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aoe

Offtopic: Which external monitor do you use?

I'm thinking of getting the 27" Apple one, but waiting to see if they would release a retina-resolution anytime soon.

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Not going to happen any time soon - the GPU power needed (esp from a laptop) is a few years off I think.

Dont get the Apple display - just get a Korean knock off with the same panel for a quarter of the price...

The Thunderbolt display is expensive, but it also has a lot more than just the panel - it has a webcam, speakers, USB, firewire, ethernet, and a MagSafe connector to charge a MacBook, not to mention that gorgeous aluminum and glass body. Worth $999? Maybe not, but it's definitely not equivalent to a Korean display off eBay.

I don't really need webcam, speakers, usb, firewire, ethernet or a magsafe connector.

Gorgeous body would be great.

What monitor would you suggest?

The comparable Dell panel was the same price last time I checked (which didn't have all the extra ports/webcam/speakers)

You'll probably need a Mini DisplayPort to Dual-link DVI adapter as well, if you're driving one of the Korean displays from a recent Mac. Apple sells one for a hundred dollars, or monoprice has one for $70: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&c...

Just something to keep in mind when you're budgeting.

In a store full of big-screen TVs, laptops, tablets and every species of shining rectangle, one device emits a reality-distortion field like no other: the iMac. The display is just.. perfect. After seeing the iMac 2 years ago, I switched to e-IPS (Dell 2209WA, then the Dell U2312HM), but somehow they're not in the same league. Way better than TN LCDs, of course, but not iMac/Cinema display. Is e-IPS that much worse than IPS? Perhaps it's Apple's calibration which does the trick? I don't know.

I would love to find a cheap monitor which used the same panel as the iMac and had similar image quality. Any pointers?

Don't forget to factor in $70 - $100 (and the loss of the a USB port) for the miniDP to dual-link DVI adapter you need to drive one of those panels.

They could always build a Thunderbolt display with a built-in GPU.

Absolutely—it's effectively a PCIe x2 external interface. There's plenty of bandwidth.

Quarter? really? could you link me?

Atwood did a decent write up about them. It's a good place to start. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/07/the-ips-lcd-revolut...

Edit: and you found it.

Just found this - http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/07/the-ips-lcd-revolut...

I spoiled myself with the Apple thunderbolt display I confess, and love it. But I did not research all the alternatives and no doubt I paid the Apple premium tax.

No doubt there are better deals but if say the premium is $350 over a 3 year lifetime (at least) it's a few starbucks coffees or meals out per year for something I use hours per day :)

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