Apple monitors

pmaxwell

I've heard a lot of people complain about the glossy monitor from Apple.
I'd like to get some opinions on how it really is for photography editing.

I'm leaning towards the monitor because as of now it is the only one that really allows dual screen support for my mac book pro.

I have really only looked at the monitor in the store and haven't had the opportunity to really work on it.

arodney

Glossy displays kind of suck (especially if you don’t have full control over ambient light and reflections). And there’s nothing at all special about Apple displays unlike years ago when they built such products for the pro market. In terms of image processing and displays, nothing at all special here. You want something like an NEC SpectraView II if the quality of the display and how its calibrated is important to you.

pmaxwell

They are IPS panels isn't that what make the NEC and other high end monitors special?
Are there other dual monitors options for a Mac Book Pro?

colourbox

pmaxwell wrote: »

They are IPS panels isn't that what make the NEC and other high end monitors special?

It's not just the panel, the iPad also has IPS but you can't calibrate it...

What makes the NEC and high ends special are also 10-bits/channel and direct hardware access for calibration, more stringent quality control for more guaranteed uniformity, etc. as far as I know no Apple monitor has ever had those. (Anybody know if Lion finally supports the 10-bit per channel capabilities of those displays?)

I'm thinking it's just a matter of time before more monitors come out with pass-through Thunderbolt/DisplayPort.

Newsy

pmaxwell wrote: »

They are IPS panels isn't that what make the NEC and other high end monitors special?

No, not just IPS though that certainly is for me the first criteria to look for in a LCD monitor.

The Apple Cinema Displays are 8bit. Many others such as the NEC PA241w and PA271w, various Dells, HP's, Eizo's and Lacie's are 10bit or pseudo 10bit (8bit + A-FC or similar) to provide a color depth of over 1 billion colors. Should be better for controlling banding.

The Apple CD's are a standard sRGB gamut. Many of the latest from the mfg's listed above are wide gamut covering the sRGB space AND the AdobeRGB space.

The newest 27" CD uses a W-LED back light. Most of the others use a CCFL backlight. Apple seems to have designed the back light infrastructure reasonably well because I don't read too much about edge leakage and flashinglighting which is an issue with many LED backlit monitor and TV's.

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Are there other dual monitors options for a Mac Book Pro?

Almost all the higher end Dell's, HP's, NEC's, Eizo's and Lacies offer DisplayPort connectivity.

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pmaxwell

Thanks Colorbox, Newsy; I didn't know that.

When you talk about hardware calibration is that something different than when I calibrate with my Spyder Elite?

Newsy

pmaxwell wrote: »

Thanks Colorbox, Newsy; I didn't know that.

When you talk about hardware calibration is that something different than when I calibrate with my Spyder Elite?

Similar but a little bit different....

The NEC, Eizo's, and LaCie's, and the HP LP2480zx allow for the internal LUT (Look Up Table) of the monitor to be written to by the OEM calibration software supplied with the matching colorimeter kit.

Your Spyder 3 Elite writes to the LUT of the video card.

Most consumer grade LCD monitors have an internal LUT that cannot be written to except at the factory.

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