I posted a couple of days ago asking for help deciding between the Apple 20" and the Dell 20". I got some really helpful advice, and then I started thinking about the fact that I've recently gotten the Canon HV-20 HDV Camcorder, and that 20" displays are not HD, but the Apple 23" is HD (Dell doesn't seem to make a comparable monitor). Since one of the things I'm going to use the Display for (with our MBPro) is video editing -- as well as using it for other less intensive stuff with new regular MB, do you guys think I should bite the bullet and get the 23" HD Display? Am I sort of cheating myself getting the HD camera, and then not having an HD screen to edit on? If you think I should go for it -- do you know of any problems with using a super high-res HD screen for normal stuff like writing in Word, or Excel, or whatever? Thanks!

 

Man if you got the money and want the fun, get the 23". Thing with higher rez, there are more pixels per inch, so more will fit within that inch, things will be much smaller but very sharp.

 

Dell makes that 24" ultrasharp monitor, maybe look into that.

 

I know nothing about cameras. But I am guessing you have a good one.

Here's the information available for the two monitors.

20' max resolution is 1680 x 1050
23' max resolution is 1920 x 1200

Basically the number just tells you how many pixels there are running across vertically and horizontally in the available viewing space. It doesn't really make the pictures or words more "clear" since screen resolution would not make a crappy quality video look any better. It is the media you put in. Imagine you hooking up a vhs to your mpb and comparing dvd playback. Media matters. Now if you have a HD video camera, it doesn't necessarily mean you need HD monitor to see it in all it's glory. That said, if you need/want the space, go for it because it is a damn sweet monitor.

One quick note, look at how big the recorded resolution is for your camera. If it is significantly smaller than the max resolution on the 20, you could probably just save some more resolution. More resolution (on the 23) just means more viewable screen area.

1920/horizontal viewable inches = resolution/inch

You could save money or splurge, it's all up to you (and camera recorded video resolutions).

My suggestion: Go with the 23 if you have the money. It's awesome. (I have the 20 =( )

 

The camera is HD with 1920 x 1080 Resolution, which seems to put it above the '20 in resolution, but less than the '23. So I guess that the 23 would definitely give me the full bang for my bucks with the camera, whereas the '20 wouldn't-- but I'm sure it would still look great. I just don't have enough experience with high res monitors to judge if I'd see enough difference to justify the extra money.

Also, I'm still wondering if the fact that everything will be getting smaller would create any problems when working with "normal" applications -- Web browser issues, Word docs, Excel, etc.??? Would appreciate any wisdom on that. I don't want to spend a lot of money to make my HD Camera stuff look great, only to find that it's creating problems for me in the things I do most of the time. Thanks.

Oh, yeah, I checked the Dell site -- Their '24 is almost the same price as the Apple '23, so they're giving you a little more real estate for the same price.

 

^^^ You need to hit an Apple store as to the rez, you have to see it for yourself. I got my wife a 1920x1200 17" Dell a couple years ago, she say at the max res 1920 the items on the screen are too small for her. I like it the way it looks. Iahve have 1650 on my 20"dell for mydesktop, I'd like to have the 1920.

Hell get the 30" at 2560!!!

 

Get the 24" Dell. Same display as the apple, but cheaper and with more options available. I know 3 people with it and they all love it.

 

Hey, Jup, I think you've got a very good idea. I'm going to take my MB into my local Apple store and check out the way my docs and apps look to me. I suppose we can talk forever about res numbers, but at the end of the day it really comes down to -- does it look good to me. Thanks. I like simple answers!

 

Dont waste your time with the apple display. You can get a gateway, dell, samsung 24 inch 1920 x 1200 display for less. And with less ms response time, they will have less ghosting than the apple, which i've seen ghosting on movies and such.

 

It isn't like you can edit it at that resolution, applications and tools take up screen space

 

Good Ride, you are not going to edit 1080i video on a Macbook Pro. Ain't gonna happen, period. A quad core Mac Pro is barely adequate for that task.

You could theoretically do it, but you'd have to take the video and compress the snot out of it when you transfer it into your computer, then uncompress the portions you're working on as you edit them, then recompress the footage once you've finished your editing. That's a process that can take forever and make your snazzy HD video look not so snazzy by the time you're done with the compress-uncompress-recompress cycle.

 

Yeah, I'm afraid I'm learning that my camera is a generation ahead of my computer! Guess there's not much point in getting an HD Display, when I won't be editing in HD

But, hey, it'll still look great!

Thanks. Gonna get a 20 and be done with it!