Andy Laub

I think it started with a MacBook Pro. Or rather, the observation that a 15″ MacBook is capable of the same (1680 x 1050) resolution as the 20″ monitors in front of me. Slowly but surely this spiraled into feelings of monitor inadequacy and I started to consider an upgrade. That was a mistake.

You probably already know where this is going, but suffice it to say that I can be somewhat — finicky — when it comes to buying things. With that in mind, I set off on a journey to see what I could see.

Parameters

I pretty quickly remembered that one of the must-haves in a new display is LED backlighting, because it’s awesome. While this helped narrow the search considerably, it wasn’t without its share of problems. It can be rather difficult to sift through pages of displays (regardless of website) to find those that are LED-backlit, as the technology isn’t significant enough to warrant different categorization from other LCD’s. Annoying, but understandable.

Getting past this obstacle, I was able to find some potential candidates at reasonable prices. I knew when starting the search that I’d likely have to make some sacrifices, namely in terms of aesthetics. I was pretty interested in the Samsung PX2370 (no link, but it’s black, rectangular, and really shallow), but true to Samsung everybody-but-Apple form the base looks like dogshit and for some godforsaken reason it’s not even VESA compliant.

More Parameters

But I digress. Let’s forget about specific monitors for a minute and talk about where the industry as a whole is headed: 16:9. It only makes sense, considering that’s where televisions have been for years and it’s a lot easier for computers to adjust to this standard. And as a result, we’re seeing cheaper panels which is why the Samsung mentioned above is have-able for around $300.

HOWEVER. The result is that it’s nigh-impossible to find an LED-backlit monitor with a pixel height of more than 1080 (“full-HD”) – a measly 30 pixels higher than what I have now. And with that in mind, it’s hard for me to justify spending any money to upgrade. Additional width is useful, always. But additional height is just as important, and that’s just not there yet – even larger 16:9 monitors are topping out at full HD. 1080P is great (I’d even go so far as to call it overkill) for a 27″ television, but a sick joke for a computer monitor of the same size. Where’s the pixel density?

These two search parameters have made my options extremely limited, and somewhat surprisingly, the front-runner is the outgoing 24″ Apple LED Display. While the new 27″ matches the 16:9 ratio and WQHD resolution of the 2009 iMacs, the late 24″ is the last of Apple’s 16:10 desktop displays. Price, especially now, is not as bad as I initially thought after comparing it with rivals that lack LED and niceties like the built-in iSight(s) (not to mention the aesthetic points).

Conclusion

If I had to buy new monitors right this second, I’d probably cry a little bit and then give my money to Apple. But fortunately I don’t have to buy anything right now, so I probably won’t. It’s a tougher decision to make when a few hundred dollars turns into nearly three times that much, and fortunately my current Apples are working just fine.

Addendum

After further research, some additional (and expensive) voodoo is required to mate a DVI Mac Pro with one of the Mini DisplayPort-only Apple displays. The search continues.

It’s officially time for the XMASLIST. Here goes:

1. A car would be nice. Like this one. ($$$$$)
2. Maybe an Xbox. And Halo. ($$)
3. A G5. Loaded or not. + Cinema Display. ($$$ – $$$$)
4. Clothes. Shirts, pants, I don’t care. Shoes too. ($$)
5. Since it’s a wishlist, how about some local Cingular service? (-)
6. And a decent phone. ($$)
7. What’s a wish list without a TV? ($$$$)
8. Drums! ($$$)
9. Money ($$$$$)

Since the move earlier this year, we’ve acquired much of what we wanted. Abe made the excellent point that with most of the stuff we want, we just buy it. I need to stop doing that or start making more money.

Speaking of money, I’ve been sent a lot of fake credit cards as of late – you know, the ones that look real but say “YOUR NAME HERE.” Well, Discover sent one that’s almost not worthy. It’s made of cardboard, kind of to simulate plastic. That is really probably the most pathetic thing I’ve seen. It wasn’t even attached to anything, just floating around in the envelope.

So, first things first – the displays have finally landed. They’re nice – enough said.

Secondly, a bus seemed to have a minor problem navigating the turn behind our apartment. Finally, shoes. I got some. For biking, and stuff. They are nice – the Nike Kato II. The thing I like so much is that they are very similar to my Tupu running shoes in many ways. It looks like they even share certain pieces. This is all well and good, but what good would biking shoes be without a bitchin’ pair of clipless pedals? I ordered those, but they’re not here yet. I’m waitin’.

So the sky has fallen and Apple has finally updated their notebooks. This news is received by me with equal amounts of bitterness, apathy, and satisfaction:

Bitterness: it’s about damn time. This is the update that should’ve happened 4 months ago at MWSF. You can not tell me that Apple did not have the capability to put a 1.33 G4 in a 12″ Powerbook at that time, and it would’ve made a lot of people happy in a presentation where not much else happened (see 01/06/04).

Apathy: well, doing it now really makes no difference to me. I bought mine when I needed it, and the whole purpose was to have a completely functional (wireless) setup when we moved. That was a month and a half ago. I could not have waited this long for an update. I am still waiting for displays.

Satisfaction: at least they finally updated something. The year until this point has been fairly unexciting in terms of Apple products. They’re also doing the logical thing by making an Airport Extreme card standard fare. And everyone knows that the updates are just biding time for the G5 Powerbooks. Also, they didn’t become better-looking and they didn’t increase the RAM, which would’ve killed me.

Also:

• I now own a car dealership and a porn studio in Vice City.
• Within the past two weeks I saw Brother Bear, The Matrix : Revolutions, and some other movie. I’m pretty sure they were all OK.

Well, I’m reaching entirely new plateaus of slacking in 2004. I have to say I’m quite proud of myself. I should be looking at scripting stuff right now, but I am lazy and it’s hard. I bought a pair of pretty pants today – just some adidas ones to wear around the house because the Nike ones I bought a couple years ago just aren’t very good and our store had a big sale. The Powerbook is happy after a brief font issue (a particular installed (corrupt?) font was preventing Safari from working at all), but I don’t honestly think it’s Ray Ban outlet enough to be my main system. I like it for now, but I’ve officially made the decision to buy a G5 in a year. That will give me time to recover my funds and I won’t feel like I’m spending way too much money at once. I am, however, going to buy a cinema display if it’s the last thing I do. And it very well may be, if Apple delays their updates (there’s talk of the casing being changed to aluminum-esque to match the G5 and Powerbook – I want that) for any longer. First there was nothing good at MWSF and now they’ve completely ignored the 20th Anniversary of the Mac. 2004 is shaping up to be a boring year, so far.

On a non-related subject we move in 30 days. I am more than a little excited. I can’t wait to be in a much, much larger place than we are now. I’d also really like to know what happened to my remote, because it’s not on my desk. It makes me sad because it does lots of important things, like tell me what CD is what in my very large CD player. I guess I am done now because the laptop is melting my lap top.

I’m kidding.