[idyll]

The 30" Dell 3007WFP has been finally released.

Image Brightness: 400 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio: 700:1
Resolution: 2560 x 1600 Pixels
and a 3 year warranty!

Already looking better than the 30" Apple Display and costs $300 less, but I'm hoping once some coupons roll around it will be at least $1,800 or less. Can't wait to get my hands on one..

[d4nth3m4n]

other than the utility of the card reader on the side i don't see why i wouldn't splurge for the apple one?

what's $300 when you're already north of $2k for a monitor?

[demibob]

Originally Posted by d4nth3m4n

other than the utility of the card reader on the side i don't see why i wouldn't splurge for the apple one?

what's $300 when you're already north of $2k for a monitor?

300 dollers is still 300 dollers. Why is the apple one any better

[konakazi]

That thing is a sexy beast, and hell yeah, I'd like to keep that $300 in my pocket if I have the option to get the same thing for less.

[jhogarty]

I'd like to see a side-by-side comparison of the Dell vs. the Apple. I'd probably pay the extra few bills too just because the ACD looks so much nicer (the case/stand).

J.

[OreoCookie]

Boy, that's ugly.

[idyll]

The Apple is prettier in my opinion but the Dell one is actually better. The Apple display has a 400:1 contrast ratio while the Dell has 700:1. The Dell also has 400 cd/m2 image brightness while the Apple display has 250 cd/m2. So you actually get a better monitor, save $300 (or more depending on the coupons), and get a card reader. I don't see why anyone would get the Apple display except for the looks.

[mduell]

I think ArsTechnica summed it up pretty well:
As similar as the two rivals look on the surface, any geek worth her salt wants the nitty-gritty details before closing any deal. Is that where Apple justifies the price tag?
In a word, no. The Dell 3007WFP turns out to be superior in pretty much every aspect that matters. It's brighter at 400 vs. 270 cd/m², sports a higher contrast ratio at 700:1 vs. 400:1, and if you thought the Apple Cinema omnidirectional viewing angle of 170° was good, you'll love Dell's 178°. The built-in port selections are a wash numerically, though if Firewire is important to you, Apple's two USB 2.0 ports and two Firewire 400 ports may suit you better than Dell's four USB 2.0 plugs. The Cinema Display's time to shine comes at the power draw stat line, as its 150W max power usage is eighteen percent more frugal than the Dell's 177W. If you buy an Apple, your power bill will thank you, although at electricity rates of ¢10/kWh, it will take twenty years of continuous operation to recoup the price difference that way. Both warranties will run out way before that, but Dell has you covered for three years, against Apple's one measly year.

I'm not sure about the power consumption difference, since we only know the maximum power draw instead of the typical operating power draw.
$2199 minus the usual 20% discount is ~$1760, a savings of ~$750 from the ACD.
The ACD still has the FW hub and some people prefer the looks.

[power142]

All this does is compare manufacturer specifications and says nothing other than the Dell performs better on paper. I'm not defending the Apple blindly, as I own neither (and have no intention of owning either), but from what I've read here and elsewhere, the backlight on the other Dell panels is prohibitively bright with respect to getting decent black levels. If their new panel is similar, then the aging Apple screen may still end up being the choice for Mac graphics professionals (even while there may be other better choices from other manufacturers, foregoing the 30" form factor).

Until I see an indepedent review, I would reserve any other comparison.

[gudrummer]

Well,if i consider that my 2405 was a great purchase and works like a dream,you bet i'm buying my 3007 pretty soon...just need the x800 first...hehehehe....

[robby818]

The one downside to not using an Apple LCD is that it is very difficult to control the brightness level of the display. There is a freeware program by Splasm that supposedly controls brightness but it messes up color calibration in the process.

The 30" Dell will be my next display, replacing a Dell 2005fpw. Just need a coupon code to get it below $2000 and I'll buy. Dell sold a boatload of the 20" and 24" displays, I wonder how many of these 30" displays will be sold. I think the price + the Dual link DVI requirement will keep sales pretty low. When this thing drops to $1500, sales might really pick up, but that might be awhile...

I think that this display will find a home with more Apple Power Mac users than PC users largely bec. of the dual link DVI requirement.

[jebjeb]

These are the specs that were mentioned a few weeks back yet I too will reserve judgement until there is a decent side-by-side review.

Good chance I would pick one up once the price gets down. Who knows though, how long has it been since there was a price drop on the Apple display? Now that they have some direct competition, Apple might drop the price down by the time the coupons are available on the Dell.

