Apple puts on a hip display
It seems Steve Jobs is determined to see that if Apple can't be the biggest name in computing, it's sure as hell going to be the hippest.
Enter the Apple Studio Display, a flat-panel LCD monitor. If you're already thinking about buying one, you don't need to read this article. It's just one of those beyond-Star-Trek pieces of techno-trendy that will sell well simply because it's cool.
The Studio Display is only about eight inches thick. Its dark violet translucent case and telescopic stand make for an amazingly small footprint.
My own monitor is a traditional 17-inch cathode ray tube (CRT) display, yet I was able to slide it to one side of my desk and make more than enough room for the Studio Display. The screen itself has a diagonal measurement of 15.1 inches - not much smaller than my 17-incher - with a maximum resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels.
The back of the monitor is the dark, translucent purple plastic that makes up the whole of the display's housing. Around front, it's just the opposite: bright. The Studio Display easily has the brightest screen I have seen.
Apple claims the contrast ratio is far higher than on normal monitors. I don't doubt that for one minute. Normal CRTs can have trouble showing a true inky-black. Not so with this screen. With scanned photographs, the increased contrast brought out shadow details I normally would not have been able to see.
It's not an altogether rosy picture, though. The Studio Display has a few problems. To be fair to Apple, these are inherent to most types of LCD displays. But there were two problems specific to the Studio Display.
First, there is a control panel that allows the monitor to automatically optimise the white and black point. Basically, this sets the contrast and colour balance to the best settings. But Apple also makes the Colorsync 2.5.1 technology, which allows you to do this manually.
I found that if not done properly, the two functions could work against each other to create a truly awful display.
Second, at 1,024 by 768 resolution (the only resolution at which the optimisation function works, and the one I therefore suppose Apple intends you to use) the resolution is not quite proportional to the screen's dimensions. This means that objects on the screen look slightly narrower than they do when printed.
The biggest problem with LCD displays in general is viewing angle. They are like venetian blinds. Close them and you can see the slats clearly, turn them so the slats are perpendicular to your eye and you can't. But change your viewing angle by looking from higher or lower, and the slats become visible again.
Similarly, the little bits of liquid crystal rotate to make images appear on the display. But sit a little higher or a little lower than dead centre to the screen, and the monitor will get slightly darker or lighter.
For most people, that's not a big deal. But when working with graphics, video or photographs, it's a headache. Along with the shift in brightness, there is a subtle colour shift. Because the monitor is so big, the top quarter always looks a little darker and pinker than the rest of the screen.
The Apple Studio Display, bar the iMac, is the coolest thing to hit the bricks in the past year and the size makes it the perfect fashion accessory for your average matchbox-sized Hong Kong flat.
It is a good monitor if you are prepared to deal with some of the inherent drawbacks of LCD displays. The software could use another generation to get a few kinks out and make it more sophisticated.
For the $10,000 price and intended target market, which includes graphics professionals, I would like to see calibration abilities as found in a Colorsync display. So if you don't have $10,000 burning a hole in your pocket, wait a bit.
