serious help choosing (cinema) display for my G5..

[alexandr]

i've finally decided to jump on the wagon, and by a G5 powermac. i'm just gonna hold out until the next rev(wich wont be long, i hope..)

anyway, i need some display(s) to go with it, but since i know squat about the LCD/plasma/flatscreen-technology, i figured to ask here;

i have following possibilities cash-wise;

* get two 20" apple cinema displays
* get one 23" apple cinema display(and maybe get another one a bit down the road??)
* get a bigger, -> 30", combined TV/display
* go with other, more cheap brands

my needs is the following;

at the moment i use two screens whenever i'm home - the 12"-screen on my iBook and a hyundai 17" CRT(wich i am soooo longing to throw out!) - in split-screen-mode using screen doctor expaner(or whatever the name is)
thing is, i really like the comfort of dual displays, so letting this go would be hard. but i also plan to get either the elgato TVEye or the alchemy TV-card so i can watch and record tv-programs, using the display as my main TV kind of.
and thats where it kinda crashes - 20" seems really small, watching TV on such a small screen gives me no great pleasure.. by getting the 23" i lose the ability to work splitscreen.

anyone have any experience, or comments to share about this? what would you go with?

and what about the possibility of going with a display with integrated tuner(a TV)? is there any flatscreens out there at the moment wich will offer me the same pleasure as a display with the purpose of being a computer-display??
and what about graphic-cards, do they all support TV's, or should this be a concern?
i figured so far i should get a TV with either a VGA-in or a DVI-in, to avoid adapters wich may cause quality loss, or is this not really important?

and last; the apple displays look the best, no doubt, but do they offer their price? i mean, maybe other displays look more like.. eh.. displays, but have greater specs picture-wise? on a scale, where would you put apple-displays if you look away from their cool appearance..?

please, share your comments, thoughts, photos(if anybody has one of the set-ups mentioned above). i deeply appreciate any help - i've been loosing sleep over this question

alex.

[Tommo]

Assuming you are planning to locate yourself quite a distance from the displays I would suggest one large display rather than two 20" ones. I have a user who has a similar setup on their desk and are starting to suffer neck problems from the amopunt of head turning needed to cover a desktop that large.

If you are in the UK you will get better results from a hard disk/DVD recorder and a digital box than trying to set things up through a computer (PC or Mac).

[Lt Major Burns]

apple's displays are by far the best you can get at the moment - i've researched this and they really are that good.

if you look for a 23" lcd anywhere else, they'll be possibly even more expensive, look a lot worse (:P), but crucially, will only run at a maximum of 1280x1024 screen res. this is awful when you consider the 20" runs at 1680x1050 - there's just that much more room to work, you no longer need dual screens! the resolution for their 30" is something silly like 2480x1920 which is like having dual screens anyway (in fact, the 30" cinema display is two 20"ers 'glued' together, hense the need for two monitor dvi cables...)

i have a 20" and as you can see in my sig. it really is the best thing i've ever spent £800 on - if i could have stretched to the 23" i would - it's possibly the best screen on the market today (the fact that the 30" is two displays can only really cause problems, as far as i can see, and are kinda beset with dead pixel already, be careful).


buy the 23", i would say.

PS it will also run full resolution HD movies in full screen (HD1920x1280)

[Lt Major Burns]

wait. i'm talking out of my arse (again) when i was looking around for my monitor, everything all the way upto 30" 3rd party displays were all 1280x1024 native resolutions apple pioneered the use of 100ppi screens but the marjet has caught up now (since october) with the 5 major rivals all offering very good alternatives all running at HD resolution, and all around the same price as apples (£1100/1200). the only benefit therefore is the Jonathan Ive design (which is sumptuous - i often stroke my screen. am i sad? it IS very smooth and solid though - a dream of well manufactured 2mm aluminium and touch buttons) and the fact that there are 2x usb2 and 2x firewire400 ports in the back of it - mine are full.

the choice is yours, and apple prices are very good at the moment. you will only buy the apple for it's looks and build quality - from a technical standpoint they have been caught up by the rivals (though not surpassed, yet)

[bobw]

My choice would be two 20". You'll have much more screen area.

[alexandr]

thanks alot, lt major burns and bobw, for the comments. please keep em coming..
interessting views concerning the evolution of apples sompetitors.. who exatcly do you mean by apples 5 rivals, btw?

alex.

[quiksan]

only considering Apple displays (I've not researched others, but the quality is definitely up there with Apple), 2 20" displays is the best bang for the buck, hands down. 40" combined for $2000? yeah, that's the way to go IMO.

That's what I've been planning for a while (and will continue to plan until my wife talks in her sleep and gives me the ok. )

[alexandr]

yeah, i get your point, 40 inches and all, but i still can't use more than 20" at once watchin the telly, now can i...?

thats the only thing holding me back..

btw, is it possible to use the 20"/23"-displays as a second display with my G3 iBook? thats might be a + if it just might be able to power the 20" and not the 23" f. ex..

alex.