[jebjeb]

Originally Posted by robby818

The one downside to not using an Apple LCD is that it is very difficult to control the brightness level of the display. There is a freeware program by Splasm that supposedly controls brightness but it messes up color calibration in the process.

Not sure it this is specific to other Dell displays as my Formac 20" has controllable brightness.

Could you clarify please?

[RevEvs]

I recently sold my 20" Apple ADC display and replaced it with the 24" dell.

Reasons I rather the dell:

1. DVI, VGA, Component, S-Video, and god knows what else connectors, and ability to switch between them. (this allows me to have my mac, pc and xbox all connected)
2. A Scaler. My old apple display lacked a scaller (i beleive the new ones do too) so you cant send it a non native resolution and have it be stretched to fill the screen. The Dell allows all types of different scalling - aspect/full/etc
3. Cheaper - duh
4. It isnt *that* ugly. sure I like the look of apple things, but in the end, i dont care that much anymore.
5. The card reader is a bit pointless I think - dont htink ill ever use it

I think the display suits me as I have a lot of different things plugged in. If you only have the one Mac then you wont need that and an Apple display is best - I loved mine.

[all2ofme]

Some more info on Anandtech:

http://anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2664

[jhogarty]

I would still like to see one of these in person. I think one of our local mall's now has a Dell Kiosk so I might go take a look. I own 3 Dell LCD's (laptop 15" and two 18" for desktop) and use a Dell CRT at work. None of them look anywheres near as good as my Apple Cinema display. I'm hoping their new ones have improved.

My other question would be when it comes to color correction. I'm new to this area as well, but the Apple Cinema display seems to be more "integrated" with my Powermac. How would you fair with color correction on the Dell? Not a digg at Dell, just a question.

Also, I would expect Apple to pump out a fresh line of Cinema Displays this year. Just a few more days wait for Macworld. :-)

J.

[idyll]

I've had the 20" Apple Display with a PowerMac, then used a 20" iMac G5, and now I am using a Dell 2005FPW. The Dell is very similar to my 20" Apple Display (they use the same LCD obviously) but brighter and has more inputs. That and it only cost me $350 compared to the $800 or so I paid for the Apple Display when it first came out. For the price of one Apple Display I can have two Dell displays. Can't go wrong.

[idyll]

I remember someone posting in another thread stating that he used color calibration software and that his Dell had perfect color. It was for the Dell 2005FPW so that doesn't say much about the 3007WFP though..

[robby818]

Originally Posted by jebjeb

Not sure it this is specific to other Dell displays as my Formac 20" has controllable brightness.

Could you clarify please?

Basically, if you use an Apple LCD you can control brightness levels with either the F keys (F13 or F14 I believe) or in the System Preferences under Display there is a slider bar for controlling the LCD's brightness.

If on the other hand you are using a Dell display you are limited to the brightness control buttons found on the front of the display. In the case of the Dell 2005FPW those hard buttons appear to do very little to control brightness. I can drop it down to 0 brightness and it is still very bright, too bright. Apple doesn't support brightness controls in the OS for non-Apple displays. So the software by Splasm is one workaround, albeit not a perfect one.

When you use the Dell displays on a PC, ATI and nVidia both provide brightness slider bars in their driver software

By controllable brightness on the Formac do you mean you can control it through driver software or buttons on the monitor?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by power142

All this does is compare manufacturer specifications and says nothing other than the Dell performs better on paper. I'm not defending the Apple blindly, as I own neither (and have no intention of owning either), but from what I've read here and elsewhere, the backlight on the other Dell panels is prohibitively bright with respect to getting decent black levels. If their new panel is similar, then the aging Apple screen may still end up being the choice for Mac graphics professionals (even while there may be other better choices from other manufacturers, foregoing the 30" form factor).

Until I see an indepedent review, I would reserve any other comparison.

In Anandtech's review of the 20" products, the black levels of the two were within the error of the calibration device. In their test environment the Dell didn't live up to it's advertised specs, but neither did ACD (and Dell was still ahead of Apple).

Originally Posted by robby818

I think that this display will find a home with more Apple Power Mac users than PC users largely bec. of the dual link DVI requirement.

I agree... I have yet to see a low-end PC video card (like the 9650 for Mac) that supports dual link DVI.

Originally Posted by jhogarty

My other question would be when it comes to color correction. I'm new to this area as well, but the Apple Cinema display seems to be more "integrated" with my Powermac. How would you fair with color correction on the Dell? Not a digg at Dell, just a question.

