Rating: 
Summary: Read this review
Review: This monitor meets all my expectations and more.For some of you that have been hesitant in getting this monitor because of the 1999.99 price tag,please consider my review.First of all, this monitor rocks!For those of you that have never seen it,you're missing out.The amount of desktop space is incredible.Text is vivid at its native resolution of 1920x1200.I'm using a PC with the GFX5900ultra.Setup was indeed flawless.Remember to buy the 99.99 ADC/DVI connector that gives the monitor power,converts DVI into ADC signal,and provides the USB port on the montitor connectivity.It totally sucks buying that POS but you need it for PC's.I ordered it from Amazon which is an excellent company.On time is the word.I received my monitor with about 3 bad pixels which isn't even a problem.
Now I know most of you are gamers and want to know about the pixel response times.As you arleady know, Apple doesn't give the specs for this which sucks again but from what I've noticed from playing games like Halo, it's really not noticeable.There is an overall feeling that it's not quite there; like a little somethings missing to make it butter smooth.But in no circumstance does this monitor lead to unplayable gaming.In Unreal 2 the ghosting effect was a bit more evident but it isn't bad.You have to understand that this is not a CRT.From what I've seen it beats the Samsung 213T like a maestro of meatflute.Unreal 2 worked great and having it set at max resolution was a real treat.You feel as if you were in the action because of this monitors large display.One strange thing I did notice in Unreal2 was that when I tried to change the brightness and contrast in the game, the screen started to show these strange colors that made the game unplayable.This problem was quickly resolved by just changing the gamma instead and tweaking around in the video software for brightness.ANother recent game that worked nearly flawlessly was Call of Duty.There was hardly any ghosting seen.Images were crisp and sharp with nice coloring.I highly recommend playing call of duty on this monitor because of the tremendous screen viewing area.Max Payne 2 worked almost at near excellence.At first I was dissapointed at the beginning scene where he was in the hospital because he wakes up dizzy which I thought was ghosting.This in fact was not ghosting but merely a visual effect imposed by the game to emphasize that he was dizzy.Again,the visuals were very sharp and clear.It just made me realize at how much of a good buy I really made by purchasing this monitor.I would seriously recommend this monitor for all you RTS gamers out there because you can see so much of the field.Hardcore FPS shooters won't be dissappointed with this display because of the above average response times and the sheer visual aspect of feeling like youre inside the game.
Movies were another concern.Movies still had that black border on the top and bottom but again it's not even a concern.Cinema performed well with miniscule amounts of ghosting.If you were to step back a little,it becomes unnoticeable.Again, this ghosting effect is so inconspicuous but I have to mention it so you know it's there. |-| For my observation,I used the movie Matrix Reloaded.The movie quality was gorgeous.It makes you wanna watch it again just because of the immersion factor of this monitor.One thing that I did notice was that the picture brightness was too high.It seems that this monitors blacks aren't as black as a CRT.In my amateur opinion the certain tones of black are grouped into the same palette on the display.This is a bit strange especially with the border being the same color as the picture at times.I've had to slide the contrast up and the brightness down to give it that theater feeling.But overall this monitor is excellent for movies.
The monitor saves so much deskspace and uses so little electricity that it's pleasant having it on.There is basically no heat given off.Definite plus.I leaned this monitor against the wall of my room with the rear leg hanging off and the two front on the table.There are rubberlike slide stoppers on the legs so it prevents it from sliding out from underneath.
In summary,buy this monitor if you have the money.Maybe you can buy this monitor and keep a small 15" or something to the side if you have the room.Trust me,you will enjoy this monitor immensely having it at home or work.Just remember to turn the brightness down some!
