So I took the plunge for a new display. A while back I got a 19" Acer and after a few weeks it ended up in the atic. Why? I came from a 19" Iyama running at 1600x1200@75hz. I thought the TFT would be an upgrade but it proved contrary. Colors were off, image lacked contrast and white wasn't white. The image sucked. I went back to the Iyama but recently it started acting up. After nearly 10 years of solid duty the time has finally come for a worthy upgrade. I was looking at Acer again, Samsung. 20" and 22", all 1680x1050. I had a peek at the Apple screens but at 900 bucks the 23" is not really an option. The Acers and Samsungs were good but still just a replacement and not a real upgrade if you ask me. Then I ran into a demo model of the 23" Apple Cinema HD screen, a whopping 300 bucks off of the 900 and it was right up my alley and with still 11 months of warranty to go (2 years extra optional). I picked it up and after clearing up a worthy spot for this animal I turned it on and was able to compare it to the Iyama. Let me tell you flat out this is no comparison. I chucked the Apple screen right out of the window and took a minute to gasp at the awesome image displayed on the Iyama screen.


Just kidding

Boy oh boy does that Apple screen look awesome! Image is so crisp my eyeballs almost crack at the sight. The OSX setup and calibration lays the finishing touch and the USB/Firewire HUB is a nice feature (though not unique). As with most Apple products the finish of this screen is simply perfect. The look and feel of this screen really sets it apart from the competition.

Personally though, I still woudn't pay 900 bucks. The screen may be worth it for the right application but not for my personal use. I'm just a lucky bastard I got this deal.

I do have a luxory problem though and that is that I need to reposition my chair to look at another part of the screen because it's so friggin' wide!

Gotta Loove them cinema displays

The 23 inch is a particular beauty, and the styling on them is so good...Apple almost gets away with the inflated prices!

The nice thing is you can watch HD videos in native res

Yeah they are awesome, still not sure if it was worth the premium price over the dell 2407 though (because the dell is in fact better). But ah well style is worth something too I guess .

They are better according to who and by what measure?

That Dell's cheapest price I can find over here is still 59 euro's more expensive than what I paid. Dell's retail price for that display is *gasp* 819 euros. If that's what I had to spend, I'll save an extra 80 bucks and get the Apple screen, better display or not. And here is why.

I work with Dell and their build quality is mediocre (always have been). That plastic looks cheap, feels cheap and actually bends when you lift them by their stand or use a little force on unwilling connectors. Quite of few of those screens show dead pixels (3 out of 10 wild guess). I haven't seen the new widescreen models though, our models at work are 20" 1600x1200 ultrasharp line. Their display quality is nowhere near Apple's but more than sufficient for our work at the IT department. Again, I haven't seen the new widescreens but with my Dell experience I don't expect a 180 degree turnaround.

Last but not least, I really woudn't want anything from Dell at home; they are at the top of my list of worst customer support, even with full support contracts which are not the most expensive but still quite so.

This is Apple support: My 80GB iPod video kept resetting after a full sync. I bring it in, it gets exchanged for a new one. I come home, full sync it and it starts resetting again. Although doubtful but hearing the HD click and see the ipod reset I again get a new one, wondering if coincidence is really the case here. The 3rd one starts resetting again and I find out its a corrupt track I'm trying to sync causing the ipod to keep resetting and I find a way to reinitialize it. I call in and tell them what happened and how I fixed it. They are actually grateful for my feedback and made note of it. The personel I talked to actually understood what I was talking about. All the Dell support personel I ever talked to knew how to read up a list of structured questions thats it.

Oke that was off topic and frustration laden. It's obvious I don't like Dell. Sorry.

Hehe ok fair enough, I do like apple myself (and in fact have the 23" acd), but it's just that the apple costs €899 here, and the dell brand new with 3 year waranty (apple only has 1) for €659 (the Netherlands), it's supposed to have a newer panel, and it's 1 " bigger. The stand rotates, you can put the screen in portrait mode, and it has more inputs.
The apple is supposed to have more 'natural' colors though (not that I value that so much though, I design a flyer from time to time, and that's it). I really like the design of the ACD, but some people don't, they think it's too 'thick'. The dell does seem to be smaller, and I don't think the 2407 is ugly either. The one thing I really like about apple is the allin one cable (firewire/usb/dvi), pretty positive the dell didn't had a cable management system like that.

So I'm just saying that I think the dell is more bang for your buck, and it's not even close. Don't really regret buying an apple but I do get the people who buy the dell monitors instead.