While Aayush was getting all misty-eyed over the departure of the 23-inch Cinema Display from the Apple Store, Apple’s web elves quietly flipped a switch making the new Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display available for purchase at the price of $899 (though with a ship date of ‘November,’ which might ward off those not into uncertainty. This intrepid blogger placed an order for one despite the vague ship date).
You might recall that these new monitors have built in iSights, a glossy screen (which I am a fan of, feel free to disagree in the comments though know that I am correct and you are wrong), and an integrated MagSafe cable that makes this monitor the perfect new MacBook accessory.
It should be noted that at the moment only Macs with the mini DisplayPort connector can use this monitor (which means only the most recent MacBook Pros and MacBooks need apply) but I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes come Macworld Expo.
I love how the product photography only hints at the glaring reflectivity of these things. Where's the reflection of the user, the lamp off to the side, the framed print, and the cat cleaning itself relentlessly on a piece of furniture behind you?
The glossy issue is simple:
1) It's difficult to get an accurate black point on a glossy screen - even with hardware calibration.
2) Glare, glare, glare. And if you take Steve Jobs' advice, and turn up the brightness, you make #1 worse, and can't match color on the screen to prints.
I could almost understand glossy-only laptops - folks who are serious about color use external monitors with more detailed calibration controls anyway. But to go glossy-only on what is supposed to be a pro-level external display is simply stupid. It'll drive pros to non-apple hardware.
I just checked the Apple store to see if they had an adapter that would allow me to use the new 24" Cinema Display with my current Mac Mini. Nothing. Seems like an adapter would improve sales of the new display
@Doug
1) Trusting your eyes to get a black point is not the way to do it. In photoshop you can use a combination of levels & layers to get an accurate black point
2) I have my 24" iMac at the lowest brightness and I don't have any issue with glare at all.
I love Apple products and have 3 mac's in my house, but I don't get it! What makes this worth $500 more than an HP or other manufacturers 24" monitor??
Specs are the same, DVI input... Apple better get reasonable in this economy.
Well, I guess the integrated speakers, iSight camera, USB ports, and MagSafe connector and the fact that “the back of these things looks better than the front of those Dells” ought to count for something. They're also apparently of better quality than their Dell counterparts. And, heck, if the need arises, they can double as a mirror too-what else could you ask for! :p
I agree though that they are pretty expensive.