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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Best LCD to go with a PowerBook

Best LCD to go with a PowerBook
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Bonhomme7heures
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Jul 19, 2004, 11:40 PM
 
Okay,

I've got a powerbook for almost a year now and would like to buy a "friend" to go with him when he's at home. I'm talking about a LCD monitor to help me had space when I'm working with my PowerBook.

So, with the new Apple monitor's that just came out and so many different company's in the LCD monitor business, which is the best screen to go with a powerbook?

I'm specifying with a PowerBook because I want them to stand beside each other and I don't want to use the mirror option.
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azdude
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Jul 20, 2004, 12:32 AM
 
Originally posted by Bonhomme7heures:
Okay,

I've got a powerbook for almost a year now and would like to buy a "friend" to go with him when he's at home. I'm talking about a LCD monitor to help me had space when I'm working with my PowerBook.

So, with the new Apple monitor's that just came out and so many different company's in the LCD monitor business, which is the best screen to go with a powerbook?

I'm specifying with a PowerBook because I want them to stand beside each other and I don't want to use the mirror option.
You're not going to get a very balanced opinion on this forum, but...

...if you have the money, the Apple Cinema Displays are incredible... especially with a Powerbook.
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MrForgetable
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Jul 20, 2004, 12:53 AM
 
Originally posted by azdude:
You're not going to get a very balanced opinion on this forum, but...

...if you have the money, the Apple Cinema Displays are incredible... especially with a Powerbook.
iamwhor3hay
     
tekno_geek911
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Jul 20, 2004, 01:35 AM
 
Yep,the new ACD's are the best choice!
::12" PowerBook G4 | 1.33GHz | 1.25GB | 60GB | APX | OS X 10.4.1::
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madmacgames
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Jul 20, 2004, 01:43 AM
 
Originally posted by tekno_geek911:
Yep,the new ACD's are the best choice!
perhaps if you are well off (or have parents who are). But they are way out of most people's price range.

I myself have an Envision EN7100si. The silver on the bezel closely matches my powerbook and the two look great together (or at least I think so).
     
MrForgetable
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Jul 20, 2004, 01:45 AM
 
Originally posted by madmacgames:
perhaps if you are well off (or have parents who are). But they are way out of most people's price range.

I myself have an Envision EN7100si. The silver on the bezel closely matches my powerbook and the two look great together (or at least I think so).
The 17" isn't too bad..
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pdot
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Jul 20, 2004, 03:33 AM
 
Apple's latest 23" HD display.
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SplijinX
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Jul 20, 2004, 07:32 AM
 
I've actually been looking for an LCD monitor myself. Been eyeing the Samsung 173MW - 17" Widescreen with built-in TV tuner. Nice silver color to go along with a PB as well. Anyone have any personal experiences with this?
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albook
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Jul 20, 2004, 08:07 AM
 
Originally posted by pdot:
Apple's latest 23" HD display.
Agree!
I am considering bying a 23" ACD to match my 15" PowerBook.
     
STAT
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Jul 20, 2004, 09:09 AM
 
Man. All you ADC guys have more money to spend than I do. LOL. But they ARE beautiful monitors.
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Luca Rescigno
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Jul 20, 2004, 09:13 AM
 
I am not too thrilled about the Samsung wide 17" LCDs, because they cost the same or even more than their standard LCDs, but they have far fewer pixels. See, the 17" wide LCD that Apple uses on the 17" iMac and PowerBook uses a resolution of 1440x900, which provides almost as many pixels as the traditional 1280x1024. Wider, but not as tall. Makes sense.

The Samsung 17" wide LCDs provide only 1280x768 pixels. Same width, but with only as many vertical pixels as a 15" LCD. Seems pretty stupid to me. Still, I've heard that Samsung is an excellent brand so you might want to look at their offerings. But then again, my brother bought a "Sceptre" brand 17" LCD from NewEgg a couple weeks ago, and it was really nice too, and a lot cheaper than Samsung. So don't think you're limited to the big name brands.
     
jbr
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Jul 20, 2004, 09:17 AM
 
Anyone have one of the new ACDs running with an aluminum powerbook? How does the pb's graphic card handle this screen? Apple claims it's no problem (the 20" and 23") but....

How about games? Can the powerbook handle pushing this many pixels?

jbr
     
SplijinX
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Jul 20, 2004, 10:02 AM
 
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
I am not too thrilled about the Samsung wide 17" LCDs, because they cost the same or even more than their standard LCDs, but they have far fewer pixels. See, the 17" wide LCD that Apple uses on the 17" iMac and PowerBook uses a resolution of 1440x900, which provides almost as many pixels as the traditional 1280x1024. Wider, but not as tall. Makes sense.

