First non-Apple mini DisplayPort monitors look suspiciously familiar
By Nilay Patel 
posted April 14th 2009 12:37PM
posted April 14th 2009 12:37PM
[Via Slashgear]
posted April 14th 2009 12:37PM
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You forgot to mention it's biggest feature: the bezel
Mmm... bezel
I see what you did there...
I'm guessing these are crappy TN panels based on the refresh times, although the prices would make me think otherwise.
The resolution looks a bit low for the 17", and they appear to be LCD instead of LED, otherwise a good deal, IMO, especially for the 24".
"and they appear to be LCD instead of LED"
Uh what? LCD is the type of display, LED is a type of back lighting on said LCD.
You mean CCFL, LCD and LED can exist in the same display.
@dubb: What he means is that they look like standard LCDs which have florescent backlighting. As opposed to Apple's display, which due to its special LED backlighting, everyone calls it an LED display. Everyone knows that LED displays can only be LCD.
Ripped the design but seem to have no sense or proportion not to mention incorporating all the crappy aspects Apple is hung up on like mirror gloss. Someone should make a good looking clone that has a matte finish...
There is no 17" model, and LED is a backlighting method for LCDs.
$400 for a 20-inch 1680x1050 monitor is a good deal?
On what planet?
That's exactly what i was thinking, i got my whole damn dell computer with a 20 inch monitor for $430.
I'm guessing this is some sort of apple thing, where this port is required to use an apple computer. Just more of apple trying to force people to buy only apple products. Which is exactly the reason they will never be mainstream in the Home.
For the cost of one apple computer i can buy 4 dells for my family.
@Jon: on the planet where everything isn't made out of plastic.
@Jcar302: Hahahaha, you should be in those Microsoft commercials. "For the price of one safe Volvo/Mercedes/Honda, I could buy my family four Yugos/Trabants/Geo Metros!"
I know. I've been looking around for a nice 20" display -- the nice Samsungs are less than $250. I don't know if using aluminum and glass, adding a USB hub, and using a non-standard display connector are really supposed to add $150 to the price.
At least Apple's displays have better technology (high pixel pitch, better style backlighting, etc.) which can account for the huge price.
@jacr302 - Just FYI, and I say this as a photographer and graphic designer, Dell displays are BY FAR the worst in the industry. Samsung, Acer, LG, and even HP displays are all far superior.
@dyt1983:
What makes you think these are higher quality than the standard Dell monitors? Or the Samsungs or other brands that are 40% cheaper?
yeah, and for the cost of an Infiniti G37 I can buy 4 Nissan Versas. Cost only comparisons are useless without also comparing the spec and the form factor.
yeah, bit of a trade off of price vs specs for the apple display.
i would love to find a cheaper LED display.
some cheap dells already got displayport, even including the cable
@Look_Around_You these look like complete balls compared to the real thing. Apple fans are fans of excellent design, which this does not have.
Cheap? These are still heinously expensive. I got a good 25.5 inch acer for $350 from newegg!
-Taylor
it might look like something close to prior inventions but hey at least it doesn't have a fruit on it! :D
*Phew!* No fruit? That's a relief. I wouldn't want something branded by the company known for the highest customer satisfaction rating in the industry would I? At least I'm safe from *that*!
What the hell are you guys talking about, it doesn't look like the new LED Cinema Displays (the best in the industry). Apple didn't even invent LCD monitors.
-Micro$oft fanboy
I'm waiting for their promotional video for this product, where they have a really bad amateur cameraman (whose shadow appears in the video) filming students swinging the monitor around by the displayport cable.
See "danglet" if you don't get it (and want to).
Looks like they ripped the border from HP's newer monitors and put it on a Cinema Display.
I like the term they copyrighted for the aluminum perimeter frame; UniFrame. Wonder where they got that?
I am wondering about the display quality.. I am not expecting them to be as good as Apple LED Display but at that price thats one sweet deal. Being a grad student, thats 400$ saved already!
gotta love that extra wide bezel, like its 1996
I love it how most of you guys think an Apple panel and a Samsung panel are the same thing basically. You need to read
H-IPS > S-IPS > S-PVA > PVA > Stevie Wonder with a paintbrush > TN.
