Appletell

MacRumors is reporting a rumor of new Apple Cinema displays to be announced at MWSF 2009. The only feature rumored to be added is LED backlighting.

Apple’s 20”, 23”, and 30” Cinema displays have remained expensive and relatively unchanged since launched in 2004.

More after the break.

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The presence of a LED lit display in Apple’s relatively new MacBook Air has apparently brought the technology to the forefront of new machines.  However, it is not just computers as you would expect, LCD televisions are also jumping on the bandwagon.  There is expected to be a large 16.7 million devices using this technology by the end of this year compared to a measly 4 million in 2007.  One reason the technology is so appealing is because of its even lighting and low energy consumption.  On the other end, one reason it has been adopted so slowly is due to its high cost.

I don’t know about you, but I’m all for longer battery life in laptops.  Not only that, but LED lit displays take up about only half the space of a traditional CCFL backlight which allows for thinner machines.  Once the price falls a little lower due to higher production, we could be seeing LED displays a lot more in the future.

Via [MacNN]

Apple says the different backlights on the new MacBook Pros would be almost imperceptible, but the latest tests seem to prove otherwise. Above is a snapshot from Engadget showing a 2nd-gen (CCFL, left) and a 3rd-gen (LED, right) MacBook Pro. See the difference?

It should be noted that the 2nd-gen MacBook Pro is approximately 8 months old, so the CCFL display has probably lost its initial brightness, causing the significant difference. Despite that, the whites still look very crisp on the LED display, and it saves you an extra 30 minutes in battery life.

Read [Engadget]