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Educational pricing on that 20 in is $649 for those of you getting a college degree.

While the 20" & 23" are still a tad on the higher end of the price scale, it is funny that the 30" Apple display is now less expensive than the 30" Dell model. The days of Apple being portrayed by competitors and PC lovers as being ultra expensive are definitely over.

smart move. keeps people from going over to Dell site to buy the same display for less.

A sure sign that new ones are on the way - in a month or two.

airport extreme slashed to

Perhaps new models with built-in HDMI and/or HDCP to display DRM-protected movies from an upcoming download service?

I find myself wondering if this also is what the integrated time machine backup system is partially about. Depending on the business models selected for iTunes Movie Store downloads, Apple may need a simple way to help users back up gigantic movie files.

I noticed the airport extreme was $49 on the site yesterday. I think this is due to the fact that configuring a Dell online gives you an option for a wireless card at $49 and they are going for Dell's jugular.

Interesting to comapre systems between Dell and Apple:
Mac Pro

2 x Dual Core Intel Xeon 2.66GHz
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM FB DIMM 667MHz ECC
250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HD with 8MB Cache
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB
16x DVD+/-RW
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
Mac OS X - U.S. English
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro/Power Mac (w/or w/o Display) - Auto-enroll

Price: $4,698

I configured a Dell with the following specs:

Dell Precision Workstation 690 1KW

2 x Dual Core Intel Xeon 2.66GHz
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM FB DIMM 667MHz ECC
250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HD with 8MB Cache
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB
16x DVD+/-RW
Keyboard and Mouse
Windows XP Professional x64
3 Year Business Comprehensive Warranty

Price: $5,650

I am sorry to inform you all, but Apple is _still_ missing the boat here.

I don't mind paying up for a Mac because of OS X, but the display? People please.

I am sitting infrom of two Dell monitors that are bright, clear, have no dead pixels, and are..oh yeah, 24" that rotate horizontally or vertically, have a USB hub, etc. They also cost $750 a piece with the 20" version bringing $460.

For my money, I would rather save hundreds and put some black electrical tape over the Dell logo than cough up for an Apple display with alumnium matching the Mac Pro.

@me:
Are those Dells connected to a Mac or a PC?

I just noticed and this might be old news but the iMac's when upgraded from two sticks of 512 ram to 1 stick of 1GB it is the same price. If I remember correctly, this use to cost.

rasterbator - are you a freaking idiot? It's a monitor. It takes an image signal from any device you want. You could hook it up to your HDTV cable box if you wanted.

rasterbator -
and to answer your question directly, they are actually hooked up to both a PowerMac and a Dell. The Dell monitors have selector switches for the inputs so I can push the button and switch which head I am looking at. It is great for web work where I have to develop websites that look the same in IE and Safari.

the airport base stations still cost twice as much as they should...

Me,

I'm glad that you make sure your webpages work on Safari. I hate when web sites don't work because the developer thinks everything in the world uses IE.

Rob - I agree the Airport base stations do care an undue premium. At the same time, They offer a great deal of flexibility over some less expensive WAPs.

Specifically, the Airport Extreme base station has a LAN port for providing WAN access to wired networks (though you need a hub for multiple connections) and they provide network printer sharing for USB printers natively (though the printer needs to be within wiring distance to the base station which is not always optimal. Lastly, they provide external antena connections and PoE for more remote installations (such as attics or above drop ceilings in an office environment).

I agree with Cubert. New monitors are probably on the way. And similar to me (that sounds funny), I used a Dell monitor with a G4/733 tower recently. I couldn't beat the cost. It was free. I'm sure some of this is subjective. I've seen rows of displays in CompUSA. What looked like a big difference in quality to me, didn't faze my friends. The Cinema Displays were noticeably sharper and brighter to me than other similarly priced displays.

P.S. And in the last two references to me, I meant me not the other me.

>>I find myself wondering if this also is what the integrated time machine backup system is partially about. Depending on the business models selected for iTunes Movie Store downloads, Apple may need a simple way to help users back up gigantic movie files.

Very insightful, IMHO.

Apple is definitely clearing out inventory.

I am disappointed that there is no built in isight and ir reader for Front Row.

Bad update IMHO

next week, iphone and ipod,

My 23" Cinema Display is entering it's 5th year of service. Not a single flawed pixel. Apple blew away the competition 5 years ago and only now has everyone caught up and the differences between brands pointless. Are they worth the price now? Only if you see them as an investment that may last a decade.

The dead pixel comment caught me off guard too...

Was there ever an issue with mac monitors?

rasterbator - are you a freaking idiot? It's a monitor. It takes an image signal from any device you want. You could hook it up to your HDTV cable box if you wanted.

First of all, no PC monitor yet handles HDCP content protection, so you might be watching a few "FreeHD" stations in High Definition, you are certainly NOT watching the Playboy channel in 1080p and watching the hairs on some chicks mamory glands.

The Dell monitors are cheap grainy crap, I've seen them all. The Apple Displays are certainly not HDCP complaint yet, but they are certainly worth their money.

Anyway watching HD on anything less that 60" is a waste of money, especially 20". FSCK THAT.


The price drop of the Apple monitors is a sign the HDCP complaint models are coming, and so is BlueRay.

Dell sucks and so does the traitors using their cheap garbage.

Umm.. Fsck ME, the Apple and Dell displays use the same LG panels.

Baa.

Fsck ME said:
"First of all, no PC monitor yet handles HDCP content protection, so you might be watching a few "FreeHD" stations in High Definition, you are certainly NOT watching the Playboy channel in 1080p and watching the hairs on some chicks mamory glands."

Try the Samsung 215tw. Very sweet.

Reviews of the Dell vs Apple CS had Dell being more affordable, but not so good at accurate color. If you're doing work where it doesn't matter, enjoy your Dell. I'm an Art Director and I LOVE my 23" Cinema Screen!

Oh, and no dead pixels here either.

PC A:

And yet, one looks remarkably better than the other...There's more to it than just the panel--which are not all the same, btw, even when from the same manufacturer. But why should you be expected to understand subtleties such as these?

Baa yourself.

As nice as the 20" Cinema Display is, the Dell 20" widescreen display is in some ways a better buy. The Dell can often be found for around $400 if you watch http://www.techbargains.com, it's the same size and resolution as the Apple, it has USB 2.0 ports built-in, and it is designed to rotate on its stand. When I'm viewing my photos that I shot veritically, it sure is nice to go to my display prefs and tell it to rotate my display 90 degrees, rotate the Dell display and view my photos vertically using the entire screen. It's fun browsing web pages with the monitor rotated as well - it's like an unfolded newspaper.a