CNET recently pitted the 30-inch Apple Cinema Display vs. the Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP. They tested the monitors side by side on identical PC systems equipped with 256MB Nvidia 7800 GTX graphics cards. In the end, they concluded that the Apple LCD won 3 out of 5 rounds of the bout, but gave high praise to the Dell flat panel as well.

It’s worth noting that both monitors were tested out of the box, there was no calibration whatsoever. That seems a little irresponsible of the CNET editors, especially considering did compare some of the more technical specs. Doh.

In related news, Apple has quietly bumped the listed specs of the 30″ Cinema Display, they now match those of the Dell with brightness at 400 cd/2 (from 270 cd/m2) and contrast ratio at 700:1 (from 400:1).

One of the Engadget commenters states:
“Both the Dell 3007WFP and the Apple 30″ Cinema displays use the LG-Philips LM300W01 panel, which is the only commercially available LCD with a 30″ diagonal and a 2560×1600 native resolution. Having said that, the associated electronics and backlighting could have been engineered differently between the Apple and Dell displays. It’s hard to say whether Apple really did change the backlighting to match Dell, or if this is just a restatement of the specifications. I suspect the latter, given the lack of fanfare from Apple.”

Food for thought…

(Thanks for the tip, Dan!)