Apple today unveiled the LED Cinema Display featuring a 24-inch LED-backlit widescreen display with built-in iSight video camera, mic and speakers in an elegant, thin aluminum and glass enclosure. Designed for the new MacBook family, the LED Cinema Display includes an integrated MagSafe charger, three USB 2.0 ports and the new Mini DisplayPort, making it easy for MacBook users to quickly connect and power their notebooks as well as use their favorite peripherals.
“The new LED Cinema Display is the most advanced display that Apple has ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in the press release. “It is a perfect fit for our sleek new line of aluminum MacBooks with its 24-inch LED-backlit screen, aluminum and glass enclosure, integrated camera, mic and speakers, MagSafe charger, three USB ports and Mini DisplayPort.”
The 24-inch glossy, widescreen display with 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution uses LED-backlit technology to provide instant full-screen brightness and great power efficiency. Suspended by an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge that makes tilting the display almost effortless, the new display includes a built-in iSight video camera, mic and speakers, making it ideal for video conferencing with iChat, listening to music or watching movies. The new display also includes three self-powered USB 2.0 ports so users can simply leave their printer, camera, iPhone 3G or iPod dock connected when they take their MacBook with them. The sleek, thin display also includes a built-in universal MagSafe charger so users can conveniently leave their notebook’s MagSafe power adapter in their travel bag.
The new LED Cinema Display is the greenest Apple display ever, made with mercury-free LED technology, arsenic-free glass and highly recyclable materials. The LED Cinema Display meets stringent Energy Star 4.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status. The new display contains no brominated flame retardants, all internal cables and components are PVC-free and its foam packaging has been reduced by 44 percent.
Part of the next-generation DisplayPort industry standard, the new Mini DisplayPort delivers a pure digital signal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display. The Mini DisplayPort is ultra-compact at just 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector, perfect for the sleek design of the new MacBook family. Adapters are available for using the MacBook’s Mini DisplayPort with older generation VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays.
The new LED Cinema Display will be available in November through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of US$899. The LED Cinema Display requires a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with the new Mini DisplayPort.
More info about Apple’s new 24-inch LED Cinema Display here.
To commenters above and future:
FW800 includes FW400. There is a FW400 to 800 cable for all your legacy videocams and external hard drives. Also, most external hard drives these days allow daisychaining of drives, so only one port is usually necessary. And many drive manufacturers include FW800 ports, so you have the option of much greater speed, especially for Time Machine backups, which can otherwise slow the system.
re: New Macbook Display: I agree that it’s disappointing that this isn’t a solution for Mac Pro computers yet. It’s clearly intended for the MacBook family (even has a MagSafe connector). Hopefully there will be new Cinema Displays for the rest of us come January MacWorld.
I’m so amazed by all the comments from people who claim that glossy is “teh best” and how matte users are conservative, stupid nay-sayers. Let’s just face it, one of the largest industries depending on Apple hardware happens to be the printing industry. Now, if you start to alienate this whole industry by producing unacceptable hardware, they will start to look elsewhere. As a shareholder I must say that I’m worried about this…arrogance, or stupidity on Apple’s behalf.
The glass screens look and work great, and if the glare is a problem for you, anti-glare films are easy to find.
If there is legitimate complaint about using an anti-glare film, I’ve yet to hear it.
It seems that my next laptop is MBP, since I prefer FW.
do they actually expect people to buy new video cameras just to be able to use iMovie.
I like the portability of my MB, but I have FW-only peripherals! You bastards!
“I’d be willing to bet that all the screens are going glossy due to Apple’s efforts to go green.”
Aha! I think you’re right. This suggests to me that eventually, “due to overwhelming customer complaints,” a matte screen will be offered–AFTER Apple has boasted far and wide about its 4.0 environmental gold star.
Hang tough for a month or two.
@ Grrrilla
Yes, the MacBook Pro has FW 800 but NO FW of any sort on the the Macbooks.
And yes, $899 seems pretty expensive at this point, for a 24 inch display. Although, their computers suck, Dell has an excellent 24 inch display for around $600.
neomonkey:
“Aren’t CRTs glossy? I don’t get the stupid complaints about glossy, they just look better.”
No, good quality CRTs made by Sony, NEC, Mitsubishi, Apple, etc., have/had anti-glare coatings and matte finishes. Apple’s glossy LCDs aren’t as bad as some make them out to be, but I still prefer my matte 30″ ACD for long hours of image processing. The extra apparent saturation, contrast and sharpness of the glossy displays might be great for games and movies, but, like excess brightness, they make it harder to correlate onscreen images to printed output.
For professional photographers, matte is the way to go.
If I remember well, the graphic design professionals all used to buy CRT monitors with special hoods lined with soft black material inside, so that they would elliminate any reflections from ambient light, as well as elliminate any ambient light, period. I could never understand how graphic design professionals abandoned those hoods when they moved to the LCD displays. The point of these hoods wasn’t only to elliminate reflections; it was to make it easier to see accurate colour and nothing else. Much like when a film director edits the film, he does it in a dark room, where the only visible thing is the screen; or when a sound producer edits/records audio in a sound-proof room, so the only sound heard is that of the audio content coming from studio monitors.
I am wondering how many “grahic professionals” here are really graphic professionals if they work in a brightly-lit room when working with graphic; that would be exactly like sound recording studio with a wide open window facing a busy city street.
