New 23" Apple Cinema Display

I received my 23" Aluminum ACD in July. Backlighting is perfectly even. Using the default colorsync profile, the monitor does have a pinkish hue, but this was easily corrected through calibration (Gretag Macbeth Eye-One Photo). Its a great monitor and I am very happy with it. My only complaint would be that the USB and Firewire ports on the back are a bit difficult to use because you can't really see them (but I am not sure how I would improve this).

Hi- I have been actively looking for a new monitor. I tried out the new Apple monitor at the store. At our CompUSA, they had all the monitors linked so that the same image was displayed on all the monitors in the store and then you could increase the magnification to see the difference on each monitor. Sorry to say it, but I was definately not impressed with the Apple in comparision to the all the monitors. This included all the flat screens and regular CRTs. The contrast was super, but the definition in magnification was purely average. For the price, I was expecting super, super clarity. It was not there.

I currently have a Sony Muliscan E500 Trinitron. About 4-5 years old. I only found 1- another Sony CRT, that even came close to the definition and clarity at high magnification. Maybe I'm too picky! That's a distinct possibility.

I was going to start a thread in this forum asking others for their opinions about what everyone thought about the best definition monitor. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm all ears too.

But in response to your question about the Apple monitor, I was not impressed. While they look very cool, I must admit that, they just don't deliver the goods in high definition that I wanted for seeing all the things I wanted to see before I have my images printed professionally. Plus, the price is just a little rediculous for the lack of definition. Hope this helps, just one woman's opinion.

My understanding is that the smaller Apple displays are generally fine, but the larger ones seem to be exhibiting some serious issues -- my friend's new 30" has a pinkish cast across the leftmost third of the monitor. So it's *not* something that can be fixed with calibration because it only affects part of the output. She went back to her local Apple store (not *the* Apple store, just a store with some Apple gear) and checked every single one they had and found the same issue on each. Since she's a graphic designer, she might be more sensitive than most to this, but I figure that photographers are the second most sensitive group.

Personally, I would go with a dual monitor setup -- one very small low-end for palettes, and one mid-sized high-end for photos... it will save you money (although I guess that 23" isn't *that* big any more) and you run less risk of getting a dud.

HTH

After a lot of consideration, looking, and reading numerous comparison reviews against Apple and Formac displays, I opted for a Lucky Goldstar LG1920P (although smaller screen size than the big Apple), and I am delighted by its build, colour fidelity, functions and general high quality image. Have not seen any bad comments about this product - could be worth a look? Review is here: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/macuser-labs/54531/lg-1920p.html

Jayme Hall , oct 28, 2004; 03:22 a.m. wrote:

At our CompUSA, they had all the monitors linked so that the same image was displayed on all the monitors in the store and then you could increase the magnification to see the difference on each monitor.

Can you tell us how they're set up? The way these comparisons are set up can result in biased results, especially when LCD displays are concerned. For example, if they're all driven by the same video source at the same resolution (they usually are, I think), then the LCD's whose native resolutions happen to match the source will look their best, while the others may look much worse than they normally would. CRT's also have their own optimum resolutions, but their images don't degrade as much at non-optimum resolutions unless you go to the extremes. Another potential problem is that if the original video source is analog, then a VGA-DVI converter would need to used, and that can affect image quality. Analog signal splitters can also result in uneven signal qualities for different displays.

The image(s) used for comparison can also pose their own problems. Are they photographs or a mix of text and images? If text, the font smoothing configuration can also favor one display over another. So we really need to know how the displays are set up to make proper evaluations.

I am afraid Zhi-Za Dong is right. The comparisons are most of no value in this way. one by one, on one pc, with some of your own photos, at the right resolution. Don't forget the B&W! To interprete colors set the bars to a light or medium grey (some color cast is quickly seen here). For light spreading and edge to edge sharpness (also again color cast) use the explorer or equivalent for the filebrowser on the mac, at the obtained resolution. I never bought a monitor wich I hadn't seen, warmed up well & tested by me.

I use the Apple Aluminum 23' Cinema Display (New). The pink color cast on 1/3 of left part is visible when the default Display Profile"Cinema HD Display" has been used. I created icc profile by Eye-One publish, the pink cast was disappeared. One word, it's a fantastic display for color proofing.

Best

Lei GAO

I see a number of posts on Apple's forums say that OSX 10.3.6 contains a ColorSync calibrating fix for the pink tint issue some have experienced.

bit

I recieved my new 23"ACD about a month ago. It was built in October. I have it connected to my 2.5GHZ G5 with an NVIDIA 6800GT.

No pink whatsoever right out of the box. 1 dead pixel off to the side. No yellow edges. No ghosting.

For the most part very even backlighting but I do have some uneveness on the extreme left side. It is very subtle and only apparent with very light values like the blue bands in some OSX windows.

It is not perfect. But over my career in graphic design I have seen few monitors that were perfect (or that remained so with use). Eizo monitors come close but they are twice the price.

For me the 23"ACD is sharp and bright. It offers all the screen real estate I need and then some.

bit