The Apple Cinema Display line features a gorgeous new anodized aluminum enclosure to complement the Power Mac G5 or PowerBook G4.
Eliminate Tunnel VisionThe widescreen design of the Apple Cinema Display line offers a natural format for arranging documents the way your brain processes them longer wide than high. That’s why each display gives you the best view for your work. It just makes sense to be able to display a Web page and its code next to each other horizontally, or long video timelines in wide format. And the 23-inch Cinema HD Display, at an affordable price, provides the exact resolution to display widescreen High Definition material. Apple engineers find that 100 pixel per inch resolution is ideal for images, yet allows you to easily work with sophisticated type treatments or just plain email. This painstaking attention to detail moves the industry forward and gives you best LCD technology available.
Connect With Pure Digital DVIGive your PowerBook G4 a second display when you’re not on the road. Now you can connect the 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display directly to any PowerBook G4 with a DVI port. This DVI connection also removes all barriers to using an Apple display with a PC. If your graphics card supports DVI with DDC technology for widescreen viewing, you should be able to use these two displays with a PC.
1 Apple 23" Cimema Display HD - No Silver lining
In short I returned my 23" Apple Cinema Display and got back the 20" Apple Cinema display I had bought the day before. The 20" was so good, so I reasoned - wow, go get the 23" it will be even better - wrong. The 23" Apple Cinema Display did actually run under Windows XP but the color fidelity was 0/10. It is almost as if the 23" display is built at a lower standard, or that there is no Quality assurance with this product. This was due to 3 things. 1) a pink color cast to all neutral grey/white areas. 2) A noticeable squeeze effect at the edges where the display looked like it an LCD being squashed. In these edge areas the color of white or grey changed to green and was darker. I also noticed a minor shift in hue on many of the grey pixels across the screen from left to right edges. 3) A noticeable blur compared to the 20".
My work station area is a mixed Mac/PC affair to maximize productivity and cross platform work. I already run a first generation polycarbonate style 23" Cinema HD for OSX - 2 years now with no drama. I use the PC in Photoshop and wanted a top quality display for scanning Velvia and manipulating large files of 60Mb or more with quick response. I installed a new silver 20" Apple Cinema display to run under Windows XP SP2 using an ATI Sapphire Radeon 9600XT Atlantis 256Mb graphics card and an ASUS A7V8X mainboard. It is a good card for the 20" and the 23" Apple Cinema Displays. The Asus BIOS had to be set to activate the AGP 8x first. The only fault with this combination was that during a hot-restart, the display would remain off (black) and I had to shut down first, then start. Once the display was in this "apple sleep mode - cannot be woken by XP" I could not tell where the XP launch was at and after pressing the restart switch the BIOS would halt at the error report page (I was guessing, the Cinema display was black) so it required a full power-off - disconnect the apple display from the PC card and then start everything again. Otherwise the results were 5 star for the 20" with excellent color accuracy and evenness, brightness and sharpness. I am very experienced with color accuracy in Photoshop and usually have a neutral desktop background so as not to bias any colors which appear on screen around the Photoshop scans I am working on. I found under windows XP that the Adobe gamma panel was not as good as the ATI color panel (right click desktop/properties/settings/advanced/color) where I could make more precise corrections to the lower/mid/upper ranges of the gamma curve by eye. So far the 20" Apple Cinema display was fantastic and I was again marveling at how well Apple engineers can build or subcontract others to built their gear. Time to rush back to the store and get the BIG brother. Wrong - trouble came to town. See 1/2/3 above. I thought the problem was the Ati 9600XT card - so I switched over the display to run as a second monitor on my Mac Ati9000. So now I had the two 23" displays running side by side, one brand new and silver and the other two years old with 60 hours a week under the hood - that's a lot of hours. Well it was then I knew that the NEW 23" Apple Cinema Display was going straight back to the store. It seems obvious that the display was being squashed at the edges thereby changing the colors in a kind of Newton Ring effect you get with a cheap digital watch.
So I am back using the 20" Apple Cinema Display under Windows XP and all is well - 10/10. This is a perfect way to make Windows XP feel like a friend, even when running right next to my old 23" HD in OSX 10.3. By the way the Ati 9600XT 256Mb is very fast in 2D using Photoshop CS. My warning to buyers of the 23" Apple Cinema Display is that you should be very careful. Don't be fooled by the default blue desktop and fancy visuals they run in the retail environment. Check the product in store in a cool and calm way. Open an Application that uses white/grey like Safari and go to google.com. Set the screen to full width, then check out the fidelity of the grey/white at the edges. Interestingly when I reported this problem to the store they did not even question the fault, or open the box, the guy looked a bit sheepish - mumbled some thing which was hard to hear. It sounded like "yeah we have had this problem before".
