New Monitor and a Mac [Sitemap] - Digital Grin Photography Forum

binghott

Jul-19-2006, 06:30 PM

due to my recent promotion at work, my budget for my new computer has leaped significantly. i intend to go mac for the first time, but i'm not too concerned about which model right now because i'm waiting for new product announcements next month. (the g5's intel replacement) however, i am definitely looking to get a new very high quality monitor. i would love to get an apple 23" hd lcd monitor, but i want to know what people think about it first. if you have any other monitor suggestions, my budget is between $700 and $1100. thanks!

spudjer

Jul-19-2006, 06:47 PM

.....if you have any other monitor suggestions, my budget is between $700 and $1100. thanks!

Better upgrade your budget...23" LCD by Apple goes for about $1300.00 unless you have a company discount at your supplier. I have the 20" and absolutely love it! Remember G5 Intel requires different software than pre-Intel Macs.

I love spending company money.... have fun and enjoy your new Mac.:rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl

Congrats on promotion!:clap :clap

bwg

Jul-19-2006, 06:52 PM

love the 23" ACD

love it love it love it. so bright and sharp. widescreen is really SO much better too.

Andy

Jul-19-2006, 07:47 PM

love the 23" ACD

love it love it love it. so bright and sharp. widescreen is really SO much better too.

+1

pathfinder

Jul-19-2006, 08:23 PM

THe 23" Cinema display is just the right size. If it is not big enough, you can always add a second one.

The 30in is too big.

My 23" is over a year old, and looks as good as new. Calibration changes very little with time also.

Andy

Jul-19-2006, 08:25 PM

binghott

Jul-20-2006, 03:18 PM

Better upgrade your budget...23" LCD by Apple goes for about $1300.00 unless you have a company discount at your supplier.

thanks. with my education discount, the 23" lcd comes to $1099. :wink

so what a bunch of you are saying is: the 23" apple lcd is definitely the best choice for the money? is the extra 3" really necessary?

ps: would i be able to hook my 23" monitor up to my current laptop? if you don't know, how could i find out? it's an acer ferrari 4000.

spudjer

Jul-20-2006, 03:23 PM

thanks. with my education discount, the 23" lcd comes to $1099. :wink

Boy I miss the education discount, have to use my kids discount these days.:thumb :thumb

DavidTO

Jul-20-2006, 03:54 PM

thanks. with my education discount, the 23" lcd comes to $1099. :wink

so what a bunch of you are saying is: the 23" apple lcd is definitely the best choice for the money? is the extra 3" really necessary?

ps: would i be able to hook my 23" monitor up to my current laptop? if you don't know, how could i find out? it's an acer ferrari 4000.

23" monitor is fantastic.

I don't know about hooking it up to your laptop, but I'm pretty sure that the functions of the 23" display are limited in Windows, that the preference settings available on a Mac are just not there.

bwg

Jul-21-2006, 02:31 AM

I don't know about hooking it up to your laptop, but I'm pretty sure that the functions of the 23" display are limited in Windows, that the preference settings available on a Mac are just not there.boy, it HAS been a long time since you've used a pc eh?

there are no special "functions" for the 23" display that only a mac can unlock. The only difference is that mac has builtin software calibration and color tools while on a windows machine that functionality is provided by the video card manufacturer. I actually have more control over the display on my 23" from my PC than i do on my mac.

the thing is though, you wont need them. The display is just that beautiful out of the box.

thebigsky

Jul-21-2006, 03:31 AM

DavidTO

Jul-21-2006, 06:37 AM

boy, it HAS been a long time since you've used a pc eh?

there are no special "functions" for the 23" display that only a mac can unlock. The only difference is that mac has builtin software calibration and color tools while on a windows machine that functionality is provided by the video card manufacturer. I actually have more control over the display on my 23" from my PC than i do on my mac.

the thing is though, you wont need them. The display is just that beautiful out of the box.

It was something that I read on one of the mac help sites, by a user who was having trouble make that combo work the way he wanted.

Of course, it could have been the older style, too, with the other type of connector.

And, for the record, I have never owned a windows machine.

binghott

Jul-21-2006, 09:35 PM

binghott

Jul-22-2006, 03:35 PM

I have a couple of these and absolutely love them, however you are paying extra for the design and badge, I've read a number of reviews of the Dell 24" and it seems it is as good if not better on IQ and is also considerably cheaper and a little larger.

thanks for the tip! i looked into the dell 24", and it looks awesome. as much as i generally dislike dell, the monitor seems to be brighter, larger, and considerably cheaper than the apple screen. is anyone familiar with the dell screens?

