Do DVI LCD Monitors look as good as Apple Cinema Display Flat-panels?

[Nutdotnet]

I am simply awe-struck at how good the Apple Cinema Displays look. Everytime I see one I can't stop looking at it.

How do Digital LCD Monitors compare? I haven't seen one in action, as I have an Analog 15".

Yes, I do own a mac (and a PC so don't flame!) and am trying to decide between spending big $$$$ for an Apple Cinema or save a lot of $$$ by buying a DVI LCD display.

Thanks!

 

[ProviaFan]

In theory, any DVI LCD should look as good (if not better than) your Apple Cinema display. In practice, there are many different DVI LCDs of various qualities, and you should really read some reviews to get an idea of the performance of various models.

 

[JackBurton]

Let me put it to you this way, I have NEVER seen an LCD made for a PC look as good as Apple's LCDs. The Cinema Displays are AWESOME, simply AWESOME. They have dropped the price of teh 23" Cinema Display from $3499 to $1999. And at $1999, I find it to be a VERY good deal!

 

[The Sauce]

I saw one in a CompUSA...not impressed. The picture was dark. Brightness and contrast were horrendous. The movie running on it was choppy (more likely due to the crappy mac it was running on). I think you'd be hard pressed to find a modern digital LCD that looks as bad.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Yeah, the Cinema Displays are simply beautiful.

The 17" is $649 through the educational program that Apple has.

 

[jasonsRX7]

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet
How do Digital LCD Monitors compare? I haven't seen one in action, as I have an Analog 15".

The Cinema displays are digital LCD monitors. They simply use a proprietary connector called ADC rather than your standard DVI connector. The ADC connection provides video signal, power, and USB to the monitor, all in one cable.

I have long been using a device called the DVIator to convert the DVI connection on my PC to an ADC connection so that I can use a Cinema display on my PC. It works very well, although as JackBurton noted in another thread today, the DVIator has not been tested with the 23" Cinema Display, and may not work (although I don't have an idea as to why). I can tell you it does work beautifully on the 22" display, and even Anand himself has used one in the past on his own PC.

here's some pics

 

[JackBurton]

I saw one in a CompUSA...not impressed. The picture was dark. Brightness and contrast were horrendous. The movie running on it was choppy (more likely due to the crappy mac it was running on). I think you'd be hard pressed to find a modern digital LCD that looks as bad.

Is this after you took a hit off your crack pipe? If you're not impressed by Apple's displays, you gonna hate the LCDs made for PCs.

 

[GnomeCop]

the apple lcds that have on display at retail at retail stores are always tweaked. Either someone sneezed on it, or the resolution is off, the system that its running off sucks or something. Like the ones I've seen at frys are all nasty. I have seen them up close and they are really nice. Other than being widescreen and huge (greater tha 20" models) I dont think they are that special especially when price is taken into account. OF course the 22 and 23 "models are pricey, but image quality wise, the image quality doesnt look much different from than say ... a Samsung 240T.

My uncle who is a MAc user saw my samsung 191T and 172W and thought that they had the same if not better image quality than his cinema display lcds.... well the 191T at least.

heheh then again there are some people that just think MS Windows XP displayed on any lcd looks worse than an LCD displaying OSX

 

[Blurry]

Don't forget that the Apple Cinema uses an odd resolution...

 

[Gunbuster]

I think the main reason everyone gets a boner for apple screens (in the store) is that the apple is on DVI to one machine, the rest (PC) are usualy on a monitor farm/splitter in analog mode at the wrong resolution in worse lighting.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: Gunbuster
I think the main reason everyone gets a boner for apple screens (in the store) is that the apple is on DVI to one machine, the rest (PC) are usualy on a monitor farm/splitter in analog mode at the wrong resolution in worse lighting.

You may be absolutley right. Like I said, I have never seen a Digital Flat-panel in action.

Anyway, if any of you all had a Mac and wanted to get a good LCD monitor to go with it that was the "best bang for the buck" (think that you are a college student too) what would you get?

 

[jasonsRX7]

Don't forget that apple was selling large, widescreen displays early in the game. And during a time when 15" LCDs were still unaffordable to most people. So the Cinema Displays looked like the holy grail of monitors. That established brand recognition which is now a big factor why so many people still covet the apple displays, even while there are now numerous other displays of equal and certainly some of better quality.

The apple displays are still fantastic, but they have quite a bit of great competition now.

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

I saw one in a CompUSA...not impressed. The picture was dark. Brightness and contrast were horrendous. The movie running on it was choppy (more likely due to the crappy mac it was running on). I think you'd be hard pressed to find a modern digital LCD that looks as bad.

