Particularly in bright light, the glossy coating doubles as a mirror, and while you can certainly look through and adjust your eyes to tone it out, it's a quality that's distinctive enough to make mention of. We mentioned that it's bright enough for use in an office surrounded by open windows, but sadly, you'll see every decoration in said office just as frequently (via reflections) as your see your applications. Visually, we really don't have any complaints worth harping on. Whites are starkly white, blacks are decidedly deep and overall, it's just enjoyable to look at.
#Cinema display adapter pro
Those familiar with the display on the new MacBook Pro are fully equipped to understand the LED Cinema Display, as the qualities between the two are practically identical. It's actually rather scary how bright this thing gets, so don't worry about being able to see it in broad daylight. The LED backlight is responsible for delivering a striking, bright and incredibly crisp image that looks good while playing back fast-moving action or just displaying your mundane desktop.
So, the $64,000 question - does the thing even look good? In a word, yes. In other words, it actually sounds like stereo, not just a puny tweeter doing its best to crank out full-range monaural sound. It gets plenty loud for desk use, and it does a noteworthy job of dispersing sound in a way that envelopes the user. When hooking up your notebook, audio is instantly ported from the lappie's speakers to the monitor's speakers when the USB connector of the tri-prong cable is hooked up, and the clarity is superb. Audio is delivered automatically over USB 2.0 from one's laptop to the screen, and while we can only chuckle at the ".1" part of the "2.1" audio system, the quality is darn impressive. We generally wouldn't bother with mentioning a monitor's audio qualities specifically, but Apple has clearly given this screen something worthy of talking about. Just make sure you have a good duster, as the glossy screen pulls dust out of places you never knew existed. Oh, and yeah, it's pretty striking to look at. Needless to say, we were a bit bummed to see additional video inputs completely omitted, but strangely, not at all surprised.The recline on the base is nice and smooth, and it always held solid whenever we changed its position. In other words, you can forget about hooking your Xbox 360 up to this thing when it's not handling your desktop activities. No HDMI input, no possibility for a breakout box, nothing.
There's the obligatory Kensington security slot and a trio of USB 2.0 sockets too, but that's sadly where the connectivity options end. 'Round back, you'll find a large, mirrored Apple logo, a recessed port for the AC adapter and another port that's filled with a tri-prong cable (USB 2.0, MagSafe power and Mini DisplayPort). Sure, you can remove the base entirely and mount it on a VESA-compatible arm, but seriously, who's doing that? In all honesty, the angle is just about right for most, but it's a niggle we can't help but point out.
The inability to adjust it north and south (it simply tilts down and back) is a real pain for us. We've never been a fan of the Cinema Display base, and we're no closer to falling in love now. The "cheese grater" grille on the bottom of the screen - which enables the "2.1" sound system to cut through - is a nice touch, though you'll probably never look at it after giving it a peek upon the initial unboxing. It's simply silver and black, and it meshes well with the motif found on the outfit's latest laptop line. It's relatively sleek, completely fashionable and 100% Apple. Design wise, the new LED Cinema Display isn't a far cry from Apple's prior (er, still current, kind of) line.