[chrisutley]

I've been waiting to hear from people that have seen this firsthand. I have a first generation 20" ACD, would you say the iMac G5 20" is just as bright and of the same quality image?

[tigas]

I have never seen one, but I think you should *get real*.
Compare the price of the two. Do you think that the computer is free?

A better bet would be that the LCD would be the same as the one on the iLamp iMac. It happened. The original LCD on my Pismo was not much better than the one I saw later on a Wallstreet (an earlier Powerbook).

[pliny]

Well based on the quality of the picture at some extreme viewing angles in some photos posted in another thread, I'd say the picture on the G5 iMac is superior to that of the G4.

[chrisutley]

Get real? My display is nearly 2-years old. Computers and peripherals get faster and cheaper all the time. Get real? I have already come across many comments indicating the display is better than the iMac G4 20" panel. So shutty your mouth. Get real... pffffft.

Originally posted by tigas:
I have never seen one, but I think you should *get real*.
Compare the price of the two. Do you think that the computer is free?

A better bet would be that the LCD would be the same as the one on the iLamp iMac. It happened. The original LCD on my Pismo was not much better than the one I saw later on a Wallstreet (an earlier Powerbook).

[PKRADD]

Based on a visit to my local Apple Store yesterday I'd say the 17" iMac G5 screen is slightly brighter (difficult to ascertain due to lighting at the store and set up, however) and definately has a much wider viewing angle compared to my 17" iMac G4. It looks great.

[MaxPower2k3]

When the 20" G4 iMac came out, (if I remember correctly) apple said that it used the same LCD panel as the 20" cinema display. Also, when the 17" PB came out, they said it used the same LCD panel as the 17" G4 iMac, so I assume the G5 iMacs follow suit and use the same panels. It could very well be cheaper to buy tons of the same panel rather than buying some slightly better panels for the cinema displays and some slightly cheaper panels for the iMacs.

[pat++]

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
When the 20" G4 iMac came out, (if I remember correctly) apple said that it used the same LCD panel as the 20" cinema display. Also, when the 17" PB came out, they said it used the same LCD panel as the 17" G4 iMac, so I assume the G5 iMacs follow suit and use the same panels. It could very well be cheaper to buy tons of the same panel rather than buying some slightly better panels for the cinema displays and some slightly cheaper panels for the iMacs.

Amen to that. They probably use the exact same panels for the 20" iMac and the Cinema display, like they were doing before.

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by pat++:
Amen to that. They probably use the exact same panels for the 20" iMac and the Cinema display, like they were doing before.

i hope so for all those imac users =P

[GaelDesign]

I saw a 20" iMac G5 in person at the local Santa Rosa Mac Expo (Jason Snell of Macworld was there with a brand-new test unit from Apple). I got to see the screen -- briefly -- and I can tell you without reservation:

It was GORGEOUS!!!

First of all, yes, the viewing angle is incredible. There was practically NO color shift. It was really bright. The color was very rich and palpable. My iMac G4 screen (only 15"...waaaa) is over two years old, and while it's still bright and has pretty good color, it was totally obvious that the iMac G5 screen was a major leap forward. I haven't seen the new Cinema Displays yet, so I can easily say that the iMac G5 had the most beautiful screen I've ever seen in my entire life.

Wow.

Jared

[chrisutley]

Got to finally see the 20" model in person, and I believe the display looks better than the G4 20" iMac. The G4 display looked like the 17" PowerBook display to me. Not bad or anything, but not as bright and certainly not near as good a viewing angle. This display appears to be far more similar to my first generation 20" Cinema Display which was the best display Apple offered until the revised Al displays.

Long story short. The iMac display is nice enough that I'm ditching my ACD so I can have an iMac parked at home all the time with a big display, and my Al Book goes to work with me everyday.

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by chrisutley:
Got to finally see the 20" model in person, and I believe the display looks better than the G4 20" iMac. The G4 display looked like the 17" PowerBook display to me. Not bad or anything, but not as bright and certainly not near as good a viewing angle. This display appears to be far more similar to my first generation 20" Cinema Display which was the best display Apple offered until the revised Al displays.

Long story short. The iMac display is nice enough that I'm ditching my ACD so I can have an iMac parked at home all the time with a big display, and my Al Book goes to work with me everyday.

why ditch the acd? cant u use both? or are u selling so u can afford the imac?