DavidTO

Jul-22-2006, 03:39 PM

thanks for the tip! i looked into the dell 24", and it looks awesome. as much as i generally dislike dell, the monitor seems to be brighter, larger, and considerably cheaper than the apple screen. is anyone familiar with the dell screens?

No, but you may want to read this (http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/displays/topic2147.html) and this (http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/displays/topic2148.html).

binghott

Jul-22-2006, 04:00 PM

No, but you may want to read this (http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/displays/topic2147.html) and this (http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/displays/topic2148.html).

thanks david! theres some good pros and cons there. should i consider getting a crt instead of an lcd?

bwg

Jul-22-2006, 05:28 PM

No, but you may want to read this (http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/displays/topic2147.html) and this (http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/displays/topic2148.html).those are for the previous version of the Dell 24" LCD (2405). The new version (2407) is getting rave reviews.

DavidTO

Jul-22-2006, 05:30 PM

those are for the previous version of the Dell 24" LCD. The new version is getting rave reviews.

Oh. :uhoh

binghott

Jul-23-2006, 07:44 PM

those are for the previous version of the Dell 24" LCD (2405). The new version (2407) is getting rave reviews.

ok cool, but what are the drawbacks to the dell over the apple? and are there any crt's i should look at?

bwg

Jul-24-2006, 02:35 AM

ok cool, but what are the drawbacks to the dell over the apple? and are there any crt's i should look at?I dunno, i dont have the dell nor have i seen it in person. I just read the same reviews you can find on the intarweb. as for CRT's....if the dell is as good as the apple, then i wouldnt even bother. unless you want to lose 50% of your desk space :):

binghott

Jul-27-2006, 08:56 PM

the dell 24" is $700 right now. if i don't absolutely need the screen now, but i really badly want it, is it worth waiting 30 more days before making the purchase? i feel like if i wait, they might sell out and it will be backordered for months, but if i don't wait, the price will probably drop another $100.

colourbox

Jul-27-2006, 09:35 PM

You might want to keep an eye on dealmac.com (http://dealmac.com/) (part of dealnews.com). I can't count how many times they list Dell LCD specials. One week it's a special Dell coupon you can apply, another week free shipping...there's a Dell 24" special on there now. But there will probably be a different special next week. Just get it when you're ready, and take the next special that comes along.

As far as the difference between the Dell and Apple LCD, from memory I think the Dell has more ports but the Apple is more closely calibrated to photography out of the box. In theory you should be able to erase that difference by running any decent hardware calibrator on the Dell, except that I have read here and there that the Dell is so bright out of the box (presumably because consumers think bright and shiny = better) that the blacks suffer and it can be harder to calibrate than the Apple - see this thread (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9613&hl=dell).

I don't own either monitor, just passing along what I've heard.

W.W. Webster

Jul-28-2006, 12:36 AM

The 30in is too big.:scratch

binghott

Jul-28-2006, 04:15 AM

bwg

Jul-28-2006, 04:41 AM

i forgot to mention that this screen will be used in my dorm room at college. that being said, is the 24" a good idea, or could i just cut back to the 20". i've never had a monitor larger than 17" and i'm used to using my 15.4" widescreen laptop. i was just thinking that the 24" or 23" might be overwhelming.i dont find my Apple 23" to be overwhelming at all. Actually less so than the 17" CRT that i upgraded from. I think you would be fine with either the apple or the dell.

StevenV

Jul-28-2006, 07:17 AM

Samsung's got a real nice 21" widescreen search bestbuy.com or wherever for Model 215TW, in the $500 range. DVI input along with a bunch of others. Not quite as big as some of the others mentioned here, but I'm very happy with it.

DavidTO

Aug-07-2006, 01:43 PM

The 23" Apple Cinema Display price dropped today, to $999, down from $1299.

wxwax

Aug-07-2006, 03:09 PM

The 23" Apple Cinema Display price dropped today, to $999, down from $1299.
Very sexy.

DavidTO

Aug-07-2006, 03:17 PM

Very sexy.

And with the new Mac Pro, you could have 8 of them going at once!

wxwax

Aug-07-2006, 03:23 PM

And with the new Mac Pro, you could have 8 of them going at once!

I was disappointed about the Macbook Pro silence. Maybe later this week?

DavidTO

Aug-07-2006, 03:42 PM

I was disappointed about the Macbook Pro silence. Maybe later this week?