Also, I would expect Apple to pump out a fresh line of Cinema Displays this year.

Anandtech reports that the Dell had better out-of-the-box calibration ("The more muted colors of the Cinema display were slightly off according to OptiCal, and we needed to correct the curves via software."), although both displays can be calibrated to be correct.

I can't see Apple replacing any of their displays so soon, based on historical trends.

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by mduell

I have yet to see a low-end PC video card (like the 9650 for Mac) that supports dual link DVI.

The ATI Radeon 9600 PC & Mac Edition has a dual-DVI port. Its pretty low-end. Way too expensive for a low-end, but low-end none the less.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Cadaver

The ATI Radeon 9600 PC & Mac Edition has a dual-DVI port. Its pretty low-end. Way too expensive for a low-end, but low-end none the less.

I just noticed that the 6600 (PC) has duallink DVI... $100 for a video card isn't bad to go along with a $2000 display.

[power142]

Wow, that's a good deal for a dual link card!

This is OT, but I'd be tempted to jump in with both feet on a 2405 (despite the negatives I've read - the issues with the ACD 23" don't inspire me) if I could be sure I could crank the brightness right down on my Power Mac G5

[Dumbo]

I would never buy it.

First of all because it's a butt fugly dog. And I'm really serious about that.

Second of all, in the past we've always seen how trying to pinch a penny on a hardware purchase with Dell can screw you later on. As an example for Dell's cheap (and sucky) displays, see this note on how Dell's TFT screens can't display Final Cut Pro movies properly.

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by mduell

I just noticed that the 6600 (PC) has duallink DVI... $100 for a video card isn't bad to go along with a $2000 display.

Really? Which models/brands?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Cadaver

Really? Which models/brands?

Mea culpa, I misread dual DVI (two DVI ports) as dual link DVI.

I'm not sure what the cheapest card with dual link DVI is.

[wuzup101]

Hehe, I must be the only person that actually thinks the Dell displays are asthetically very decent looking. I have to admit they don't look as pretty as the apple displays, but for the price they are hard to beat. You can bet that I'll be ordering a 2407wfp for my next monitor (really don't have the need or budget for the 30"). I really think dell nailed their fp line, the whole offering is pretty nice.

[MacCanuck]

Been kicking around here for a little over a year now reading many great posts and learning lots about the Macs. I love my 12" 1.5GHz PowerBook, which is all most a year old now.

Anyway, Dell.ca currently has the 30" (3007) LCD on sale for $1599CDN ~ $1375US. Now that is a pretty good deal, too bad I can't run it with my powerbook.

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/topi...DT1&l=en&s=bsd

Maybe it will convince some of you to get one, I know I would but would not be able to use it.

[jebjeb]

Originally Posted by robby818

Basically, if you use an Apple LCD you can control brightness levels with either the F keys (F13 or F14 I believe) or in the System Preferences under Display there is a slider bar for controlling the LCD's brightness.

If on the other hand you are using a Dell display you are limited to the brightness control buttons found on the front of the display. In the case of the Dell 2005FPW those hard buttons appear to do very little to control brightness. I can drop it down to 0 brightness and it is still very bright, too bright. Apple doesn't support brightness controls in the OS for non-Apple displays. So the software by Splasm is one workaround, albeit not a perfect one.

When you use the Dell displays on a PC, ATI and nVidia both provide brightness slider bars in their driver software

By controllable brightness on the Formac do you mean you can control it through driver software or buttons on the monitor?

Sorry for the late reply.

This is just electronic manipulation of the display brightness setting. Using F13/F14 is exactly the same as using the touch buttons on the side of an ACD.

The actual problem with the Dell's I have seen is they will just not physically turn the backlight brightness down far enough whereas that ACD's and my Formac (plus a lot of other displays) so.

[Yardsale]

would this work with a 15" 1.67ghz powerbook?

[MacHeadChef]

Dell 30" LCD using the standard graphics card from the Mac Pro ok or not? Should I upgrade the graphics card?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by MacHeadChef 

Dell 30" LCD using the standard graphics card from the Mac Pro ok or not? Should I upgrade the graphics card?

It will be fine for general usage, but you should upgrade the video card for 3D games.

[Peter]

the dell one also comes with a vesa socket as standard

[IceEnclosure]

This thread is a year old.

[ballison]

definately considering the 30"... the only thing holding me back is the fact that the 24" has all the connecting options and supports 1080p what is a guy to do?