“Apple is prepping for Cinema Display refreshes for the Macworld San Francisco 2009 conference which takes place between January 5th-9th, 2009 at the Moscone Center. The new Cinema Displays are expected to incorporate LED backlights to fulfill Steve Jobs’ promise that Apple would completely eliminate flourescent-backlit displays,” Arnold Kim reports for MacRumors.
“The transition timeframe depended on ‘how fast the industry [could] transition to LED backlighting for larger displays,'” Kim reports. “While LED displays as large as 30″ are commercially available, they still appear to be cost prohibitive with Samsung’s 30″ LED display priced at $4735.”
Full article here.
What is the advantage of LED?
Its brighter, uses less electricity, lasts longer, but is more expensive for initial cost.
It may sound elemental, but if you’re monitoring technology advances, by contrast or by definition, one aspect is that the future of displays looks bright?
I do believe Apple will poor out a new range of displays… but i’m pretty sure the pictures seen these days aren’t reflecting the new serie: Apple might go for a more panoramic shape.
Here comes the “GLOSSY” complainers again…I thought they would never go away and now they are coming back.
I hope these new displays have 8 bit LCD’s and have higher resolution (more LCD pixels/inch)
Glossy Screens Hurt my Eyes!! owe!
It’s about time. Today’s Apple Cinema Displays are so old that they’re actually THICKER than the iMac! There’s no excuse for Apple to have gone so long without a refresh. Even Dell surpassed Apple in display technology, quality, design, and price. Apple should be embarrassed to be selling these fatties in 2008.
@Nick: Fail.
ACDs are 8-bit.
MacBook & MacBook Pro are 6-bit.
@Danger Frog.
When used as a basic computer monitor, LED backlighting doesn’t mean a lot. But if you view movies, TV or other important visual graphics, LED backlighting can do something that current fluorescents can’t. The individual backlighting LEDs can be controlled independently. This means that a screen’s brightness can be simultaneously very bright in some areas and very dark in others. Colors and contrast can be vastly enhanced over what is currently possible with standard LED screens.
“Here comes the “GLOSSY” complainers again…I thought they would never go away and now they are coming back.”
Where does it say anything about Glossy?
I doubt they will go with glossy as it would seriously interfere with professional users daily tasks. Way too reflective. I for one will switch to another company’s displays if Apple were to only offer glossy for their pro systems.
Besides, “brighter, uses less electricity, last longer”, it also doesn’t have any harmful elements to the environment.
About glossy. When the backlight is bright, the glossy complaints should disappear. It’s like a window. During the day, when viewing a window from outside, you get reflections. However, at night, when the light inside the building is brighter than the ambient light outside, the glossiness issue disappears.
@Growl: Damn. I really needed your approval.
I’m so ready for this. Show me the mon… er… screens!
I’ve had my 24″ iMac for 9 months now and not once has the glossy screen been an issue. It’s sitting in the middle of a well sun-lit room too.
The HD screen is absolutely beautiful and sadly to say, it no longer “looks” like 24 inches anymore, however I could never go back to CRT and could care less about matte.
5 words: Apple TV integrated Cinema Displays.
Ah, I see. Instead of a fluorescent bulb you’ve got a bunch of little independently controlled LEDs. So the upper left hand section could be bright as the sun (perhaps during a movie scene that shows the sun rising) while the rest of them are dim.
Sounds good.
@ Nick Fury
“It may sound elemental, but if you’re monitoring technology advances, by contrast or by definition, one aspect is that the future of displays looks bright?”
Hey… ignore Growl. He used to be Peterson.
I thought your post was almost Amparsian!
Nice.
If Apple provides a simple way to mount the displays on standard four point mounts and the new displays cut down on power use, we’ll start replacing the displays on our trade stations with LED backlit models cutting costs on power savings and air conditioning.
Just bought a 32″ LCD TV for the cottage and plug my MacBook in to watch movies, works just fine, using VGA connector for the moment. It works just fine, and when I need a bigger screen I’ve got it. This is a good argument for a smaller more compact MacBook, not to mention a really Apple TV that is intended to double as a computer monitor. This outclasses my 24″ iMac when it comes to watching movies, and I assume will work a bit better than cable with my Elgato hybrids. What am I missing?
iSight anybody?
Corrections: remove “works just fine”..once is enough. Change really to real.
Apologies.
A few months back, I was reading about LCD displays and how a different amount of dead or stuck pixels were acceptable, according to the quality standards of each manufacturer or seller. After reading a few newer iMac and off-brand horror stories, I wanted to check my old 23 inch ACD.
After downloading a couple of LCD screen tests, I was unable to detect any dead or stuck pixels on my screen. This screen is six years old, and I use it every day.
Good Stuff!