2 Beware of this product for now (20" or 30" displays are OK)
I have been researching this display on various web sites. It's a beautiful display, but a multitude of people -- on CNET, Amazon, and even the Apple web site's forums -- reported color problems commonly described as "pink casting." The problem is described as pink colors or bars on the sides of the screen, and it does not go away.
One user in the Apple discussion forum, for instance, told of an experience in which their facility purchased ten of these displays. All of them had the same pink casting problem. Those are pretty bad odds.
I should note, by the way, that supposedly this problem does not exist with the 20" or 30" Apple Cinema Displays.
After this research, my decision not to purchase was clinched for me today: I phoned my local Apple store and told an employee of my concern. The employee then put me on hold, spoke to one of Apple's so-called "Geniuses," and returned to the phone to tell me that the Genius said that this is a known problem and that I should probably avoid purchasing the display for now. (He seemed a little embarrassed about telling me this, but told me he wanted to be completely honest with me.) He added that they haven't seen this issue with the 20" or 30" displays.
The strange thing about all of this is that the Apple web site is still selling these displays -- no mention of the pink color casting. But do yourself a favor and check the online forums.
3 Check the return policy on this...
Easily one of the best displays I've ever seen! Unfortunately I've got the color consistency problems, even after Apple has taken the display back for repair.
Make sure that you can return the monitor if you experience these problems as Apple does not yet acknowledge the color problems with this model exist!
4 My Cinema Display is Gorgeous
I've had my 23 inch Apple Cinema Display for about a month. It was easy to install to my Mac G5. I profiled the monitor using Gretag Macbeth Eye One. The colors are stunning and my photographic prints look like they do on the screen. Watching DVDs is an amazing experience. Especially beautiful is the digitally remastered Star Wars trilogy and Finding Nemo. The monitor is expensive but competitively priced and stunningly beautiful. The colors on my monitor are accurate. No off colors as reported by others on mine.
It's also easy to have 3 or 4 windows open at the same time. I'm a happy customer.
5 Stunning!
I have had mine for a month and it has been near perfect right out of the box. Only very subtle uneven backlighting in the lower left corner. Bright, sharp and beautiful. I'm a graphics pro and work all day in Photoshop and Illustrator and this is the best monitor I have ever seen.
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6 Doesn't work reliably with PCs
Despite Apple advertising this monitor as working with PCs - "This DVI connection also removes all barriers to using an Apple display with a PC. If your graphics card supports DVI with DDC technology for widescreen viewing, you should be able to use these two displays with a PC." - it does not do so reliably. I tried three different cards and all exhibited insurmountable problems. Even if someone has declared a particular graphics card model to work with their display, don't count on yours working with your display. Apple tech support admitted that compatibility is an issue, and could not even suggest a card that is known to work. Mine is going back.
7 Absolutely Breathe-taking
I know there are many cheaper LCDs out there with comparable output, but after doing research and comparing the Samsung with Apple, I fell for the aesthetics and the brilliance from Apple. Granted the Samsung was a close runner up.
What I love about this LCD?
1. the screen- it gives me a whole lot more working space- palettes, and workspace. Also, I use it to watch movies while lying in my bed. The widescreen makes it so much more fun.
2. the ports. USB, FW... enough said. iPod... printer... blah...
8 Don't Buy This Monitor If You Want To Play PC Games
First I love the look of this monitor, and using it at the default resolution of 1920 x 1200 is great.
However, anyone wanting to connect this monitor to a pc and play games should not purchase it. Although Apple states it is pc compatible, it is not fully integrated in ATI and NVidia drivers. Apple limits the resolutions the pc can display by including only a few resolution in its "EDID". The EDID is the info the monitor sends to the pc to tell it what kind it is and what resolution it will support. My current ATI driver works fine; it overrides the EDID and lets me have a variety of options to run all games at the many VESA approved lower resolutions and at full screen. However, with my new Nvida rig, the driver will only allow the resolutions that Apples EDID states are acceptable. Disaster.
This is not the case with other 23 LCDs (HP,Samsung,etc.) Its an issue only with Apple, and as of yet, Apple does not even want to admit that is a limited pc compatability. Please search pc and apple forums for this issue if you still plan to purchase. Just know what you are getting into. I didn't!
9 Happy birthday to me.
have a wonderful wife who just bought me a 23" Cinema display HD for my birthday.
