Age-old question…should I keep my LaCie 22" or take a new Apple 20" Cinema Display?

CH
Posted By
Christine_Holzmann
May 16, 2004
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514
Replies
21
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Closed
Hi all,
I have just been browsing thru the archives here reading as much as I can on the Apple Studio Cinema LCDs. I have just upgraded to a G5 at work and my boss is offering to give me a new Apple 20" Cinema display if I want it. I am COMPLETELY torn…I have been using a LaCie 22" for the past year or so and really becme quite attached to it. I work in Photoshop & InDesign all day long, doing both color critical work and layout…..about 50% each way.
My question is…what would some of YOU do?? I just cannot make up my mind alas. I thought I had decided on Friday, but I borrowed a 20" Cinema display to bring home to check it out and I am REALLY undecided now. Some VERY MUCH needed advice would REALLY be appreciated from the rest of you color pros out there:) I need to make up my mind by Monday because if I don’t decide to keep it then it will be going to someone else.
Help……..:0

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R
Ram
May 16, 2004
My question is…what would some of YOU do?

I’d keep the CRT. Without hesitation; but that’s just me.

On the other hand, if you can live with an LCD, it’s certainly easier on the eyes over a period of many hours.
LA
Larry_Auerbach
May 16, 2004
I use a 20" Apple Cinema Display at work and have a 22" Mitsubishi CRT at home with the same tube that was in LaCie Electron Blues a couple of years ago. The 20" is the first LCD I’ve worked on, and have used it for many months. I find it quite nice for retouching & color correction in Photoshop CS and also do a fair amount of InDesign CS work on it too. The only thing I find lacking is that I wish it did more than 1050 pixels vertically — my CRT is set at 1600×1200 and the diminished vertical resolution on the 20" LCD means more scrolling around and panning around in images and pages compared to the CRT, depending on what app I’m working in. On the other hand, my desk is much more spacious than it used to be. I find these details more important to mention than color issues. Both my CRT and this LCD have color issues — the CRT requires much more frequent calibration (it’s by no means a SONY Artisan), and the LCD sometimes seems to not be uniformly illuminated (but that could be the ambient light in the office where I work).

Another thing to consider is that if you’re using the monitor hood with the LaCie and there is significant ambient light at work, you might consider rigging up some kind of hood for the Apple LCD, otherwise the ambient light might bend you out of shape more than you think.

Just my 2 cents…
NK
Neil_Keller
May 16, 2004
Now if the choice were the Apple 23" Cinema Display… <vbg>

If the LaCie 22" were doing its job well for you, and you didn’t need the workspace real estate, I’d probably keep it. Thank you boss, and ask (with a smile), if you could take a raincheck on the upgrade until he could budget a 23" Cinema Display for you.

Neil
CH
Christine_Holzmann
May 16, 2004
Well, I was reading thru a lot of the older posts on here yesterday, and I came across one that mentioned the 20" was better than the 23"….according to some personal viewpoints. Go to the post to follow the discussion at the following link: <http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?128@@.2cce0e4f>

The sad thing is, he DID offer me the 23" the other day because if we bought it along with the new Mac then we would get a $500 rebate on it……but I refused and thanked him very much;0 So now of course, he has taken the 23" for himself……and he LOVES it….so of course, there is no way I can ask for it back now:)
Hmmm…..I still need to give this serious consideration. I am trying to imagine what I would kick myself more for…giving up this new flashy superwide LCD or giving up my ol’ faithful LaCie Electron Blue? Each has their share of advantages & disadvantages….
The thing that worries me most is the color calibration. With the LaCie, I have the Blue Eye calibrator….
NK
Neil_Keller
May 16, 2004
From what I’ve seen by independent tests of the 23" Cinema, it’s really top notch. As is the 20". You can purchase a Spyder or some other calibrator that will do just fine. But, then, I’m using a Sony FD Trinitron 22" CRT.

But this is your call.

