Picky, picky, picky!
I have been working with the Acer monitor for a week now, running it through OS X’s Color Calibration routine several times to try to get the colors and brightness and contrast adjusted to my liking, but I haven't been able to. While the display’s presentation was good, its fonts looked ragged and there seemed to be a slight overriding white cast to everything. I believe the font raggedness was a function of the display’s resolution, i.e., the 22 inch screen packed a resolution of 1650 x 1080,more appropriate to a 20 inch widescreen format. The whitish cast is something I’ve seen before when using PC LCD’s on a Mac, and I’ve never been able to adjust it out (and yes, I have tweaked the gamma).
In other words, the longer I used the display, the more I became unhappy with it. So, yesterday, I packed it back up and returned it to MicroCenter. I had intended to swap it for a 20 inch Apple Cinema Display despite the 100% increase in cost, but they were sold out! A gentleman had bought four of them, I was told, and had obliterated the store’s stock. So, my wife took the refund; and the two of us drove over to the Galleria where we ate lunch, talked about what we wanted to do now, and then went to the Apple Store. Financially, it really made as much sense to buy a 23 inch display as it did a 20 inch, but I didn't feel the bigger display would work out ergonomically with my set up. I also needed to save every bit of money I could. So, my wife bought me a 20 inch Apple Cinema Display I hooked up late yesterday afternoon and have been running with ever since. I’ve gotten spoiled running Apple displays. Yes, I do feel they are overpriced by a couple of hundred dollars but their quality makes them worth paying a few dollars more. I’m very happy with my set-up now.
I’ve got my MacBook Pro set up standalone on a second desk. It sits underneath a small stand the monitor rests on and is beside an external Firewire 800 hard disk that contains my Windows based applications. The monitor is the Apple 20 inch Cinema Display mentioned previously, and it plugs into the right side of the MBP, leaving the left side and the monitor’s USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 ports relatively free.A Maxtor EasyTouch III Firewire 400 hard disk I use to backup to my PowerMac G5 is sitting next to it. I make it do double duty and serve as the primary data drive for the MacBook Pro.
A Gigabit Ethernet cable runs into the MBP from behind the desk, and I am using an Apple Wireless Keyboard (Bluetooth) and a MacAlly BTMouse (Bluetooth) to keep down the number of wires. A small cable from my Altec Lansing sound system also snakes up from behind the desk, and a USB 2.0 extension cable drags along the desk’s right side. The extension cable snakes into the rear of my PowerMac’s desk, where it can be hooked into the 7 port Belkin USB 2.0 hub that connects all my equipment (scanner, ZIP drive, and Epson inkjet printer).
It’s a sweet set-up. I’ve only got one more tweak I’m going to do to it, and that is to add an extra MacBook Pro Power Adapter. I’ve ordered a new one I intend to leave hooked up so to allevaite crawling under the desk every day, and it also gives me a spare in case something happens to the one I carry with me.
It’s taken me a while to get here, but I’m happy I’ve got the best set up I could have. I have gotten myself down to two machines; yet, I still have all the best features of the Mac line. I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes me.
In other words, the longer I used the display, the more I became unhappy with it. So, yesterday, I packed it back up and returned it to MicroCenter. I had intended to swap it for a 20 inch Apple Cinema Display despite the 100% increase in cost, but they were sold out! A gentleman had bought four of them, I was told, and had obliterated the store’s stock. So, my wife took the refund; and the two of us drove over to the Galleria where we ate lunch, talked about what we wanted to do now, and then went to the Apple Store. Financially, it really made as much sense to buy a 23 inch display as it did a 20 inch, but I didn't feel the bigger display would work out ergonomically with my set up. I also needed to save every bit of money I could. So, my wife bought me a 20 inch Apple Cinema Display I hooked up late yesterday afternoon and have been running with ever since. I’ve gotten spoiled running Apple displays. Yes, I do feel they are overpriced by a couple of hundred dollars but their quality makes them worth paying a few dollars more. I’m very happy with my set-up now.
I’ve got my MacBook Pro set up standalone on a second desk. It sits underneath a small stand the monitor rests on and is beside an external Firewire 800 hard disk that contains my Windows based applications. The monitor is the Apple 20 inch Cinema Display mentioned previously, and it plugs into the right side of the MBP, leaving the left side and the monitor’s USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 ports relatively free.A Maxtor EasyTouch III Firewire 400 hard disk I use to backup to my PowerMac G5 is sitting next to it. I make it do double duty and serve as the primary data drive for the MacBook Pro.
A Gigabit Ethernet cable runs into the MBP from behind the desk, and I am using an Apple Wireless Keyboard (Bluetooth) and a MacAlly BTMouse (Bluetooth) to keep down the number of wires. A small cable from my Altec Lansing sound system also snakes up from behind the desk, and a USB 2.0 extension cable drags along the desk’s right side. The extension cable snakes into the rear of my PowerMac’s desk, where it can be hooked into the 7 port Belkin USB 2.0 hub that connects all my equipment (scanner, ZIP drive, and Epson inkjet printer).
It’s a sweet set-up. I’ve only got one more tweak I’m going to do to it, and that is to add an extra MacBook Pro Power Adapter. I’ve ordered a new one I intend to leave hooked up so to allevaite crawling under the desk every day, and it also gives me a spare in case something happens to the one I carry with me.
It’s taken me a while to get here, but I’m happy I’ve got the best set up I could have. I have gotten myself down to two machines; yet, I still have all the best features of the Mac line. I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes me.
posted by Andy Foster at
7:36 PM
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