Display Options

[Josh R]

Weighing up my options right now about what screen to get for a Mac G5.

Looking at either:

A TFT 23inch Apple Cinema Display
http://www.apple.com.au/displays/acd23/

A CRT LaCie Electronblue IV 22" Monitor
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10037

or

2 TFT Apple 17inch Displays together.
http://www.apple.com.au/displays/asd17/

The two Apple options cost around the same, the LaCie is a fair bit cheaper, but way larger.

I'm leaning more towards the Cinema Display or the LaCie, because whilst twin screen seem to make sense for video editing, it seems like it would be kinda bad for photo editing.
Then there is the difference between LCD and TFT to consider, as well as the different shape of the displays.

Anyways, just wondering if anyone else out there has any opinions on these options.

Later..

[DRAGON88]

Sorry that I can't be more helpful however i will give my 2cents.

If I were in your shoes I would definitely get a TFT/LCD monitor, the CRT's hurt my eyes if im on em for more than 10 mins. not to mention how nice the extra space on your desktop from not haveing all that CRT/Box crap that extends 8.5 feet back! Also if I were doing sick vid editing (such as yourself) i would of course want the bigger monior.

my oppinon is definitely LCD>CRT...

[89comp]

I have a 20" Apple flat screen and it works great for all my photo editing and video editing needs. The footprint is absolutely wonderful and the 2 USB ports in the back of the screen are a life saver for plugging in your keyboard, mouse or in my case speakers.

the dual 17's seem nice, but 17" is just too small for me. I'd either go single 23" for now, or get a 20" and start saving for another 20". Also - if you are in school (HS or college), you can get mad educational discounts. I got my 20" flat screen for $1200, so since a 23" is $1999, then you are almost half way to another 20"...

[salmon_tacos]

Go with two (or 3) monitors. Keep in mind that even for photo editing, you will be able to put all of your tools on one monitor and keep only the image on the other. If you get rid of all the toolbars on top, that will probably give you just about as much real image area with the smaller monitors.

Other notes comparing 2 17s with one 24:

- The 23 will only be 1" taller than the 17s.
- The 2 17s will give you about 52 square inches (about 25%) more area.

Are you limited to Apple LCDs? If not, I'm sure you could get a couple of 17" LCDs for WAY cheaper than the 23" Apple display. In fact, you could probably get 3 or 4 for less money.

If you don't have to stick with Apple I'd probably go with a couple of 19" LCDs for $1100-1400. In that range you can get some nice LCDs with whatever type of inputs you need.

[scott a]

perhaps im mistaken, but LCD's dont have very good response to the darker shades of black. does anyone know much about this? i would definitely check this out because if youre gonna be doing lots of photoshop work i would make sure you have the monitors with the best color range possible.

[bluefish86]

I would never get an apple monitor unless it comes in a really cheap package with the computer. You can get a comparable size and quality monitor made by another company for a lot less (something like $300 or $400 cdn diference). You can even pay a little more and get one that looks just as good as an apple monitor. I see no real reason to get one made by apple.

Is it just me, or is the G5 HUGE compared to the older towers?

[RD]

As usual everyone who doesn't own an Apple monitor says "I would never get one" My advice - go look at all of them and make your decision based on that. I'm not going to preach about how much better the Apple LCD's are because I haven't used anything else for a couple of years and for all I know some of the other brands are just as good for less money. There is plenty of screen real estate on the 23" for either video editing or Photoshop but Scott is right about the blacks, you need to set up an LCD a bit differently for Photoshop and it isn't necessarily what looks best on the monitor. I think though that LCD's hold their calibration better than CRT's. The other thing to consider if using a Mac: Apple tunes their LCD's to the Mac graphics cards so other brand LCD's may not look that good when hooked up to a Mac (and vice versa for PC's) And yes the G5 towers are huge! They are quiet though!

[Josh R]

The blacks are what I'm not sure about with LCD's. That being said, I spend so much time in front of a screen, the advantages of the LCD's, such as flicker free operation, no radiation etc. may outweigh this problem.

I'm having problems finding anywhere that I can really compare the monitors. I'll have to see them in person before I make any decisions.

Oh, BTW, the 23 inch is only on the table because at the moment it is $800 off.

[Mike Isler]

Josh,

I own a LaCie Electron22 Blue IV. It's fantastic. It's sitting next to a 21" Trinitron monitor, as I run a dual-screen setup.

I've been to CompUSA and drooled over the Apple 23" Display... it's really nice... but I still don't think that a TFT has quite the same color accuracy as a properly calibrated LaCie or Sony Artisan monitor... or a Barco, for that matter.

You mention twin screen might not work so well for photo editing... well, it does work quite well! I can have Photoshop open on one screen (the calibrated monitor), full screen, and have my tool palettes open on the other monitor so I can see my full image the whole time. Behind the palettes I usually keep Internet Explorer or something open, so while some Photoshop action is running I can watch it, and browse the web. I like it so much that I hate working on single screen machines now.

Mike