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Size and angle: look at the screen size you think you need, and make sure the product's quoted viewing angle is good enough - LCDs use polarisation so the viewing angle is important: if it's too narrow, colours and brightness will shift as you move your head - not so important for email and typing, but very important for graphics.

Dead pixels: LCDs are not easy to manufacture, and occasionally they will contain 'dead' (fixed at one colour) pixels. The official ISO 13406 standard quoted by many manufacturers allows for between two and five faulty pixels per million. On a 1280 x 1024-pixel resolution screen, this could mean up to seven. If it's too much or in an inconvenient place, don't buy it.

Digital connections: LCD technology is controlled to perfection digitally - it doesn't require analogue signals (as in VGA) to focus electron guns on a phosphor-coated glass surface. The common LCD connection standard is DVI-D, a digital-only standard for connecting the monitor to a DVI port on your Mac's graphics card, and the other is the more versatile DVI-I interface supporting both digital and analogue. With an adaptor, you can connect LCD monitors to your older VGA port - not ideal, but allows LCD compatibility on older Macs.

Another solution is Apple's dedicated connector called ADC (Apple Display Connector). This is a one-cable connector that carries digital video and the electric current to power the monitor plus powered, upstream USB for handy extra ports. Apple and Formac displays with ADC need only a single cable so you can plug in your keyboard and mouse directly to the monitor - better, it's a grab-release - it does away with those stupid screw-in thingies.

Your Mac: older Macs only have VGA ports. Early G4 models can be upgraded with graphics cards that have DVI ports. Later G3s and G4s are fitted with an ADC and a VGA port while the most recent G4s have one ADC and one DVI port. Yes, most of these handle two displays out of the box.

Video cards: the top end monitors - 19 inches and bigger - require serious video cards - with some Macs you can add beefed up cards. Expect to require video cards with 64MB of video RAM to drive the bigger LCDs.

On-screen controls: digital video doesn't need image control in the same way as CRT and analogue LCD monitors, as resolution is preset in the actual pixels (which explains the degradation if you want to run an LCD at less than its top resolution). Issues such as image size and pincushioning become irrelevant. However, most LCD support analogue signals with 'phase' and 'clock' controls, which let you compensate for frequency conflicts with the actual rows and columns of pixels. Others just offer the option of increasing or decreasing brightness. An LCD wired with a VGA port is usually more controllable, but with DVI and a good monitor many controls become irrelevant.

Tilt and swivel: this can be very handy - the Apple and Formac monitors can only be moved physically or tilted, so keep this in mind if your workstation isn't ideally set up. Other monitors sometimes have support for wall or bracket mounting using the VESA standard. Smaller monitors benefit from high stands.

At first I was a bit disappointed with this screen. The pixels were all chunky from 5mm away and there was a distortion like drool down the side and ... it is drool? I have to stop hugging it now? Oh, sorry ...

When things settled down after a nice cup of tea, I reconsidered this majestic monitor, for that's the only way to describe something so well engineered and so breathtakingly big! After I stopped rolling my office chair from one side to the other to look at different documents beside each other - honestly, that's what I did - I started to realise how pinpoint-sharp an LCD like this is compared to a humble CRT. Even icons took on a resolution I wouldn't have dreamed possible - for example, on my CRT the Sherlock icon is a fuzzy brown hat. On this Apple Cinema, it's distinctly plaid, woven from several colours. And that digital ADC connector ... edge to edge, pinpoint, consistent colour, no kidding.

With image manipulation in Photoshop, the 23-inch is so sharp and precise images look almost three-dimensional (it pays to set your display and software up properly in ColorSync in System Preferences). Brightness is controlled via the F14 and F15 keys on your keyboard.

Pros

• Big
• Beautiful
• Excellent quality and performance

Cons

• It's still a lot of money - sell the car?
• One-year warranty (pay extra for more)

When Apple released their new 20-inch display earlier this year and reduced the price of the 23-inch, things got complicated for graphics professionals. Which one? Is another three diagonal inches worth $1600?

The 20-inch certainly is a competent, sharp and attractive display. It's brighter than the 23-inch at 230 cd/m2 (compared to 200 cd/m2) and shows a two-page A4 spread at about 85% with plenty of room for working palettes. It's quick, doesn't take up quite as much space and it's lighter ... I guess it just comes down to who's paying the money and how important that extra brightness is.

Pros

• Another great Apple monitor
• Cheaper and brighter than the 23-inch

Cons

• It isn't 23-inches
• One-year warranty (pay extra for more)

The smallest sibling in the current Apple line-up is the Studio 17. It has the good looks as the bigger Apple LCD's but requires a far less powerful video card to run. It's bright and attractive, excellent for word processing and spreadsheets and some graphics work, has the same ADC connector and two powered USB ports on the back but it's not quite up to the quality of the Cinema 20 or 23 for the serious stuff and, for magazine publishing, multimedia and sound engineering, users would prefer the extra horizontal real estate of the bigger models.

With the recent price reductions it's an excellent choice for home or office and it certainly has the cachet of exquisite Apple design and engineering.

Pros

• Looks great
• Runs off lesser video cards

Cons

• Lower resolution than the Cinemas
• One-year warranty (pay extra for more)