Formac Gallery 2010 or Apple 20"?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'm looking at getting a new display to complement my G5, and was wondering if there were any glaring differences between the two. Seeing as how the formac is cheaper, is there any reason not to go with it? Will it work with a 9800 Pro? (I assume )



And what is the difference between the 2010 "Platinum" and "Oxygen"?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    smalmsmalm Posts: 677member
    The Formac is really an excellent display. The Apple 20" has the best colours in the market but it's a slow panel.

    So it depends on what you will use the display for.



    The Oxygen has DVI, the Platinum DVI&ADC connectors.
  • Reply 2 of 18
    Formac has all kinds of problems with hardware and customer service: Check out this link before you buy: http://www.macintouch.com/formac.html#sep02



    Best of luck!
  • Reply 3 of 18
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    wide screen - Go for watching DVDs and putting all thoe tool palettes on the side



    So know my answer
  • Reply 4 of 18
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    None of that really matters now, monitors have an industry standard interface an do NOT require any special drivers. If Formac's guarantee can be trusted, they say they will guarantee no more than 2 dead/stuck pixels -- Apple is less forthcoming about their pixel defect policy, you could be stuck with as many as 5-6.



    So, questions to ask yourself:



    Do you prefer 4:3 or 16:10?



    Do you prefer 1600x1200 or 1680x1050?



    Do you want ADC, or do you need DVI/VGA?



    Which one is cheaper?



    Which one is color correct? I believe the 20" Apple panel is the only flat panel certified to be color correct for verification straight off the display (without refering to color samples etc etc...)
  • Reply 5 of 18
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    also, the oxygen display only has a one-year warranty, whereas the more expensive formac displays all come with a three-year display, it's in the semi-fine print.
  • Reply 6 of 18
    Well, I think I'll go with the Cinema. Thanks for all your help everyone. I do however, have a few more questions about my purchase in general.



    What brand of printers works the best with OS X? Right now I have a HP OfficeJet G85 (it was on sale), and the programs/drivers that it comes with suck. Are the deskjet drivers much better? How is Epson?



    Are there any speakers that are better than the JBL creatures yet in the same price range? (under $200) Headphones?



    Anything else I might need to know?
  • Reply 7 of 18
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I've gone through many speakers and headphones so I can help you a bit with that.



    Of the headphones I've owned, by far the best have been my Sennheiser HD270s. They're fully sealed so they will make your ears get hot after a while but the sound is great and they block outside noise. I also have a set of Koss KSC-50 clip-on headphones, which are pretty compact and provide much better sound than my iPod earbuds. They are uncomfortable until you get used to them and learn the right way to wear them.



    I also have owned two cheap speaker sets - a Cambridge Soundworks PCWorks set, which was pretty okay for $40, and a Yamaha YST-MS201 set, which is very good for $50. Those aren't the higher quality type that you're looking for, though... I've always liked the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s that some of my friends own, and those are a bit under $200 with excellent sound. They will get VERY loud if you so desire but they stay clear, and you'll hit your threshold of listening before the speakers crack. One of my Klipsch-owning friends also recommended Yamaha to me, which is why I got my 2.1 Yamaha set. I'm glad he did, too, they're really really good for the price. If all Yamaha sets are this good for what they cost, then you should definitely think about getting some of those.



    Also I want to sell my Sennheiser headphones because they make my ears too hot and I just use my speakers or my Koss headphones anyway, so if you want to buy them or something I can do that
  • Reply 8 of 18
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rok

    also, the oxygen display only has a one-year warranty, whereas the more expensive formac displays all come with a three-year display, it's in the semi-fine print.





    The 3 year warrnaty only covers the smaller parts. THE BACKLIGHT IS ONLY COVERED FOR ONE YEAR!



