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New Cinema Displays?
- Thread starter Cromas
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plenty of threads already on this same topic. No one has any idea when we might see these. I have a feeling it probably won't be till January, but thats just my guess. The current line up is pretty good as is. A lot of people here like the dell monitors, they are supposed to be pretty good as well
There is no need for Apple to update the Cinema Display until they do a factory Blu-Ray option, at which point Apple will want/need to add HDCP to the ACD.
HDCP is certainly much needed addition to ACD, but I can think of several other reasons to update ACD:
- Better and newer panel: Although state-of-the-art at the time, ACD offers smaller color gamut than many competing and newer panels (e.g., Dell 2408).
- LED backlighting: Probably cost prohibitive for now, but ACD should eventually move toward LED backlighting.
- iSight: I personally don't care too much for iSight, but considering iSight is no longer made, there is a demand for ACD to have built-in iSight.
- HDMI and/or DisplayPort inputs: many folks want to use ACD for non-Mac source, such as gaming console. Since HDMI-to-DVI is a workable solution, this feature isn't high priority.
- Better stand: Although ACD is beautiful and functional, it doesn't offer much in the way of height adjustment.
- Lower price: As it stands, ACD is overpriced, even by Apple standard.
as a recent purchaser of an acd i dont really agree,
* the panels are updated from time to time
*led backlighting on a 30" would be rather costly and not as needed as on a laptop energy wise
*isight on an apple display wont happen, i think thed loose to many sales
*i wouldnt have though hdmi until any of the machines have it
*I just like the stand, its been protected by apple (jobs) since NEXT and is quite clever
*when i got mine i checked the dell alternative and i know the price changes pretty much daily but it cost more the day i checked.
* the panels are updated from time to time
*led backlighting on a 30" would be rather costly and not as needed as on a laptop energy wise
*isight on an apple display wont happen, i think thed loose to many sales
*i wouldnt have though hdmi until any of the machines have it
*I just like the stand, its been protected by apple (jobs) since NEXT and is quite clever
*when i got mine i checked the dell alternative and i know the price changes pretty much daily but it cost more the day i checked.
i recently bought the 23" ACD, and have to say that its the best monitor I have ever seen. Near perfect backlight, no pink hue, and bright as hell (i barely turn it above half way! furthermore, the viewing angle is spectacular, and dont forget, its an S-IPS monitor, unlike the dell.
Also, in the UK, the dell is more expensive.
Also, in the UK, the dell is more expensive.
The Dell 3008WFP does and it uses a high-end S-IPS display like the ACD. It also has a slew of inputs. The new NEC 30" should, as well.
If we don't have new ACDs with HDCP and more connections by this Xmas, I'll get the Dell or NEC with my new Mac Pro.
I agree the 23" ACD is the best I've owned and I've been through lg 22"-24", dell 24"(S-IPS version, but sold it and kept the 23"ACD),samsung 22". And have to say that the apple cinema display uses same components as the Eizos such as the, backlighting,circuitry,components on the ACD with the same LG S-IPS screens that some of the dell (mixed bag if you get lucky you can get the S-IPS but mostly are S-PVA panels on the dells) that the 23" ACD are much better.
Like others I agree, there is no way to make the 20",23",30" ACD's any better except adding an led backlighting to it and possibly OLED display maybe in 2014?
HDCP and a removable power/port cable.
I strongly dislike the built in cable with the acds.
if something were to happen to it it would be a huge major hassle for anyone to get replaced or fixed. and a waste of time.
ive heard stories of them being pinched, dvi cable/pins bad, animals chewing on them etc.. a replacable cable would be keen!
those are my only two needs and wants for them everything else is convenience; and from my previous experience a monitor with multiple inputs/outputs may not be the best; overscanning or other display issues.
I strongly dislike the built in cable with the acds.
if something were to happen to it it would be a huge major hassle for anyone to get replaced or fixed. and a waste of time.
ive heard stories of them being pinched, dvi cable/pins bad, animals chewing on them etc.. a replacable cable would be keen!
those are my only two needs and wants for them everything else is convenience; and from my previous experience a monitor with multiple inputs/outputs may not be the best; overscanning or other display issues.
For me though, I could care less about HDCP.. Since I already have a much better and bigger hdtv with full surround hifi + a ps3. But I do agree with you about the dvi cord. I wished it was removable as well because I try to keep it straight most of the time and not to try to bend/pinch it because I dont want the cable to get messed up and I'll be screwed..
Although ACD has been silently updated with better panels, it is still not up to par (compared to some of the best that happens to cost less), particularly in terms of color space.
