I love OSX but never understood why people pay so much for those apple displays. we use them at work and they suuuuuck. super heavy, can't adjust height, can't put it in portrait mode which is .. I don't know useful 40% of the time, glares like a mofo, and cost 2x-3x similar quality displays from not Apple. Is the look of them that desirable?
i finally switched for same reso Dell units on my desk and really happy about that.
For a long time, Apple displays were the only displays that also provided a proper laptop dock. Not just a cheap USB-to-XYZ-multiport-adapter with the limits those bring, but a real dock connected via PCI-in-a-wire Thunderbolt, making the ports on the back of the monitor just as good as ports on the machine itself. Combined with the monitor's MagSafe adapter and a MacBook of some sort, you had a beautiful setup: the only wires you needed to switch from laptop mode to desktop mode were the monitor's MagSafe and thunderbolt cords. Just keep all your desk hardware plugged into your monitor, and save the macbook's power adapter for when you actually needed to charge on the go.
There's also something to be said about the consistency of the old Apple displays. I've seen dozens at this point and none had noticeable backlight issues, and they look good right out of the box instead of requiring the user to switch off 15 gimmick settings to get a proper picture.
They had their issues but they did several things right.
The glossiness of them is highly desirable for anyone doing visual work: Photography, video editing, UX design, graphic design, etc. Colors and contrast pop a lot more.
It's a personal preference, however, so we let people at work make their own choices.
Apple displays have long been very high quality with accurate colors. They also usually come with a built in hub and ability to power a laptop, which is very handy. It allows the monitor to essentially be a dock.
>I love OSX but never understood why people pay so much for those apple displays. we use them at work and they suuuuuck. super heavy, can't adjust height, can't put it in portrait mode which is .. I don't know useful 40% of the time, glares like a mofo, and cost 2x-3x similar quality displays from not Apple. Is the look of them that desirable?
No, it's more than the glare means no bloody anti-glare coating (and hence more sharpness), the colors (saturation etc) were often reviewed and measured best-in-class, and same for angles of view, brightness, etc.
Oh, and portrait mode, while nice, it's at best a niche use.
To be fair, when I bought my Apple Thunderbolt Display in 2012, I compared it to other monitors available at the time, and when you compared not just the display quality but the fact that it had an integrated Thunderbolt dock, it really wasn't too overpriced. (IIRC, Dell's closest equivalent was $949.)
The problem is that Apple almost never lowers their prices unless they come out with a "new improved" model of something. So, as a given product continues to be sold without an update or a price drop, the more steadily outrageous its price point seems. To the point of the original linked article, this is a serious problem for the Mac Pro. It was expensive at introduction, but it's been downright absurd for the last two years. This is an issue across most of the Mac product line currently, though.
I don't use Apple displays although I use Apple hardware. I can justify putting a 4 digits if it makes my life easier. I don't see how an Apple display can do that. I found Dell/HP IPS to do the job for my charting needs.
No, as a pro, my reasoning is they are great for photo/video work, and even affordable compared to competitive solutions (I mean at the time, they don't make them anymore, but the 5K iMac screens are excellent).
Also, colorsync works much better on Apple monitors. I have two monitors on my desk, a Dell P2815Q and a Apple Thunderbolt Display. The Apple had a default colorsync profile that looks perfect, the Dell, I got close, but I can't get quite right. Colors change slightly when I drag a window from one monitor to the other.
Most users don't realize how good Apple monitors are, and how much better they make your work day.
I just don't understand scrimping on something you will spend all day staring at. Getting something "almost as good" for half the price is a terrible deal.
Er, are they good? I have a gorgeous Dell IPS 4k monitor at work and (I know, it's very silly) I actually get a tiny thrill whenever I pop my IDE open in it. It's just so darn pretty.
Sitting in front of a Dell 4k monitor and having used a good 4k monitor I am would not call Dell's offering good.
I have never used an Apple monitor, but I have used several other 4k monitors and they are great. My Dell monitor is just fraught with compatibility issues and needs special software to work with win 7. I use Ubuntu and it barely works there, my coworkers have to treat theirs like special snowflakes.
I think I communicated that poorly. I only need to use win 7 every 3 months when I change my domain password. I don't need a 4k monitor for that, so I go without.
On Ubuntu the monitor needed much finagling to get working right, unlike my AOC or Asus 4k monitors which both worked when hotplugged using HDMI.
My coworkers, who aren't all devs, have more work to do in windows and they needed the special software.
How odd, maybe I'm just quite lucky then. To be fair I'm not doing any sort of dual-monitor setup. I just forgo my laptop screen entirely (close the lid) because I've found the one 4k to be plenty. Maybe if I started getting more complicated than that, things would get weird.
Most of my workmates have them. They look like glossy mirrors, and several complain about it. When you can see your reflection in them, plus all the room lighting, that's a terrible quality for a general purpose display. Meanwhile I have a much cheaper matt Dell monitor which is much more fit for purpose, and I don't suffer from the glare and reflections.
also, they run really warm... I don't use my cinema display nearly as often as I would like because I can't tolerate the heat coming off of it for extended periods of time.
oh yeah, our whole floor heats up so much they gave every person a futuristic Dyson fan to go with the display :)
this can't be good for energy consumption either
oh yes this is another issue. if they break they can't be re-ordered so now IT is stocking them for replacements. add another X to the price per person :)
i finally switched for same reso Dell units on my desk and really happy about that.