I have 3 macs, A powerbook, a g4 tower, and a mac mini. I bought the Apple monitor for a grand back in the day for my g4, my mini runs on a nice vga aftermarket monitor and is fine. I am really close to getting a new mac pro but I don't know if I can justify a grand for the monitor. I know they are very nice, but can you use any monitor brand for the mac pro?
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Monitor options Mac Pro
- Thread starter slik
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Omni Via Ramseeker.com
I've never had a problem with any ram from Omni. And I've been buying all my ram from them for many years.
Go through Ramseeker.com for best price at Omni. Here's the Ramseeker.com link to Omni 4GB Kits that are only $570 per pair of 2GB sticks. So we're down to $142.50/GB now - excellent.
I've never had a problem with any ram from Omni. And I've been buying all my ram from them for many years.
Dell Displays + 30" HP Display + Samsung 40" HDTV/Monitor
I have a great 4 screen setup that I'd like to share. I have a rotated 20" Dell 2005FP monitor that is 1600 high by 1200 wide as my home screen with the menus at the top to the left of a 30" Dell that is 2560 wide by 1600 high. To the right of the 30" I have a 2405 Dell 1920 x 1200. To the right of that I have a 40" Samsung LN-S9540 40" 1020 x 1080 HDTV/Monitor. It's a great setup with tons of screen real estate all around me. So to do this you need one ATI Card that lets you rotate Dell monitors. Plus whatever nVidea card it comes with. This is all on my Quad G5 with the addition of an ATI Radeon® x1900 GT for an extra $300 after $50 mail in old video card trade up.
The new HP 30" has 3 dual link DVI inputs on the back for no extra charge. So I would get that one if I were buying a 30" again. Around $1700.
the 20" Dell 1600x1200 is only $384 now
the 2407Dell is about $700
the Samsung is about $1700
So a total of about $4500 for this 4 screen surround screen rig.
Plus I have another 20" 2005FP rotated to also be 1600 high by 1200 wide attached to my old PB G4. So about $5k total.
I plan on adding at least one 30" HP when I get the 8 core Mac Pro. I'll use all 3 dual link DVI inputs to connect my 2GHz Dual Core G5, Quad G5 and the Mac Pro up to it simultaneously. When I get my first 17" MacBook Pro, I'll hook it up to another 30" HP. I'm crazy about 30" monitors.
I have a great 4 screen setup that I'd like to share. I have a rotated 20" Dell 2005FP monitor that is 1600 high by 1200 wide as my home screen with the menus at the top to the left of a 30" Dell that is 2560 wide by 1600 high. To the right of the 30" I have a 2405 Dell 1920 x 1200. To the right of that I have a 40" Samsung LN-S9540 40" 1020 x 1080 HDTV/Monitor. It's a great setup with tons of screen real estate all around me. So to do this you need one ATI Card that lets you rotate Dell monitors. Plus whatever nVidea card it comes with. This is all on my Quad G5 with the addition of an ATI Radeon® x1900 GT for an extra $300 after $50 mail in old video card trade up.
The new HP 30" has 3 dual link DVI inputs on the back for no extra charge. So I would get that one if I were buying a 30" again. Around $1700.
the 20" Dell 1600x1200 is only $384 now
the 2407Dell is about $700
the Samsung is about $1700
So a total of about $4500 for this 4 screen surround screen rig.
Plus I have another 20" 2005FP rotated to also be 1600 high by 1200 wide attached to my old PB G4. So about $5k total.
I plan on adding at least one 30" HP when I get the 8 core Mac Pro. I'll use all 3 dual link DVI inputs to connect my 2GHz Dual Core G5, Quad G5 and the Mac Pro up to it simultaneously. When I get my first 17" MacBook Pro, I'll hook it up to another 30" HP. I'm crazy about 30" monitors.
$558 for Apple Approved Heatsink 2 Gb x 2 pair from DMS. I trust Data Memory Systems WAY more than Omni. I have no respect for Omni's advertising tactics, nor the fact that they have different prices on RAM depending how you link to their site. ($768 on that same RAM if you enter their site through the 'front door'. They play games with the shopping search engines, meaning some people get cheated. If a company is willing to do that, what are they willing to do to ME in terms of service and support?)
sorry to hijack, I have been looking at getting a mac pro too, and looking at the 24inchers from dell. From what I read that mac os x could not rotate monitors. I could be wrong. What card what you need. Right now apple has this ATI as one of the set-ups you can get. ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)
would this work?
ATI Cards Support Rotation While nVidia Cards Do Not
Yes all ATI cards support rotation. nVidea cards do not.
DMS Memory Upgrade Working Link
$150/GB is still way less than it was last Fall.
Something wrong with that link just bounces back to this page for me. This link to DMS works to $598 per pair of 2GB sticks total 4GB. Looks good. Thanks for the tip.
$150/GB is still way less than it was last Fall.
There is also a 30 incher on Apple's refurb site for almost half off. I'm sure it won't be there long!
Have you completely counted out the idea of getting an Apple monitor? I've had Dell and Apple displays, and while for many (perhaps most) it may be that you can sit in front of a Dell and think 'I'm so glad I saved myself a wad of cash', for me I sit in front of my ACD's and think 'I'm so glad I spend the extra and bought something that looks so totally amazing'.