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Summary: This is THE monitor to have for Mac or PC
Review: This monitor was designed to be used with Apple's latest G4 Macintosh product line- A single proprietary cable (called the Apple Display Connector, or ADC) provides power and video information to the monitor as well as USB connectivity to the two port USB hub built into the back of the screen. The 1.5" surrounding bezel is grey, encased in clear plastic, giving it a crystal look matching the G4 Cube or Tower decor.By utilizing Apple's ADC to DVI Converter (not included- provides backward compatibility with non-ADC Macs such as Apple's Powerbook notebooks) as well as a graphic card with a DVI (Digital Visual Interface) port, such as NVidia's GeForce4 4600 or ATI's 9700 Pro, the Cinema Display can be used by both older Macs and PCs. The converter combines AC power, DVI video data and USB data into one port for the monitor's ADC input cable. The LCD display is roughly one inch taller and two inches wider than two sheets of paper (8.5 x 11) placed side by side- perfect for displaying two full page word processing documents, web page design, or any other applications which might require a number of simultaneous open windows. There are three minor issues that I noticed. Most monitors have some kind of adjustment buttons... contrast, brightness, hue, tint, etc. Rather than provide external adjustment buttons, The Apple Cinema Display comes with their Apple Displays Software- Apple's "all digital", Mac-only display adjustment solution. PC users must make adjustments to the display via their videocard's driver software. The two touch sensitive buttons on the front bezel are specifically to turn on a G4 Mac and to access the Apple Displays Software... when attached to a PC with the converter, they serve no purpose (although they glow when touched). Another caveat... Apple doesn't provide an *.INF file for Windows Plug and Play recognition. Windows XP just lists it as a "Plug and Play Monitor". It's an insignificant detail, but when there are few flaws to speak of, the insignificant ones tend to stand out. Most flat panel displays are suspended from central hinge and mounted on a stand. The size and weight of the 23" Cinema Display make it difficult to implement this, so it stands on three feet- two 2" legs at the base of the screen and a central leg mounted in the back, similar to how a picture frame stands up. This makes the monitor tilt up at an angle, rather than flat in relation to the viewer. I corrected this by putting a video cassette under the back leg. My Test System: Athlon 2800+, Asus A7N8X+ motherboard, 1Gb PC3200 DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 9700 Pro First, I decided to watch a DVD. I had mixed results, but not due to the display. Wide-format DVDs can be encoded two ways- either in full widescreen leaving the DVD software/player to create the black bars above and below the image when displayed on a standard monitor or television, or it can be encoded with the black bars as part of the video frames. This produces a normal widescreen look on a 4:3 ratio television or monitor, but a widescreen display will display black borders on the sides. As a result, the first TRON DVD release (not the 20th Anniversary Edition) and the theatrical release of DUNE (not the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series) that I watched had a two inch black border surrounding a widescreen video image. Both Intervideo's WinDVD and Cyberlink's PowerDVD software exhibited the same problem, although PowerDVD does have a software zoom solution that cuts a little bit off of the left and right sides. Independence Day and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace were a different story though. The Cinema Display has a 16:10 ratio, while standard widescreen format is a 16:9 ratio. Because of this, playback of true widescreen movies on this monitor will still have black bars above and below the video image. According to the Apple Website, The Cinema Display has "lightning-fast pixel response for full-motion digital video playback." They weren't overstating their claim either... I could not detect any of the "ghosting" that occurs with some LCD monitors when high action/fast movement video sequences are displayed. Next I tried gaming. The two games I have installed are Funcom's Anarchy Online and Dreamcatcher's Hegemonia: Legions of Doom. Hegemonia is a 3D space battle strategy game. It had only a few resolutions available in it's graphics options screen- the highest being 1600 x 1200. When I played this game, like the 4:3 ratio DVDs, there were black bars on each side of the screen. This is understandable though- few games are written to take advantage of non-standard screen resolutions. Other than that the image was sharp and clear with no distortions. Anarchy Online is a "massively multi-player online role-playing game", or MMORPG. It was written to be able to utilize any display resolution, either in fullscreen mode or in a window, and I was able to play the game easily at 1920 x 1200. Every so often, though, I'd see the screen "twitch" as I played the game... It could've been any number of things, from the software itself, to Microsoft's DirectX API, to a build up of static. When I actually started playing the game, (after about 15 minutes of "ooohing" and "ahhhing" over the image) the twitches were hardly noticable... in fact, I've noticed them occurring less and less, which leads me to believe that it was indeed a minor static issue. Summary: The 23" Apple Cinema Display is, simply put, one of the absolute best displays on the market. ... more.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: This thing is huge! The UPS driver saw the photo on the box and did not believe it was that big. We both had to open it up and take a look. It's like having two 17" monitors side by side, without the split. This would be great to watch DVD's on. I have it setup to 1920x1200 (19.2" x 12" viewing area or about 96 dpi), and the text is very readable. Works in OS9 just as well as OSX. Instructions were simple, just plug it in - no power cord, it's all in the one cable. I've looked for burned pixels and I can't find any - it's perfect! That was a concern I had, having old LCD's back 10 years ago, but not this one. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: If you have the money, get this monitor!
Review: Two people in my office just got this monitor. The picture is incredible. If you like to keep many applications open, the extra viewing space is handy. I just wish I convince my boss that I "need" one. I am also pleased that Apple finally makes laptops that you can connect to their wonderful monitors.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: We've got six of these beauties at my school that we use for image editing (read that: Photoshop) and laying out pages (read that: Pagemaker) both for the yearbook.
We need to get colors as acurate as we can for this kind of work, and sure enough, when we hold the proofs up next to the monitors, even the picky graphic artists are hard pressed to notice a difference.
Eye strain is less with the LC displays (as compared to the CRT's we also use), because there isn't any of that annoying flicker sometimes achieved with older CRTs. A definate help when we spend four or five hours trying to get that photo we forgot to turn the flash on for to a level where we can bother sending it to the publisher. :-)
Definatly worth the money we paid for them. And they're listed for lower here than they were when we bought ours from Apple.
Oh, and another thing, for those peripheral addicts out there (you know who you are!!) its got two USB ports on the back. Boy is that helpful... no more switching cables to go between the floppy drive and the digital cameras (or whatever your application is).
Best display I've ever used.
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