy to calibrated it now, now that I'll be looking at the ACD as I do the calibration :)
I think you just aren't getting it. You cannot make valid judgements about displays when they have not been calibrated by a hardware color system. You can't do it accurately by eye. Out of the box, the ACD may be close, but it probably is not spot on. I know for a fact that my 23" ACD was not at 6500K out of the box. It was noticeably cooler and required calibration. It also changed as the panel burned in and had to be recalibrated on a periodic basis. Your 30" ACD will very likely not look exactly the same in a month as it does today.

It's fine if you like an eyeball result for yourself, but you really can't make any valid conclusions about the relative merits of the displays based on it that are going to be useful to anyone else.
 
Not that it matters now, but lixuelai, what makes you so sure Apple is using the same exact panel they did in 2006? And even if what you say is true, there may be a good reason for it. As the saying goes, don't fix it if it ain't broken.

Because people have opened up the ACDs to find that it is still using the same panel. Also there has been no claim whatsoever by anyone that their 30" ACD somehow had a newer panel in it. If it did there would not be like half a dozen threads on this very forum complaining about the lack of updates to the 30". Also going by the "don't fix it if it ain't broken" logic we would all have hardware from 2006 or way before then. There are new panels out for a good reason. Apple is the only 30" manufacturer that has never updated the LCD. Maybe Apple knows something no one else does but I highly doubt that.

Anyway whatever you buy is really none of our concern but please refrain from making statements that is just untrue. Often others search for information and see whatever you are saying and take that it is true when it just isn't.
 
What is it that you don't like about the current ACD? Aside from price and lack of support for multiple inputs (including mDP)? Oh and lack of HDPC! If those things matter to you, then I agree you've made the right decision to buy a Dell (or HP, or Samsung).

The 30" ACD is one of the most successful products (in terms of quality and customer satisfaction) that Apple has ever made. One only needs to read the reviews posted by people who actually own one (or more).

The ACD I bought today does all I need it to do, and does it beautifully. Apple's next ACD will no doubt be an improvemnt (LED for starters), but it will carry a premium price tag (at least $2K, a lot more if it's only available in 32"+), and may come only in glossy :eek: Believe me, I won't lose one minute of sleep fretting over buying this "outdated piece of tech".
 
To summarize...

I was seriously considering going with the Dell 3008WFP, but I just wasn't willing to wait for it to go on sale and then wait another 4 weeks to get one built and shipped. The ACD was pretty much an impulse buy this past Friday (in advance of my bday tomorrow). I don't regret having bought it at all! It doesn't have many of the features of the latest Dell 30" display, but then I don't really need those features (multiple inputs, HDCP, extra wide color gamut, blinding brightness, faster response, stand with adjustable height).

If you own a Mac, especially a Mac Pro (like I do), this is the display is for you! Sure there are less expensive displays, with better connectivity and HDCP decoding (i.e. ability to play BR content and stream protected HD video), but when hooked up to a Mac, this thing produces a bright, uniformly backlit, color accurate, sharp image . You will most likely find that to come close to this image quality on a Dell or HP monitor you will have to invest in a colorimeter, since these displays, based on my research, do not come calibrated from the factory (which is partly why Dell and HP are able to sell their displays for less). Dell and HP monitors tend to have over-saturated colors, meant to impress the casual user or the devil-may-care gamer who cares little about color accuracy and more about the "pop" factor. The Apple display, OTOH, complies with strict SWOP standards (Specifications for Web Offset Publications). In essence, SWOP requires that the photo you took with your DSLR be reproduced exactly (color-wise) on the display and on the print copy. I don't think folks at Dell and HP are even aware of SWOP! And then there is the look of the Apple display. It's clean, it's beautiful -- it is a piece of modern art! 'Nuff said.
 
If you own a Mac, especially a Mac Pro (like I do), this is the display is for you! Sure there are less expensive displays, with better connectivity and HDCP decoding (i.e. ability to play BR content and stream protected HD video), but when hooked up to a Mac, this thing produces a bright, uniformly backlit, color accurate, sharp image .
As do the other monitors. You imply getting the Dell or HP will give you inferior results. That is most certainly not true. They are certainly no worse, and possibly better (as they use more up to date S-IPS panels). Apple doesn't even promote their monitor anymore. They don't have a featured product page for it anymore (they highlight the 24"), and it's buried in their store pages.

You will most likely find that to come close to this image quality on a Dell or HP monitor you will have to invest in a colorimeter, since these displays, based on my research, do not come calibrated from the factory (which is partly why Dell and HP are able to sell their displays for less). Dell and HP monitors tend to have over-saturated colors, meant to impress the casual user or the devil-may-care gamer who cares little about color accuracy and more about the "pop" factor.
That is complete and utter B.S. Why do you insist on spreading it? The Apple is not calibrated out of the box, any more than the Dell or HP are, and it is not any better than the Dell or HP in terms of color accuracy. When you install the ACD, the Mac loads a default color profile for it. But it does that for the Dell as well (and possibly the HP too). They all use S-IPS panels, except that the Dell and HP are more recent models and use newer LCDs. Have you even seen the Dell or HP 30" monitors in use? I suspect not. I assure you any color pro who cares about results does not leave the ACD to chance out of the box. They calibrate it on a regular basis. Ditto for any other monitor. Claiming the ACD is calibrated out of the box is nonsense.

