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

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.

I purchased this monitor a few months ago. I work on my computer anywhere from 10-12 hours a day so a good monitor is very important to me. There are many pros and only one or two cons so here they are:

PROS:

- Glossy screen is gorgeous! Yes, there's some glare but nothing that a minor tilting of the monitor or window shade won't take care of.

- The easy connections are really a breeze. One wire to unplug my macbook and I"m on the road. When it's time to plug my macbook back in, again, real easy. No messing with many wires like other monitors

- The colors are very bright, sharp, and the screen real estate is great.

Cons:

- If you go to remove the macbook, make sure to shut down the macbook first otherwise the monitor/computer won't register the switch

- The monitor seems to give off a lot of heat after running for about 8-10 hours. I was surprised at this since Mac is very environment/energy friendly. You can feel the heat radiating off of it from about 2-3 feet away.

I would recommend buying one if you have the money and really like having the newest and best. My husband is asking for one for Christmas and keeps offering to take mine every time I complain about the heat from the monitor. I like mine too much to give it up so hopefully Santa will deliver one for him!

I've had about 10 monitors in my lifetime that I've used under the same conditions and none ever fogs up. I can replicate the fog issue with this monitor and upon checking the forums, it appears like the iMACs have the same problem too, probably using the same screen. Other than that it does every other thing well. So it gets a 4 star only.

I bought the display last night, and I couldn't get enough of it. Setup was easy (except lugging it through the entire mall- that thing is heavy and cumbersome!). Once I turned on my Mac Mini, I was blown away. Everything from pictures to streaming video looks great! I've seen criticism of it lacking an HDMI port. I would agree with that, but technically, the picture quality is higher than HD, and I would rather watch my Blu Ray on my home theatre, so I let it slide. The speakers are pretty good for a monitor, but since I have Apple TV hooked up to my receiver, I wouldn't listen to music through my monitor. I have a lamp directly behind the monitor as well as in front, but I haven't had any problems with glare. One tiny gripe- I wish it had a power button. Aside from that (and Apple, if you could kick the price down a smidge, I and the rest of the consuming public would appreciate it!), if you're looking to get a monitor, as a supplement to your Macbook, or in my case, for your Mac Mini, you'd be hard pressed to find one that's better than this monitor.

I love this display. It's sharper and more vivid than anything I've used before. As for the gloss, I was a bit worried about it. But it hasn't been a problem at all. I think whoever has a glare problem needs to adjust the lighting their room/office. I'm very, very pleased with the results!

I could not be happier with my new mid 2012 mac pro and two lcd cinema displays :) This is an awesome setup!

Just recently I got this nice display - very good to work with, however after a while the volume up & down starts to react very slow and the sound stops working at all. Restarting my MacBook Pro does not solve the issue. Only restarting the display :( APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS with SW Update on the Display FW or you will get many unhappy customers like me!

I do a lot of writing and photo work and I wanted to upgrade my 24" cinema display. On my macPro 3,1 (early 2008), I upgraded to 10.6.4, installed the Apple Store ATI 5770 (this is plug and play), and attached the 27" LED Display and a second large hi-definition display to the DVI.
Simply, the 27" display is stunning. The glossy screen finish makes colors snap. I work in mildly subdued light and find the display does not cause excessive glare, and this is only a minor concern for images with a black background. I find the image quality far outweighs the reflection concerns. The black bezel creates a nice contrast and enhances the display.
The 16x9 (x160) cinema configuration is great for mirroring to a second high-definition display (for movies) and is ideal for work and writing when you want side-by-side display of multiple documents or programs. I balked on an earlier display upgrade; I did not like the configuration of the 30" display because the height to width ratio is slightly oversize for cinema.
I strongly recommend the 27" cinema display. The cost represents a fair value for the quality and versatility of the product, which includes speakers, camera, microphone, ambient light sensor, etc.
Overall, this is a beautifully engineered display which immerses you in a captivating visual experience.

I love the glossy screen and much prefer it over the matte screen it is replacing (a 30" LG). My Macbook Pro from two years ago came with the matte screen and it was not nearly as crisp or vibrant as the new Macbook Pro or the iMac with the glossy screen. I guess if you live in a world of unfiltered fluorescents you should look elsewhere, but in my very bright, south facing office it has never been an issue.

The display is big and beautiful. I have a Mac Book Pro with non-glare screen which I also love, but the office I'm in where my desktop is situated has just the right lighting that I don't have any problems with the glare. I don't know what it would be like in a different environment, so I cannot comment on that aspect of it.

However, I wish this monitor had the inputs to allow it to connect to multiple machines. I have it on a Mac Pro, but I'd also like to plug it into my Mac Book. If I had gotten an iMac 27", I believe I could have this hooked up to both, and except for the 20GB of RAM in my tower, I would trade it and the 27" display in a heart beat and save my company some money along the way. But my employer insists every engineer get a laptop and a desktop and they don't see the iMac as a desktop...

I'd also like to see a headphone port on this monitor because the Mac Pro is beneath my desk and stringing a headphone jack and plugging and unplugging that would be a hassle. Funny that such a beautiful monitor is so barren of pretty basic ports. Still, it really looks good, displays graphics with no eye strain. 5 out of 5.