Hi All, this question has probably been asked before, but not in some time, so I want to see what people think of the older 23" Apple Cinema Display versus any new 2012 monitor.

I currently have a 2010 model 24" Samsung LCD hooked up to my 27" iMac. It was a cheaper model, about $150 at the time. It's not color accurate by any means, but it got me by for screen real-estate. The stand broke on it recently and to be honest I'm kind of sick of it so I'm looking for a new second monitor.

That brings me to the question of getting a used 23" Apple Cinema Display off eBay for around $250. Worth it? I like the idea of a matte display and the possibility of hooking it up to say a Matrox box in the future. Or is there a better option out there in the standard LCD market? Heard good things about Dell, but not sure how their ≈$300 models stack up.

Any thoughts on this would be helpful. I'm using Final Cut Pro X right now, so I would probably be looking to send my preview window over to the second display most of the time. Again, not doing anything broadcast critical with it, but want something that looks at least semi-close to accurate!

Hi, Nate.............

I've just moved to the Dell U2711, 27" monitor from my previous 24" unit.

It comes with a calibration report for sRGB and Adobe RGB, including Grey Scale tracking and Gamma and, I have to say, the sRGB colour is excellent.

It's quoted Avg. Delta E for both sRGB and Adobe RGB is <5, if that means anything to you.

It's a power hog at nearly 100 Watts (yes, really!), is (well mine was, anyway) sent out from the factory with the brightness turned up to "scorch and blind" mode and the Colour set to "Standard", which gave everything an interesting flourescent tinge, somewhat akin to 60's NTSC on a badly adjusted CRT set.

Once set to sRGB and the brightness turned down to "visible from the Space Station" level, all was well.

Don't know the US price, but it's a heck of a nice monitor and has just about every connection mode ever used, sure there's a steam input somewhere!

Check it out.


CS

Thanks Chris, looks like refurb price is about $599 USD, so not bad. I've been researching a bit and (I think) I've narrowed down my choices a bit:

Dell U2711 - A bit big and expensive for me at the moment
Dell U2410 - Size I like but hearing bad things about the color from some
Asus PA246Q - Supposedly it has 98% sRGB gamut and a "Pro" IPS panel
HP ZR2440w - Similar to the U2410. A bit newer/better perhaps?

...and of course the 23" Cinema Display I mentioned before. Right now I'm looking more at value than outright performance. Something I can use daily and at least enjoy looking at. Your comments seem in line with what I've read about the 27" Dell - I would spring for the U2410 but I've heard that the "wide-gamut" sRBG color is implemented differently than on U2711 and that the larger model was "fixed." Any thoughts on this?

I went through the "hunt the reviews" thing in quite a bit of depth on screens for this purchase and the 2410 was on my "possible" list as well.

In the end the 2711 ticked every single box I wanted ticked and didn't tick any I didn't want ticked, which nothing else could. It has the 27", the connectivity, variable height/ tilt/ swivel stand, good colour, exceedingly comprehensive and well thought out OSD, the lot.

What clinched it was Dell had a "special" here and dropped the price of the 2711 to practically the same as the 2410, made it a complete no brainer, and yes, I read something to the effect the 2410 didn't quite come up to scratch.

With all this real estate I can set the screen zoom level to 125% and read everything from 4 feet away, which, with my eyesight, is really something.


CS

According to a sales person at a local Mac store, the Dell U3011 has the same electronics and features as the old 30" cinema display. I have no confirmation on this, simply what I was told. He said he wasn't sure about the 27 inch Dell but he believed they were also the same.

I did rent the 30 inch for a few days. Nice monitor.