Apple LCD image quality 17" tops, iMac worst

eugeneeugene
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I finally took the time to look at all the Apple desktop LCD offerings, and from the samples I did look at, this is what I found.



1. The 17" Studio Display is definitely the best in terms of color depth, image crispness and ghost trails (none at all!)



2. The 22" Cinema Display is next. Almost no ghost trails, good color, good image quality over-all.



3 (tie.) The 23" Cinema HD Display is also nice, but not as good as the 17" and 22" in terms of ghosting images. The 15" Studio Display has the same ghosting issues.



4. I'm sorry, but the iMac LCD is definitely the worst. Not only does it wash out the whites, it ghosts like crazy.



Check the LCDs out side by side sometime. Drag a Finder window in OS X on the 17 incher, then immediately compare it to any of the other LCDs. Then compare the 15" Studio Display with the iMac display...I had to strain to see the pinstripes on the menubar with the iMac. It has terrible contrast.



The Cinema HD Display has size going for it, but the 17" Studio is definitely the most pleasing on the eyes. Nobody in his right mind would buy the 15" LCD. Spend that money on a good 19" CRT, or step up to the 17" Studio Display. Hopefully newer iMacs will be built with better screens, because at this point, I can't stand to use one for an extended time. A CRT with an 85 Hz refresh rate causes less eye strain.



[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 33
    the installerthe installer Posts: 910member
    The reviews I have read place the Formac Gallery 1740 <a href="http://www.formac.com/html/shopformac.html?cid=shop_products_gallerycal"; target="_blank">http://www.formac.com/html/shopformac.html?cid=shop_products_gallerycal</a>; slightly above the Apple 17". It doesn't look as cool though.



    - T.I.
  • Reply 2 of 33
    badtzbadtz Posts: 949member
    i'm actually debating between the 22 & the 23.......



    i just hope apple doesn't give the whole line a different look when the g5's come out......



    anyway, about the monitors....... the 17" is definitely nice.......



    spec. wise:: shouldn't the 15" be @ top?
  • Reply 3 of 33
    apple.otakuapple.otaku Posts: 590member
    [quote]Originally posted by Eugene:



    <strong>

    Check the LCDs out side by side sometime. Drag a Finder window in OS X on the 17 incher, then immediately compare it to any of the other LCDs. Then compare the 15" Studio Display with the iMac display...I had to strain to see the pinstripes on the menubar with the iMac. It has terrible contrast.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Did you calibrate each monitor first so they all had the same settings? Makes a big difference.
  • Reply 4 of 33
    mac's girlmac's girl Posts: 556member
    [quote]Originally posted by apple.otaku:

    <strong>



    Did you calibrate each monitor first so they all had the same settings? Makes a big difference.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    it could be a calibration gimmick. i know in the tv dept, the sales ppl set the color/picture settings to look better on the tv models they want you to buy. (a friend who works there told me once.) they probably do this for computer monitors too.
  • Reply 5 of 33
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    [quote]Originally posted by Eugene:

    <strong>Hopefully newer iMacs will be built with better screens, because at this point, I can't stand to use one for an extended time. A CRT with an 85 Hz refresh rate causes less eye strain.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    There must be something wrong with my eyes then Eugene, because I completely disagree with you.



    I use a 17" CRT running 1024x768 with an 85 Hz refresh rate at work, and an 800 MHz G4 iMac at home. I LOVE getting home to use the iMac and find the screen much easier to stare at for long periods of time.



    I can't speak to the color differences though without another display next to it... but I've never heard someone comment on eye strain with the iMac's LCD.



    Maybe you're just weird.







    [ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
  • Reply 6 of 33
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    I dunno about this whole imac screen quality thing. I had a two day fling with one and it looked pretty good to me. However, could this be the first fruit of the two LCD supplier news? With 50% of displays coming from another source do we now have 50-50 odds at getting a good display with our iMacs?
  • Reply 7 of 33
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    I've seen the 15" LCD and iMac's LCD side by side and I think the iMac's is much better. The overall quality just seemed better.
  • Reply 8 of 33
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    The iMac has a pretty good screen compared to other "consumer" offerings, but is it any surprise that the "pro" displays are better? Imagine the flack if it were the other way around -- I'd be pretty pissed if my expensive PowerMac had an inferior display to the lowly consumer iMac. As for the quality of the 17", I suppose it's a bit weird for it to be better than the 15", but the 22" and 23" are SO big and their technology so new that it's no wonder they have slight drawbacks in terms of contrast, ghosting, etc. In none of the cases is it particularly bad IMO, though you could argue that iMac's display is just a cut above in terms of ghosting (hard to argue against its brightness/contrast or view angle though).



