Apple Monitors
 

HI, I am buying my first Mac. I decided to go with the 2 Ghz G5 but I am undecided on which monitor I need.
Do you guys recommend I stay with an apple monitor?
A 20 inch Apple cost $1300.00 compared to a Sony that is considerably less.
Also is there an advantage to having two
17 inch monitors instead of one 20 inch? because the price would be the same.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thank You

I am considering the $1300 20 incher myself. Seriously. It is awesome and I love the aspect ratio. The 23" is $700 more for 3 measly inches, but it sure is a heck of a lot bigger. Too big for me.

I wish the 20 incher cost more than $1300, though. It is simply not enough. (for the slow people -- YES I am being sarcastic!) The reason it costs so much is because it is Apple. You need not and should not ask any more questions than that or Apple will become angry with you. You are paying for the name, just like a Sony, but at least Apple's products are better than Sony's. Also, there is a power button on the monitor so that drives the price up a few hundred. The pulsing light drives it up a few hundred more. There is no power supply, so rather than reduce the cost of the monitor, it is increased as a "feature". And don't forget the Applecare! Now it almost costs as much as buying an HDTV, except the HDTV is lots and lots bigger!

The real estate on the big Apple displays is nice to have, but I think that you'll find that many editors are using two monitors. I also have a hard time justifying the cost of the Apple displays. I use a 15" LCD for the browser window, and a 17" Sony LCD for everything else. I've never felt deprived of editing space.

My 2¢
 

I swear by the 22 inch Cinema Display. It takes up a minimum amount of space and yields maximum result. The picture is beautiful. It doesn't give off a lot of heat. I've never had a better monitor.

Two 17" monitors are going to give you more screen area than one 20". Assuming the second monitor is 50% efficient (it should be more than that), dual 17" monitors give 44.5% more area and dual 15" monitors 12.5% more. For FCP you could use the second monitor very effectively (bins, monitor/viewer, scopes, filter settings can go to the second)

Dual monitors might consume more energy, which would add up. The cost difference wouldn't be that much though (~$100 over 4 years???).

http://www.digitaltigers.com/displays.shtml <-- that site has some recommendations for dual monitor setups. You might need some ADC-DVI connectors, so factor that cost in (I think they're $100, but not sure).

I'm not sure if Applecare will help you. Make sure you check out the manufacturers dead pixels policy. If you have 1 dead pixel your monitor probably won't be replaced under warranty.

I don't have that much experience with LCDs though, so take what I said with a grain of salt.

Dual monitors are great, but also consider exactly what you're going to be doing. Two monitors are still no substitute for one big screen when editing large photoshop images, doing 3d modeling or CAD. I work with a variety of screens: 1024x768 15" Samsung LCD, 1280x768 Sony 16:9 LCD, 1280x854 15" Powerbook LCD. But I'm by far the most productive with a 1600x1200 21" Trinitron CRT.

So depending on my budget, I'd want one BIG screen, either LCD or CRT, for starters. Then as funds allowed I'd get a second smaller screen. There are just too many things that I do which require that I see a lot of pixels on a single screen. Someday when I'm feeling like a big spender I will doubtlessly get an Apple 23" LCD (or whatever the largest available size is at the time.... what happened to those rumors of Apple working on an even larger LCD?).

21" high rez monitors
 

You can also find higher resolution 21" displays.

From pricewatch.com, search for 2048x1536 21" monitor

Sony (Monitors) ONLINE ORDER ONLY - - 21 SONY TRINITRON FD CPD-G520 OEM MODEL HEWLETT PACKARD P1130 PERFECT FLAT SCREEN EXTRA CRISP
Details:
-21inch SONY FD ULTRASCAN CPD-G520 OEM FOR HEWLETT PACKARD P1130 .24MM 2048X1536 APPERTURE GRILLE TUBE
Part - MHPP1130A
Updated - 1/4, 12:27 PM

$438.00 plus shipping

From www.azatek.com


Or, if you want a real monster,
check this out:

Sony (Monitors) - GDM-FW900
Details:
-Sony 24inch/22.5V 23MM 2304X1440 80HZ Model-GDMFW900 DK GRY
Part - GDM-FW900

This is a 16:10 24" monitor.

$1984 at www.monitorsdirect.com

Be forewarned that neither of those monitors will use ADC and adapters may be needed, depending on th emodel video card your computer has.