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

having just bought both a new MacBookPro and MacPro i was looking for a good monitor, but this replacement for the very olde 30" Cinema Display (which was overdue for a replacement 3 years ago) seems to be made for the non-pro user who just wants to be dazzled by the image rather than seeing what is really there.

it also seems to be limited, without spending a fortune on extra cables/adapters for this use and that use, to the newest macs only, will only reach a MacPro that is on the desk next to the screen (rather than the usual habit of keeping the desktop UNDER the desk) due to the short length of the main cable, will not directly connect to an Apple TV, etc etc

worse still is the fact that i was advised to NOT buy an Apple monitor by an Apple One-To-One advisor sinc in addition to the poor screen for pro use, it has been designed more to look good, rather than to keep the screen at optimal temperature (the screen housing should have a lot of air holes in order to keep the screen cool, the wrap-around design, although admittedly gorgeous, is not what the components require for a long life at the correct colour

so, the conclusion is that Apple have moved to the consumer market, left the pro out of it, and have forgotten that the initial crusade to build the best has been sideswiped by a desire to sell the prettiest

a great shame, and a missed opportunity to catch up and produce a stunning pro screen

I am an animator in the ad / commercial industry. I have two of these in a dual configuration. The colors are vibrant and consistent, the contrast is beautiful, but the glare is unmanageable. Whenever a composition contains blacks or dark colors, I am met with the reflection of either my face or whatever is happening behind me. As excited as I would be to purchase one of these for personal use, paired with my anti-glare macbook pro, I will have to refrain until an anti-glare model is available.

This is a high quality screen with great picture quality, good contrast, brightness and color balance. However, all of that becomes irrelevant in most work places, as the reflections will distract and make it impossible to do any kind of critical graphics work.
To overpower the reflections, the screen has to be viewed at high brightness settings settings, causing fatigue and headaches.

Still, in some environments, such as bright office spaces with uncovered windows and sun light, it may be impossible to use the screen without third party glare reducing screen covers. This is is not acceptable for a high end workstation display, and will generally not give as good a result as if the screen itself had the correct finish. Therefore, I cannot recommend this product.

This display is lovely to look at and fine to watch movies on, but if you want to work on it you would be far better off looking for a professional display.

I have been using this for a while now and I've noticed my productivity go down due to the headaches and fatigue that are caused by the reflections on the glossy display. I am constantly having to get up and move around to let my eyes recover from the constant strain of trying to focus on my work rather than the reflections.

I am now looking to buy a professional display that is designed to be used in a working environment.

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.

Apple has finally fixed the color gamut issue with their glossy displays with this 27" screen. The resolution is really superb, but the gloss face is a killer. The amount of eye strain you endure isnt worth spending money on. Inevitably what you'll end up doing is tilting the monitor way up, down or to the side throughout the day. So essentially you're always looking at this display from a bad angle. You can attemp to put a hood on it, close the blinds, wear black...doesn't matter. If color is important to you this is definitely not the screen for you. I disconnect mine and use the matte screen on my MBP during certain hours of the day. It's a world of difference. Apple, we want a matte screen!

This display is very deceptive. It's beautiful if you're a consumer. If you're a designer/photog/film/illustrator, this display is useless. Gloss/reflections really gets in the way. Color consistency is good, but colors are over-saturated. Color-accurate work is impossible. For professionals, this display is like a candy apple...looks shiny and delicious, but it's not good for you. Apple seems to care less about pros these days, with some of the decisions and products they're making.

I have enjoyed my display for just over a year now. I have a home office and have all equipment connected to a power surge protecter. As a rule, everyhting is shut down at night. Two nights ago, we had a lightening storm that shut the power out for about 30 seconds, when the power came back on, all appliances were normal.
The next morning, the display was dead. So, all the coputers, printers and older monitors were fine, the display however waas not. I followed all the rules to protect equipment, but now I know that is monitor needs to be either unplugged if storms are in the area.
Expensive replacement.

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.

My home office has several windows and I would much prefer a matte screen. Screen sure is pretty though (2 stars for that).