Neil
L
Larryr544
May 16, 2004
I like the extra real estate of the 22" CRT.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
May 16, 2004
Why not have both — and use the second one for palettes?
L
Larryr544
May 16, 2004
OOOOHHHHHH Ann that’s a great idea!!!!
ST
Scott T Martin
May 16, 2004
Yeah, if you’re in the position to do so, you might try working with them both for a while. There are pluses and minuses to either display. I see some people gravitating to CRTs for a group of reasons and another group to LCDs for different reasons. I don’t this is as easy as saying one is definitely better than the other. It all depends on you are your priorities. Working on both for a few weeks can be pretty fun. And you’ll pretty quickly start to gravitate to one or the other.
CH
Christine_Holzmann
May 16, 2004
I would LOVE to have both, but unfortunately someone else needs a monitor too right now so one of them has to go alas……:(
FT
Frozen_Tundra
May 19, 2004
Do it! Do it! Do it!

I agree if you can squeeze a 23" you will be all the happier, but I switched my staff from what were high end Radius mointors to Cinema displays. Wow what a difference. Nobody who works professionally should have to deal with looking at a CRT all day. The Apple Cinema displays are brilliant yet easy on the eye. They are so much sharper. When you go back and look at your CRT you will think its out of focus or your eyes are going.

Suggestion: Take the 20" and hang another monitor to the side for your pallets (say your old LaCie). Now thats livin.
FT
Frozen_Tundra
May 19, 2004
Sorry I just reread you post and saw that you can’t keep the LaCie.

Do it! Do it! Do it! You can always find an old 17 crt to hang for pallets.
R
Ram
May 19, 2004
Scott T. Martin said it best:

“There are pluses and minuses to either display. I see some people gravitating to CRTs for a group of reasons and another group to LCDs for different reasons. I don’t this is as easy as saying one is definitely better than the other. It all depends on you are your priorities.”
CH
Christine_Holzmann
May 19, 2004
Sigh…I ended up keeping my LaCie CRT:) As I said a few posts back, I was trying to imagine which one I would feel more miserable about "giving up." It turned out to be the LaCie. Since I do so much color correction and am so finnicky about the color, I needed that extra feeling of "security" that I have with the LaCie and it’s excellent color calibration. (I have the Blue Eye as well for the calibration.)
Perhaps in a couple of years I’ll finally go to LCD at work … I am sure technology will have advanced even MORE by then and I’ll feel more secure working with one. At home I use an Apple 17" LCD and have calibrated it using "SuperCal" which has REALLY done a GREAT job…but still, I am more comfortable doing intense color correction on the LaCie. Altho’ I LOVE my Apple display too, I must admit.
Well….I think I am quite happy with the decision I made….and what made it all especially worth it in the end was when I gave the 20" Apple display to a colleague at work…they were REAAAALLLLY happy:)) Thank you all so very much for your input tho:)
And also, hopefully soon I can work with TWO monitors…that would be REALLY ideal:))
PC
Pierre_Courtejoie
May 19, 2004
And the mitsubishi 22" Wide gamut has just been announced…
MO
Mike_Ornellas
May 19, 2004
La Cie monitors are sold out.
R
Ram
May 19, 2004
What do you mean “sold out”? Where, everywhere? Discontinued?
ST
Scott T Martin
May 19, 2004
This is always a fun discussion. Christine, perhaps when you do upgrade video card vendors will have 16 bit LUTs which will allow for calibrated LCD’s with better grayscale’s (without any posterization). And of course there will be better and lower cost flat panel displays LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) are about to hit the market with other technologies arriving during the next ten years.
MO
Mike_Ornellas
May 19, 2004
Sold out as in, not sure when they will be available again.

a month?
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
May 19, 2004
Perhaps La Cie is about to announce "electron22blueV" which hopefully will emulate the quality of the "electron22blueIII"s?
MO
Mike_Ornellas
May 19, 2004
I think they are stopping production on the 22’s because the CRT tubes are total crap.

me tinks japan have process control problemma.

They need to regroup and start a new.

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