Apple quietly bumps 30-inch Cinema Display specs

In an another sterling example of Apple-related PR oddities, it appears they have recently made a minor bump in the specs of their 30-inch Cinema Displays -- without bothering to tell anyone about it. The revised LCD now more closely mirrors the specs of Dell's 3007WFP, with 400 cd/m2 brightness and a 700:1 contrast ratio, as opposed to the former 270 cd/m2 and 400:1 specs. The price remains the same, at the ever-astronomical $2500, but at least you're getting a little bit more bang for your buck. This spec bump comes not even a week after the display barely edged out the 3007WFP in a heated battle, we'd love to see how it fares now

[Via Pocket-lint]

[Alex @ Mar 29th 2006 5:04PM]

Funny, just yesterday I was saying that I wanted to get one, but should wait until they switch to the newer panel that Dell has. My bank account is now looking at me in terror.

[Joe Skinner @ Mar 29th 2006 5:10PM]

I'm surprised they didn't hold seperate press conference for this one.

[Evan Yares @ Mar 29th 2006 5:19PM]

It's likely that Apple and Dell are using the same supplier of LCDs, and that the manufacturer retested the parts, and rated them higher. Apple, when they discovered that Dell was listing the higher numbers, went back and revised theirs.

It's more than likely specsmanship, not any change in the actual displays.

[WGIII @ Mar 29th 2006 5:30PM]

Sounds like the ole Apple bait-n-switch numbers switchero.

[okapi @ Mar 29th 2006 5:36PM]

In any subsequent CNET comparisons, the Mac mon would still be 500 bucks more.

[Nick @ Mar 29th 2006 5:36PM]

#3 Evan said:
"It's likely that Apple and Dell are using the same supplier of LCDs, and that the manufacturer retested the parts, and rated them higher. Apple, when they discovered that Dell was listing the higher numbers, went back and revised theirs."

Of course it's impossible that Apple got the specs straight from the manufacturer and posted revised specs independent of Dell????????

"It's more than likely specsmanship, not any change in the actual displays."

Your proof of this is? I say this because it is very unlikely that the manufacturer re-tested the specs and by some magic the displays are now better. It's more likely that they are supplying a similar but better display.

You don't work in the computer industry, do you?

[mike @ Mar 29th 2006 5:37PM]

It's likely that Apple and Dell are using the same supplier of LCD

--

yeah, that's 'likely' considering that kind of statement would make Steve Jobs livid....

why is that likely???

Apple has always bragged that their competitors use the screens they 'turn down'

[jorellh @ Mar 29th 2006 5:59PM]

They increased the brightness? I can already get a tan with mine set to 50% brightness.

[c.Lake @ Mar 29th 2006 6:22PM]

I'm sorry but.... $2,500 for a 30 inch LCD monitor? Now I know Steve Jobs has loss his mind. I told him to stop smoking that crack.

[eric @ Mar 29th 2006 6:41PM]

well all these updates should really bring apple much closer to the dell 30", in the categories it lost (such as how clear the text is, etc.).
Independent of price, it seems as though Apple's 30" is now more distinctly the best 30" display on the market

[Brad @ Mar 29th 2006 6:45PM]

@#7

Yes, #3 is right. Its actually very common for a major buyer to request re-test from a vendor.

In fact, from the vendor's standpoint, its highly unlikely that they would offer two lcd's that barely differ in spec simultaneously, if in fact the same vendor is supplying both companies.

Neither apple nor the vendor nor dell is doing anything wrong, if those assumptions are true. In fact, as another major buyer, the vendor would also notify apple of the changes after the retest.

And yes, I do work in the industry.

[snarfmaster @ Mar 29th 2006 7:17PM]

#8....
why is that likely???

It's likely because they use the same LCD element as Dell in their 20" cinema display (same as the Dell 2005FPW). Why is that so hard to believe? Why would Jobs be "livid", and even if he was, who cares?

[Jarrod Turner @ Mar 29th 2006 7:39PM]

The people over at TUAW were saying that they both use the same LG panel now, and up until today, Apple was using a slightly older LG panel. I can't confirm this though.

[David T @ Mar 29th 2006 8:52PM]

no, sr you retard. go and read the review.

"We tested the monitors side by side on identical PCs running Windows XP Pro, with a 3.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a high-end Nvidia 7800 GTX graphics card with 256MB of VRAM. All tests were run at the monitors' 2,560x1,600 native resolution."

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6470175-1.html?tag=lnav

[Levi @ Mar 29th 2006 9:22PM]

You know that shiny plastic makes the picture better...and that extra $500 bucks makes you see things more clearly since you're not carrying so much weight in your back pocket.

[kelly @ Mar 29th 2006 9:29PM]

um... is it just me, or is the cnet review claiming anti-aliasing is a function of hardware/your monitor?

