Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Features
The "Duh" factor: glossy, iSight Cinema Displays up next
"Now that the MacBook Pro, MacBook and iMacs all have built-in iSights, it makes sense for Apple to revamp its display line and include the same feature" and "if such updated monitors are in the works, it will be interesting to see whether Apple offers them with glossy and non-glossy screen options as it does with the MacBook."
Now, a bunch of -- what I can only assume to be matt screen loving/iSight hating -- digg users have reported that the story may be inaccurate, but how far from the truth can it be? You don't need to be a genius to see MacBooks with iSights and glossy screens and think "hey, maybe Apple will make new Cinema Displays with those features!" We even guessed this in the latest edition of the TUAW podcast just over a month ago -- if we could guess it, everyone and their dog should be able to! Yet more evidence that the majority of Apple rumors consist of Mac users looking at Apple's current line-up and letting their mind wander into the land of obvious features.
When was the last time there was a factual Mac rumor about something that wasn't immediately obvious? Or, for that matter, the last time that an obvious Mac rumor was inaccurate?
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
turtleJP said 6:25AM on 7-18-2006
Here is what my crystal ball tells me. Future iMacs with choice of glossy or matte finish. Black model is possible but a bit cloudy.
As for the Cinema Displays I see a future with a UDI interface that supports HDCP. Camera makes sense as well.
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Klemens said 7:09AM on 7-18-2006
Yeah.
Because some time during the last one or two months, Apple Germany took down the external iSight from their German Store. I think it was related to environmental reasons but still, it would be pretty weired if there was no camera avaliable at all over here.
From this I figure there has to be an iSight replacement in some way. If iSights are really going to be integrated into the Cinema Displays, OS X had to come up with a solution to handle more then one iSights, as many people I know use two monitors. (Or is OS X able to do that already?)
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XiozTzu said 7:15AM on 7-18-2006
Here is what MY crystal ball tells me... ;) As, WWDC gets closer more and more incorrect speculation will be provided by lonely computer geeks. Everyone will be worked up into a frenzy, then when none of the speculated products appear everyone will blame Apple for overhypeing their products. A few days later people will accept that there is not a new super iPod and life will go on.
While all this happens there will be a smattering of articles detailing why Apple is going down in flames, how a new iPod killer will finally arrive, an expose on what Steve Jobs ate for lunch, how Apple laptops, err notebooks, have singed the testicles of a high school computer club, falsified photos, iPhone, MS merger, viruses , etc, etc, etc...
A few months later... Rinse and repeat.
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Oni said 7:56AM on 7-18-2006
I think there's a good posility of an integrated iSight in the Apple Cinema Displays or the launch of a new external iSight Camera...persoanlly I'd prefer it if they did the both. The iSight camera is no longer available for sale from Apple here in Europe so that it can meet EU regulations...alongside the Airport router and old eMac. These are still available from resellers until stocks last.
I find it difficult to believe that the Cinema Displays will be glossy only, because professionals will want the matte finish because they offer the truest and most natural colours available. The glossy display would ruin that completely for them.
That is probably why there's a choice on the MacBook Pro (of glossy or non glossy).
Personally, I wouldn't want a glossy display. The reflection irritates me too much.
There's even a good chance they might not introduce a glossy display option at all.
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Mike said 8:25AM on 7-18-2006
Stupid other website. Don't they know you aren't allowed to have Apple rumors unless they are sufficently impractical.
I mean what is the fun in posting rational speculation when you can say something crazy.
Like, let's say. The new PowerMac replacement will be made of cheese. And Leopard will actually be AmigaOS.
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Matt Grover said 8:51AM on 7-18-2006
Cinema Displays with built in iSight? I'm going for a maybe on this one.
I think if they did produce these, then they would have to offer them without cams as well, after all, there's loads of people out there with dual monitor setups, do you really need TWO cameras??
If you're adding a second screen to your iMac, which already has a built in iSight (if you've bought recently for all the flamers there), you won't need another camera, so why pay the extra for it?
Could be a bad move to include them, just re-vam the iSight to be environmentally friendly
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narco said 8:58AM on 7-18-2006
During my last visit to the Apple store, I was finally able to see the new glossy screens everyone has been freaking out about. I think they look awesome and would love to have one.
However, as a art director who has to stare at a cinema display for many hours a day, I prefer the matte finish. Glossy is good for surfing, chatting and random iLife stuff - but not when you work for the print business.
Then again, people said the same shit about LCD vs CRT, yet most of them have since switched to LCD. I guess it's just a matter of time.
Fishes,
narco.
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astutefool said 9:01AM on 7-18-2006
A iSight in Cinema Displays is very unlikely. It is low rez and intended for consumers hence its inclusion in Macbook, iMac. It would be odd (as well as off putting) for there to be an iSight in MacBook and not one in MacBook Pro which is why it is in that pro model. Cinema Displays for the most part are used by proffesionals who don't need an iSight camera, people won't be put off from buying the display because it doesn't have iSight.