They did say more announcements coming soon.

From macrumorslive.com: "10:24 am lots more announcements during the next week"

wxwax

Aug-07-2006, 04:47 PM

They did say more announcements coming soon.

From macrumorslive.com: "10:24 am lots more announcements during the next week"
Yeah, I saw that, pinning my hopes on it. I don't need the firepower of a Mac Pro. I don't think. :evil

binghott

Aug-07-2006, 09:37 PM

Yeah, I saw that, pinning my hopes on it. I don't need the firepower of a Mac Pro. I don't think. :evil

i was about to start a new thread about the new mac pro. i'm not sure if i need that power either. considering i just want to be able to run photoshop and a couple other things, do i need the mac pro or would i actually be able to stick it out with just a decent mac mini? i feel like the pro is more worthwhile because it won't become obsolete as quick as the mini would be.

also, even though the mac monitor is now only $900 for me (student discount), i'm probably gonna choose the dell monitor because it has more connectivity, an extra inch, and is still cheaper.

colourbox

Aug-07-2006, 09:54 PM

This is what I've observed:
Raw conversion takes horsepower.
I'm shooting more frames, all in Raw.
Every new camera has more megapixels than the last.
I'm doing more edits in 16-bit mode.

I currently use a PowerBook G4. Every dimension of digital processing, like those above, is now more demanding than when I first bought the laptop. Cumulatively, we're processing more and larger images than ever. Going by the CPU, RAM and VM swap file usage stats, two gigabytes of RAM and one hard drive on a single-processor PowerBook are now a real bottleneck. By the same token, I'd consider the low RAM ceiling and single slow 2.5" laptop drive in the Mac mini to be a joke and not much improvement over what I have now. It's pretty clear that my next computer should be a Mac Pro, to churn through those Raw previews, zooms, and batch conversions, and with 4GB or more RAM to handle 6+ megapixel files that are sometimes edited in 16 bits with a pile of layers (another RAM eater). In addition, I need to run other programs alongside Photoshop, so it's good to have one to three more CPU cores and an extra gigabyte or so of RAM to throw at the non-Photoshop processes so that Photoshop can still have a core and a few GB all to itself. And at least one more hard drive in the Pro case to act as the Photoshop scratch disk.

If you just work on a few images occasionally, the lower-end machines might work out. But anyone who edits large high-megapixel raw shoots and does batch raw conversions should really be going for the big guns.

W.W. Webster

Aug-07-2006, 11:56 PM

I don't need the firepower of a Mac Pro. I don't think. :evil:scratch IMHO, for anyone at all serious about manipulating digital images, there's no such thing as too much power.

i just want to be able to run photoshop and a couple other things ... i feel like the pro is more worthwhile because it won't become obsolete as quick as the mini would be.:thumb PS is not a trivial app. Even more important than obsolescence, my comment above applies.

If you just work on a few images occasionally, the lower-end machines might work out. But anyone who edits large high-megapixel raw shoots and does batch raw conversions should really be going for the big guns.:thumb Good advice, I'd say!

binghott

Aug-12-2006, 11:38 PM

thanks to all your help, i purchased the dell 24" this afternoon for $760 after taxes and free shipping. i should get it very soon, i can't wait!

Manfr3d

Aug-13-2006, 06:56 AM

Interesting read about the dell 24" (and the samsung 24")
with color calibration tests and comments on garmut.

Check it out:
http://www.behardware.com/articles/629-1/24-inches-the-dell-2407wfp-vs-the-samsung-244t.html

Stustaff

Aug-14-2006, 02:05 AM

Had to post to say something in reply to the power comments.

I have the super powerful Apple wait for it Ibook 12" with an extra 1 gig of RAM, last night I processed 30 RAW images from my rebel xt/350D using photoshop/bridge and had no noticable slowdown and created TIFFs at about 1 per 2 seconds.

Now I know some people are doing 500 RAW images at a time etc etc but for a serious yet none proffesional user almost any current MAC is powerful enough.

I will be replacing my home PC in three months and for what I need cant really see past the mac mini plus more RAM and a large external HD and a couple of other bits.

binghott

Aug-17-2006, 08:16 PM

my dell 24" widescreen monitor has arrived. from the time i signed for it with the ups guy to the time it was working perfectly with my computer was less than five minutes, it was so simple. it works perfectly with my ferrari 4000 laptop and is absolutely ridiculously huge! the images just flow off the screen, stunning!:lust

i ordered my mac pro last night, hopefully it will get here soon!