LED isn't for just lower energy savings. But I agree that it is cost prohibitive for larger LCD at the moment.
iSight is very cheap to implement. Personally, I think it's a gimmick, but essential for completist Mac mini and Mac Pro users.
Dell makes both low-end and high-end LCDs. High-end LCDs cost significantly less (at least in the US) and performs better than ACD. It is far less attractive, however.
Built-in isight should not be implemented. The current ACDs are often used by non-Mac users as well, and not many ppl like a built-in webcam. So if they buy it, Apple would need a provide a driver disc along with the monitor. There are many disadvantages of built-in webcams in the form of non-adjustable tilt and position. Repairs on the isight will also involve hauling the whole monitor to the Apple Store. The current design spots clean silver bevel, and the visual flow will be interrupted if there's a built-in isight on the top. Built-in isights are good for laptops since laptop users are on the constant move all the time, and that saves them from carrying and setting up any external webcams, but are not particularly practical for external monitors.
I wouldnt say performs better, it can perform as good as the ACD but there is a reason why the ACD is more expensive as to the dells. Better circuitry,backlighting,glass,chipsets, I've also heard that Apple uses the same circuitry/backlighting/glass/chipset as the Eizos but the same lcd panels as the Dells.
Everytime I get a new dell 24" 2007 or 2008 compare it next to my 23" ACD and I can definitely tell the color rendition/quality is much better on the ACD, but the dell's monitor gets brighter at its highest..
Does anybody think they will make a display like 21" or 22" and have it cheeper than the current displays, because I really want one. I am going to get one, but this just means I could get one sooner
Price Drop
In my opinion, the displays are not a priority for Apple. They don't necessarily need to be at this time, either. They really are beautiful and functional. I do a lot of Audio/Visual production, including video and stills, and i think the colour reproduction is still phenomenal compared to most other displays out there, not to mention the design. I can see Apple dropping the price again, but they are probably waiting for a significantly compelling reason to update the specs.
I hope they drop the price, because i sure could use another display! I'm partial to the 23" myself, but i'm still not quite ready to pull the trigger at the current price.
In my opinion, the displays are not a priority for Apple. They don't necessarily need to be at this time, either. They really are beautiful and functional. I do a lot of Audio/Visual production, including video and stills, and i think the colour reproduction is still phenomenal compared to most other displays out there, not to mention the design. I can see Apple dropping the price again, but they are probably waiting for a significantly compelling reason to update the specs.
I hope they drop the price, because i sure could use another display! I'm partial to the 23" myself, but i'm still not quite ready to pull the trigger at the current price.
I want a Cinema Display. I don't care if there's an update or not, but at least drop the prices. The same models have cost the same $ for about a year and a half now.
You've been out of the loop recently. ACD series just does not cover Adobe RGB color space range all that well. Dell, NEC, and others (their higher-end series not the low-end garbage) have larger color space, nearing or even eclipsing Adobe RGB color space. As for the color rendition, calibrate. Calibrate both and Dell will be as accurate as ACD.
Let's face it. ACD was once state-of-the-art, but performance wise, it has been eclipsed by newer generation of monitors. For many, the difference won't be as noticed as ACD's prettier physical design and I happen to be one of them. But it's time that ACD gets more proper, full update.
well with working on HD content id llike to have a playback center, i however invested in a decent display for my own production lab, so itd be nice to be able to have that.
Itd be great to also be able to have it when if i wanted to watch HDCP video I could if im at my desk alot or ripping/encoding them to a different format.
i mean for the price I paid for a 30" might aswell.
A lot of that would definitely add to the overall costs... particularly, I think, an iSight, which would also have to add an extra cable I would think... or some sort of (expensive, probably bulky) extra circuitry if they didn't want to add another wire.. Idk, maybe I'm completely wrong. But it would add to the cost.
I agree with your HDMI-to-DVI point.. I was thinking the same thing.
Man. It's so weird to hear it said that the ACD's are overpriced... I know they were a couple years ago but they look so cheap (given their size/quality) to me now. I guess it just shows how far the technology's progressed.
Remember when the 22" Apple Cinema Display came out? Most people were using 17" CRTs at the time. 22" was, AFAIK, the biggest LCD on the market.... and cost $3999 for a max res of I think 1600x1024... a much slower response time, way lower contrast and much lower brightness. Weird.
But if you were working on hd content... isnt your content already on your mac pro/mbp that you can view it on your 1920x1200 display anyways??
