I just read the latest blog post by Noel Llopis (Snappy Touch, Casey’s Contraptions, you know the one…) titled “Big Displays: The Good, The Shiny, and The Ugly”. It’s all about his journey to find the ideal big monitor. It brought back memories of my monitor hunting adventures this year and I thought those would be worth sharing. You wont believe what happened, so just read on…
I wanted something BIG, preferably new, and ideally something from Apple, but not necessary.
I liked the size, crisp detail, and color of the 27″ Apple Cinema displays, but I was worried about the gloss. I’ve never liked the glossy glare on my MacBook Pro, so I pretty much ruled it out.
Apple 30" Cinema
I considered the 30″ cinemas, but there were a couple problems. Price was the first thing, they were the most expensive of all the monitors I was considering. Standard resolution was the second. (At the time I thought that the 2560×1600 thing was what I wanted, but I’m currently not convinced that it’s better.)
The 30″ Dell Ultrasharp was the same size as the cinema, it also came in matte finish, it offered the high resolution and came at a more palatable price. But there was one thing I was worried about. A lot of reviews talked about how the anti-glare matte finish made the screen look “crystally”. Who wants that?! But I figured that it was the lesser of two evils when compared to the “mirrory” gloss on the Apple displays.
Dell Ultrasharp 30" Display
I ended up buying the Dell, but I had so much buyer’s remorse that I immediately cancelled the order. Then something interesting happened…
Funny thing is that when I was talking the the sales rep about canceling they offered to lower the price of the monitor if I would reconsider! I thought about it, but decided to continue with my cancellation. But then the sales rep offered to lower the price even more if I would reconsider again. I was floored. This has never happened to me before. The deal was even more tempting but I decided that I still wasn’t convinced that this was the monitor for me.
I saved my money and gave myself a break from monitor shopping. After all, I have a pretty good 24″ Gateway monitor already. My only complaint about it is that the green hues tend to be brighter no matter how I calibrate the darn thing.
iMac 27"
Later that year I ended up buying a 27″ iMac. I needed a new computer at that time, so it seemed to be the logical choice. I could finally get a bigger and “better” monitor while also upgrading my mac as well.
This also turned out to be an interesting story…
I bought the iMac and took it home. The glare was actually tolerable, but not ideal. The problem was that now I was missing the portability of my laptop! Again, I felt like I had made another major purchase blunder. The buyer’s remorse was just as strong as when I bought the Dell monitor earlier in the year. This time I was concerned that Apple might not take it back, since I had already begun using it for about a week! I assumed there would be some kind of re-shelving fee or something at the least.
Apple Stock 2011
So I took it into the store and the return was a breeze! Way to go Apple, no questions asked. Wonderful customer service. But then another amazing thing happened! When they refunded my credit card for the iMac they had reimbursed me too much… more than a couple hundred dollars too much! We went back to the clerk and pointed out their error. The clerk went to his supervisor in the back and then came back out after a few minutes. He turned my wife’s attention to a computer screen and pulled up Apple’s stock price. He said something like, “look, Apple made like a billion dollars last year, so… just don’t worry about it.” We were floored.. again. We pushed back, wanting to be certain of what was going on. He reiterated that it was OK, we can keep the full amount they reimbursed us, and “don’t worry about it.”. We left the store stunned. I couldn’t believe that Apple PAID me to return their used product! Wow.
MacBook Pro 15"
It really was a blessing because in the end what I decided to get was a Macbook Pro, 15″, matte screen, with a RAM upgrade. It’s been the perfect workhorse ever since! The extra cash that Apple was so kind to insist I not worry about was reinvested back into them anyway via those additional upgrades 
So what about the BIG monitor? Well, I decided to hang onto my 24″ Gateway, and I use that beside my MacBook Pro. They really are the perfect pair.
If Apple brings back the 30″ Cinema then I’m definitely going to be interested. In fact, after reading the latest blog post by Noel I’m starting to feel convinced that the 30″ might be something to reconsider, but they’re still pricy and harder to find on Craigslist here in Grand Rapids, MI 
Thanks Noel, for the great analysis of your monitor experience! In the end it seems like we both learned the same lesson: “don’t settle”. Get whatever suits your needs because you’ll be “stuck” with it for a while