[toti]

Originally posted by chrisutley:
Got to finally see the 20" model in person, and I believe the display looks better than the G4 20" iMac. The G4 display looked like the 17" PowerBook display to me. Not bad or anything, but not as bright and certainly not near as good a viewing angle. This display appears to be far more similar to my first generation 20" Cinema Display which was the best display Apple offered until the revised Al displays.

Long story short. The iMac display is nice enough that I'm ditching my ACD so I can have an iMac parked at home all the time with a big display, and my Al Book goes to work with me everyday.

Mmm.... the iMac 20" and the ACD/20" both have a 170º/170º viewing angle. The ACD has 400:1 contrast, whilst the iMac has 350:1, and the ACD has 250cd/m brightness whilst the iMac has 230cd/m. The brightness and contrast may attribute to different tubes used for backlighting, but it may just as well be due to a generation difference of the two...

From what I've heard, the 20" is nothing but gorgeous, and I have been wanting TOO long

[Maflynn]

I'd like apple to release some numbers, people's opinions while welcome and helpful are subjective. The proof will be in the tech specs but if the display is better, perhaps apple will not be releasing those numbers lest they angre the cinema display owners.

Mike

[storer]

Originally posted by tigas:
Compare the price of the two. Do you think that the computer is free?

Thats what i was thinking!

[jocker]

BS - The imac 17" display is far nicer than my powerbook 17" - I should know as I have both. Its all to do with power consumption.

I'll go out on a limb and say that the 20" imac display will be just as good as the 20" cinema display.

And when doing comparisons you muppets, please ensure brightness is max on both.

[chrisutley]

Originally posted by storer:
Thats what i was thinking!

Okay, but please consider a couple of things. First, I am comparing the FIRST generation Apple Cinema Display to the just now shipping iMac G5 display. The ACD I'm comparing is nearly 2-years old, older technology. So it's not a stretch to think that perhaps the new iMac displays have closed the gap or are at the minimum better than the last generation.

I've seen them in person, and determined that it's close enough that it won't bother me. Believe me, if every time I looked at the iMac and had to think "Gosh this looks like crap compared to my old ACD", I'd go nuts - off to eBay and back to an ACD. I'm crazy picky about stuff like that. Kind of like when I saw the 20" and 17" ACD next to each other. I went in to buy the 17", but next to the 20" it looked like garbage. I knew right then the 20" was the only option for me.

Now that monitor spanning appears to be working, I think I may go 17" iMac and keep my 20" - yum!

[toti]

Now that monitor spanning appears to be working, I think I may go 17" iMac and keep my 20" - yum! [/B]

That would be quite some feat.

The old 20" has got ADC. You can get DVI->ADC converters at Apple, but you can't get VGA->DVI there, and the iMac has only got a VGA connector.

I have seen a VGA->DVI converter for around US$300...

So to use your 20" monitor, you may well have to shell out $450 for the converters, and still get a fairly crappy image on an otherwise excellent display.

Of course, if I'm wrong about the VGA connector, I'd love to stand corrected, but I am 99.9999% sure I'm right ( otherwise, I can't read and then it's back to school for me )

[chrisutley]

Yeah, that's a good point. Doesn't matter for my case since I bought the 20" iMac tonight. The display looks great. I'd consider adding a second display in the 17" range, as I like having a screen with my Mail, iChat, iTunes, and other common always on apps.

Originally posted by toti:
That would be quite some feat.

The old 20" has got ADC. You can get DVI->ADC converters at Apple, but you can't get VGA->DVI there, and the iMac has only got a VGA connector.

I have seen a VGA->DVI converter for around US$300...

So to use your 20" monitor, you may well have to shell out $450 for the converters, and still get a fairly crappy image on an otherwise excellent display.

Of course, if I'm wrong about the VGA connector, I'd love to stand corrected, but I am 99.9999% sure I'm right ( otherwise, I can't read and then it's back to school for me )

[jamesa]

if some enterprising macnn'er wanted to do some digging, I reckon this could be settled - if you could get the response rate for the iMac monitor (in ms) then it would be an indication of which gen screen they're using. If's it's a 16ms response time, then we've got the same monitor as the current ACDs. If it's a 25ms response time, it's the previous gen monitor.

-- james

[Parky]

Originally posted by chrisutley:
Yeah, that's a good point. Doesn't matter for my case since I bought the 20" iMac tonight. The display looks great. I'd consider adding a second display in the 17" range, as I like having a screen with my Mail, iChat, iTunes, and other common always on apps.

You can't do that with the new iMac.

It only supports 'Mirrored' displays, i.e. the same image on both screens.

