[Thilo Ettelt]

Hi, I'm looking into displays and I found out that formac 20" displays are way cheaper than the apple cinema display with 20" and they even offer more pixels (1600x1200 vs. 1680x1050 or so). But I wonder how the psychological factor plays in. I love the widescreen display of the 15" Powerbooks. But I like to have a very high resolution too and I'm not to contend with my 15" (1024x768) LCD screen right now.

So would a cinema display be worth spending the extra money and feeling better or will the 4:3 display will do good as well? I fear I have no opportunity to test the 4:3 display at any store So I would greatly appreciate if somebody could take screenshots for me...


Thanks in advance,
Thilo

[thePurpleGiant]

Personally, i have become very accustomed to using a widescreen monitor, and use 4:3 monitors elsewhere feels quite strange these days. I think you are right, it is part psychological - but a wide screen is much more usefall to me than a square one, since I can fit two full windows next to each other, or have a window open + palettes, buddy lists etc.

I couldn't recommend the Cinema display enough, if you have the money that is. It's wonderful.

[Thilo Ettelt]

Could you take a fullscreen screenshot for me with two Windows open please?


- Thilo

[iDaver]

Originally posted by Thilo Ettelt:
Hi, I'm looking into displays and I found out that formac 20" displays are way cheaper than the apple cinema display with 20" and they even offer more pixels (1600x1200 vs. 1680x1050 or so).

The Formac has more pixels but they are the same price; $1299. I would recommend the wide screen unless you do certain tasks for which more vertical resolution would be helpful.

[motti]

Originally posted by Thilo Ettelt:
So would a cinema display be worth spending the extra money and feeling better or will the 4:3 display will do good as well? I fear I have no opportunity to test the 4:3 display at any store So I would greatly appreciate if somebody could take screenshots for me...


Thanks in advance,
Thilo

Aren't the formac 2010 displays widescreen? If Apple doesn't refresh it's display line very soon (I'm sick of waiting now almost a whole year!), I'll go with formac.

[iDaver]

Originally posted by motti:
Aren't the formac 2010 displays widescreen? If Apple doesn't refresh it's display line very soon (I'm sick of waiting now almost a whole year!), I'll go with formac.

I'm pretty tired of waiting too.

The Formac 20" is 4:3 ratio. Their 19 and 17" models are 5:4 (both 1280 x 1024) like Apple's 17" Studio Display. Apple's Cinema Displays are 16:10. Here's a link to Formac:
Formac Displays

There's no question that Formac makes nice displays. I'd rather have the wide screen though. C'mon Apple, I'm waiting, so far.

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally posted by iDaver:
The Formac has more pixels but they are the same price; $1299. I would recommend the wide screen unless you do certain tasks for which more vertical resolution would be helpful.

Not for me. Here in Germany I can get a 20" Apple Cinema Display for €1285. And a Formac TFT 20" for €1080. That's quite a difference.


- Thilo

[iDaver]

Originally posted by Thilo Ettelt:
Not for me. Here in Germany I can get a 20" Apple Cinema Display for €1285. And a Formac TFT 20" for €1080. That's quite a difference.


- Thilo

Hmmm, that would probably be a deciding factor for me. I understand the Formacs are brighter with better pixel response than the current Cinemas.

[motti]

Hey Thilo, have a look at this comparison if you haven't already:
http://www.formac.com/p_bin/index_de...ry2010_compare

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally posted by motti:
Hey Thilo, have a look at this comparison if you haven't already:
http://www.formac.com/p_bin/index_de...ry2010_compare

Thank you. When I have an eye on the resolutions again then it seems to me that the "widescreen advantage" is not really one as both displays have a width of 1600 pixels. The only difference between the two displays when watching a dvd for example would be one has a smaller border, but when it comes to viewing two pages side by side, or positioning different windows all over the screen then both screens do it equally well, with the Formac display having the bonus of 150 pixels (or so) height.

I guess I will take the Formac display... (due to the lower pricing)


- Thilo

[iDaver]

FYI, that comparison is to the original Cinema 22", not the 20" Cinema which has slightly better specs.

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
Personally, i have become very accustomed to using a widescreen monitor, and use 4:3 monitors elsewhere feels quite strange these days. I think you are right, it is part psychological - but a wide screen is much more usefall to me than a square one, since I can fit two full windows next to each other, or have a window open + palettes, buddy lists etc.

Thing is, a 20" LCD (1600x1200) has virtually the same horizontal resolution as Apple's 20" widescreen (and exactly the same as my 22" Cinema Display). A 20" (4:3) just offers more vertical resolution (1200 pix vs. 1050 pix).

You can get the same two windows side by side on a 4:3 20" and have more room left at the bottom.

I've had a 22" Cinema Display for a couple years now, and while it's a great display, I'd love to have a 1600x1200 screen versus my 1600x1024. I do a lot of writing, and the vertical space would help me see more of the page, while I would be loosing any horizontal space. Perhaps come June or July I'll get a 20" 4:3 display with pivot feature and a retail ATI Radeon 9800 card (these have pivot-compatible VersaVision in the drivers).

[motti]

Originally posted by Thilo Ettelt:

I guess I will take the Formac display... (due to the lower pricing)


- Thilo

Hi Thilo,

how is your new display? May I ask you where you bought it (assuming that you have) and how satisfied you are?
I'm so tired of waiting for new ACD and my eyes are tired of looking at a broken 14" lcd...

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally posted by motti:
Hi Thilo,

how is your new display? May I ask you where you bought it (assuming that you have) and how satisfied you are?
I'm so tired of waiting for new ACD and my eyes are tired of looking at a broken 14" lcd...

I've actually changed my mind. I had a look into g'ol' CRTs and I actually found a decent one with only the the fraction of price of the LCD.

Thus I have bought the Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454 (HM903DT). It was only 236 euros and features a max resolution of 1940x1440 at 86 Hz or 1600x1200 at 104 Hz, which is pretty good. It is a 19" CRT, and I actually like it, i never thought I'd be going to back to a CRT but the huge screen space is awesome. And my eyes are getting tired from both looking at a CRT or LCD, it doesn't matter.


- Thilo

EDIT: Link to the product page here and a cool screenshot here