The Samsung 17" wide LCDs provide only 1280x768 pixels. Same width, but with only as many vertical pixels as a 15" LCD. Seems pretty stupid to me. Still, I've heard that Samsung is an excellent brand so you might want to look at their offerings. But then again, my brother bought a "Sceptre" brand 17" LCD from NewEgg a couple weeks ago, and it was really nice too, and a lot cheaper than Samsung. So don't think you're limited to the big name brands.
Yeah I agree, they basically take a 4:3 ratio 17" and essentially chop off a chunk. Would love to have one of Apple's new displays but I don't have a DVI output nor the money.

Samsung's are supposed to be pretty good quality, one site that reviews computer hardware claims that they have not had one dead pixel in the last 17 LCDs they've tested.
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plasticmoz
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Jul 20, 2004, 03:57 PM
 
Originally posted by jbr:
Anyone have one of the new ACDs running with an aluminum powerbook? How does the pb's graphic card handle this screen? Apple claims it's no problem (the 20" and 23") but....

How about games? Can the powerbook handle pushing this many pixels?

jbr
Either the 64 or certainly the 128 will have NO problem driving a 23" ACD.
     
Bonhomme7heures  (op)
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Jul 20, 2004, 09:24 PM
 
Yeah,

I would certainly like one of those new Apple LCD's but they are too expensive in my view. I would go for the 20" but I would shoot my self to go and buy a screen at that price. (By the way, It's 1,799$ in canadian dollars compared to 1,299$ in the U.S.)

I'm looking at Samsung screens because of there lower prices and the near silver/aluminium color match to the PowerBook's.
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jbr
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Jul 20, 2004, 09:59 PM
 
Well I've got 64 MB in my al pb. How do you think this'll handle games on the ACD?

I've also considered the Samsungs as the ACDs are a ton of money (and even the Dell 2001FP - shudder - I don't like it's looks but it's got good reviews and a 16 msec refresh rate as do the new ACDs). It's also 25% off until tomorrow. I've thought about the Samsung 173P but the windows only software controls do spook me a bit. Anybody have this monitor?
     
tekno_geek911
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Jul 20, 2004, 10:36 PM
 
I really want a 20" AL ACD but I cant afford it,I will most likely buy a Samsung widescreen.
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Luca Rescigno
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Jul 21, 2004, 12:11 PM
 
Originally posted by tekno_geek911:
I really want a 20" AL ACD but I cant afford it,I will most likely buy a Samsung widescreen.
Read above. The Samsung widescreen is a bad deal because all it does is remove a bunch of vertical screen area without adding any extra horizontal screen area.

Regular 17" 1280x1024 screen: 1,310,000 pixels
Apple 17" widescreen 1440x900: 1,296,000 pixels
Samsung 17" widescreen 1280x768: 983,000 pixels

See? The 17" iMac and PowerBook use screens that have about as many pixels as a regular 17" LCD, and are wider but not as tall. The Samsung is physically the same size as an Apple 17" widescreen, but it has far fewer pixels. Unless the Samsung widescreen is significantly cheaper, go for the standard one.
( Last edited by Luca Rescigno; Jul 21, 2004 at 12:23 PM. )
     
SplijinX
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Jul 21, 2004, 01:40 PM
 
Personally I think a higher pixel count is better, but to some degree it's personal preference. It really depends on how tiny or large you want things to show up on your display.

There have been forums were users complain that Apple doesn't offer an option for higher resolution displays.

Apple's PB 15.4" - 1280x854
Dell's 15.4" WUXGA - 1920x1200

17" is 17" no matter how you slice it, but the amount of visual real estate is lacking on that Samsung Widescreen LCD. I probably wouldn't go with anything lower than what the 17" PB has.

Would it be possible to change to a higher resolution like on CRTs? What kind of side effects would you have if you tried to use a higher resolution on an LCD than its native resolution?
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wuzup101
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Jul 22, 2004, 10:04 AM
 
I have been using a Samsung 191T for quite a while and personally I love the screan. However, I would agree with those other posters here and say that you should shy away from the 17" wide screan Samsung. I would personally recomend a new Samsung 193T from newegg.com. Last time I checked they were like $700ish I believe and had really nice specs. If you have a bit more cash that dell monitor you talked about is a very good deal... and I have used one on a friends computer... they are definitely worth every penny!
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SplijinX
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Jul 23, 2004, 07:21 PM
 
Dell Ultrasharp 2001FP now for $719!
http://slickdeals.net/#p4987

There's always awesome reviews on them...very tempting...
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SafariX
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Jul 23, 2004, 07:23 PM
 
Thats a great deal on the dell, and I've used one paired with my TiPB...they are really nice LCDs.
     
   
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