Photo by Stefan Rechsteiner
With the updated line of Apple notebooks, which both present a professional aesthetic, it was only suitable for the Cupertino company to design a corresponding display, that borrowed from their design, and, following with the themes introduced by the new models, dramatically simplified the formally cumbersome set-up for the user.
This ‘dream’ is embodied in the new 24-inch LED Cinema Display, which totally rethinks the display mentality. Gone are the acres of polished aluminium, of which Apple was so proud even a year ago, and in are the flowing glossy black lines that we first saw on the 2007 iMac. The 2009 MacBook, and MacBook Pro (our thoughts) carried this trend into the portable arena.
Photo by Eddie Wong
While durability and cleanliness of glossy black finishes may be very debatable on a portable, there is absolutely no doubt about how stunning this is on this new display. Because you’re far less likely to come into contact with the screen (at least for the first few hours of playing), the 24-inch Cinema Display’s aesthetics should deliver a constant stream of ‘contemporary inspiration’ for those Photoshop projects.
Those aesthetics, of course, are adapted from those of the updated MacBook, and its sibling, the MacBook Pro. The sweeping, thin profile compliment the corresponding angles of the laptops; the aluminium border harks back to Apple’s favourite premium finish. Of course, that full-glass, and reflective screen is a fairly identical, upscaled version of the bezel found on the portables.
Reflection?, I hear you say. Blasphemy for designers!, I hear you exclaim. Well, work around it. This piece of art deserves to be away from the sun, anyway, and the benefit it will give will far outweigh the dull depression you may feel when a ray of that rarely-seen “sun” bounces of your Dreamweaver template.
Photo by Apple
Anybody who is limited for time will find the new display’s unicable technology invaluable. One cable from the display splits into three for the laptop: a MacBook-Air-esque MagSafe; a USB jack (to enable the USBs on the rear of the Cinema), and a mini DisplayPort for video. Feel free to leave your notebook’s power in the bag; just plug in your display and you’re ready to rock.
And rock you will - this guy has built-in speakers. Probably not as bassy as those Bang & Olufsens on the desk, but they’ll suffice for the right to brag, and the inbuilt webcam will make those iChats a whole lot more desktop-like.
No, I’m not paid by Apple. Yes, I like them. I don’t like everything by them. This new touchpad is yet to convince me. I like this display. I like it a lot.
It’s expensive, at nearly A$1,500. But if you’ve got deep pockets, and a new MacBook or MacBook Pro (or an older MacBook Pro, like myself), your external display satisfaction rating won’t get much higher than with one of these.
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