Apple 27" LED Cinema Display for main workstation?

[design_freak]

Mr Rib,
Could I ask you for what kind of job you will use this monitor?

[Mr. Rib]

No, you may not. Special version for you design freak- I'm too old to be working, I'm a retired dentist, I always wanted to be a painter but my parents wanted me to be a dentist and now I want to fill the hole and emptiness of my clueless life with a hugeass monitor and 200 mpix digiback. Something near your assumptions I guess?

[digitaldog]

Let's say we're using equal quality 8 and 10 bit video cards in like systems, and running them into a top quality 10 bit capable monitor like the NEC PA271w..  Same computer, same level of video cards from the same company, same exact monitor.  What differences are we likely to see and will it be file/source dependent, or will it be something we can expect to see in all files?

Unless the entire path, from application through the video system and display is high bit, when you send wide gamut RGB data the colorimetric distance between any two colors is much larger. Just like we need higher bit depth for wider gamut working spaces (the old 16 million dots on a half inflated balloon that grows double in size analogy). If on an sRGB like display, you have two adjacent color patches where one is 200,240,230 and the other is 201,240,230, the colorimetric distance (the deltaE) is higher on the wide gamut display. On the sRGB display, say its .8, it could be a dE of 2 on the wide gamut display.

[design_freak]

No, you may not. Special version for you design freak- I'm too old to be working, I'm a retired dentist, I always wanted to be a painter but my parents wanted me to be a dentist and now I want to fill the hole and emptiness of my clueless life with a hugeass monitor and 200 mpix digiback. Something near your assumptions I guess?

Too bad, because you'd learn a lot from me. So really I do not care who you are, whether you are rich or poor, able or less able. Likewise, your age does not matter to me. Provided that you keep up with me and will want to learn something

[Mr. Rib]

That's an interesting statement, coming from someone who judged me without any basis and even could tell if I'm old or young (it seems that somehow, for your own strange reasons you do care?) . And no, I'd definitely would not like to learn anything from you, seeing how biased you are. Most of the time you keep blindly attacking Hasselblad, so why would anyone pay any attention to what you're saying about equpiment? You are too biased in this area so you probably are as biased in other. edit- I thought of a great solution to this- simply ignore my threads and everyone will be happy.

[design_freak]

That's an interesting statement, coming from someone who judged me without any basis and even could tell if I'm old or young (it seems that somehow, for your own strange reasons you do care?) . And no, I'd definitely would not like to learn anything from you, seeing how biased you are. Most of the time you keep blindly attacking Hasselblad, so why would anyone pay any attention to what you're saying about equpiment? You are too biased in this area so you probably are as biased in other. edit- I thought of a great solution to this- simply ignore my threads and everyone will be happy.

Do you really still nourish resentment against me for this post? Chill out 
The fact that not everyone is able to match me, it's not my fault that I'm a genius. As for the Hasselblad, I scoffed a few times with the marketing activities - which are at a very low level (sometimes even funny). I wrote the truth, I wrote about a bad trade-in program that does not work. Hasselblad today introduced a new program - "promotion" - the exchange rate lowered by up to six thousand, compared to the old program. I was wrong? I dare to doubt. Just sad that it came to this so late. Your choice. I am always willing to help you, make sure the outside of this forum, such knowledge is very valuable. Very cold is now in Poland?

[marty m]

MO, the cost Intel are asking for the processors in the Mac Pro are unrealistic and makes the Mac Pro a very niche product that many don't need and probably why it must be difficult for Apple to continue offering it. The last great Mac Pro was the 2008 model with more recent models lacking important features (USB3, SATA3, Thunderbolt) but still costing the earth.

The latest iMac models, while not perfect are very capable machines, especially where photographers are concerned. With the addition on a secondary NEC or Eizo display I really don't see a need for the Pro any longer at these highly elevated prices. The idea of the tower computer is the upgrade ability but the Pro has never been great for that considering Apple usually drops support for older models every other refresh.

When I feel a need to upgrade my Mac Pro, I'll be taking a long hard look at the iMac with the best external display on offer at that time. IMO the display is more important than the computer when looking at Apples desktop and mobile offerings these days.  

The service manager at the local Apple store agreed with you, and said the Mac Pro is overkill for just running Photoshop.  He also recommended an iMac.  The iMac has Thunderbolt.  He recommended an iMac with the base level processor.  For the price difference between the iMac and Mac Pro, I can buy the iMac and a new NEC monitor.  

(1)  NEC PA271W versus NEC MultiSync PA301W-BK.  I assume both models are equally recommended, and the only difference is the slightly larger size in the case of the PA301?

The B&H web site states that the PA271 is an "LCD Flat Panel."  Is that an IPS LCD?   However, the PA301 is an "IPS (CCFL Backlight)."  Do these two use the same technology or not?  If there is a difference, which do you experts recommend?

(2)  I currently have an older NEC 3090WQXi.  Am I correct in my assumption that this older model probably uses a bulb of some sort, whereas the PA301 is a newer IPS LCD.  Similar technology, albeit better, than the Apple display?

(3)  Do any of you have any opinions about which software to run to also operate windows if I go that route?  VM Fusion versus Parallels?

[lfeagan]

(1)  NEC PA271W versus NEC MultiSync PA301W-BK.  I assume both models are equally recommended, and the only difference is the slightly larger size in the case of the PA301?
The B&H web site states that the PA271 is an "LCD Flat Panel."  Is that an IPS LCD?   However, the PA301 is an "IPS (CCFL Backlight)."  Do these two use the same technology or not?  If there is a difference, which do you experts recommend?
(2)  I currently have an older NEC 3090WQXi.  Am I correct in my assumption that this older model probably uses a bulb of some sort, whereas the PA301 is a newer IPS LCD.  Similar technology, albeit better, than the Apple display?
(3)  Do any of you have any opinions about which software to run to also operate windows if I go that route?  VM Fusion versus Parallels?

1) Yes, the PA301W, of which I have two, has a slightly higher variance in brightness than the 27". I love my PA301Ws, but totally understand why others buy 2xPA271W for basically the same money as 1xPA301W.
2) The PA301W and the 3090WQXI both use a CCFL bulb. This means that you need to have it powered on for at least 30 minutes to warm up and stabilize before calibrating/using. Thankfully, NEC has some nice features in the advanced menu, just as with your current display, for setting wake up times. I have mine turn on automatically before I typically begin work by 30 minutes. To get to the advanced menu, with the display off and while holding down the menu button, power on the display. You will now have about 4x more settings you can configure. The only thing you don't seem to be able to configure is making the advanced menu the default.

The Apple LED Cinema Display is approximately crud vs the PA301W. Here is my short comparison: http://blog.vectorcomputing.net/2012/05/10/monitor-comparison/
3) I use VMware Fusion and have been quite happy with it. I have tried Parallels and it is also nice. For me, as I also use VMware on Linux, the non-issue of VM portability/compatibility makes my choice easy. Similarly for VirtualBox. Paying a small amount to avoid any hassles is worth it for me.