Why no LED screen?

[AppleCandidate]

What's the deal? Does anyone know? Any chance of a misprint on their website? (pleaaaase!)

 

[Mr. Giver '94]

While I agree that eventually it'd be great, can you imagine how much Apple would overcharge for it???

 

[petenice15]

What's the deal? Does anyone know? Any chance of a misprint on their website? (pleaaaase!)

It's not a misprint, I already saw the new iMac in a store today. Sorry to rain on your parade...

 

[Bryan Bowler]

Honestly, what would a LED screen do? I suspect that it will be brighter, but will images be more crisp?

Bryan

 

[striatedglutes]

Price maybe? They probably already stuck an IPS panel in the 24". If I had to choose, I would take CFL+IPS over LED+TN any day.

I bet parts wise LED is cheaper, but R&D cost is probably factored into the final price, no?

 

[mlts22]

CFL is probably brighter, which is more important on a desktop screen where power saving is less of an issue than a laptop where a LED backlight is better.

 

[AppleCandidate]

II just thought I'd let you know in case someone wonders.... I went and bought the new iMac24 and also the 24'LED Display.

I set them both up and compared them at home. The iMac has a blueish tint (visible on a white screen) while the LED has a yellowish tint. The blue tint is certainly more pleasant than the yellow.That being said, I prefer something more neutral.

I went ahead and played with the settings and was able to get the LED to look just like the iMac and viceversa.

I didn't find ANY advantage in keeping the LED screen. The iMac screen is beautiful, for browsing, watching movies and I feel no need for the LED screen. If anything, the iMac feels brighter and super cool.

I strongly recommend the iMac, as opposed of a Mini with an LED display.

I'm taking the LED display screen back to the store for a full refund. They couldn't set it up there at the store one next to each other, so my only way to know for sure was to try them both out at my home. Worth the effort, and I'm now sure I have bought the right thing!!

 

[RemarkabLee]

The LED screen has a wider color gamut and a higher contrast ratio, hence it is better suited to the professional market as opposed to consumer market.

So in practice, the LED would probably perform better when playing movies (maintain a better, true black) and be able to display colour photos better using a wider color gamut, such as Adobe RGB or wider, whereas the standard 24" iMac screen will be closer to standard sRGB gamut.

As for why the LED backlight wasn't included on the iMac, or at least the high end iMac it will be a case of simple economics. They are not common enough to bring them down to a price point that most will accept. People are already complaining about the hike in prices of the latest desktop refresh...

Sure Apple could have made it an option on the top end iMac, but Apple would like to keep things as simple as possible for the average consumer and having another variable for the few who could afford one at this time would be more hassle than its worth.

 

[DELTAsnake]

When I saw an iMac and the unibody Macbook's next to eachother for the first time last month I really didn't see a major difference between the standard LCD and the LED screen. For me a LED screen would be nice, but it's not critical.

 

[RemarkabLee]

When I saw an iMac and the unibody Macbook's next to eachother for the first time last month I really didn't see a major difference between the standard LCD and the LED screen. For me a LED screen would be nice, but it's not critical.

Depending on what iMac you were looking at, it's not really a fair comparison as the Macbooks use a different panel type (TN Film) compared to the 24" iMac (H-IPS). The 20" iMac uses TN Film as well, but even so they are not directly comparable from an objective point of view.

If you were a professional however, you would notice the viewing angle of the Macbook would be vastly inferior to the desktop units resulting in colour shift issues.

In short, the LED properties for notebooks are more geared towards power saving attributes rather than colour accuracy, whereas the desktop would be geared to this more critical aspect for professionals.

 

[clyde2801]

I thought an advantage of the LED screen was that it would last longer than the CFL backlighting. Makes sense, since Apple wants to sell you a new iMac every few years.

 

[Shivetya]

What's the deal? Does anyone know? Any chance of a misprint on their website? (pleaaaase!)

because this was a cheese update.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

II just thought I'd let you know in case someone wonders.... I went and bought the new iMac24 and also the 24'LED Display.

Thank you very much for posting your observations! I suspect that differences would be subtle. I also figured that Apple did not include it on the new iMacs due to the cost and it sounds like this may be the case.

Bryan

 

[Tesselator]

Honestly, what would a LED screen do? I suspect that it will be brighter, but will images be more crisp?

Bryan

I guess reading these will answer that.

http://digitalcontentproducer.com/mag/video_illuminating_technology/

What do LEDs offer that CCFLs can't? Basically, they are a digital, controllable, and programmable light source that can yield better color, better color depth and better color range, and even the possibility of fewer motion effects.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article784-page1.html
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/monitors/apple/led_cinema_display/274413
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-19167_1-10137941-100.html
Images --> http://www.appleinsider.com/article...xing_photos_of_apples_led_cinema_display.html