Apple Cinema Heaven…almost…
Part of my move to the Mac has been to set up a couple of PowerMacs to ue for desktop publishing and video editing. I had been sharing a 17” Samsung 760V LCD between my Quicksilver PowerMac and my AMD powered Windows computer; but I wanted to move the Windows machine to the guest room (for reasons discussed in the Aug.10 blog). That would require some kind of new monitor for one of my PowerMacs. I spent several weeks looking at monitors; though the 17 inch Apple Studio LCD would suffice and was more affordable, I opted for the 20 inch Apple Cinema Display (LCD).
If you look at how Apple prices their LCD monitors, after you hit the 17 inchers $699 price tag, the first three inches of space costs $600 and the second $700. Quite the opposite of how scaling usually works. So, what sold me on the 20 incher obviously wasn’t its cost but its clarity. Compared to the 17 inch screen, the 20 is both clearer and brighter. It was hard for me to justify to myself spending the initial $700 for a poorer screen. (This is a relative comparison. The 17 inch Apple Studio LCD is still brighter and clearer than my Samsung 760V, though not by a lot.)
What also weighed into my decision was that I’m expecting a little windfall of money soon that would just about cover its cost.
The monitor is absolutely huge. I have only one complaint about it, i.e., one red pixel is stuck on just below and to the left of center. I’ve tried some gentle massaging to see if that might cure it without result. It’s barely noticeable. Still, there’s something about spending $1300 for something that is flawed, no matter how innocuous, that rankles me. I doubt seriously if I’d get any empathy from Apple about a replacement.
If you look at how Apple prices their LCD monitors, after you hit the 17 inchers $699 price tag, the first three inches of space costs $600 and the second $700. Quite the opposite of how scaling usually works. So, what sold me on the 20 incher obviously wasn’t its cost but its clarity. Compared to the 17 inch screen, the 20 is both clearer and brighter. It was hard for me to justify to myself spending the initial $700 for a poorer screen. (This is a relative comparison. The 17 inch Apple Studio LCD is still brighter and clearer than my Samsung 760V, though not by a lot.)
What also weighed into my decision was that I’m expecting a little windfall of money soon that would just about cover its cost.
The monitor is absolutely huge. I have only one complaint about it, i.e., one red pixel is stuck on just below and to the left of center. I’ve tried some gentle massaging to see if that might cure it without result. It’s barely noticeable. Still, there’s something about spending $1300 for something that is flawed, no matter how innocuous, that rankles me. I doubt seriously if I’d get any empathy from Apple about a replacement.
posted by Andy Foster at
3:14 AM
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