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Worth upgrading to the Thunderbolt Display?
- Thread starter iMas70
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Biggest noticeable difference would be the anti-glare finish on the dell monitor and the glossy finish on the ATD (similar to the S2440L). A lot of people have strong opinions/preferences between the two. A big factor seems to be how well you control the light in the room since glare can be annoying in bright spaces with glossy monitors.
Warranty - The Dell monitor has a 3 year warranty standard. The ATD comes with 1 year warranty and can be extended to 3 years through Applecare for $99.
The head to head specs seem pretty comparable - the Dell has slightly quicker response time and USB 3.0 ports which is nice if you utilize them. The ATD obviously has a greater variety of connections on the back of the panel. I definitely think you pay a premium for the brand name/design of the ATD. If i were looking at the best price/performance, I'd go with the Dell. But if the ATD's aesthetics are the swaying factor, it is still a fine monitor.
Warranty - The Dell monitor has a 3 year warranty standard. The ATD comes with 1 year warranty and can be extended to 3 years through Applecare for $99.
The head to head specs seem pretty comparable - the Dell has slightly quicker response time and USB 3.0 ports which is nice if you utilize them. The ATD obviously has a greater variety of connections on the back of the panel. I definitely think you pay a premium for the brand name/design of the ATD. If i were looking at the best price/performance, I'd go with the Dell. But if the ATD's aesthetics are the swaying factor, it is still a fine monitor.
I got this Dell @ work and I use it for CAD.
Compared to my home Eizo SX2462 panel, it is rubbish. 27" is nice in terms of workspace but.....it's uneven as hell in terms of brightness and color temperature. Useless for photography despite the fact that it is a wide gamut monitor.
ACD looks nice, but doesn't have good quality panel and is bloody un-ergonomic...
Basically it's impossible to adjust the screen height which makes it unusable for me...
For the same money as ACD I would perefer 24 or 27 inch Eizo or Nec display....
Eizo has 5 years warranty as well for the price.
Compared to my home Eizo SX2462 panel, it is rubbish. 27" is nice in terms of workspace but.....it's uneven as hell in terms of brightness and color temperature. Useless for photography despite the fact that it is a wide gamut monitor.
ACD looks nice, but doesn't have good quality panel and is bloody un-ergonomic...
Basically it's impossible to adjust the screen height which makes it unusable for me...
For the same money as ACD I would perefer 24 or 27 inch Eizo or Nec display....
Eizo has 5 years warranty as well for the price.
Ok... I was in an Apple store today and had a pile of cash in my pocket. The TB Display kept calling me. Pretty much begging me to go over and take a look at it. So I did. Then I turned to look at the 27" iMac. Awww... so nice! Then I looked back at the iMac then back to the TB Display. About 15 minutes later, I walked out with a big box that contained the TB Display. Part of me was thinking that I'll just bring it home and think about it. Then, the display somehow just jumped out of the box and up onto my desk. I was amazing! How did that happen!? And now I'm looking at it as I type this. I have to say, it looks soooo much better than the Dell that I was using. Not just a bigger display with more real estate to use, it seems to be much crisper and clearer. The text looks is noticeably better. Like it's kind of bolder and clearer. I have 14 days to think about it. I have a feeling this monitor won't be going anywhere.
I would not buy the TBD now. It is aged. The next one will be a substantial upgrade I suspect with improved glare reduction. Thing is, with a Mac Mini, you won't see much benefit with the Apple display, especially the current model as you don't need the docking. The Dell, while not as sexy, is a great monitor at significantly less dollars with USB 3.0, extra video connection options etc. I really dislike the look of the Dell compared to the Apple, but I'm not hosting an art show so the Dell wins on all other points.
Nice, buy what you need and buy it now is my motto, Apple products have good resale so even if there is a new one you could sell it. I just sold a late 09 27" iMac for just under half what i paid for it. Early 2013 everyone was expecting new MBPr and didn't happen till late 2013.
Well i just bit the bullet on one, got a 6% Business discount and can claim back the 10% tax we pay here in Australia. Also took up their 18 months interest free on a GE IF card only i have just incase i send it back in the 14 days.
Cost to me is $1005 v $1199.
Looking forward to having a bigger screen for my 15" MBPr mainly for video/photos and a docking station.
For my purposes this should do me and even if a new one come soon it will be more $$.
Cost to me is $1005 v $1199.
Looking forward to having a bigger screen for my 15" MBPr mainly for video/photos and a docking station.
For my purposes this should do me and even if a new one come soon it will be more $$.
Arrived today, set it up saw the bad backlight on bottom right corner and up the right side, put it back in the box and rang Apple for a return, goodbye TBD. Not putting up with that.
Does look nice though but does push the temps up on my 15" MBPr.
Nope, no complaints at all about the screen.
This replaced the 24" Dell that I was using. I slid that over and it's now connected to my Windows machine. I do something with images that requires Silverlight. For some reason that stopped working on the Mac Mini a couple of months ago so I have to use the other computer when I need that. The 24" looks like better than the old Dell monitor that I was using with that.
I usually don't watch movies on my computer but will check that out. One thing that I thought when I woke up this morning was "I paid over $1k with tax for a computer monitor!?" It should have had breakfast ready for me when I sat down at the desk!