Apple Computer’s 23″ Cinema HD Display “is a magnificent monitor, there’s just no other word for it. Few manufacturers are capable of putting out a product like this. The 23″ Apple Cinema is a beautiful object in and of itself. The white plastic/brushed aluminum shell is a knockout. The build quality shows extreme care. Even in this price range, few competitors put this much effort into the appearance of their monitors. To add to the glamour, there are no buttons visible on the front panel; on the edge there are three touch-sensitive controllers for power on/off and brightness adjustments. A light touch is all it takes to turn the monitor on. It’s very sensual and at the same time practical. Similarly, the hub connectors have been moved to the back of the panel. The massive aluminum base might appear light, but in fact it provides perfect stability. In short, it’s a magnificent-looking monitor and we frankly admit that the second we had it out of the box we wanted to keep it,” Tom’s Hardware Guide reports.

Unfortunately, according to Tom’s Hardware Guide, “Apple had the brilliant idea of molding the DVI cable, power supply and USB and FireWire connectors into a single cord that runs from the monitor. When I say I don’t see the point of this solution, it’s an understatement…. There’s no pivot mode, no built-in transformer… not even an onscreen display! You set the brightness on the fly by trial and error. We’ve already complained about ViewSonic and its numberless cursors. Apple goes them one better and offers no OSD at all.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: Pivot mode and onscreen displays are available to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger users. Obviously, Tom’s Hardware Guide only tested the monitor on a Windows PC which is like putting a Tiffany stained glass window into a yard shed.

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