[Ph.D.]

Here's a very concise review of the new Apple 27" display.

I'm using it with a 2008 Mac Pro with a 5770 card. It replaced a 23" aluminum Apple cinema display from the Power Mac era. The old monitor was turning pink and the edges were decaying, and my old video card (an 8800) fried. This served well for about 5 years, but wow, this new display (and card) is very nice!

The pros:

• It's beautiful and sleek. It's vastly more refined in appearance and construction compared to my old 23" Apple display.
• It has gloriously rich colors, and it's very bright.
• The blacks in a lit room are very black.
• It nicely integrates the display (of course), speakers and camera.
• It's huge and tall. Sure, it's not 30", but it's a very noticeable step up over a 23 or 24" display. It's so tall that you may have to tilt it down a fair amount to get the camera focused on you (but it doesn't tilt down very far).
• The speakers are reasonably powerful. They aren't audiophile quality, but they are not bad either.
• It stays remarkably cool (but see below).

The cons:

• Some will dislike the glossy display. Others will find the cost too high. Neither bothered me too much. In fact, as I have mine in a reflection-free room, I find the glossy display to be stunning.
• What's up with that egregiously-stingy 1 meter cord? I mean, REALLY! If you have a Mac Pro, you might as well budget for an extension cord right from day one. Yes, good 1-3 meter extension cables (I have a 3 meter one) appear to work without problem. However, watch out for the USB length - 6 feet is about the limit for that.
• It's so wide that, despite the top-notch technology, the edges of the display may appear to shift slightly when you are sitting at typing distance (when dimmed in a dark room, at least).
• In a dark room, you get a modest amount of the usual LCD indigo glow when the display is black, though this is also vastly better than my old display.
• (Edited) A faint, low-pitched hissing noise emanates from the speaker-vent area. Apparently, there is a fan buried in the monitor. The sound is only noticeable when it's very quiet. The display barely budges above room temperature, and hence a fan makes sense. This was a surprise and a disappointment for me, as I am very sensitive to background noise. But it is not too bad, and most people would likely never hear it at all.
• It's so big that you will lose your cursor now and then, at least at first - but that's a good thing!

If anyone has any questions about any details, feel free to ask.

Cheers

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Ph.D. 

However, watch out for the USB length - 6 feet is about the limit for that.

USB2 allows for 16 ft per cable and daisy chaining up to 5 cables with active repeaters (which consume 1 unit of power each) for a total of 82 feet plus the devices cable.

[Ph.D.]

Well, I can say from personal experience that a lot of USB devices will not work with longer than about 2 meters of passive extension cable. As my computer is in a remote location, all of my devices are via extensions. I've had to mess with quite a few of them to get them all to work.

Here's the thing: I'm discussing extension cables. Add 3 meters of extension to a device with a 2 meter cord, and you're right about at the limit. Furthermore, the extension connection reduces signal integrity. Some devices, in practice, just won't work. Sticking with 2 meters of extension is normally fine. I'm just suggesting that people be cautious about this.

The good news is that reasonable display port extensions are possible. I can report that the "Dr. Bott" 3 meter display port extension cable, with its active USB repeater, works fine.

Cheers

[imitchellg5]

There was a fan in the 24" LED, so I have no doubt that there is one in the 27". Thanks for the review.

[Ph.D.]

That's an interesting comment. I also have a 24" display at work. It's dead silent, and I doubt it has a fan. But I'll look into it further.

[olePigeon]

For someone named Ph.D., you'd think you could use an apostrophe correctly.

Other than that, nice review. I'm not a fan of glossy screens at all, the glare bugs the hell out of me.

[-Q-]

I'm betting the display is targeted towards the portable, consumer user, hence the shorter cabling. If you're plugging it into a Macbook or MBP, having 6 ft. of cable would be superfluous in most instances.

Thanks for the review.

[Ph.D.]

Even with a laptop, the cable is insufferably short. With a Mac Pro, the logistics are almost impossible.

When they took away floppies, they were ahead of the curve. When they take away a meter of cable, they are just being annoying.

P.S.: Evidently, I forgot to write "someone will bitch about a minor error in punctuation."

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Ph.D. 

That's an interesting comment. I also have a 24" display at work. It's dead silent, and I doubt it has a fan. But I'll look into it further.

No, the 24" Apple LED DOES have a fan. It's in the technical manual. Even instructions on how to replace it.

[Ph.D.]

I hadn't suspected that. Perhaps it only turns on when it's warm?

I guess a fan explains the sound I'm hearing from the 27" one. Thanks.

By the way, where does one find these sorts of manuals?

Cheers.

[imitchellg5]

You have to be an Apple certified tech If you'd like the one for the 27" LED, I'd be happy to forward a copy along to you. PM me your email address.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Ph.D. 

Well, I can say from personal experience that a lot of USB devices will not work with longer than about 2 meters of passive extension cable. As my computer is in a remote location, all of my devices are via extensions. I've had to mess with quite a few of them to get them all to work.

