Apple CinemaHD 23" & Others...

[BlueMagician]

Hi Guys,


Wondered if anyone has tried, or owns a Widescreen TFT, and whether the likes of, for example, the Apple CinemaHD-23 or Dell2405-FPW-24 were really as good as they should be, for the money?

As you can see by my sig, my rig dictates that I'm into gaming, but I also do a lot of Digital Photography with my Canon 20D SLR, so accurate colour display and low response times ARE A MUST.

It's either this, or a 22" Iiyama CRT for less that half the cost of a similar sized TFT... Advice/Thoughts appreciated as always,

S.

[rajagra]

I've had mine a short while, and it's quite remarkable. My older TFT was a 1600x1200 Viewsonic 20". You would think a 1920x1200 screen would be only a little different, but it's a world apart. It's too wide for most applications to be maximised, but Photoshop is another matter - that width is just right for all those palettes.
As for colour, it looks OK, but I haven't got round to calibrating it yet with a Spyder. I have some concerns about the black level - as soon as the screen powers up you can see some brightness, but I might be noticing that more because I read that some Dell TFTs suffer from backlighting bleed. Mine doesn't "bleed", but black certainly isn't shown as pitch black. TBH, with room lights on it isn't a problem.
Haven't noticed any problems with games.

PS I see you have the DFI LP NF4 SLI-D like me, and use a SoundBlaster card. Why is that? I'm using the onboard sound, but have a SB Audigy 2ZS free. I'm wondering if it's worth putting in, maybe for faster gaming? Or are there other advantages?

[BlueMagician]

I've had mine a short while, and it's quite remarkable. My older TFT was a 1600x1200 Viewsonic 20". You would think a 1920x1200 screen would be only a little different, but it's a world apart. It's too wide for most applications to be maximised, but Photoshop is another matter - that width is just right for all those palettes.

Oh. Don't go and say things like that, it'll just lead to Egg Card abuse..

As for colour, it looks OK, but I haven't got round to calibrating it yet with a Spyder. I have some concerns about the black level - as soon as the screen powers up you can see some brightness, but I might be noticing that more because I read that some Dell TFTs suffer from backlighting bleed.

I've read that this 24" doesn't suffer from the same backlight problems like the 20" did, and the new Samsung panel it uses it supposed to be one of the best for black level, but yeah, the deficiency of a fuller ranged sRGB colourspace worries me. Again, I've read that it loses out in the blues faithfullness, and it only has a 78% gamut range.

Haven't noticed any problems with games.

Sweeet. The idea of playing HL2 in 1920x1200 widescreen makes me, er, excited. And it's good to hear that the latency is acceptable. Really, no ghosting at all?

PS I see you have the DFI LP NF4 SLI-D like me, and use a SoundBlaster card. Why is that? I'm using the onboard sound, but have a SB Audigy 2ZS free. I'm wondering if it's worth putting in, maybe for faster gaming? Or are there other advantages?

I use this soundblaster because it has output for the original SB Digital Din (5.1) that plugs straight into my Cambridge Soundworks 5.1 Speaker system.

To be honest I haven't really looked at the capabilites of the Karajan module - I wonder if it's SPDIF output would do an equally good job of feeding the Cambridge amp and still let me use the normal 4point/2point modes too.. hmm... If it has EAX support and stuff, it'd be nice to free up the 2 backplane slots and one PCI in my system, as there at a premium with these damn 6800GT's shoehorned in there...


Thanks for your comments, more welcome, especially to get a greater idea of colour faithfullness on the 24"...

S.

[Rabs]

I have a Apple 20" TFT, I chose this over the 20" Dell TFT due to backlight issues (read this on lots of forums). Got to say its the best monitor I've ever owned, colour reproduction is great and games rock (UT2K4 springs to mind).

Res: 1650 x 1080

Oh and the chassis is aluminium along with the stand. plastic only on the left and right facing sides (in apples usual white durable plastic).

Expensive but good

[Bobster]

Apple 4 teh TFT LOOSE"!!!

FORMAC 2010 4 teh WIN!!!

[DEViANT]

Apple products are really overpriced trash, the latest Dell panels fix said backlight issues and can be scooped up for almost half the price of Apple displays - i.e. Apple 20" ~£650, Dell £351 from Aria and besides Dell has 4 display inputs (DVI, VGA, S-Video and Composite) as opposed to DVI only. So yeah, it doesn't look as good, but then I'm pretty sure £300 in my pocket looks a damn sight better or for £50 more dual 20" widescreens. With regards to the 24" Dell panel, all I ever hear about them is good things and they don't suffer from backlight issues at all which plagued A00 revision 2005s, you get an inch extra on the Apple, save a fortune and even get a memory card reader in there too, your only concern should be acquiring one cos they are about as rare as the proverbial rocking horse s**t.

[Ady168uk]

Dev - you shouldn't come down on Apple so hard calling their products trash. We both own a 2005, Dell use the same LG panel as Apple do. I do agree on over pricing but everyone knows that when they are buying Apple. You are paying for the brand and design.

BlueMagician - Hiya, for the money go Dell, friends got a 24" and its just stunning, like many others have said no back lighting probs with his, can plug whatever you want into it, picture in picture mode is very handy. Gr8 spec in your sig, now get this mon to finish it off

[DEViANT]

Yeah, fair cop, but I just get angry when people bang on about me getting 'X PC product' instead of 'shiny Apple product with Halo round it in their mind', like you said, same panel and the Dell is better specced. Besides, I don't think I sacrificed quality when I chose the Dell, and on a side note I the LCD panel they use is a S-IPS Philips model. Basically my friend has the Apple equivalent, he said the Dell was a good buy, he's a photo/graphic designer and having a Dual G5 matched off the look with an Apple monitor, I think that's justifiable, but the price is not. For the price of the Apple 20" I could have got a Dell 2405FPW, and I think that's the real point.

I asked in another thread but since you own one Ady168uk, can you do PIP/PBP with a VGA and a DVI source simultaneously? Cos mine can't. Also mine has this horrible black glossy plastic strip across the bottom row (where the buttons are) instead of the usual midnight grey textured plastic on the rest of the model - is this normal? I complained to the company I got it from and they posted my comment on the item message board and erased that bit - don't you just love censorship...