Looking for recommendations on an LCD Monitor

Serendipity

Hi,

Recently I visited Micro Center to look at the Mac Pro I am interested in, along with the tower I need a monitor that will work with the machine that has a DVI or MiniDisplayPort connector. I saw the following 27" LED Cinema Display:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0348888

It has the MiniDisplayPort and supports higher than HD resolution. I would like to use two of these for video editing applications. However, I saw various 27" LCD displays in the $349-$399 range that seem to be the equivalent of the Apple Display, only with 1080p HD resolution.

Would the Apple monitor be worth the extra price over say, a Dell/HP/Asus/Acer display? And what if I were to connect two DVI displays to the Mac Pro with only a single dual-link DVI and two DisplayPort connectors? Would I need an additional ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card in the Mac Pro to get the additional DVI connector? Apple makes a DisplayPort to DVI but I'm not sure if it will even work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

ben62670

Look at ASUS at newegg.com

Serendipity

ben62670 wrote: »

Look at ASUS at newegg.com

Yes, but what's the best way to connect this to a Mac Pro?

I see MiniDisplayPort and only one DVI on the back of the Mac Pro, at least the one in the store:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0345336

kawizx9r

+1 to what Ben said.

I run VE246's. They display up to 1080p, are 24" LCD's (with PQ comparable to that of an LED), and have DVI+VGA+HDMI ports. Did I mention their retail is only 249.99 when it came out? Had mine for over a year and they've performed flawlessly. Paid less than retail too.

Serendipity

kawizx9r wrote: »

+1 to what Ben said.

I run VE246's. They display up to 1080p, are 24" LCD's (with PQ comparable to that of an LED), and have DVI+VGA+HDMI ports. Did I mention their retail is only 249.99 when it came out? Had mine for over a year and they've performed flawlessly. Paid less than retail too.

So what's in the Apple monitor that makes it cost $999?

A lot of videographers and graphics professionals seem to use/prefer the Apple display.

ben62670

The name Apple

kawizx9r

+1 again, you're on a roll

Serendipity

Gotcha. I'll be looking for an Asus, Dell, or HP 27" monitor instead of the Apple display. And will have enough left over for Final Cut Pro and speakers when the time comes. Already have a copy of Premiere Pro CS3, so at least I can get started in the near future...

EndersShadow

I like my HP 2509m monitor. I looked at the Asus's monitors as well and just liked the HP more. It does HDMI, DVI and VGA (as do all the Asus's I believe)

Serendipity

Now are there any compatibility problems with using a DVI monitor on a MiniDisplayPort?

bigaudiofanatic

ben62670 wrote: »

Look at ASUS at newegg.com

+3 for asus led monitors

Serendipity

Thanks!

cokewithvanilla

Only thing i'll add is get something that supports higher res than 1080p. I swear, ever since the terms "1080p" and "Full HD" came out, people have been convinced that that is the highest and best resolution out there. This has allowed companies to use crappy low res panels. I remember when dot pitch and DPI were advertised... now if it's "FULL HD", it's the best.

I think 16:10 is probably the most convenient aspect ratio for a monitor, and I think 100dpi is probably as low as you should go. I believe an apple 27 inch display is 2560x1440 (16:9, unfortunately) and 108dpi. Dell ultrasharp monitors have the same resolution... and you may be stuck with 16:9 as everyone is going that way (no matter how stupid it is :P)

edit: DVI-D should have no problem carrying 2560x1600 and there are monitors available that use displayport... generally the higher end business sort of ones. I believe most ultrasharps have it

cnh

Reason for 16:10 preference over 16:9 is? Is it the pixel ratio ()dpi? Isn't the reason many manufacturers are going 16:9 because that is the HDTV standard and there's an emphasis on 'convergence'. Admittedly you can have a lot higher resolution on a PC monitor than 1080p and those who need to do 'fine' work have higher resolutions.

Just curious?

On another note...I bet Apple monitors are probably made by some company like AOC, or the equivalent Chinese (Taiwanese) factory.



cnh

kawizx9r

I forget the old resolution but I remember it being an industry-standard for video editing and such. This was of course before 1920x1080 came out, now it's much higher as coke pointed out.

cokewithvanilla

cnh wrote: »

Reason for 16:10 preference over 16:9 is? Is it the pixel ratio ()dpi? Isn't the reason many manufacturers are going 16:9 because that is the HDTV standard and there's an emphasis on 'convergence'. Admittedly you can have a lot higher resolution on a PC monitor than 1080p and those who need to do 'fine' work have higher resolutions.

Just curious?

On another note...I bet Apple monitors are probably made by some company like AOC, or the equivalent Chinese (Taiwanese) factory.



cnh

My reason for 16:10 is simple. We do not buy laptops/desktops to watch the new standard in video, 16:9 1080p. How many times do we actually use our computer monitors to watch a movie? 16:10 simply gives you more height. instead of 1920x1080, you'd get 1920x1200. more pixels is always better, but more importantly, you use that height for a lot of things. It reduces scrolling, and helps with things like spreadsheets, ect.

If you did watch a 16:9 1080p video on 16:10, you'd simply have bars at the top and bottom... but this is a silly reason to lose pixels and go to 16:9. Especially since we have 2.35:1 on tons of movies and already get bars on much of our content.

Unfortunately, we may no longer have a choice. Most manufacturers have moved to 16:9, even on business laptops (which is absolutely insane). I think the only reason for this stupid move is for advertising. Consumers seem to understand "FULL HD" so much that we even have "HD vision" sunglasses :rolleyes:

I dunno who makes apple monitors, but it isn't apple. I would guess that they probably use LG panels though.

ben62670

1080 vertical pixels is fine with me.

ViperZ

Just bought a 25.5" Asus 16:10 screen - VW266H. Got a very good deal too.

Kamzu

Are you guys serious? The Apple LED cinema displays hare known to have a touch of yellow tinge. The best monitor money can buy right now would probably be the Dell U2711. Uses an IPS panel, simply beautiful, and comes pretty close to color calibrated out of the box.

I'm not sure what panels Asus uses. But anything with 160 viewing angles smells of TN to me. =P

EndersShadow

The HP I mentioned (25" 2509M) can be had today for 220 dollars new:

http://gizmodo.com/5751205/get-a-25-hp-2509m-lcd-monitor-for-220?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29&utm_content=NewsGator+Enterprise

renowilliams

I recently had a samsung LED monitor and it had a nice picture but was a 16:9. The problem I had was that I bought a monitor mount for my desk and you can't mount any LED monitors,a big time bummer.

exalted512

woot just had a 27" HP on sale like 3-4 days ago.
-Cody

Serendipity

After demoing many monitors, I will probably go with the Dell UltraSharp.