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6470175-3.html?tag=btn

call me crazy, but I thought this was a function of your graphics card in combination with your driver. someone correct me if I'm wrong as I'm a networking geek not software/PC centric, I don't want to call ineptitude without reason, but seems like the reviewer is speaking to things they don't understand? or, it may be me, and I will take the chastisement appropriately :)

[Jordan @ Mar 29th 2006 11:54PM]

Why does everyone have to be hating on everyone else in here?

For one, it's just a monitor.

For two, and this is to Nick, I work in the "computer industry" as an IT Manager and it doesn't sound like you're all so knowledgeable. I don't pull that out too often, but for you sir, I will. You sound like the elderly people who ask me "if I work in computers?" Brightness and contrast ratios are much like wattage in speakers. They are very subjective and somewhat up to the manufacturer as to whether they should rate their product conservatively or not.

I have an idea, why don't you guys go to Google and see who manufactures this display for Apple and find out if they have switched backlights or not? Maybe they switched panels or DC invertors? I don't know, but for crying out loud, everyone is arguing about something that they know very little about.

Ask someone in the Apple store, they may have the low-down. If you hate Apple and think there is no difference in the display, buy the Dell. If you want it to match, or have knowledge of it being better for some reason, buy the Apple. Otherwise quit arguing about something that you aren't even informed about! You guys are actually calling people names like "retard" when you haven't even read anything about what you are arguing!

[Phil @ Mar 30th 2006 12:02AM]

I just bought the Dell3007WFP. It had better specs for $400 less with a 3 year replacement warranty. They are not the same monitor. The Dell has different card reader slots than the Apple. Had it two weeks... powered by a Falcon NW MAch V with the FX60 processor and GTX7800GTX512MB video card, and the monitor is absolutely amazing. Computing will never be the same.

[Brian @ Mar 30th 2006 1:48AM]

Both the Dell 3007WFP and the Apple 30" Cinema displays use the LG-Philips LM300W01 panel, which is the only commercially available LCD with a 30" diagonal and a 2560x1600 native resolution. Having said that, the associated electronics and backlighting could have been engineered differently between the Apple and Dell displays. It's hard to say whether Apple really did change the backlighting to match Dell, or if this is just a restatement of the specifications. I suspect the latter, given the lack of fanfare from Apple.

Here's the funny thing: Mac fanatics have long claimed that the Apple display is superior to the Dell for professional applications, because a super bright display is actually a disadvantage. They claimed Apple understood that market, while Dell went after the gamer/enthusiast segment, holding up the much more reasonable 270 cd/m^2 luminance spec as evidence.

Now I will await the furious backpedalling by Apple apologists everywhere upon discovering the change in spec. Or, more likely, they will come up with new reasoning as to why this was the right way to go all along... hey, Apple knows best, right?

[sr @ Mar 30th 2006 1:19PM]

^^^ Yeah it's funny but true that excessive brightness is bad for the image and readability. That's why you have to calibrate the thing before using it. After both displays are calibrated they will both have equal brightness which should be well below the maximum quoted by either manufacturer.

As for Apple apologists, who cares about them they seem to like to twist things around to suit their purpose no matter what. I heard stories of Genius Bar employees downplaying the switch to Intel processors and saying that the old PowerPC models were just as fast as the new Intel models. Yeah right. Apple itself has been spinning that dog of a PowerPC as a supercomputer for years.

I like Apple and some of their products are very good, but their customers and employees are more like cult members.

[Frederic Vial @ Jan 16th 2007 9:35PM]

So does anyone know how to find out whether a 30 inch apple cinema display has the updated specs? Is it by serial number or by date of purchase? If it's date of purchase, then how do we know whether Apple sold left over displays that had the old specs?

[Zeek @ Mar 30th 2006 3:26PM]

And there you have the big 30th anniversary release!

[Dennis @ Mar 30th 2006 6:31PM]

Well this is a welcome change! My 30" always "seemed"
bright enough for me. That is, until I put it next to a Dell counterpart. (Of course, I can't ever manage to get the Dell dim enough for comfortable viewing) To me, there is no question that the backlight in the apple 30" has less range than the Dell.

This is certainly a move in a positive direction. I look forward to seeing how the black levels and the quality of the Apple 30" have been affected. Would love to get a 2nd apple 30" to put on my desk.... ;-)

[Jon the gimpy @ Mar 30th 2006 6:33PM]

imo Samsung makes a much better lcd than either Apple or Dell.

[James @ Mar 30th 2006 11:33PM]

still not worth $300 more than the dell

[Brian @ Apr 1st 2006 4:21PM]

The good news is that even the brighter Dell display can be dimmed enough for decent colour calibration. My 3007WFP is turned down to within 3 notches of the dimmest setting, and it measures 140 cd/m^2... very comfortable viewing in a softly-lit room.