They haven't stopped selling iSight in Europe because they are on the cusp of releasing an iSight Cinema display, it is because they don't fully comply with EU environmental regulations (hazardous substances)
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Fra said 9:28AM on 7-18-2006
I personally see an introduction of an iSight mini so Apple have a chance to reintroduce the iSight back to the EU.
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Jack said 9:45AM on 7-18-2006
I don't think the iSight or the Glossy will be introduced into the Cinema display. It's a pro product, and those are just frivolous ad-ins.
My opinion, though, is a consumer grade display - something that'll match an iMac/MacBook/Mac Mini. It just makes more sense to create a monitor for that crowd (And a lot of Mac Mini users would prefer a cheaper apple display.)
I still don't see a need for glossy in any desktop based monitor. The monitor is bound to stay in one place, not be put out in the harsh bright light of the out-doors. It'd be more annoying indoors with glossy than without the glossy. I like glossy in the *books, but in desktop computers, thanks, but no thanks.
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Thomas said 9:46AM on 7-18-2006
astutefool, the isight is intended for anyone who wants a decent webcam solution. What are professionals using for ichat then? The only way a better camera would make any difference is on a really high speed connection, but that's not what all "professionals" are gonna have, for the majority of people an isight is great. Although in multi-screen setups it does become a touch pointless.
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NNTPgrip said 10:03AM on 7-18-2006
How about a cinema display that MATCHES the look of the iMac. I would like to still kick dual monitors on the mac and have it look good. 20" iMac+20" iMac matching cinema display with interlocking groves to keep them together and allow same-time tilt adjustment?
Anyone?
Anyone?
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DrWho said 10:11AM on 7-18-2006
I don't see a built-in camera as being frivolous, ever heard of video conferencing? Or don't arty creative types do that yet?
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timothy said 10:31AM on 7-18-2006
Personally, I prefer the matte finish (matte, TUAW, not matt), but wouldn't mind the built in isight.
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Tony said 11:21AM on 7-18-2006
"I find it difficult to believe that the Cinema Displays will be glossy only, because professionals will want the matte finish because they offer the truest and most natural colours available."
Actually, that would be CRT...Current LCD technology doesn't offer the truest and most natural colors available, regardless of the finish (matte or glossy.)
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russell said 11:59AM on 7-18-2006
Where are the super ipod = newton resurrection rumors? Or the flash ram minimacbook with touchscreen and built-in EVDO ? c'mon How about a pro remote control that adds an EJECT button?
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Aaron B said 12:15PM on 7-18-2006
All we need is for Leopard to be able to use multiple iSights, built in or otherwise, to perform 3-D videoconferencing. Now we're talking.
Or maybe apple will use that pixel/camera patent...
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mark said 12:19PM on 7-18-2006
I could see glossy, iSight-enabled models coming to the low end, but I'd be very surprised if Apple didn't keep matte, non-iSight versions of the 23- and 30-inch Cinema Displays in their lineup. The reason for this is that plenty of professionals who demand accurate color have been adopting Cinema Displays, and most of them don't want a glossy screen (too many reflections to kill your color perception). And many of them work in environments in which an iSight would simply not be permissible. Clients with strict NDAs tend not to view them too favorably.
As for the CRT/LCD debate... it's old news. I was a CRT proponent for a long time, with good reason, but the new generation of high-end LCDs, such as the 23- and 30-inch Cinema Displays, is so good (when color-profiled, of course) that the CRT argument has become moot. I'm running a 23-inch Cinema Display and a Lacie Electron Blue CRT (one of the last high-quality CRTs available) side-by-side in a dual-display setup, and the Cinema Display is so good that I've relegated the Lacie to secondary-display duty (holding palettes and such). The color on the Cinema Display is just as good, but it's brighter and crisper, which means I can look at it a lot longer without my eyes getting strained. The color closely matches both contract proofs and the output from our profiled color printers. That's something that even most CRTs aren't capable of, even when color profiled -- and the high-end pro-level CRTs that are capable of it, such as the LaCie Electron Blue line, have pretty much disappeared from the market.
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Tom von S. said 12:44PM on 7-18-2006
I think it would make more sense to just bundle the iSight camera than to put it in the display itself.
Having a fixed camera sucks, but it is worthwhile on a laptop because it remains out of your way, it's "just there" (no plugging in or extra hardware to carry) and the laptop lid is easily tilted to get yourself into the picture.
None of these are real benefits on a cinema display.
IMO.
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Oni said 7:44PM on 7-18-2006
"I find it difficult to believe that the Cinema Displays will be glossy only, because professionals will want the matte finish because they offer the truest and most natural colours available."
Actually, that would be CRT...Current LCD technology doesn't offer the truest and most natural colors available, regardless of the finish (matte or glossy.)
Ermmm...I don't know if anyone told you but CRT is out and LCD is in now, plus if we're talking Apple (which we are) they, don't make CRT displays anymore. So I dunno why you bring that up.
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