Apple Quietly Kills 20" Cinema Display
It's not often that a piece of technology, particularly one dealing
with PCs, lasts six full years on the market. Amazingly, that's exactly how long
Apple's 20" Cinema Display made it before receiving the inevitable axe
this week. First introduced on January 28, 2003, the 20" Cinema Display
provided a happy medium for consumers looking for something a bit
bigger than Apple's 17" LCD and smaller than the 23" Cinema HD Display.
Now, just months after Apple introduced its all new LED-backlit 24"
panel, it's finally time to say goodbye to the aged 20" cousin.
The move isn't entirely surprising, particularly given just how drastically different Apple's newest 24" model is from the existing 30" model and the now-dead 20" model. It relies solely on Mini DisplayPort, making it a perfect companion for the company's new line of MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks. On the other hand, it makes it quite a pain to use with most other machines and graphics card introduced prior to a few months ago, as an adapter is almost certainly required in order to match the new 24" display up with older sockets.
Although it's purely speculative at this point, it stands to reason that Apple is focusing on bringing the new DisplayPort feel to its entire line of LCDs. It's impossible to say whether we'll see the massive 30" panel fall victim to changing fads next, but we wouldn't bet on Apple leaving a 20" gap in its display line for long.
The move isn't entirely surprising, particularly given just how drastically different Apple's newest 24" model is from the existing 30" model and the now-dead 20" model. It relies solely on Mini DisplayPort, making it a perfect companion for the company's new line of MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks. On the other hand, it makes it quite a pain to use with most other machines and graphics card introduced prior to a few months ago, as an adapter is almost certainly required in order to match the new 24" display up with older sockets.
Although it's purely speculative at this point, it stands to reason that Apple is focusing on bringing the new DisplayPort feel to its entire line of LCDs. It's impossible to say whether we'll see the massive 30" panel fall victim to changing fads next, but we wouldn't bet on Apple leaving a 20" gap in its display line for long.