Ian

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

iMac 20-inch model
170° horizontal 170° vertical
Typical brightness: 230 cd/m
Typical contrast ratio: 350:1


20" LCD:
170° horizontal; 170° vertical
Brightness: 250 cd/m2
400:1

So the 20" Apple studio display is brighter and has a better contrast ratio.

[jamesa]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
iMac 20-inch model
170° horizontal 170° vertical
Typical brightness: 230 cd/m
Typical contrast ratio: 350:1


20" LCD:
170° horizontal; 170° vertical
Brightness: 250 cd/m2
400:1

So the 20" Apple studio display is brighter and has a better contrast ratio.

The definitive answer will be in the response times (which are notoriously difficult to find on the apple site) but it looks to me like they're the panels from the last cinema displays... if that.

-- james

[Will C]

Originally posted by Parky:
You can't do that with the new iMac.

It only supports 'Mirrored' displays, i.e. the same image on both screens.

Ian

Officially yes, however...

[radii_22]

I've seen the new iMacs in the Apple Expo of Paris, and I got to say that the quality of the screens appears to be the same as the iMac G4. The only thing that I've noted, is that the 20 inch iMac G5 screen appears to be a little bit "bulky" in comparison with the 20' iMac G4 and the new extremely beatiful cinema displays. I guess that's normal considering that the "computer is in the air", it will be a problem of adaptation to the new form factor.

Pd. I've seen a Power Mac G5 connected to two 30 inches cinema displays, running Motion. That's the most incredible thing that I've seen in my humble experience with technology. It's awesome, really.

[Eugene]

I did notice some ghosting on the 17" iMac display...something that is virtually non-existent on the 20" and 23" Apple Cinema Displays...

[jamesa]

Originally posted by Eugene:
I did notice some ghosting on the 17" iMac display...something that is virtually non-existent on the 20" and 23" Apple Cinema Displays...

OK Eugene, if your eyes are to be trusted I'm betting it's the old 25ms panel then

-- james

[OsakaBill]

Originally posted by chrisutley:
I've been waiting to hear from people that have seen this firsthand. I have a first generation 20" ACD, would you say the iMac G5 20" is just as bright and of the same quality image?

Why not just look up the technical specs on the two?

The new 20 Cinema Display has:
170 degree viewing angle
400:1 contrast ratio
250 cd/m2 brightness

The new 20 iMac G5 display has:
170 degree viewing angle
350:1 contrast ratio
230 cd/m2 brightness

The ADC 20 Cinema Display (2002-2003) has:
170 degree viewing angle
350:1 contrast ratio
230 cd/m2 brightness

The iMac G4 (USB 2.0) has:
120 degree viewing angle
300:1 contrast ratio
200 cd/m2 brightness

The original ADC display line-up has:
160 degree viewing angle
300:1 contrast ratio
200 cd/m2 brightness

So it would seem that the iMac G5 has an LCD display which should be similar in quality as the last of the ADC display built by Apple, slightly behind the quality of the current DVI displays, and leaps and bounds ahead of the old iMac G4 and original ADC displays.

[chrisutley]

So based on the specs, the answer to my original question is "Yes". I'm glad that I was able to reach that conclusion using my eyes before seeing the specs, gives me some added confidence when evaluating displays and that plasma screen I want for the living room.

[rotuts]

I just went down to apple palo alto to see the 20" iMac

the reps there assured me that the displays are the same in the 20" iMac and the cinema displays.

they booth look great

however, maybe he was mis-informed based on the specs that are mentioned above.

doen't help much, but if one was in the market for the 20" imac, one would be very happy with it.

of course, there is the dreaded dead pixel problem!

rotut

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by jamesa:
The definitive answer will be in the response times (which are notoriously difficult to find on the apple site) but it looks to me like they're the panels from the last cinema displays... if that.

-- james

Uh not for me, brightness and contrast is more important for everything except for gaming.

So it seem the displays are NOT the same and 20" ASD is better.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by pat++:
Amen to that. They probably use the exact same panels for the 20" iMac and the Cinema display, like they were doing before.

Of course.
Think in economic terms: it's much cheaper for Apple to buy ONE model in greater quanities than two or three in smaller qts.

-t

[rotuts]

interesting point.

but if they are different, and they seem to be, Im guessing that they might just be using up older inventory and then when thats done the specs change to the ACD.

one techy at the Apple store seemed to know a little more about it and couln'd say:

note that the ACD 20" has specs that are not quite as good as the ACD 23" and 30"

rotut