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Which displays are Mac friendly?

R

RustyMac

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 21, 2007
76
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I am a designer and I am currently using a Black Mac Book with 4 gigs of ram. This little MB is a work horse. I've recently purchase two different types of displays to see what works best.

First display was the VIZIO VMM26 26" HDMI 1920x1200 Glossy Glass screen (looks similar to the new Apple display)
Second was the Samsung 2433BW 24" 1920x1200

The Vizio actually works great but the colors are way off and doesn't offer much for adjustment and calibrating.

The Samsung hooked up ok but it seems that it is designed for PC computers. Plus when I was trying to calibrate it and I turned brightness down I get a nice bright yellow pin stripe going from top to bottom right in the middle of the screen.:(

I am getting tired of buying and trying out different screens. Someone told me just go with an Apple display because they are compatible and designed for MACs. I can now see why people spend the money for an Apple display.

What would be a great screen for the price? Dell, Samsung, LG, Viewsonic?

Thanks!
 
Apple displays are pretty but hardly worth the money, in my opinion.

I (and many others here) recommend Dell displays. They're great. Good price, great features, looks pretty damn decent, and works perfectly fine.

I think the problems with the TVs above is likely because of just that, they're TVs, not computer monitors. TVs sometimes behave strangely with a computer, be it a Mac or PC.

Have you tried calibrating the TVs in Mac OS X, instead of the TV controls? I often get much better results using OS X than the TV itself.

An example, I hook up my iMac to the projector to watch movies sometimes. At first, the picture is way too dark. No matter what I do with the projector settings, I couldn't get it bright enough. It's not the brightness, it's the colors - they're way too dark. But as a last resort I decided to change the color settings in the Display preferences, and voila!
 
Anything with Mini-DVI to DVI, like your laptop, should be flawless. I'm using a 22" Gateway right now.

I have concerns over Mini-DisplayPort though.
 
I bought a Hannspree (HannsG) 24" monitor and just love it. It is cheap, so dont expect the best. If being very precise in calibration is a must, you cant do better than Eizo, but be willing to shell out $5000+ for a 30" :)
 
ravenvii said:
Apple displays are pretty but hardly worth the money, in my opinion.

I (and many others here) recommend Dell displays. They're great. Good price, great features, looks pretty damn decent, and works perfectly fine.

I think the problems with the TVs above is likely because of just that, they're TVs, not computer monitors. TVs sometimes behave strangely with a computer, be it a Mac or PC.

Have you tried calibrating the TVs in Mac OS X, instead of the TV controls? I often get much better results using OS X than the TV itself.

An example, I hook up my iMac to the projector to watch movies sometimes. At first, the picture is way too dark. No matter what I do with the projector settings, I couldn't get it bright enough. It's not the brightness, it's the colors - they're way too dark. But as a last resort I decided to change the color settings in the Display preferences, and voila!
Click to expand...

I don't understand what you mean by TVs :confused: Neither of these screens have TV tuners in them. The Vizio is a multimedia Screen and the Samsung is their plain screen.

I am using mini DVI to DVI. After calibrating, my colors are still way off. When I use Adobe Illustrator and make 3 boxes colored Red, Green and Blue (RGB), the Green looks neon on the new displays and looks normal on the MB display. I took the computer to the Apple store and we check the colors on the MB and they looked fine.

So it seems that Dell is the choice of monitor on here. Where can one buy a good Dell? I see that New Egg or Best Buy do not carry them.

I always thought that Samsungs were the best.
 
RustyMac said:
I don't understand what you mean by TVs :confused: Neither of these screens have TV tuners in them. The Vizio is a multimedia Screen and the Samsung is their plain screen.

I am using mini DVI to DVI. After calibrating, my colors are still way off. When I use Adobe Illustrator and make 3 boxes colored Red, Green and Blue (RGB), the Green looks neon on the new displays and looks normal on the MB display. I took the computer to the Apple store and we check the colors on the MB and they looked fine.

So it seems that Dell is the choice of monitor on here. Where can one buy a good Dell? I see that New Egg or Best Buy do not carry them.

I always thought that Samsungs were the best.
Click to expand...

If I may ask, how are you calibrating your monitors? Are you only relying on the on screen adjustments?

If you are going with Dell, their site has some really good deals from time to time, so just keep checking it out.

Samsungs are generally the best, for TN panels. If you want anything non TN, Dell, HP, NEC, and Eizo are the best.
 
I enjoy my dual 30" 3007WFP Dell's, they work perfectly with a Mac and have great lighting, full 2560x1600 resolution, sadly I'm sure these won't work as they require Dual-link DVI, you could probably get away with a 27", but of course if you're wanting the apple style go with an ACD! :)
 
CharlieKirk said:
I enjoy my dual 30" 3007WFP Dell's, they work perfectly with a Mac and have great lighting, full 2560x1600 resolution, sadly I'm sure these won't work as they require Dual-link DVI, you could probably get away with a 27", but of course if you're wanting the apple style go with an ACD! :)
Click to expand...

He could run a single 30", but not a dual setup, since the device that he would need to buy to run two monitors from his MBP doesn't support Dual-Link I'm pretty sure.
 
If you want good color then dont expect that from cheap LCD's like those. A Dell ULTRASHARP are good deals for the money (make sure its an ultrasharp series, those dont use TN lcd's which are garbage).

