An Ode to the 30” Cinema Display
Dear 30" Cinema Display,
Your maker chooses to call you simply an accessory, but for me, you are the reason to have a computer. The reason to own a digital camera, to have a DVD drive. To have 27 windows open and actually be able to see them all at once.
You make me aspire to greater things—for more megapixels in my camera, so my pictures don’t look so grainy when used as wallpaper. For HD video, because DVD is for lesser mortals who only get the 23” Cinema Display to look their way. My pictures of the Grand Canyon, for the first time, look like the Grand Canyon.
Gone are the days when I would lie awake at night with a stiff neck. When I courted smaller monitors, I would be looking at the same spot all day. With you, I have to move my head from side to side to appreciate your breadth. My right hand is feeling stronger every day, with the added exercise from moving the mouse from corner to shining corner.
Gone are the days when I had to choose between viewing my browser, my mail client, iTunes, and work. You bring them all to me, at once. No more tiling through Exposé—that is for people with insufficient screen real estate!
Dear Apple Cinema Display, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
One
The number of monitors that will ever fit on my desk while you are in my life.
Three
The number of pages of my documents I can have open next to each other at the same time without having to squint.
Four
The number of peripherals I can hook up directly through my Cinema Display.
Twenty
The number of inches my old, forgotten monitor had. What was it like to have to choose which document I wanted to look at?
Twenty-seven
The number of windows I have open at a time.
Twenty-seven
The number of windows I can see at a time.
30
The number of degrees I can make you tilt.
2560 X 1600
The number of pixels you give me, in all your wide-screen glory.
4096000
Just in case you didn’t catch the math above, that’s a lot of pixels.
16700000
Number of colors you can display.
The soft controls on your side, the bright colors, the smooth sculpted aluminum enclosure are what computers were made for. I could never leave you for another.
Unless, maybe, something bigger, brighter, and shinier came along?
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Comments
Couldn’t agree more. It was the 3rd Apple product I ever bought.
Along with the 30” Cinema display, sing an ode to the MacBook Pro’s and PowerBooks (17” PB being the first Apple product I bought), which as far as I know are the only laptops in the world that can drive this display.
I need another one, because one has been dedicated to my quad core G5, but now I’d really like one to use at anytime with the MacBook Pro, because of the OSX and Windows CAD programs I use. I do a lot of technical pubs, plus I’m an amateur photographer, and while Light Room works pretty well on the 17” MBPro display, it really shines on the 30”.
I feel you. But not so much, though, since there is this other, incredible beauty on the desk across the room: It’s brand new 24” iMac. It’s so glossy and glamorous, it’s so sharp and deep ... my feelings towards my truly fabulous 23” cinema display are not the same anymore ...
Ahh.... sigh!! .... envy doth raise its ugly head.
I need to see this to believe it - how about a screenshot? I’m only able to get five windows open at a time on my 24” monitor.
I love large monitors, several times I have spent more on upgrading monitors than on upgrading computers. But I’m a fogey who just replaced my half-glasses with computer bifocals, and am learning to read by moving my head instead of my eyes. I’m going to tear apart my expensive desk to bring my 21” monitor down so I’m not always leaning my head back.
And mouse pads are no longer sufficient. Drag and drop an item from my top left to the trash, and I have to lift up my mighty mouse twice.
While it is amusing to list disadvantages to such large screens, I suspect Apple is aware of them and working on making things even easier.