I Think Dell Monitors Are Better For Many Good Reasons
1. They cost less
2. They rotate (30" rotation is supported with a vesa mount)
3. They all elevate, swivel and tilt
4. They have both DVI & VGA inputs on all but the 30" dual link DVI only
5. They have two or three different kinds of video inputs - composite, s-video & (on the 24" Wide) component video for a total of 4 or 5 different inputs
6. They all have 4 port USB hubs not only 2 ports
7. They all have multi-memory card readers
8. I prefer the dark Dell borders as they disappear in the dark and don't reflect like the shiny Apple aluminum does
9. Color looks as good to me as anything I've seen of the color at Apple stores
10. What's not to love about Dell monitors? They look totally amazing to me. I'm looking at the screen not what's holding the screen up.
Yes I have completely counted out the idea of geting Apple monitors because of several very good reasons I like Dell much better:
1. They cost less
2. They rotate (30" rotation is supported with a vesa mount)
3. They all elevate, swivel and tilt
4. They have both DVI & VGA inputs on all but the 30" dual link DVI only
5. They have two or three different kinds of video inputs - composite, s-video & (on the 24" Wide) component video for a total of 4 or 5 different inputs
6. They all have 4 port USB hubs not only 2 ports
7. They all have multi-memory card readers
8. I prefer the dark Dell borders as they disappear in the dark and don't reflect like the shiny Apple aluminum does
9. Color looks as good to me as anything I've seen of the color at Apple stores
10. What's not to love about Dell monitors? They look totally amazing to me. I'm looking at the screen not what's holding the screen up.
that's off the original price. Currently the 30" ACD is only $1999 new. so it's only $300 cheaper.
OH..... Well.... $300 is still $300!
I've never really looked at the apple monitors, when did the price go down? I just happened to be on the refurb page while I was reading this thread too OH..... Well.... $300 is still $300!
WWDC in August, the 30" was price-dropped but not upgraded.
Hopefully we'll see an upgrade soon, preferably to AS-IPS and not S-PVA or still regular S-IPS
I got the Dell 24" on a crazy deal-$300 bucks off, two weeks later I sent it right back. I went with the Apple because of the S-IPS, PVA just didn't cut it for me. And the apple just looks so sick.
So even though I saved much more money on the Dell I am way happier with the more expensive ACD.
So even though I saved much more money on the Dell I am way happier with the more expensive ACD.
At the facility where I used to work we had a lot of machines and monitors. One Dell sent over a 24" for us to have a look at as they where thinking of buying a bunch of monitors for the pc guys. We hooked up a dell 2405 and a an apple ACD side-by-side on the same machine with the same graphics card (quadro4500).
Colourwise the ACD was a little better and had a slightly better viewing angle.
The dell looked sharper and was brighter.
Based on this I bought a Dell 2405 when I bought my Mac Pro as in this region (before the recent price drop) the dell was $1,000 cheaper and had more inputs and an adjustable stand. I am 100% happy with my purchase.
Be aware that Dell have since released a new 24" model called the 2407. It is allegedly a 6bit per channel LCD with a better response time than the 2405 but lower colour depth. I would not buy this monitor over an ACD. Instead I would look at Dell's new 27" model which seems to be a much better panel and I believe it is 8bit too !.
Colourwise the ACD was a little better and had a slightly better viewing angle.
The dell looked sharper and was brighter.
Based on this I bought a Dell 2405 when I bought my Mac Pro as in this region (before the recent price drop) the dell was $1,000 cheaper and had more inputs and an adjustable stand. I am 100% happy with my purchase.
Be aware that Dell have since released a new 24" model called the 2407. It is allegedly a 6bit per channel LCD with a better response time than the 2405 but lower colour depth. I would not buy this monitor over an ACD. Instead I would look at Dell's new 27" model which seems to be a much better panel and I believe it is 8bit too !.
The newest revision (A03) 2407wfp was great while I had it. No problems whatsoever. I would advise against going with the 27" because its resolution is the same as the 24", so the picture is not as sharp.
Just placing another endorsement for the 24" Dell. I have the 2407WFP and absolutely love it.
I haven't compared it side by side with an Apple display, but just by seeing them in the Apple Store, I don't notice any real difference in quality. I understand why people would be willing to spend more money to have it match the tower, but for me, the silver lining around the Dell's display makes it tie in pretty nicely. Plus, I have a Logitech MX1000 mouse, so the black on the mouse and monitor match each other as well. I personally think the 2407WFP is a very fine looking display.
Keep an eye out, you can usually easily find them for under $700. We saw it drop one time to $577, but it didn't last long. I really wish I had gotten in on that, because I want to have 3 when I finally get a Mac Pro
I'd suggest watching www.dealnews.com to see when we find it drop in price again. You can also find coupons for a couple bucks on eBay that will pretty much pay for the cost of tax if you're in a state that gets charged (like me).
I haven't compared it side by side with an Apple display, but just by seeing them in the Apple Store, I don't notice any real difference in quality. I understand why people would be willing to spend more money to have it match the tower, but for me, the silver lining around the Dell's display makes it tie in pretty nicely. Plus, I have a Logitech MX1000 mouse, so the black on the mouse and monitor match each other as well. I personally think the 2407WFP is a very fine looking display.
Keep an eye out, you can usually easily find them for under $700. We saw it drop one time to $577, but it didn't last long. I really wish I had gotten in on that, because I want to have 3 when I finally get a Mac Pro
I'd suggest watching www.dealnews.com to see when we find it drop in price again. You can also find coupons for a couple bucks on eBay that will pretty much pay for the cost of tax if you're in a state that gets charged (like me).
Okay I know this is off topic but would you all suggest getting the ATI card? It's an extra 250. I mainly use my Powr Mac...and my soon to be new Mac Pro for video (dvd editing and sales). What does one need rotation for? Video games?