But I guess if you wanted to watch a bluray movies on your monitor I could understand... but than that's what *ews*oups are for!! Sorry I'm forbidden to say!! =D
But IMHO I think in 10+ years or even a bit sooner than that, bluray or for that matter "discs" will be the thing of the past. Once ssd drives get to 1tb + there will be no need for discs anymore and just rent movies online or rent yourself a movie on a ssd flash drive. Imagine 2TB SSD flash thumb drive that fits in your pocket with amazing transfer rates... drool~!
While I agree that newer monitors offers a little bit more wider gamut of colors but I'm talking about quality not quantity, for example just because the new dell 2408WFP has a higher contrast/brightness doesnt mean its "better" when the colors are not as accurate when even professionally calibrated as to a 23"/30" ACD. But professionally the colors are more accurate on the ACD when both calibrating the colors properly on each monitors. You have to take account of the quality of the components inside that runs/processes the lcd.
You can take the same lcd that Eizo uses and use cheaper circuitry/chip/backlighting/glass and how backlighting is implemented/installed and end up with a worse monitor.
Just to give you an example with both Dell 30"and Apple 30" with the same lcd panel yet different components inside that drives the lcd and I know this is a bit outdated but still fair dell 30" and Apple 30" (and today 2008 I'm sure they both got modest updates as well):http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6470175-7.html?tag=btn
quote from the site:
"Apple trumped the Dell in our DVD-playback test, displaying less digital noise and more-realistic skin tones, and it won the more technical rounds, with more-vivid colors and better grayscale differentiation. This is the monitor of choice, especially if you own an Apple computer, since the Apple OS provides additional configuration options."
And I know this is an apple support site but I found this real quick from just googling in just seconds:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1436508&tstart=0
This guy is talking about the 2408WFP and he saids:
"After having one of these monitors for a couple of days now i wish i had payed the extra and got an Apple display. After hardware colour calibration the colours looked good in Lightroom, but still over saturated in everything else. The brightness is just insane, i had to turn it right down as my eyeballs were getting fried.
I could live with all that, but the big problem for me is the 'sharpness' setting. It defaults to 50% and the only other settings are 0%-25%-50%-75%-100%. 50% is too much and causes fonts to have a halo effect around them and 25% is too little and fonts are blurred. It is at it's worst with black text on a white background. So reading this forum looks awful. I've tried all the settings on the 'font smoothing but that doesn't help."
But in the end he tweaked it to where he was able to read the forums without the headache.. but then the apple monitor is just so perfectly calibrated right out of the box and for professionals I'm sure even better to calibrate it with spyder2 or whatever your using.
The dell monitors are not horrible and if your not a graphics designer or anything to do with graphics its more than good enough for use but for me around that range to pay for an external monitor I'd buy the apple cinema display 23" or the 30" in a heartbeat.
And I'd do it again if I needed another external monitor for use (and I have and got myself a 20" ACD just a few days ago and its very nice.. I went to best buy to look at all the samsung/lg/hp/gateway/dell and just tweaking it for 2 hours at best buy.. they all dont look as good and at the mall I saw the dell 2408WFP and played around with it for an hour and was a nice monitor.. but the colors.. just look way too oversaturated on some colors such as red and some other colors not as saturated and didnt have that vivid/pop natural colors. I tried tweaking it for an hour and I couldnt get near of what I wanted and annoyed the dell stand guy. =D
Just comparing the 24" 2407WFP I had to the 23" ACD.. the 23" ACD just overall looks better in color rendition/realistic/web surfing, and just looks that much natural without it being overly bright or overly saturated and "just right." I use the 23" ACD with its brightness only at 4-6 notches out of the whole 16 and thats still more than bright enough for me and when I'm in the darkness I use it maybe even 2-3 notches. I know someone who uses it at 1 notch.
IMHO, I think dell monitors arent all bad and some uses the same S-IPS lcds but the way its built/circuitry/chip/glass that it uses is not on par with Apple/Eizos. Thats where you see the big difference. I notice the glass on the ACD makes a huge difference as well as to the dell. When I look at the dell or samsung or LG monitors just the feel and look of the glass is a cheaper material and it to me the glass is important because the better the glass the better colors from the lcd will show through the glass (and of course accounting to the circuitry that drives the lcd as well has to be better too)... every little components takes account into making a good display and Apple has done a great job.
Final note: I also remember few years back reading a tech article about Apple using the same components as Eizos to making the ACDs. And alot of people were saying that buying an apple monitor is the cheap way of getting an Eizo quality screen.
In September 2006 I recall thinking the same thing about an update the the 23 inch ACD before I got one.