BIG-SCREEN MONITORS FOR MAC AND PC USERS

The HP ZR2740W is pretty bare on connection options, with only one display port and DVI input in addition to two handy USB inputs. It runs cooler than any of its competitors and its big unique selling feature is that it swivels vertically. Nice. www.hp.ca 

Apple Cinema Display, is ideally suited for its Air, MacBook and Mac siblings with direct mini-display ports. But you can easily use PCs with it with additional cabling, as long as the PC’s desktop or laptop video card can support the 2560×1440 resolution. Newer Cinema Displays have the new Thunderbolt connection, a new small and very fast data cable system that lets you daisy chain Thunderbolt-capable external hard drives and monitors. I found its display to be a notch better than the HP or Dell with additional features like an iSight camera, built -in descent speaker and a MacNotebook mag charger. You can get a good deal on Cinema Displays under “refurbished” in the Apple Store, about 15 per cent off with a full year warranty.  One disadvantage is it won’t go as low to your working surface as the Dell and HP models, something us glass-wearers appreciate. www.apple.com/ca 

 

Having one of these 27-inch displays is a must on any frequent computer user’s bucket list.