mpg thank you for your feedback. I don't say, that you should only buy Apple Products (which a recommend to everyone who has not enough time and don't want to play around with a hackintosh), but when it comes to quality and service for example when you have 2 years after your purchase a damage, them Apple's customer service is definitely one of the best.
I've heard couple of times about these cheap Korean IPS displays, but for me personally, the risk of getting a Display (which is shipped around the world and can be damaged there) is too high. And I don't think that a normal user who is just surfing and gaming needs a 2560x1440. For these kind of work, you can easily go with a 1920x1080 resolution.
But if you are really working with your machine (developer, producer, designer), then this big resolution is a pretty helpfull thing. I'm a freelance webdesigner and I'm really really happy, that I bought the Apple Cinema Display 27". There were couple of reasons for me to pay more and get this Display:
- It has this beautiful resolution of 2560x1440.
- It has the known Apple Quality.
- It has the Apple guarantee and service.
- It is (for me) the Display with the best design.
- It is glossy. (Yes, that was important for me too!
And I'm willing to pay more to get a good quality product. I would also buy a Mac Pro, if they were updated continuously and would give us customers the chance, to customize it without huge amount of money. I mean, look how much a GPU for a actual Mac Pro costs at Apple and look what this GPU costs at your local store.
An iMac is a All-In-One product which has awesome power for the parts which are built in and I recommend everyone, who don't knows so much about hardware to handle a hackintosh (and don't want it to just "work" if something new has been released). I know, my hackintosh also "just works" but if there is a big update like 10.7.4, some people get problems and if you have an iMac, you don't have this problem.
PS: I bought my Apple Cinema Display 27" used, it was 2 months old, no scratches, no yellow stitch, no dead pixels for more then 300€ less then the original price. If I wouldn't have found this one, I would have bought a new one from Apple. Because this Display is worth the money, if you compare it to good Eizo's.
Yes, there are cheaper alternatives like a Dell UltraSharp 27" (which has the same resolution), but it is not glossy and has a pretty aggresive Antiglossy-coating (Google has many links about this problem).
mpg you saved 600$, I'm happy that you really saved that money and got a Display which has no dead pixels or other problems. But, for me, the risk of dead pixels is unacceptable. And I've read at a forum, that one person had like 4 dead pixels and the reseller said, it is still acceptable for them if there are not more then 5 dead pixels. I couldn't live with even 1 dead pixel.
Another person said, that the Display has really bad lightning and the differences between Display parts (left upper corner to right bottom corner) is pretty high, which is also not acceptable for me.
So if you're happy with your purchase, I'm happy for you too
But for me, the risks are too high.
