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Purpose of Apple Cinema Display?

G

GadgetGeek407

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2009
994
61
florida
I am curious what are the most common uses for the Apple Cinema Display?

I see most people use it in conduction to their laptops, is it cause at home they can basically turn their macbook pro or air into an iMac without spending the money on an iMac?


elaborate for me a bit if you all will please and of course for the mac mini
 
What is the purpose of any external display?
  • For use with a desktop computer that doesn't have a built-in display, such as a Mac Pro or Mac mini.
  • For use with a notebook computer when a larger screen is desired when working at home or the office.
  • For use when a secondary display is desired.
 
It is all about screen real estate. The assumption is that under some circumstances the more you see, the more productive you can be.
 
Jaro65 said:
It is all about screen real estate. The assumption is that under some circumstances the more you see, the more productive you can be.
Click to expand...

Isn't that the case for the 13" over the 11"? :p

Yes, the bigger the display, the better. The assumption is that if you are home, you have a desk where you can put a big display, so you can connect your laptop to it and work a lot more comfortably. When you are on the road then of course you won't have the Apple Cinema Display with you, so you work off the laptop display.

The Apple Cinema Display with Thunderbolt has a special thunderbolt connector that connects to the MacBook Air that not only connects the monitor for you to see the image, it also provides several additional connections on that same cable, like USB, Firewire, and gigabit ethernet, all right on the display. So basically you come home, connect ONE wire, and you can have many peripherals connected to your display that will instantly be able to talk to your MBA.

Pretty cool stuff. :D
 
Thunderbolt display is pretty awesome as it is, along with the stuff you mentioned, they should add a high-end GPU in there. Would be a really great docking station for great power at home when you really need it but still powerful enough for most tasks on the go.
 
ZBoater said:
Isn't that the case for the 13" over the 11"? :p

Yes, the bigger the display, the better. The assumption is that if you are home, you have a desk where you can put a big display, so you can connect your laptop to it and work a lot more comfortably. When you are on the road then of course you won't have the Apple Cinema Display with you, so you work off the laptop display.

The Apple Cinema Display with Thunderbolt has a special thunderbolt connector that connects to the MacBook Air that not only connects the monitor for you to see the image, it also provides several additional connections on that same cable, like USB, Firewire, and gigabit ethernet, all right on the display. So basically you come home, connect ONE wire, and you can have many peripherals connected to your display that will instantly be able to talk to your MBA.

Pretty cool stuff. :D
Click to expand...

Pretty cool stuff indeed. Though not sure it is cool enough to make me upgrade from my existing 27" ACD.

You must be on the West Coast.
 
VeganHipster said:
Thunderbolt display is pretty awesome as it is, along with the stuff you mentioned, they should add a high-end GPU in there. Would be a really great docking station for great power at home when you really need it but still powerful enough for most tasks on the go.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've been hoping for a Cinema Display with a GPU for awhile... Before all this talk lately.

It makes so much sense too. I mean right now I want to buy a Cinema/Thunberbolt Display for my MacBook Air, but the high resolution means I won't be able to play my games in glorious HD. I now don't want one that badly. The ACD has such a high resolution, that performance for low-specced machines will take a hit. (More or less... depending on what you're doing with it)

I'm just one customer, but I'm sure there are many others like me.
 
Yumunum said:
I'm just one customer, but I'm sure there are many others like me.
Click to expand...

I think the issue with such display would be the price. It's already $999 and a GPU would most likely make it around $1500. That would get you a high-end gaming rig with a display, which is much better for gaming than MBA and display with eGPU (more power, upgradeability, OCing...).

Apple is usually after big markets, not small ones like this. 3rd party devices should allow this at some point though.
 
I can easily get a 23 inch screen for much less (200+?), which would suffice when working on large excel files and the like. And I can bring it to my office, and not worry about it getting damaged or stolen.

Seems like way overkill? :confused:
 
Abazigal said:
Seems like way overkill? :confused:
Click to expand...

I find sitting at a desk (about 80cm deep) with the monitor at the back you don't get much advantage for working (writing, programming etc) with a monitor much bigger than 24 inches. However for viewing, films, photographs etc the bigger desktop is great. I have a 27inch iMac and a 24 inch display. I vastly prefer the 24 inch display on my desk and the iMac is going - the first time I have not kept a Mac till it naturally passes away through old age incompatibility or breakdown.

For all of them, I wish the glass was not so reflective. My old 20 inch cinema display was much easier to use without needing to close the blinds in the office and my next monitor will probably not be Apple for that reason.
 
First my ACD 24" was the primary monitor for my MacMini; now it's my secondary screen on iMac 27"

Lots space for image processing or Xcode.

Update: sorry, didn't saw it's the MBA forum. My MBA goes single; only once connected to ACD; keep it a lonely rider
 
Abazigal said:
I can easily get a 23 inch screen for much less (200+?), which would suffice when working on large excel files and the like. And I can bring it to my office, and not worry about it getting damaged or stolen.

Seems like way overkill? :confused:
Click to expand...

It is a semi professional display. You're paying for the quality. Also as soon as you get to that high a resolution $1000 is about as cheap as you can get, and it just goes up from there. For many it may well be overkill, and if you don't need/want that quality and size of course you're better off buying a less expensive display. However, for others like me (I do iOS development on the side) it is great to have a higher quality display that doesn't completely break the bank.
 
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