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In Your Opinion...Best None Apple Monitor?

A

arcsbite

Guest
Original poster
Jan 14, 2006
749
1
hope this thread is in the right place.

basically, i'm using an intel iMac at the moment, and have it hooked up to a cheap 17" PC world TFT.

In september (if they've been released) I will be upgrading to an "intel powermac" and as this is the first time i've had to think about buying a complete new monitor I though it best to ask the experts...

I want to pick up an Apple monitor to go with it, but it's possible I won't have the cash at the time, so I was wondering, can you reccomend a monitor?
I've no idea when it comes to them (I only just got over CRT to flat screens, now there's TFT LCD HD ECT!)

so, what monitor do you use? how much does it retail for and how do you rate it?

P.S. not sure if it matters, but i'm based in the UK (I'm assuming that most monitors are available here as well as the good ol US of A)

cheers....
 
eva01 said:
2005FPW cost me $389 when i got it. I love it.
Click to expand...

is that this?
Dell_2005.jpg


did you get on offer? i'm getting prices of £300-£340 ($520-580)
what do you like so much about it if you don't mind me asking.

I like the look of it, but it's so hard to tell without seeing it in person and at 20" it's cheaper than apples 20"
 
If price/performance is the criteria, I'd also go with the Dell 2005fpw and 2405fpw. I don't *have* a non-Apple monitor here at home though. Just the screens on my iBook and iMac. With which I am well pleased. :)

If price is not an issue, then I'm not sure. I am not 100% satisfied with color, even after calibration, on the Dell monitors I have used. Close, but not 100%. But they're versatile, have lots of inputs, and are insanely well priced, particularly with a coupon.
 
mkrishnan said:
If price/performance is the criteria, I'd also go with the Dell 2005fpw and 2405fpw. I don't *have* a non-Apple monitor here at home though. Just the screens on my iBook and iMac. With which I am well pleased. :)

If price is not an issue, then I'm not sure. I am not 100% satisfied with color, even after calibration, on the Dell monitors I have used. Close, but not 100%. But they're versatile, have lots of inputs, and are insanely well priced, particularly with a coupon.
Click to expand...

well, this is my case at the moment, every mac i'm using has it's own screen, but i'll need to upgrade for Uni in Sept/Jan so i'm trying to learn more now so I know what to look out for.
I want to get an Apple monitor as well, quality speaks volumes, but i've heard that when it comes to monitors you can get the same quality elsewhere for a lower price.
and sadly it does come down to the best screen for the cash in hand, i'm just not sure what that ammount will be, so looking for a whole spectrum of options.
 
arcsbite said:
did you get on offer? i'm getting prices of £300-£340 ($520-580) what do you like so much about it if you don't mind me asking.
Click to expand...

Yes that is what i have on my powermac and Dell has sales a lot and i just happened to buy it at the correct time and got it for $389

I am thinking of getting a 2405FPW next so i can have the extra inputs
 
arcsbite said:
and sadly it does come down to the best screen for the cash in hand
Click to expand...

Very understandable. Absolutely snoop the Dell deals and get one of the FPW monitors. I don't think you'd regret it. I think that, with a few passes of calibration, they should be very good. There are people here who need fair color precision who use Dell monitors. It took me two passes on my iMac and iBook, each, to be happy with them as well. But I trust that my iBook, and now I think my iMac as well, are color faithful to print. I think you can get the same out of a Dell monitor with some work. :)

'Sides, I'm sure we can find you some toys to spend the rest of the money on! :D
 
mkrishnan said:
Very understandable. Absolutely snoop the Dell deals and get one of the FPW monitors. I don't think you'd regret it. I think that, with a few passes of calibration, they should be very good. There are people here who need fair color precision who use Dell monitors. It took me two passes on my iMac and iBook, each, to be happy with them as well. But I trust that my iBook, and now I think my iMac as well, are color faithful to print. I think you can get the same out of a Dell monitor with some work. :)

'Sides, I'm sure we can find you some toys to spend the rest of the money on! :D
Click to expand...

ha! the list of toys is almost endless at the moment!

i'll have to have a good search around for a deal on the dell over here, they all seem a little overpriced on the websites i've been looking at.
shall keep my eyes open over the next few months.
 
arcsbite said:
i'll have to have a good search around for a deal on the dell over here, they all seem a little overpriced on the websites i've been looking at.
shall keep my eyes open over the next few months.
Click to expand...

I think Dell tends to have lots of deals near the end / beginning of the financial quarter. Heh. "Moving metal," just like General Motors. Which is supposed to be the entire sort of thing that their lean, pull system model avoids. :p But what can you do? ;)

I know there are several individuals from the Kingdom on MR who got good Dell screen deals. I'm pretty sure edesignuk is one of them. I'm in the US, though, and the only Dell product I've ever bought is an Axim x51v.
 
was just checking out Dell's UK

could someone tell me why the middle one is so cheap?
i'm sure it's something, hell, it could be a mirror in a monitor frame for all I know!