For real professionals, glossy is a non-issue; they normally work in a dimly lit room — no glare there.
Grrrila, what is your point? MacBooks do not have Firewire 800.
Can we get this straight?
And introducing a display that only works with 3 computers in the world? What is Jobs thinking?
I hopped off the Apple wagon over a year ago. Jobs in riding you fanboys for all it’s worth. The iPhone rocks. Macs are for coffee shops.
Predrag-
Finally, some sanity! I’ve been thinking the same thing.
I don’t get the stupid complaints about glossy<i>
“Optometrists say that staring at glare-covered computer screens doesn’t just strain the eyes, it may cause blurred vision and headaches. The problem is called Computer Vision Syndrome or CVS.”
-<i>Popular Mechanics, November 2008
But don’t just take PM’s word for it.
A quick Google search shows CVS is prevalent, and screen glare is a primary culprit.
So why would Apple, the masters of user experience, even dream of punishing their users, esp. their core PRO users, with glossy screens?!?
What next, Steve? PC-style fan roar? You are dead Dead DEAD wrong here.
For everyone who wants to do video, it’s called a MacBook Pro.
My wife’s an optometrist, and staring at a computer screen does not harm your eyes (same for TVs). What people do is they don’t blink enough, which results in dry eyes as well. The Computer Vision Syndrome is someone having to come up with a label for “you’re staring at the screen too long and hard”.
And I’m sure the next generation of AppleTVs, Mac Minis, iMacs and Mac Pros will have the mini DisplayPort, they just haven’t been updated yet. Jeez, it’s amazing how people demand everything at once, and yesterday.
Some of you are missing the point when it comes to matte vs. glossy. The issue is not just glare: glossy screens tend to show over-saturated, overly-vibrant colors. This is great if you’re watching a movie, playing a game, or viewing photographs. But, when you are **editing** photos or video, you are not necessarily seeing colors as they truly are.
I find this especially true with photographs: when a photo is printed, a subtractive process is used (traditionally CMYK), meaning that the more ink you add, the darker the image is. A monitor uses additive color (RGB), meaning that the more colors you add, the lighter an image is, resulting in pure white when the RGB values are 255, 255, 255. The result is that what looks nice and vibrant on a glossy screen can look quite muted and muddy when the image is printed. The matte screen will generally give a much more accurate view of what the final print will look like.
I hope this enlightens those who think that those who prefer matte screens are just whining.
Why hasn’t anyone noticed that this display is a stepping stone to the patent pending display that Apple applied for. Remember? The one that can house a laptop inside.very convenient that all the upgraded laptops have port connectors on one side and the DVD drive on the other. Hmmmm….
The whole “matte = more accurate color” myth is one that simply needs to die. In fact, “matte = color diluted by the refraction of ambient light” is actually much closer to the truth.
And then we have the “matte = required for professional results” myth as well. Please! The truth is that no 6-bit TN notebook display is suitable for truly color-accurate work. The simulation of darker shades via temporal dithering should be of far greater concern than the whole glossy vs. matte debate of shame. And don’t get me started on the pathetic contrast ratios, black levels, gamma curves, and gamut coverage of LCD technology as a whole. With all that in mind, surface coating as it relates to color reproduction becomes little more than a minor nit in a sea of flaws.
Now glare, that’s another story. Glossy displays definitely require more consideration when it comes to the placement of ambient light sources. But that’s not an absolute barrier to using glossy displays in a production environment.
The lack of Firewire ports on this display is a deal-breaker for me.
If this is truly, “The first display made precisely for the MacBook”, Apple left something sitting on the dock back in China.
in all fairness this is a high-end display for the home of the high-end road warrior. (though that it doesn’t have firewire is almost unbelievable). it is an addition to the cinema-display line. for picture and videoediting the “old” cinema displays are still available. so nothing to complain here. it is however extremly expensive (you get a dell 24″ same resolution monitor + webcam + 5.1. soundsystem for 400). and i guess only a few customers care about LED. so i am afraid only a very few people will justify to spend 500 more on better design and integration.
If anyone is trying to work with colors on any monitor and expect them to come out like on screen then they should be brought out back and shot. There is a thing called pantone, and spot colors… You can use swatches which all professionals do when getting things printed.. I would know.. I work at a printing company. Besides that.. I am highly disappointed in the specs of this monitor vs the Dell… even though the dell looks horrid… you get a much better screen.
@Predrag
I agree… I dont think people really understand that sure you can draw stuff in photoshop all you want.. but when it comes to printing your material.. no screen out there will do you justice. For a while now and still to this day you get a more accurate feel of colors on a CRT vs an LCD.. but things are so much better with LCDs these days than there used to be.
Also, where in the hell do you see a part in here mentioning no firewire in the macbook????? please someone tell me? For 1 just like someone else mentioned FW800 can be downed down to a FW400 with a cable so that just blew out your lame ranting of no FW400.
Another note… most people designing on a laptop are using a MBP and NOT a MacBook. Sure I’ve seen it done but there is a reason why they spend a little more to get alot better and faster and bigger computer. Designing or editing on a 13″ screen is torture to me but then again I have never liked laptops at all. I prefer desktop but thats just me and I’d get one if I did travel alot.
ok so this might sound stupid but can it work just as a regular computer like do u have to hook it up to a notebook or can u use it as is b/c that would be cool if not its lame