Here's the thing: I'm discussing extension cables. Add 3 meters of extension to a device with a 2 meter cord, and you're right about at the limit. Furthermore, the extension connection reduces signal integrity. Some devices, in practice, just won't work. Sticking with 2 meters of extension is normally fine. I'm just suggesting that people be cautious about this.

The USB2 cable run lengths are primarily limited by latency, and the impact of a connector on latency is negligible. A 5m extension cable with an active repeater should be fine with any powered device (or bus powered devices that only require 4 units).

[chabig]

I've had mine a week. I use it with my 13" MacBook Pro and this is my first desktop display. It's really nice.

[Ph.D.]

OK, at first I thought it was "just me," but by now I'm convinced that there are some problems with the sound from this monitor.

The sound has cut out a few times now. Playing with system preferences, etc., does not fix it. Switching cables around, etc., does not fix it. A reboot does not fix it. So far, only a full, hard, power-down and restart will revive the sound.

I'm still trying to understand the problem, and I'll keep people informed.

Cheers.

[Ph.D.]

Here's an update on the sound issue:

Complete sound cut-outs have been a daily event, sometimes two or three times a day. The only way I've found to restore sound is to shut the power down completely (e.g., by removing the monitor's power cord). A reboot isn't enough.

I just noticed and downloaded a software update patch for the 27" monitor. I hope this solves the problem!

Another oddity is that some programs that use sound cause the fan to come on instantly, even when no sound is actually playing. A slight "pop" and a persistent hiss accompanies this. This behavior was not changed by the patch.

I have to say I'm a little unhappy about the fan and sound issues. My 24" monitor's fan has never come on once, and I don't understand why this fan needs to be so aggressive. It's not like the monitor becomes even slightly warm.

One last factoid: The monitor actually has 3 speakers: Left, right and a "sub-woofer". It does sound good and strong for such small, built-in speakers.

Cheers.

[chabig]

It sounds like you got a bad display. I suggest you take it back for replacement or warranty service.

[Eug]

My concise review of the 27":

It's too tall. I may downgrade to a 21.5" later, unless Apple removes the chin. For someone who isn't tall (me), the 27" isn't very ergonomic, all because of that chin. It forces me to look up at the screen, when the seat and table height are properly set up.

[Ph.D.]

An update on the sound/fan issues:

Since the software update, I have not experienced a loss of sound. Hopefully it will stay that way.

The "fan noise" is no longer essentially constant. The weird thing: Now I believe that the "fan noise" is actually hiss from the speakers. I can't prove this without observing the fan in action, but I also note that there is never any meaningful breeze from the vents whether the "fan" is on or not.

Now the hiss starts with a slight pop every time sound is played. It stops about 30 seconds, with another softer pop, after the sound stops (e.g., if you pause Itunes). If you are listening to music or playing games, this is nothing at all. But it starts and stops even for alert sounds, which is a little annoying.

Another irritation: My old speakers (from a Cube) have been disabled (support pulled) as of 10.6.4, which ironically is necessary for the monitor. The monitor's speakers are louder and sound better, but the Cube speakers didn't suffer from any hiss at all. Win some, lose some, I guess.

(Eug, were you discussing an Imac? No chin on the monitor.)

Cheers.

[chabig]

Originally Posted by Eug 

It's too tall. I may downgrade to a 21.5" later, unless Apple removes the chin.

Wrong topic. You have an iMac. This thread is about the LED Cinema Display.

[Eug]

Doh! My bad. The fan talk prolonged my confusion, too.

That said, it's still very tall, and AFAIK, not height adjustable. Not as tall as the 27" iMac though.

[reader50]

Eug, you could get the VESA bracket and do an arm mount. Put your iMac just above the desktop.

[Eug]

I'd been considering a VESA mount solution actually. It may make more sense to just downgrade when the smaller iMac comes out for cheap though. Depends on the cost benefit ratio. I find I'm not using the 27" to its max, since I use dual screens anyway. Two 1920x1XXX screens is enough for my purposes, and any quad-core machine is fast enough for my needs as long as it has a decent GPU and sufficient RAM.

Sorry to hijack the thread though. It was definitely not intentional.

[Ph.D.]

OK, I was hopeful for a while, but:

• The sound does continue to cut-out completely, requiring a full power-down to restore.
• The fan or speaker hiss behavior remains substantially unchanged.

I'm not sure the latter would be considered a fault, but the first sure is. Oh, well, that's what I get for being on the bleeding edge.

Cheers.

[chabig]

Originally Posted by Ph.D. 

Oh, well, that's what I get for being on the bleeding edge.

I wouldn't say that. I'm on the bleeding edge with you and my monitor is perfect. I think you just got a bad display.

[Ph.D.]

The Apple support forums are rapidly filling with posts about precisely the same sound-loss problem I've experienced.

My intuition is that a software update patch that fixes this should be possible. However, in my opinion and experience, Apple does not have a good reputation for acknowledging problems that they don't have a quick and cheap (i.e. software) fix for. Indeed, my 24" Apple LED display (at work) exhibits a well-known and as yet unacknowledged problem (the momentary display black-out problem, which is highly irritating!).

I suggest that people take their time before purchasing one of these displays, in the hopes that the current 27" display sound problem can be cleared up soon.

Cheers.