30 in Apple Cinema a Good Replacment?

[Aelyrin]

Hello,

I just bough a 17inch MBP and it arrives tomorrow. Currently my work station consists of 2x 23inch Samsung LCDs side by side. The MBP does not however allow for dual external monitor support as I am sure you all know.

I am considering selling my dual 23s and picking up a 30 inch CD but I have not ever used one. I have heard alot of complaints in other forums regardina pink tinge to some of the Apple CDs, and if I am going to drop 2000 on a monitor, it had better not have problems of that sort.

Just looking for some first hand user opinions from those of you who use them for development and design work.

Thanks in advance

 

[Pressure]

Hello,

I just bough a 17inch MBP and it arrives tomorrow. Currently my work station consists of 2x 23inch Samsung LCDs side by side. The MBP does not however allow for dual external monitor support as I am sure you all know.

I am considering selling my dual 23s and picking up a 30 inch CD but I have not ever used one. I have heard alot of complaints in other forums regardina pink tinge to some of the Apple CDs, and if I am going to drop 2000 on a monitor, it had better not have problems of that sort.

Just looking for some first hand user opinions from those of you who use them for development and design work.

Thanks in advance

You could also buy a DVI-splitter which will enable you to run two 1920x1200 monitors.

 

[Killyp]

This could be possible as the MacBook Pro has a dual-link DVI out.

I'd get assurance from some other incredibly ridiculously overly clever forum member (aka Mad Jew or someone) before you go ahead with that.

As for the 30" ACD, image wise, it's the best computer display money can buy (other than some high end TVs).

You'd love it, the usable screen area is fantastic...

 

[SiliconAddict]

The MacBook Pro can handle a 30"er.

Apple's displays are overpriced and under featured. I own a Dell 2405FPW which is a Dell 24" with component and composite input (along with DVI and HDMI.), a 9 type card reader built in, picture in picture, picture by picture, and something like 1000:1 contrast ratio (I set the display to half to avoid burning my retinas out.)

The kicker? Both Apple and Dell use the same LCD manufacturer for the 24"er. No idea about the 30"er though


Here is the 30"er http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=222-0863

$1,274 vs, $1,999

The only compelling reason IMHO is looks. If $724 is worth looks by all means go ahead.

PS- Heck my MBP even detected the display and lists it as a Dell 2405 with its own color profile.

 

[ventro]

I own a Dell 2405 and it sucks. It feels so... cheap. When you press any of its buttons it the whole monitor creaks like a rickety floorboard. And you get a big "DELL" logo staring at you all day. The whole thing just reaks of plastic cheapness.

My next display will be a 30" ACD. Hopefully it isn't as crappy as the dell display.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Hello,

I just bough a 17inch MBP and it arrives tomorrow. Currently my work station consists of 2x 23inch Samsung LCDs side by side. The MBP does not however allow for dual external monitor support as I am sure you all know.

I am considering selling my dual 23s and picking up a 30 inch CD but I have not ever used one. I have heard alot of complaints in other forums regardina pink tinge to some of the Apple CDs, and if I am going to drop 2000 on a monitor, it had better not have problems of that sort.

Just looking for some first hand user opinions from those of you who use them for development and design work.

Thanks in advance

The pink tinge you mention was a problem of the earlier 23" displays. The 30" display doesn't have these problems. As far as the Dell vs Apple thing... well unlike Dell's other screens, their 30" display only has a single DVI-DL input. Basically its either a black, plastic, dell branded 30" screen with three years warranty for less money or a silver, aluminium, apple branded 30" screen with one years warranty for more money. They're both pretty much equal on the picture front.

Personally, I'd go for the 30" Apple. Well, I did in fact but when I got my display I got 15% off the Apple price which only made it about £50 more than the Dell display at the time of buying and I also bought Applecare together with my Mac and Display which I all bought at the same time, which gave me 3 years warranty on the ACD anyway. Would I still get an ACD now that Dell have dropped their prices? Probably, although if I wasn't buying it with a machine then the 1 year warranty would put me off big time.

Edit: Unfortunately what Killyp said doesn't work. The dual link DVI out means the DVI socket on the MBP can handle double the data bandwidth that single link DVI can output. Meaning it can drive displays up to a resolution of 2560x1600@60Hz. It cannot be split in any manner so as power two high resolution displays. VGA signals can be split by an external box, however, but the resolution is limited to 1280x1024 on both displays and the computer only sees one wide display so windows don't snap to the right window.

 

[SiliconAddict]

I own a Dell 2405 and it sucks. It feels so... cheap. When you press any of its buttons it the whole monitor creaks like a rickety floorboard. And you get a big "DELL" logo staring at you all day. The whole thing just reaks of plastic cheapness.

My next display will be a 30" ACD. Hopefully it isn't as crappy as the dell display.

Then you got a bad base. Mine is fine and the money I saved went towards paying off the laptop earlier. Oh boo hoo it has a Dell logo. Get some puddy, put it over the logo, and paint it black if you hate it so much. The benefits of not being a fanboi.

PS- Occasionally Dell has coupons that allow you to take a few extra hundred off that above price making it more like a grand difference.

 

[TyPod]

Get the 30 incher if you can afford it, but if it's true you can run dual monitors through that dealio, then i would do that if they are good displays.

 

[andrewfee]

If you're going to be spending that kind of money on a display, you owe it to yourself to pick up some calibration hardware. I would highly recommend ColorEyes Display: http://www.integrated-color.com/cedisplay/monitorprofiling.html

I currently own a Spyder2PRO kit, and now that they support my colorimeter, I've tried out the demo, and their profiles with L* gamma are a big improvement over that, in my opinion. I'm just waiting for mine to be delivered now. (I ordered it with the DTP94 sensor too, to see if that offers any additional improvement, as it's the one they recommend)

It has made a huge improvement to any display I've owned, and is well worth the money. It would mean you wouldn't have to worry about a pink tint. (although I believe that's only the 23" ACD)

I'd recommend the Cinema Display over the Dell any day if you can afford it - Apple knows how to make a high quality display for colour-accurate work, I wouldn't expect the Dell to be as good. (even if they used the same panel, that's not all that makes a display good)

 

[YS2003]

I am also in the market for a 30" LCD display. Now that I have a 15" MBP, I can use a 30" screen. I read somewhere on this forum and others that Apple's screen is higher quality than Dell's. I forgot the details but Dell takes some short cuts on "color accuracy" department with their LCD. There are many people on this forum who recommend Dell LCDs.
The current pricing on Dell's 30" is less than $1300 while Apple's 30" ACD is close to $2000. $700 is a decent change for me (I can use it toward Adobe CS3 next year or use it toward a 3D app). But, at the same time, I don't want to be cheapskate to save a few hundreds compromising the LCD quality.