All monitors are perfectly compatible with macs.
 
stainlessliquid said:
If you want good color then dont expect that from cheap LCD's like those. A Dell ULTRASHARP are good deals for the money (make sure its an ultrasharp series, those dont use TN lcd's which are garbage).

All monitors are perfectly compatible with macs.
Click to expand...

I see now what you are all saying. I am obviously new to aftermarket external displays. So how does one know if the display is a TN or non-TN model?
 
Hi I have a 19inch tv that supports to be used as a monitor. I will be getting a macbook soon and I am wandering how many people hook up their macbook up to a monitor and if so do you use keyboard because it seems it would be weird if you typed on the laptop looking at the monitor.
 
cjenkins505 said:
Hi I have a 19inch tv that supports to be used as a monitor. I will be getting a macbook soon and I am wandering how many people hook up their macbook up to a monitor and if so do you use keyboard because it seems it would be weird if you typed on the laptop looking at the monitor.
Click to expand...

Hey get your own thread!:mad:

Just kidding:D
 
RustyMac said:
I see now what you are all saying. I am obviously new to aftermarket external displays. So how does one know if the display is a TN or non-TN model?
Click to expand...

Dell has the specs on their site for each product, but a quick google search on the monitor in question will tell you. For a 24" anything under $400 usually is a TN panel, and then PVA and IPS are above that.
 
cjenkins505 said:
Hi I have a 19inch tv that supports to be used as a monitor. I will be getting a macbook soon and I am wandering how many people hook up their macbook up to a monitor and if so do you use keyboard because it seems it would be weird if you typed on the laptop looking at the monitor.
Click to expand...

It depends on how you want your setup to be. I'll use my setup as an example. I have my monitor set up so that it is above my macbook, and since I do not have much space, I still use the macbook keyboard, which makes a lot of sense.

If you have a side by side setup, I would think an external keyboard would prove useful to stay centered.
 

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RustyMac said:
So how does one know if the display is a TN or non-TN model?
Click to expand...

Its simple, all TN's have a 160 degree vertical viewing angle. Look at the specs of a monitor and if you see 160 anywhere then its a TN (Or any flavor of 160, like 80+80, or 170/160). PVA's have a 170 viewing angle, IPS has a 178 viewing angle. Youll want PVA or IPS, IPS being the best but really expensive in 24"
 
stainlessliquid said:
Its simple, all TN's have a 160 degree vertical viewing angle. Look at the specs of a monitor and if you see 160 anywhere then its a TN (Or any flavor of 160, like 80+80, or 170/160). PVA's have a 170 viewing angle, IPS has a 178 viewing angle. Youll want PVA or IPS, IPS being the best but really expensive in 24"
Click to expand...

PVA also has 178 viewing angles. Even TNs can be listed with 178 (at contrast ration 5:1, so beware!).

Any IPS/PVA should be great for graphics. If you'd be happy with 22", Dell 2209WA (eIPS) seems to be your best bet (they're cheap! you can get 2 of those for few bucks!). Eizo S2242 is a 22" PVA with 1900x1200 res, but it's a bit expensive. Dell 2408WFP is a PVA, it's also rather good. Apple screens are IPS (don't know about the LED mirror though...).

Personally, I'd rather go for 2x22" than 1xsomething bigger...

I wish I could still get 23" matte ACD... oh well...
 
L0s7man said:
PVA also has 178 viewing angles. Even TNs can be listed with 178 (at contrast ration 5:1, so beware!).
Click to expand...

where? I have yet to see anything like that. I think I remember seeing crap like 174 degree viewing angles but that was years ago, all the respectable companies seemed to have stopped questionable spec listing.
 
stainlessliquid said:
where? I have yet to see anything like that. I think I remember seeing crap like 174 degree viewing angles but that was years ago, all the respectable companies seemed to have stopped questionable spec listing.
Click to expand...

For some reason that eludes me, Eizo does it. Don't know about the contrast ratio 5:1 -> is that important? Might be for some specialized use like multi-monitor setup in investment banking, etc. I've seen folks having 8 or 10 screens at the desk (for trading) and having high contrast ratio is less important than being low cost. Even crappy monitor that a bank uses costs much more than consumer pays in retail, so it might be important to get cheap TNs which could still do nice viewing angles; that's just speculation on my side though.
 
stainlessliquid said:
Its simple, all TN's have a 160 degree vertical viewing angle. Look at the specs of a monitor and if you see 160 anywhere then its a TN (Or any flavor of 160, like 80+80, or 170/160). PVA's have a 170 viewing angle, IPS has a 178 viewing angle. Youll want PVA or IPS, IPS being the best but really expensive in 24"
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say so. I myself prefer VA panels to IPS panels, but everyone has their own tastes...
 
nutritious said:
I wouldn't say so. I myself prefer VA panels to IPS panels, but everyone has their own tastes...
Click to expand...

Both PVA and IPS have their issues. Everyone agrees TN is crap though. Can't say which is better -> for IPS I've only seen ACD displays and they're great (the old ones!). For myself, I think I'll go with Eizo S2242W PVA which is 22" and has 1900x1200 res. Will see how it works.

Other thing: almost all PVA/IPS monitors are wide gamut. Some wider than the other and apparently that's a big problem outside the graphics applications that are colour aware.
 
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