Apple discontinues the 23” Apple Cinema Display

by Milind Alvares
Thursday November 13, 2008

Apple discontinues the 23” Apple Cinema Display

by Milind Alvares on November 13, 2008

While the all new 24” Apple LED Display still displays the coming soon message on it’s page, the older generation 23” display has gone the way of the Dodo. While the Cinema Display product page still raves about the 23 incher along with its siblings, the Store displays a very subtle “Discontinued” status.

All the ACDs show the screen size as 20"
(Note: A glitch in the system shows a screensize as 20” in the “Select a size” option for all the displays, only the 23” display shows the Discontinued status.)

So while many a Macboy can rejoice over the fact that the new display is ready for shipping (not yet, but it’s a sign), the rest of us can mull over the inevitable death of the matte displays. While I am personally more inclined towards a glossy display (honestly, I don’t mind them!), I can’t imagine what any self-respecting professional would have to say about the 30” display going glossy. Take a look at our GlossBook survey. While consumers love the glossy display, professionals are totally outraged.

While I don’t think signing online petitions or sending hate mail to the Apple feedback system is going to help, it never hurts to try. After all, if Apple could rough up the glass on the trackpad, they can very well make a matte glass display.

Tagged as: acd, apple cinema display, bad apple, cinema display, led, LED display, News

Reader Comments

The new 24″ LED displays now shipping. | Smoking Apples: November 19, 2008 at 4:44 pm
The 20” Cinema Displays disappear from the store! | Smoking Apples: February 19, 2009 at 11:41 pm

Reader Comments

alanvalek.com November 13, 2008 at 12:15 pm alanvalek.com/blog: Where’s the new 30”..? Macworld Jan. 09?…Better yet, where’s the new MacPros!!!!!
Milind Alvares November 13, 2008 at 3:47 pm goobimama.blogspot.com: I think Macworld Jan 09 is going to be all about the desktops. The iMac will get its minor speed bump and displayport, then the Mac Pro with the extra juice, then the new LED displays and lastly, the the one more thing will involve a brand new mac mini replacement, possibly with an Apple-TVish extension to it.

Or, I could be just talking out of my head
Whiskey town November 13, 2008 at 7:22 pm: It is a sad day indeed, that Apple chooses to go with the consumer instead of the professional, who have stayed loyal to the Apple brand. I guess the consumers bring in more cash, what with all the most popular mac being the MacBook. This is a very shortsighted move on Apple’s part and will come back to haunt them.

At least the 30” display should offer the glossy/matte option.
Ryan November 13, 2008 at 9:33 pm eco-snob.com: Any length of time spent working/playing on my 20 inch Imac resulted in problems with my vision that was noticeable as soon as I went outside. Since I bought a MacBook I’ve had no problems no matter how long I’m working on it - I’m working my way through the “Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML” book for hours at a time. Although I’m told that the MacBook is still a glossy screen there must be something different between it and the Imac that on the one I would get double-vision and the other I would get nothing. I do hope that Apple will followup with choice of products rather than “squeeze us through a small hole.”
NotoGlossy November 14, 2008 at 3:09 pm: I won’t whose fucking idea it is to make all the products glossy. WTF are they thinking! Well, at least in the displays you can use any other display instead of the Apple ones. but with the notebooks you are stuck to using glossy.
Mehul November 14, 2008 at 6:21 pm: I fully agree with notoglossys view. Who the heck thought glossy displays are good all the time??? Combating glare is really painful for the eyes and many times results in imperfections in images which directly have an end result on the final product, be it a studio portrait or video etc.

But all we can do is just nothing. Plus, not all professionals are outraged. LED displays a re the future and many pros in the US are switching over to em. Its all about adjusting for the future.
DeeBee November 16, 2008 at 1:53 pm: Mehul, “LED” does not in any way mean that the screen has to be manufactured with a glossy surface - LED backlighting & glossy surfaces are unrelated choices in terms of how screens are manufactured.

My 1-year old MBP (Late 2007), with Matte screen, has an LED backlit screen (mine was the first MBP rev to have LED backlighting instead of the previous technology (Cathode, I believe?)). The early-mid 2008 models also offered matte and gloss for their LED backlit screens.
Thomas Joynt March 3, 2009 at 8:34 pm thomasjoynt.com: I continued to be outraged that apple is not offering a matt option in either the 24” display or the 15” macbook pro. I will never buy glossy and I will never buy a PC so what am going to do? I don’t want a massive f(*&cking 30” display on my desk and I don’t want to cart around a 17” macbook pro when my 15” MBP is just perfect. I have written to apple about this asking simply for a matt option in the above listed products. I hope everyone else who thinks like I do can write to them too and hopefully they will listen. Feeling very betrayed after 10 years of being a loyal customer and mac fan.