    I need to emphazie that since a lot of people don't read the fine print
  • Reply 9 of 18
    Quote:

    Originally posted by westonm

    I'm looking at getting a new display to complement my G5, and was wondering if there were any glaring differences between the two. Seeing as how the formac is cheaper, is there any reason not to go with it? Will it work with a 9800 Pro? (I assume )



    And what is the difference between the 2010 "Platinum" and "Oxygen"?




    well i have a formac 17incher and me dad has a cinema 17incher(git) And i must say that the cinema is a lot crisper. And the worst thing is he keeps going on about how mine cost £700 (7months ago) and his was £500.
  • Reply 10 of 18
    I figure I might as well just keep tacking stuff on to this thread...



    What is a good fast printer that has descent drivers (not this crap) yet can handle the odd photo?
  • Reply 11 of 18
    resres Posts: 711member
    I really like the Canon i950; it does a decent job on text and is hard to beat at photos.
  • Reply 12 of 18
    How are Canon's drivers/miscellaneous softwares?
  • Reply 13 of 18
    zozo Posts: 3,117member
    i havent printed much with it (the wonders of a nice laser color pronter at work :-) ) but my Lexmark z30 works great with OSX. Super cheap (50usd?) and I think the cheapest consumables.
  • Reply 14 of 18
    I was going to post the exact same question about monitors - I am eagerly awaiting my G5 (come on and build the damn thing already Apple!) and am thinking of getting an LCD to compliment it. I used to own a 22" ACD and absolutely loved it - but I am thinking of going a bit smaller since they are cheaper, have the same resolution and better contrast/response than my old LCD.



    Anyone else have any opinions on the 2010 vs the 20" ACD? Anyone seen both side by side? The contrast ratio of the 2010 blows the ACD out of the water - is real life contrast as much of a blowout as the numbers would lead you to believe? Does that mean the 2010 will give better (blacker) blacks? That was one pet peeve of mine about my ACD - I had a veritable milky way of light when my screen was black... Decisions, decisions.



    I should add that I will be using this monitor daily for web design, and am a pretty hard core gamer...
  • Reply 15 of 18
    smalmsmalm Posts: 677member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by The Pie Man

    ...and am a pretty hard core gamer...



    Buy the Formac!
  • Reply 16 of 18
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    I primarily do real work but play games on the side. I got the 20" Cinema Display and love it. There is absolutely nothing I would change.
  • Reply 17 of 18
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by The Pie Man

    Anyone seen both side by side?



    Here I am again



    Well. I did the side-by-side comparision between Galley and Cinema in store when I was getting a LCD.



    At that time (Feb 2003) the Gallery was more expensive than the Cinema. Even the spec of the Gallery sounded more appealing than Cinema (like contrast ratio is 600:1 vs Cinema's 350:1).....the quality is just bad.



    Both displays were hooked to the same G4. I open a photo and drag it crossing both display....Jesus...even after heavy calibration the gallery's color is just bad bad bad.....very pinkish....and text is blurrier than Cinema.....not to mention that the case of the Gallery is just butt ugly.



    Good on paper spec with less than stellar real performance + higher price tag (at that time)........made me decide to move to the Cinema Display
  • Reply 18 of 18
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Leonis

    Here I am again



    Well. I did the side-by-side comparision between Galley and Cinema in store when I was getting a LCD.




    Haha! Yes! Thank you Leonis - this is what I am looking for, someone with a good side by side comparison. That is exactly what I was wondering about the 2010: even though the specs looked great, if there weren't some other factors which might make it less appealing.



    Every time I have gone into a store and looked at LCDs I keep coming away thinking, "Man, they just don't seem as saturated or clear as my Apple Cinema Display". Of course that was when I actually owned one (the 22" - which was one of the first, and therefore low end quality wise of the ACD scale).



    This is making me think I might spend the extra bucks and get the 20" ACD (plus I need a ACD-DVI adapter which adds $100). What I really want to do is wait until they get updated, but they update so infrequently that is like betting on whether Bush will say something intelligent in a state of the union address.



    Thanks for the input Leonis
Sign In or Register to comment.