    On a side note, I've recently been saving PDFs from my Dell, and bringing them over for layout work on my iMac at home (and before that, my iBook). The gamma is so completely different on those two machines that the dark, low-contrast images I was getting on my Dell monitor were washed out on my Macs. Obviously, I just had to make some changes to the Dell's monitor and subsequent color profiles for the PDFs, but the difference was almost like night and day.



    While I'm at it, the SRGB profiles on both my iMac and my Dell are far too high-contrast for me to do my work with, so I've been tinkering with custom profiles. Somehow, some day, it would be really nice to move from monitor to monitor would opening a can of worms in the process.



    [ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: BuonRotto ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 33
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Nope, no 50/50 supplier issues. Our iMac was initial batch, original supplier goodness. This is with every monitor in each category I've seen. The display quality has been consistent on every iMac I have seen, washed out whites (bad contrast,) and lots of ghosting.



    The aspects I listed above are consistent with each model no matter where I've seen them. I've been to Fry's, Apple Store Palo Alto, CompUSA, Elite Computers / ComputerWare. It's all the same.



    If you think the 15" LCD in the iMac is better than the Studio Display's LCD, you are either lying to yourself or blind.



    And it's not a calibration issue. Calibration doesn't affect ghosting. Calibration only effects gamma and tint (not depth.)
  • Reply 10 of 33
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Well just looking at the Apple site tells you that the viewing angle on both the 15's isn't as good as the larger displays. I'm not sure how bad ghosting really is on mac displays. I've been pretty happy with the ones I've seen. (15" studio and iMac and a 22"). The only Mac display where I can say I thought ghosting was pretty bad was on a profs Pismo.



    [ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
  • Reply 11 of 33
    crusadercrusader Posts: 1,129member
    I think the iMac's display is set too brightly. Turning the brightness down helps alot, and I really think calibrating helps. Just my humble opinion...
  • Reply 12 of 33
    cdhostagecdhostage Posts: 1,038member
    Odd, that the High Definiteion monitor is not the absolute highest quality. Perhaps its settings have to be fiddled iwth, as suggested for the iMac earlier i in this thread, before it shows its true promise.



    I can't imagine that a professional would want a screen that GHOSTS. Jeez, that's so 20th-century laptop tech!
  • Reply 13 of 33
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Go to an Apple dealer and see for yourself...really.



    Compare the 17" with the 15" or the 23" ... Fool with the calibration settings and brightness. I don't care. You will notice a huge difference.
  • Reply 14 of 33
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by cdhostage:

    <strong>Odd, that the High Definiteion monitor is not the absolute highest quality. Perhaps its settings have to be fiddled iwth, as suggested for the iMac earlier i in this thread, before it shows its true promise.



    I can't imagine that a professional would want a screen that GHOSTS. Jeez, that's so 20th-century laptop tech!</strong><hr></blockquote>



    That's what I couldn't understand when I first saw it.
  • Reply 15 of 33
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    [quote]Originally posted by Crusader:

    <strong>I think the iMac's display is set too brightly. Turning the brightness down helps alot, and I really think calibrating helps. Just my humble opinion...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I agree totally. I have to lower my iMac to about half the maximum brightness for comfortable viewing.
  • Reply 16 of 33
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by Crusader:

    <strong>I think the iMac's display is set too brightly. Turning the brightness down helps alot, and I really think calibrating helps. Just my humble opinion...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    It's not just the iMac's LCD, at least IMO. I turn the brightness down on my 15" NEC LCD too. The only LCD I haven't is on my iBook.
  • Reply 17 of 33
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    just out of curiosity, how in the PBG4 (Rev A) display? I've been using one for a while, and it seems pretty solid, though I've had the pleasure to use a friends powermac w/ 17" ACD. That display rocks.
  • Reply 18 of 33
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Whatever you do Splinemodel, don't put your Ti Book next to someone's iBook. You'll remember what you paid for it and get VERY upset.







    Damn that iBook LCD is bright and crisp. BTW, I also keep my iMac's screen turned down a few steps.



    For me, the main positive thing about the iMac's screen is the fact that you can reposition it so easily. I thought it was a little bit of a gimmic, until I started using one. I change the position ALL THE TIME. Sit back in the chair a bit, put the screen to the top... lean forward a bit, put the display right down and tilted back like a laptop... swing it over to show someone a photo... It's so much more useful than I thought it would be.



    [ 04-30-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
  • Reply 19 of 33
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    [quote]Originally posted by murbot:

    <strong>For me, the main positive thing about the iMac's screen is the fact that you can reposition it so easily.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Funny thing though is that you can do the same thing with the new eMac on a swivel stand.
  • Reply 20 of 33
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by satchmo:

    <strong>



    Funny thing though is that you can do the same thing with the new eMac on a swivel stand. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yeah but that moves the entire computer, not just the screen.
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