Umm 1920x1080? why not the correct 1920x1200? lol
"Clearly HDMI is doing well in the field for which it was designed - Multimedia.
Clearly DisplayPort is doing just find for the field in which IT was designed - Work."
Then Displayport will always be a niche product, especially in a niche where dual link DVI is the dominant player and will remain so for a while. Oh, and mini Displayport then has no purpose: Apple has no 30 incher with mini Displayport, and their own "High-end" Mac Pro still uses dual link DVI. Combine that with the fact that HDMI 1.3 is just as good for pro work (specs wise) and you therefore have no purpose for Displayport.
"Apart from the obvious finger wagging due at Apple for not contributing it to the original spec, what's not to like?"
The fact that you have another standard and another cable? the fact that users will now bitch and moan about not being able to connect their Macbook to a projector because they forgot their adapter? The fact that this monitor plus Apple's can only connect to the newest Macs, inconveniencing end users? The fact that having a mini Displayport spec goes completely against the idea of one spec, one standard that Displayport is supposed to bring?
"The fact that this monitor plus Apple's can only connect to the newest Macs, inconveniencing end users?"
Did these displays magically make all other displays on the market disappear? Otherwise, I don't see what your complaint is. There are certainly other options on the market, so if you computer isn't compatible with these, maybe you should be looking elsewhere. Or, if you own a newer Mac, you surely knew it wasn't DIRECTLY compatible with other displays without an adaptor.
If you forget your adaptor when you're going to a meeting, maybe you need to make sure you're more prepared next time. Me, I always have my adaptor in my laptop bag. Always. I also have one connected to my monitor at home.
"If you forget your adaptor when you're going to a meeting, maybe you need to make sure you're more prepared next time. Me, I always have my adaptor in my laptop bag. Always. I also have one connected to my monitor at home."
Well good for you. Do you think I care? I don't have a Mac anyways.
But we all know the type that will be affected by this. The dumb blonde or clueless jock who has a Macbook has an important presentation. He or she is completely clueless about technology and shows up with just a laptop and can't make a presentation. Whereas if Apple had a built in VGA port those clueless people out there would be covered. Well, anyways, that's not so much a complaint about mini Displayport as it is a complaint against obscure video ports created probably with the intention of locking the user into buying only Apple displays or paying exorbitant amounts of money for adapters.
The premium is for removing the Apple stic- logo.
... and going in and replacing the panel with a shitty TN panel as well as reducing the native resolution of the display. Because as people like you prove every day, people are willing to pay for absolute shit.
You must have mistaken me for someone else.
I am not a Mac user. I don't have a single Apple product.
If this is a TN panel then it's is the monitor equivalent of a cheap economy car with an added body kit, stickers, and a bazooka exhaust. You'd be paying a lot for all show and no go. Spending more than $200 on a TN panel is a waste of money.
This is awesome!!!!
I was absolutely torn between the iMac and the new unibody MacBook because I like slightly higher resolution than the 13.3" MacBooks but I like portability and MBP is too expensive...
This is facking awesome. I'd rather pay $500 than $1000.. And to me I'm no expert on moniters so it doesn't matter how you spin that imo.
Close but no cigar. The proportions are all wrong.
The bezels are much too wide in proportion to the size of the screen. Jonathan Ives would never approve the design if these were Apple badged products.
Just getting the superficial colors, materials right isn't enough. It's the details, stupid.
blah blah blah Apple, blah blah blah Apple design. Blah blah blah superior blah. Blah blah blah, blah cheap, proprietary blah.
Am I the only one that noticed that they put a purple filter over the screen in Photoshop (Hint:look at the dock)?
i dont like the bezel
Get some facts:
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6594089.html
It would appear as if these are from Jack Campbell
http://fixyourthinking.com/2009/04/i-thought-yesterday-was-tax-day-not.html