Monitors... Are Apple's really the best?

chrislockerman

chrislockerman

Active member
I am getting a nice MacPro system this weekend and I just want to make sure that I get the correct monitor. I've been scouring the web to make sure that Apple's 23" and 30" HD cinema displays are the way to go, but I keep finding monitors with higher contrast ratios, larger screens, HD 1080p, 720p, etc. etc. for less cash.
Does anyone have any experience with other monitors and, more specifically, working with HD footage and Final Cut 6 on them? All thoughts and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
 
well, i work with a westinghouse 24" on my macbook pro, so i literally have a side by side comparison all the time of the two. i can say that, yes, there are other brands that are cheaper, brighter, and with higher contrast ratios. i hear good things about gateway, and i know for a fact my westinghouse is great. i also chose it because it has connections for me to use as a field monitor, and it has the same resolution as my highres MBP, and can display HD in full res. i really never saw much reason to go with apple displays other than that their colors match your computer
 
I'm running a Samsung 21" 215TW and a old Samsung 17" 740N for when I need extra screen space. The 215TW is easily on par with the Apple Displays in terms of of performance. It doesn't look as pretty, but placed alongside the rest of my peripherals (mouse, keyboard, speakers, 740N) which are all black, it looks far better than the Apple Display - just fits in better.

Get the Apple if you can afford it - it's a gorgeous piece of equipment. But there are monitors out there that are just as good, that cost substantially less.
 
I'm not running a mac, but on my PC I'm running 3 of the Dell 30" LCD's (the 3007FP I believe) and they run flawlessly. The only thing to make sure when you're getting one of the bigger monitors is that you need dual-link DVI, not single-link (what many cards have) - I use two BFG cards which have dual dual-link DVI ports (you'll find many cards that have dual-link actually only have one dual-link DVI, and one single-link DVI). I originally checked out the Apple monitors because they were the first on the scene with the big monitor, but ultimately I went with the Dell's because they had standard mounts on the back and I could use them with my Ergotron monitor stand.
 
Im using Apple. Though I must say when I was in Kaku Ito's studio last week he was using something else (cant remember name) and they were impressive. Actually Im going to ask him as I want a second monitor for colour.
 
They are Nanao, Eizo series that is designed toward working as computer display and for video monitoring with special acceleration on the response time.

Now they have a model with HDMI input, too.

http://www.eizo.com/

I actually quit on Apple, because they are too bright and not adustable enough. Cinema 30 inch being bright made my eye sight deterlate big deal I think. Where Eizo let you switch 5 prests for doing different tasks.
 
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chrislockerman said:
I am getting a nice MacPro system this weekend and I just want to make sure that I get the correct monitor. I've been scouring the web to make sure that Apple's 23" and 30" HD cinema displays are the way to go, but I keep finding monitors with higher contrast ratios, larger screens, HD 1080p, 720p, etc. etc. for less cash.
Does anyone have any experience with other monitors and, more specifically, working with HD footage and Final Cut 6 on them? All thoughts and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Apple is holding a Mac only event on Tuesday, and there is a good chance the Mac Pro will finally get updated since that will be the 1-year anniversary since its current form (minus the 8-Core). Just thought you should know.
 
KingsReign said:
Apple is holding a Mac only event on Tuesday, and there is a good chance the Mac Pro will finally get updated since that will be the 1-year anniversary since its current form (minus the 8-Core). Just thought you should know.
Click to expand...

Most of the rumors I've seen though have been pointing towards iMac updates and possibly updates to consumer software so I'm not getting my hopes up.

OP,

I went w/23" Apple's because you can hook up a Matrox MXO and get good color monitoring on a budget (Shane Ross was able to get his 23" ACD+MXO combo very close to the b'cast HD CRT he uses).


-A
 
the panels used in the apple display are from philips and and another manufacturer who uses this panel is dell. I have 2 x 24" displays because I did alot of research and have been using alot of 23" inch apple diplays in another studio.
I have found that there is a green fringe on some of the 23" apple displays around the edge of the screen and this is only noticeable if you look carefully.(not all have this problem but many users have reported it.)

I personally think that apple will probably go to the 24" standard on the update and since I was purchasing 3 months ago I decided to go dell so that I had a good screen size and won't kick myself on the apple upgrade that is imminent.
(Dell is also very well priced so that is a bonus)

Apple screens look awesome and beat an of the competition hands down but until the update stay away and save $$ with the competitors like dell who have very high end screens.

David
 
Thanks for all of the input. It was greatly appreciated. After it was all said and done, I found a great deal on an Apple HD cinema display and went with Apple. But I will take into account all of your advice when I get my future monitors. Thanks again.
 
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