Next-Gen MacBook Family Welcomes New Cinema Display

Yesterday, Apple introduced a new LED Cinema Display along with its new MacBook line, featuring a 24-inch LED-backlit widescreen display with built-in iSight, mic and stereo speakers. The display is also Apple's greenest yet, boasting a thin aluminum and glass enclosure, while also being the best looking so far.

Apple touts its new Cinema Display as “the first display made precisely for a notebook.” The LED Cinema Display includes an integrated MagSafe charger, three USB 2.0 ports and the new Mini DisplayPort, making it easy for MacBook users to quickly connect and power their notebooks, leaving room for peripherals as well. The aluminum stand has an adjustable hinge that makes it easy to tilt the display in any direction.

The display boasts a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, and uses LED-backlit technology to provide instant full-screen brightness. It is also power-efficient. However, the best new features must be the built-in iSight video camera, mic and speakers. Together, these additions make Apple's latest Cinema Display an ideal tool for video conferencing, watching movies, or even playing music from your notebook. Surely, the display's speakers do a much better job than those found on the notebooks, even on the Pro. Three self-powered USB 2.0 ports have also been added. Additionally, the display has its own (built-in) universal MagSafe charger, so there's no need to carry your notebook's adapter everywhere you use it.

And then, there's the next-generation DisplayPort industry standard - the new Mini DisplayPort, which delivers a pure digital signal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display. The Mini DisplayPort is just 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector. To use the MacBook’s Mini DisplayPort with older generation VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays, Apple is offering adapters.

“The new LED Cinema Display is the most advanced display that Apple has ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “It is a perfect fit for our sleek new line of aluminum MacBooks with its 24-inch LED-backlit screen, aluminum and glass enclosure, integrated camera, mic and speakers, MagSafe charger, three USB ports and Mini DisplayPort.”

Lastly, Apple can confirm that its newest display is made with mercury-free LED technology, arsenic-free glass and highly recyclable materials, making it “the greenest Apple display ever.” Also, the new display contains no brominated flame retardants, all internal cables and components are PVC-free, while the packaging has been reduced by 44 percent, according to the company.

The 24-inch LED Cinema Display is currently unavailable to buy, but it will be in November when it will retail for US$899.