Making the Decision
The 3 most popular displays we offer are the Apple, the Lacie and the Eizo, with a great range of price. Why are some displays so much more expensive, and how do you decide?
The Apple Cinema display is a good quality display capable of fairly accurate color reproduction. Out of the box, the color balance is generally accurately rated at 6500K (one of the popular standards for color corrections) and the black and white points are within standards. This is fortunate, and makes the display workable for accurate color requirements even though the display has no color or black/white point controls. Simply put, this display doesn't have controls, but because it's so accurate, you can still use it for color-critical work. This will become more of an issue as the display ages beyond a few years.
The Eizo displays, on the other end of the spectrum, are a top-end color critical display that allows the user to adjust all the aspects of the display to guarantee good color reproduction for a good long time. It has a very even display field, with almost no "hot spot" issues. It comes with great calibration software that supports many calibrator devices, and the software can control the various calibration settings at the hardware level in the display. It even features a self-monitoring device that linearizes the output of the display.
The LaCie is, on the one hand, a less expensive alternative to the Eizo, allowing full access to the hardware controls needed for a true color-critical calibration, but it does not quite perform to the same standards as the Eizo. The field is not quite as even and does not have the self-monitoring feature. For color accurate output, it's one of the best values for high performance "graphics standard" displays available today.
In a nutshell: The Apple is the least expensive, effective, but not optimum color display. We suggest it for designers that do infrequent color corrections but want to see accurate color. The Lacie is an accurate, adjustable display that will give you good standard color and a longer lifespan for a reasonable price. We suggest it for more color-picky designers, pre-press folks, or photographers. The Eizo is the bench-standard display for color critical work, combining high-fidelity color rendition, long life, and a high degree of control and features. For color correctors and high-end photography, the Eizo will shine.
Finally - one last thing to remember - all of these monitors require calibration out of the box. Consult with us if you have any questions or would like to see one of these monitors in person.