We're happy you enjoy your ACD, but please don't make false statements these monitors. It just misleads and confuses others doing research.
 
No, I have not seen the Dell 3008WFP in real life. I'd have to buy one first, and then hope that when I get it a month later it will not arrive with a greencast that lingers for up to half an hour after the display is turned on. If it does, then woops, back to square one! Send the rotten Dell back and wait another month for the replacement to be made (does Dell only make these displays after they get an order?!:eek:).

Not so when it comes to the 30" ACD. I went to the Apple Store (I'm fortunate to have six of them within 5-30 miles from my house), played with a floor model, bought a copy, tested it right in the store, found it to be perfect, took it home and started enjoying it immediately. I assure you that if got a rotten Apple I would have never left the store until I got one that was perfect. I'm willing to pay a little extra for things like this. Actually, though, I paid less than I would have had to pay for the Dell: $1599 (including 3 years of Apple Care) vs. $1809 (with tax) for Dell. OK, I could have gotten the Dell for $1489, if I spent another month or two refreshing the Dell website 15 times a day (like I had been doing the previous few weeks) to catch the illusive sale price.

Why doesn't Apple feature the ACD? You're theory is as good as mine. Perhaps they don't need to because the darn thing just sells itself :)

Yes, I'm very happy with the ACD. Based on a few test photos I have taken since getting it, I do not see an immediate need to calibrate it. This may change in the future, since, as you pointed out elsewhere in this thread, LCD panels tend to drift over time. When that happens, I'll fiddle with the Colorsync calibration built into OSX, and if that does not work, I'll invest in a colorimeter. BTW, I have tried to get rid of the yellowacst on my Dell 2407WFP using both Colorsync and the hardware controls on the panel itself, but to no avail. This monitor is now going to my office at work where it will be used for things like Excel and Word.
 
No, I have not seen the Dell 3008WFP in real life. I'd have to buy one first, and then hope that when I get it a month later it will not arrive with a greencast that lingers for up to half an hour after the display is turned on. If it does, then woops, back to square one! Send the rotten Dell back and wait another month for the replacement to be made (does Dell only make these displays after they get an order?!:eek:).
Umm...I didn't have to return my monitor to wait for a replacement. I have it now and am using it. When the replacement arrives I'll have had zero loss of use. I put the old one in the box, slap a prepaid Fedex sticker on it, and call Fedex to pick it up. For me that's much easier and less hassle than packing a monitor and taking it to an Apple Store.
 
Why doesn't Apple feature the ACD? You're theory is as good as mine. Perhaps they don't need to because the darn thing just sells itself :)
My theory is because there's a 27" 1920x1080 replacement imminent :) Which I may well look at to replace my 30" Dell when it eventually fails, although it's been faultless for a couple of years so far. Which is more than I can say for Apple's comedy mini DisplayPort to dual link DVI adapter.
 
27" 1920x1080? :eek: I suppose you mean 2560X1440. :confused: Nah, Apple will not go smaller with their next big ACD. It's far more likely that we will see a 32" 16:9 display (something like 2840x1600). The switch to the 16:9 factor indicates to me that Apple is gearing up for HD video. This does not necessarily mean we'll see Blue-ray drives. In fact, I predict that BR will be dead in less than 5 years. Streaming is where it's at.
 
Just to follow up on my Dell 3008. They sent me a brand new replacement, not refurbished. In fact, it's a newer revision (A03 vs. A02), and it's just about perfect. The 3008 has direct RGB color controls on the monitor (unlike the ACDs), so I was able to take advantage of that with the Spyder3 Pro colorimeter by calibrating to a 6524K white-point, which is a fraction of a percent within ideal.

Dell couldn't have made the exchange easier. They sent the replacement in advance, so I never spent any time without a monitor. Once I had it setup and was satisfied, I emailed Dell the old one was ready. They made all the arrangements with UPS, who arrived at my door, slapped a shipping label on the box, and took it away. I never had to leave my house nor spend a minute on the phone to get this taken care of. I've been a big critic of Dell in the past, but this was a very good experience.
 
Glad it worked out for you.

I'm am extremely happy with my ACD. Decided to stick with the built-in stand. Height is perfect, and portrait mode would be just silly for me, unless I boosted my chair 6 inches to have my eyes closer to the center of the display. I've kept my 24" 2407WFP as a secondary display, running it in portrait mode. Its WB sucks, but it's good enough for checking composition and sharpness in Lightroom.
 
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