Apple Cinema Display

The Apple Cinema Display is a flat-panel LCD monitor produced by our favorite candy-colored computer company. It is a staggering 22 inches across. The resolution of the display is 1600 x 1024 native, although it can dither lower resolutions in hardware. It has won praise from many industry reviewers and critics for its exceptionally bright (180 Cd/m²) and clear (300:1 contrast) picture. It uses the TMDS digital interface; Apple ships it with Power Macintosh G4 computers with an ATI Rage 128 card, which contains the appropriate connector and circuitry.

The monitor itself is framed in gray/white plastic, with clear plastic legs and frame edge. There is a two-port powered USB hub in the monitor, and it draws less than 62 watts when operating (far less than a decent 19" CRT display).

I have managed to snag one for my desk at work, and eyestrain is a thing of the past. I would buy one for myself - but the catch is, the things are $3,999.00 US. Ouch. I would also worry that six months after I bought it, LEPs would be mass-produced, making a similar-sized monitor available for $1000 or so.

From the Apple specs:

System Requirements/Specifications

• Power Mac G4 computer with ATI RAGE 128 Pro graphics card and built-in USB.
• Screen size and tube
  • 22 inches (diagonal viewable image size)
  • Thin film transistor (TFT) active-matrix liquid crystal display
• Display colors (maximum): 16.7 million
• Viewing angle (typical): 160° horizontal; 160° vertical
• Brightness (typical): 180 cd/m 2
• Contrast ratio (typical): 300:1
• Resolutions
  • 1,600 by 1,024 pixels (native hardware resolution)
  • 1,280 by 800 pixels
  • 1,024 by 640 pixels
  • 800 by 500 pixels
• Connectors and cables: Digital Visual Interface (DVI) 24-pin connector with Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS)
• Two-port self-powered USB hub
• DC connector for DC input