Is this after you took a hit off your crack pipe? If you're not impressed by Apple's displays, you gonna hate the LCDs made for PCs.

it was probably run through some kind of signal splitting so i dont doubt it looked horrible there

 

[XBoxLPU]

And probably a lower resoultion than spec

 

[Dug]

The cinema display is a class1 display. But the pixel rate is not the best.

The size, casing, and what is being displayed really helps in what is perceived to be good. That's why you see so many people look at it. The design and sales staff have done their job. It doesn't mean that the display Is actually better.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Then what would be a good display in comparison to the Apple 17"?

 

[addragyn]

There are a few misconceptions in this thread.

-ADC is not proprietary. Apple just seems to be the only company using it.

-It's not that the Cinemas use an odd resolution. They have a 16:10 aspect ratio, similar to HDTV. They use an appropriate resolution for the aspect ratio.

-Cinema displays are the first(and only) LCDs to be certified by SWOP. This is in the ICS Remote Director 2.0. I think this is more a matter of certification than superiority.

-Apple's display's are their own. They are not badge engineered.


Then what would be a good display in comparison to the Apple 17"?

I'd say any decent digitally connected 17" panel. IMO Apple's displays aren't interesting till you hit the widescreen models. Their LCD prices used to be very high. They are much more competitive now, especially the larger panels.

 

[RockysDad]

I really like this LCD as well. Can someone help me with a few questions I have?

Apple Cinema HD 23"

(1) what is the response time, and how important is that to me for games?

(2) Does using the adapter and hooking to a PC thru DVI downgrade/lessen the picture at all?

(3) Since its a widescreen, how does the monitor handle a game that doesn't have its resolution? (stretch?) And does that give it a performance hit in FPS?

thanks...

 

[mobogasm]

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a widescreen aspect ratio DVI LDC display for a pc? And where to buy one. Thanks. I would also like to know about playing games on a widescreen display as asked in the previous question above.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: mobogasm
I was wondering if anyone could recommend a widescreen aspect ratio DVI LDC display for a pc? And where to buy one. Thanks. I would also like to know about playing games on a widescreen display as asked in the previous question above.

Good question. I am also curious on a Widescreen alternative.

 

[Accord99]

Originally posted by: addragyn
There are a few misconceptions in this thread.
-Apple's display's are their own. They are not badge engineered.

The Apple panels are made by LG-Phillips or Samsung.

I believe the 23" Apple display uses this LG-Phillips Panel:
LG Philips LM230W01

 

[addragyn]

When I say display I mean what you would get in a retail box from Apple. My point was that an Apple display is not a Samsung or a Planar with an Apple logo on it.

LG-Phillips makes the glass in the 23" Cinema Display. Nice find on the model #. I wonder if that is the one. Supposedly Apple has very good contract term on whatever panel they are using. The 24" WS Samsung display is much pricier.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics is a new LCD supplier for Apple and is rumored to have a 30" Cinema Display in production for Apple.

 

[Erasmus-X]

ADC is not proprietary.

Okay, well if it's not proprietary then why does ADC stand for Apple Display Connector? And if they're the only ones using it, it has to be pretty proprietary.

 

[addragyn]

They're not the only one to use it. Gefen, Belkin, Dr. Bott, Formac, ATI, and others produce ADC equiptment ranging from cables to monitors. You do not need a license to make ADC equiptment. ATI has the pinout here.

I've heard it referred to as an extension of the DVI standard. I don't know whether the person meant it was on the books or that the design was just tweaked by whomever devised it.

Read What the hell is... Apple's Display Connector? @ The Reg. I'm not sure where ADC actually originated, the article suggests IBM. The reality is that Apple has named it and pretty much made it their own. To be picky however, ADC is not proprietary.

 

[jasonsRX7]

Originally posted by: RockysDad
(3) Since its a widescreen, how does the monitor handle a game that doesn't have its resolution? (stretch?) And does that give it a performance hit in FPS?

Yes, on my monitor, it stretches games out if the game doesn't support the correct aspect ratio of the monitor. Unreal Tournament 1 supports 1600x1024, so it looks great. UT2K3 does not, so it looks stretched out. Since I hardly ever game, it doesn't bother me and I can overlook it, but if your primary use is gaming, I can see where it would be annoying.

Now I have read in some other forums people talking about their Cinema displays putting black bars on the side and not stretching it out, but mine doesn't do this. And there are no controls anywhere on it to adjust it. It could be some kind of model revision where that change was made, but I don't know.