Reviews for Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel)

I'm a motion designer, work with two of these monitors side by side 8-10 hours a day. After all the eye pain and headache, I now switched back to the old Apple display (matte) as my main monitor, and put the new glossy ones on the side as my secondary monitors.
I think it's ok to use it in a dark room, but I have a window office and it's pretty bad even I have all the shades down.

I'm giving two stars for its sharp image quality as a secondary monitor for web browsing and tool bars, you just can't use them for work.

80 of 98 people found this useful

I use 30 inch and 20 inch Apple Cinema displays. They have been fantastic - in particular for extended close-up use such as photo editing. This new display is gorgeous but, compared to the previous cinema displays, is simply unusable in certain circumstances due to reflections. This display is crying out for an antiglare option. Apple offers this on some MacBook Pros, why not this display? Many users will be willing to pay a bit extra for this option.

92 of 100 people found this useful

Many have wondering if the steep $999 price is worth the money. After spending several days with this display, I can say that this is 100% worth the price. First of all, the screen is crisp and beautiful, the best I've probably ever seen. While there is a ton of gloss, I am used to it from my MacBook Pro. If you have sensitive eyes, this would not be the right display for you unless you are able to find some sort of matte screen protector. The sound quality is excellent for built-in standards. It's loud, deep, and crisp. My only real complaint is the fact that my MBP must be charging at all times. When I take out the magsafe adapter, even with the MDP cable and USB cable plug in, it disconnects from the display. Other than that, I would highly recommend this to any Mac user looking for a gorgeous and sleek looking monitor, unless they have sensitive eyes and/or cannot stand gloss.

35 of 48 people found this useful

I love this product. I knew I wanted it to compliment my Macbook Pro I7 the minute I saw it. Then I saw all the negitive reviews about "gloss" and not being "professional" and such. I then began to seek out other monitors on the market and all of them...Just. Did. Not. Compare.

I am a film major at a college in Manhattan and I use this all the time for my films and they look fantastic. As for "glare", it's fine and does not take away from it's beauty at all, just dim the lights a bit and everything is all gravy.

I watch anything from NEetflix to HD movies to DVD's on it and it looks fantastic. I wish there were more imput options, but it doesn't matter in the end because if you're are Mac savvy even in the least, you can easily work your way around any issue.

I've had this display for almost a year and I have no regrets buying it. Works great and I have the best of both worlds ( a Macbook Pro with some serious power, i.e I7 processor and 8 gigs of RAM and a Display that turns it into a desktop)

You just gotta love it!

24 of 31 people found this useful

Unless you work in a cave, this screen is completely unusable. I work from home and I have large windows directly behind my workstation. The eye strain caused from reflections on this monitor is so bad I'm probably going to have to return it, which is disappointing considering everything else about it is 5 star worthy. The reason I gave it one star is because the primary purpose of this monitor is be able to SEE the things you are working on. I would have purchased a large mirror if I wanted to see myself all day long... After years of buying Apple products, this is my first truly disappointing purchase from an otherwise stellar company.

58 of 71 people found this useful

I've tried this display, loved it for its features and tried to think of every excuse imaginable to keep it.

However, I didn't.

I'll keep it short, as many users/reviewers have already pointed this out.

This screen is way, and I mean WAY too reflective. I'm a graphic designer and to make this display useful, I would have to change my whole lighting plan, move the windows and….in essence...create a dark room to have this screen operating at its full potential.

Any light from behind me, any dark color, any movement behind me, will DISTRACT my focus from the screen, and FOCUS it on the REFLECTION.

This is where Apple's "we are trendsetters, and we are right 99% of the time" becomes their Achilles heel.

In design there’s a principle. Form Follows Function.

The FUNCTION of a display is to be able to SEE things (in the highest detail possible) on THAT screen.
ANY OTHER ARGUMENTS AND ADDITIONS like "glass is easier to clean, the colors are deeper, it has a webcam and USB!" are SECONDARY. AND NOTHING MORE.

If there's a petition going, set up by people who get headaches, eye-strain, back pain (because they subconsciously adjust their posture to get rid of the reflections'), it’s a SIGN.

If its signed by thousands….it’s a bigger SIGN.

It’s a statement that doesn't say: APPLE you’re Wrong. Its says: APPLE, we love your products so much, and we’d love to buy them, but PLEASE listen to us.

It’s not 'complaining', it’s almost begging Apple to make something that will easily cost them a thousand dollars, that’s a bit more useful.

Please Apple, take note.

Good design, should make a product useful. - Dieter Rams

235 of 256 people found this useful

Pure and simple, the best possible companion to my macbook pro. Seamless integration and fantastic all around.

25 of 62 people found this useful

This item is far too glossy to be useful anywhere other than a dark basement. It's a great design though. Should be a little more affordable too.

101 of 120 people found this useful

I got this in June 2011. While it seems pricey at first, at the time there was no other 27" monitor on the market that had anything near this monitor's resolution (2560x1440). From what I could find, only the NEC PA271W-BK, which costs about 40% more, was even close to the Apple 27".

While there are many other less expensive 27" monitors out there, they typically max out at a resolution of 1920x1024.

Also consider that it has a built-in camera and speakers, I thought it's a pretty darn good deal.

I use it for photo editing, and rarely do the reflections become an issue. I have it arranged so there are no lights or windows behind me to cause glare.

27 of 37 people found this useful