HD For Indies

I've posted some pictures of some very crude comparisons between the Dell 2405 vs Apple 23" Cinema Display. Both of these monitors can display 1920x1200 pixels. The Apple arguably has a nicer frame/stand, but the Dell costs less, has a better image (at least from preliminary testing), and has a BUNCH more inputs.

The Apple has one DVI-D input, and 2 FireWire 400 and 2 USB 2.0 ports. List price is about $1500 (dropped several hundred dollars not too long ago).

The Dell as one DVI-D input, one VGA input, one component video input (auto-senses HD or SD input), on composite input, one S-video input, one composite input, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and a full range of digital still camera memory card/stick inputs that work sans drivers. Oh, and the Dell can be had for under $1000 if you work it right.

My first basic basic test - plug both into my ATI X800 card, set them to mirror mode so they both display the same thing. Oh, and both had properly set profiles in the Display settings of System Prefs. Nice to see the Dell's shows up and works just fine. So far I'm very impressed with the Dell's integration on the Mac - even the still camera card reader stuff works fine out of the box, no drivers or nuthin'. This is on my dual 2.5 GHz G5, BTW.

I cranked the brightness on the Apple up to max to try to get as close to possible to the Dell's brightness, but this substantially elevates the Apple's black levels, which is not such a good thing.

I changed the Dell from it's default sRGB setting to User Setting, and then didn't change it from there.

Neither of these setups - Apple at full intensity, nor Dell at an unaltered User Setting is probably what is best for this kind of testing, this is just a quickie first pass.

I watched the Batman Begins 1080p trailer running on both simultaneously. The Dell seems brighter, with more contrast, and possibly more saturation, but that may be my biased eye liking it otherwise so much.

I took some pictures in the studio with the lights turned off; I don't think the light coming through the blinds affected the Dell any more than the Apple. That is to say, just because there are blinds visible behind the Dell it shouldn't alter the recorded brightness of the Dell's image.

If you look at the pictures, there are three:

1.) both monitors with same images. Not black levels in unilluminated portions.

2.) Same thing, but with Apple monitor facing camera more directly.

3.) This seems to be the most telling - both monitors are displaying pure black images. Note how much brighter the Apple is. This is not a desirable feature in this context.

These are all the raw JPEG's - I did NO adjustments whatsoever in iPhoto - no levels, no cropping, nothing. So while this isn't any kind of scientific test, nor adequately set up, it does give a clue as to the relative black levels of the two monitors as set up.

So far, I'm preferring the Dell.

I've found no dead pixels on the Dell so far, even after using a dead pixel testing application. My first Apple 23" had a stuck pixel and I managed to get it exchanged after a lot of hassle.

More testing to follow, but this is a reasonable place to start.

-mike