Here
 
Could be wrong, but the middle one looks like it's an older model, and they're trying to get rid of the inventory maybe? I'm not sure. Either way, I've got a Dell 2005FPW here, and I love it, for the price, I think Dell's the way to go for monitors.
 
T-Stex said:
Could be wrong, but the middle one looks like it's an older model, and they're trying to get rid of the inventory maybe? I'm not sure. Either way, I've got a Dell 2005FPW here, and I love it, for the price, I think Dell's the way to go for monitors.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same. The UK prices are a bit bloated, too... £220 is not such a great deal for a 19" monitor, at least in the US.... The specs on that middle monitor don't look that bad, but also nothing special in terms of brightness, contrast, or responsiveness.
 
I'll second (tenth) the rec. for the dell monitor. As soon as I can pick one up for a good price, I'll be ordering a new mini to go with it (which will be a hold-over machine for 12-18 months until CS3 comes out and the intel transition is well under way).

If anyone sees a coupon for the dell in the near future, PLEASE let me know!
 
Dealmac.com has good deals, I found. Just go to categories > monitors.

They had some deals on those widescreen 20" Dells ... I'm not sure if it's for the UK as well.

Personally I use a Samsung 910mp as an extra monitor for my Core Duo iMac. It was off-white, but I recently got a refurb replacement and it's great now. It has RCA-in so can use it with my gamecube and my computer (including picture in picture!)
 
settings

so, I have this monitor from a pc, and setting it up with the intelmac, with a mini-dvi to dvi connector, I am not really able to get it to match the screen of the mac. Of course, nothing is going to match this beautiful monitor, but what settings are you using. RED, BLUE, GREEN, etc.?
 
tivoboy said:
so, I have this monitor from a pc, and setting it up with the intelmac, with a mini-dvi to dvi connector, I am not really able to get it to match the screen of the mac. Of course, nothing is going to match this beautiful monitor, but what settings are you using. RED, BLUE, GREEN, etc.?
Click to expand...

since getting my intel iMac i've not got around to picking up a mini-dvi to vga cable so i've not had my second monitor working with it yet so I can't help.
sorry.

I used to have it connected to my old iMac G% (no iSight) but I never bothered calibrating it, and the colours were always slightly off
 
For an interesting little point of reference: The 2005FPW has the same LCD panel in it as the official Apple model. It does not have any of the other same components (such as the backlight, power supply, Firewire, et cetera), but the LCD PANEL itself is the same. The picture quality may not be QUITE the same, but it should be quite close. I myself ended up buying a used 20" ACD on eBay (the one designed to go with G4s--the clear-and silver pinstripe ones with ADC), so I'd recommend looking around eBay for good deals if you're cool with that.
 
Meyvn said:
For an interesting little point of reference: The 2005FPW has the same LCD panel in it as the official Apple model. It does not have any of the other same components (such as the backlight, power supply, Firewire, et cetera), but the LCD PANEL itself is the same. The picture quality may not be QUITE the same, but it should be quite close. I myself ended up buying a used 20" ACD on eBay (the one designed to go with G4s--the clear-and silver pinstripe ones with ADC), so I'd recommend looking around eBay for good deals if you're cool with that.
Click to expand...

I'm able to get the 20" apple cinema display for about £450 with edu.
the lowest I can find the Dell is £389

....do you think it's worth the extra £50?

I was thinkign yes, but after this info, i'm second guessing
 
skipskop24 said:
I would say the 20'' or 23'' Apple Cinema Display. Really nice design and they're not TOO big in my opinion.
Click to expand...

title = In Your Opinion...Best None Apple Monitor?

I'm in love with the Apple monitor, just looking for alternatives :D
 
tivoboy said:
so, I have this monitor from a pc, and setting it up with the intelmac, with a mini-dvi to dvi connector, I am not really able to get it to match the screen of the mac. Of course, nothing is going to match this beautiful monitor, but what settings are you using. RED, BLUE, GREEN, etc.?
Click to expand...
I had that same problem. My Samsung 19" didn't look nearly as bright as my iMac's ... it was because it was slightly off-white.

I'd suggest doing calibration with the advanced features on. If that doesn't work, try looking at your monitor's manuel and seeing how to reset it to factory(or default) settings. If you don't have the manuel, try looking it up online. Then try the advanced calibration again.

If that doesn't work, look up the brightness of your monitor online (like at the product page) ... brightness is measured in cd/m2 and if you monitor's brightness is more than the iMac's brightness (250 cd/m2 BTW) then you should call up our monitor's manufacturer and go through tech support and ETC.

That's basically what I did, and I got a replacement that's nice and bright.

And since you asked about settings, here's mine:

brightness: 80
contrast: 49

red: 50
green: 50
blue: 50

But I'm sure that monitor settings differ from monitor to monitor.
 
arcsbite said:
I'm able to get the 20" apple cinema display for about £450 with edu.
the lowest I can find the Dell is £389

....do you think it's worth the extra £50?

I was thinkign yes, but after this info, i'm second guessing
Click to expand...

whereabouts are you getting the dell for £389? i'm looking for a new screen too but the cheapest i can find the dell 20" widescreen for is from dell at £507 link
 
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