I have to say the thing is amazing. I use it with my powerbook G4 as the main display when I'm at my desk. A single cord comes from the monitor and carries power to the small power brick and DVI, Firewire and USB 2.0 to the powerbook. I've got my iSight and iPod plugged in to the Firewire hub on the beast and my ergonomic keyboard and Wacom tablet plugged into the USB.
With the lid closed, press a key and the computer wakes up and uses all 23" of goodness to display my desktop. I'm much more productive when programming or doing anything else.
When I showed it to her she was in awe. My wife, who is about as non-technical and non-impressed with technology as they come said it was "beautiful." And it is.
I also got the Star Wars box set and watched Episode IV on it last night from the office recliner. Fabulous.
Lucky me.
10 Works great on PC's (With the right card)
I picked up this monitor to replace 2 of my aging trinitrons. If you have a Mac, this monitor is absolutely awesome and totally plug and play. However, if you have a PC, this monitor requires a little extra to truly shine. In my case, my Matrox Parhelia card (with Dual DVI) would not recognize this monitor. After I installed a ATI X800 Pro, this thing works like a dream and so far is a great replacement for my old ones. The one catch is that the monitor does not engage until the computer loads windows. You can always attach a VGA monitor to the free slot in the ATI if you need to debug. Performance wise, it's great and sharp and looks really cool to top it off. It has no contrast controls (only brightness) so prepare to use Adobe to tweak the color settings with software but to be honest, I haven't needed to tweak in any way yet. From a graphic designer point of view, this thing is sharp. DVD motion pans look pretty clear on it as well. If you're serious about detail and color, I suggest checking this monitor out.
11 poor color consistency
Lots of great features in this display plus it's design is very appealing especially next to the Apple Macintosh G5 tower........But, the color inconsistency and backlighting problems with the two monitors I have had are a big problem if you plan to do serious photo editing or any application that requires accurate color. If that is not the case it should be fine. However, it seems to me that for this price there should be little if any compromise. I'd suggest checking out Apple's discussion forums before buying this display
12 The most beautiful display ever...but PINK!!!!!
My first new 23"display had the famous PINK casting problem (see MacFixit.com or Apple forum) and I returned it. 2 weeks later, I received a new one with the same problem... PINK...and a slightly darker area in the middle of the display. I tried in vain to calibrate the monitor with SPYDER PRO, but the pink casting usually comes back 1-2 days later. The display is gorgeous, and I'm really disappointed that I need to return it. Hopefully Apple will soon fix this problem or recall this product.
13 Buyer beware...
I am having color problems with this monitor; it has a pinkish haze and the left side of the screen is washed out about an inch. It was OK the first day I had it, but the problems showed up after a day or two of use. Re-calibrating the monitor does help -- but does not eliminate -- the pinkish haze, and the washed-out part is there no matter what.
There are many posts on the Apple Support boards about others with the same problem. You may want to consider this, and hopefully Apple will adknowledge a design flaw in these models soon.
14 Not just for video professionals
The new 23" display with the aluminum bezel is invaluable to professional writers / page compositors for its ability to display full-sized pages (side by side).
This display is sharp (edge to edge), bright and easily driven by G-4 laptops as well as the desktop line. It has industry-standard I/O and (for Apple users) two each firewire 400 and USB ports on the back of the display. These act as a pass-through to the computer driving the display and are very discrete.
The mounting options are superb and the quality, fit and finish are museum-quality. If you need a great (big) display for failing eyesight, video or book compositing or you just want to see HD DVD playback at the highest resolution available - this is your display.
15 Pricey but brilliant
One star off for price...
PROS:
*Lightweight, great fit & finish, excellent picture quality, thin bezels
*"widescreen" 16:10 aspect ratio great for photo editing work
* no noticeable motion artifacts with games or video
*Apple brand means good resale on ebay when it comes time to replace it.
CONS:
*Stand does not "stick" display to the table... too easy to accidentally slide it around *16:9 HD/DVD video does not fill the screen
* no support for widescreen resolutions in a lot of games
*Similar quality 1600x1200 (non-wide) displays MUCH cheaper (approx $1200)
*HP L2335 etc have similar specs but additional features (swivels to portrait mode, HD component video input etc) and are slightly cheaper, more readily available.
Overall, I think most people looking to move up from a 17-19" CRT or LCD display will be better served with a quality 20.1" 1600x1200 rez LCD from Samsung or Viewsonic or the Apple 20". That seems like the price/resolution sweet spot for large displays right now. However, if you already have a 21"+ CRT display and want something larger, this 23" model might be for you. There is definite sticker shock but the bit of additional resolution and general sexiness of LCDs makes it a bit more palatable.
