Need Buying Advice on 30" ACD

[AdiosVista]

Hello,

Unfortunately, I cannot wait to see what Apple decides to do with their new LED display. I'm sure there will be other sizes available soon and probably adapters to work with the Mac Pro but I need a monitor right away. I'm looking to buy a 30" and my main concerns are 1) size, which it obviously has and 2) graphics quality, which I'm assuming this monitor will be great for since it is ISP.

My question is are there any particular models I should look for or others to stay away from? I keep seeing eBay auctions for these displays but they range anywhere from a year to a small handful of years old. I'm sure apple released updated versions that might have fix graphic issues and whatnot and I just want to make sure I don't get a particular model of the 30" that was known to have problems. If anyone could also provide model numbers so I know what I'm looking for, that would be excellent.

My other question is how much "smaller" does a 30" make things look? I've heard the higher resolution is hard for some people to work on because it displays items smaller than you would view on say a 23".

Also, would it be a safe thing to buy a refurb display from apple? I know they test all their products to help ensure quality but my concern is not knowing just how old it would be or long things like the lighting would last.

 

[panoz7]

Hello,
My other question is how much "smaller" does a 30" make things look? I've heard the higher resolution is hard for some people to work on because it displays items smaller than you would view on say a 23".

I can't help with your other questions but I can help with this. The DPI of the screen determines how big everything looks. The 30" ACD has a DPI of ~102 and the 23" ~99, so everything's going to appear about 3% smaller on the 30" screen, which at least to me, is hardly noticeable. One thing that might end up happening though is that you have to put the 30" farther back on your desk than the 23" in order to comfortably view the whole monitor. In that case things will appear smaller but it's impossible to say by how much.

 

[AdiosVista]

I can't help with your other questions but I can help with this. The DPI of the screen determines how big everything looks. The 30" ACD has a DPI of ~102 and the 23" ~99, so everything's going to appear about 3% smaller on the 30" screen, which at least to me, is hardly noticeable. One thing that might end up happening though is that you have to put the 30" farther back on your desk than the 23" in order to comfortably view the whole monitor. In that case things will appear smaller but it's impossible to say by how much.

Very good explanation, thanks!