Like a certain rock star in the comic movie This is Spinal Tap, Apple has cranked its amp "up to 11" by adding one more inch to the already-enormous 22-inch Cinema Display.

In addition to going "one louder" in raw real estate, the new 23-inch Apple Cinema HD (for "high definition") Display ups the resolution from 1,600x1,024 to 1,920x1,200--a 40 percent increase. It's fantastic to be able to open up four web pages side-by-side. They're partially overlapped, but you see enough to click them to front directly and quickly, rather than having to hunt down a window icon at the bottom task bar.

Stunning Picture, Limited Connectivity
The image quality remains as stunning as on the older model--pin-sharp, with deep blacks, vibrant colours and a superb 160-degree viewing angle. Despite its large size, the panel has great backlighting, with a brightness that's not just intense, but also almost flawlessly distributed from left to right of the screen.

To drive an image with at this sort of resolution, you need a beefy graphics card with a Digital Video Interface (DVI) output. Out test unit was connected to a PowerBook G4 with a DVI- equipped ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, but Apple also recommends higher-end cards from nVidia such as the GeForce2 MX, GeForce 3, GeForce 4 MX, or GeForce4 Ti. Like the 22-incher, the new Cinema Display uses Apple's proprietary Apple Display Connector. If you use a Windows machine or a Mac without an ADC port (such as our PowerBook G4), you'll have to fork over another AU$319.00 for an Apple DVI-to-ADC adaptor.

A Big Deal
The Apple Cinema HD Cinema display isn't cheap, but thanks to falling LCD panel prices, it's not screamingly expensive either. If you work in graphics, design, video or publishing and use two or more monitors in daily work, investing in this display will free up quite a bit of desk space. Anyone who needs to open lots of toolbars and windows will appreciate the jump in productivity over a standard 21-inch CRT--if you can handle the price.

Editor's note: An edited version of the review of the 22-inch Apple Cinema Display follows. All comments still apply to the 23-inch version.

Easy Controls
The Cinema Display's prre digital graphics make for a first-rate picture, but they're also responsible for the biggest shortcoming of the product. Like Apple's new 15- and 17-inch Studio Displays, the Cinema Display uses the proprietary Apple Display Connector (ADC). The ADC carries the digital signal, USB signal, and power all in a single cable. It's a convenient way to minimize wire sprawl, but the bad side is that not every Mac supports ADC.

If you're lucky enough to have the money and the correct hardware to get the Cinema Display, you'll also be blessed with a product that's very easy to use. This is a set-it-and-forget-it display with very little to set. It has two buttons for brightness and a Startup/Sleep switch. Apple's ColorSync technology is built in; the only other screen adjustments you normally make on a Mac (gamma and white point) are made in the monitor's Control Panel. A two-port USB hub is positioned on the rear of the display.

Many LCDs suffer from limited viewing angles and noticeable color variations but not this one. Its colors are bright, text is crisp, and there are no observable color changes within normal viewing range. We did detect some brightness variation from left to right, but that was the only noticeable flaw. In CNET Labs' tests, the Cinema Display's picture quality rated slightly behind that of the 15-inch LCD Apple Studio Display, but if you put them side by side, you'd be hard- pressed to tell them apart.

Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
Company: Apple Australia
Price: AU$7,599.00
Distributor: Selected Resellers
Phone:  13 36 22

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