Is there anything cheaper than a 27 inch iMac , that can match it's specs?

[2cute4u]

Ok for my birthday I got a 27 inch iMac, and it's really great. One of my friends wants to get one but doesn't want to spend $1600. Is there anything cheaper out there that can meet the same specs and has the same quality (not generic Chinese ****).

The specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz
3 MB L2 Cache
4 GB Memory
1.07 GHz Bus Speed
1 TB 7200 RPM HD
8X DVD R
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB
2560x1440 display 1000:1 contrast ratio
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
802.11n Wi-Fi
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 800
4 USB 2.0
SD card slot

[TheNerdAL]

I am soooooo Jealous. :(

And no I don't think there is something that is less espensive with the same hardware.

[Cuddles McKitten]

http://www.system76.com/index.php?cPath=28

[Bachstelze]

Haters gonna hate.

[AllRadioisDead]

I don't think there is something that is less espensive with the same hardware.
Are you joking, or have you never looked at the price tag of a mac before?

[TheNerdAL]

Are you joking, or have you never looked at the price tag of a mac before?

With the exact same hardware? I don't think so.

[sxmaxchine]

This laptop (http://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers/dell/inspiron-15-inch-notebook-sku-53013/)

This laptop is rather good however it has a smaller screen
it has:
Intel Core i5-450 2.4hgz CPU
Wireless 802.11 G/N
Webcam

15 Inch Screen
4 GB Ram
640 GB HDD
Win 7 Home Premium
Wifi
Webcam
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 With 1GB Dedicated Graphics

and i believe that if you look harder then i did you can get much better deals

[Shazzam6999]

For that much money you can build a computer with a:
Quad Core
Twice the hdd storage
USB 3.0
larger monitor
equivalent memory
better video card (although, the 4850 is a good budget card)
...cheaper... and you can upgrade it/fix it yourself without paying an arm and a leg. Plus you can get a baller case.

You could build a computer with the same exact parts (minus the whole monitor being the computer or whatever) for far cheaper and just hackintosh it for your friend.

[McRat]

Ok for my birthday I got a 27 inch iMac, and it's really great. One of my friends wants to get one but doesn't want to spend $1600. Is there anything cheaper out there that can meet the same specs and has the same quality (not generic Chinese ****).

The specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz
3 MB L2 Cache
4 GB Memory
1.07 GHz Bus Speed
1 TB 7200 RPM HD
8X DVD R
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB
2560x1440 display 1000:1 contrast ratio
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
802.11n Wi-Fi
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 800
4 USB 2.0
SD card slot

I know we have two machines from HP that are "all in one's" with ~23" TouchScreen and i7 Quad CPU's and ~6GB RAM that were about $1700 IIRC.

The big deal with the Mac is the monitor. A 27" 1920x1080 monitor is about $300 now. But 2560x1440's the same size are $800. There is a big jump in price after 1920.

[Shazzam6999]

The big deal with the Mac is the monitor. A 27" 1920x1080 monitor is about $300 now. But 2560x1440's the same size are $800. There is a big jump in price after 1920.

A 2560 is almost overkill especially for a 512mb 4850 anyways.

[MasterNetra]

Yea Macs are over priced (not fud did comparisons a while ago. Results are floating somewhere on the forum.) For Price. HP seems to do the best. In regards to Less Money : For the Hardware. of course really just looked at Dell, HP, Gateway, System76, ZaReason and Newegg.

[McRat]

A 2560 is almost overkill especially for a 512mb 4850 anyways.

If you are running a 1920, you know how much res that has. It's HDTV 1080. You can make a clear font so small you can't read it. About 240 chars across the screen.

For CAD or photo editing, I can see a minor need for more than 1920, but it's not much gain in productivity. We use a 28" 1920x1080 for blueprint checking, and it's plenty. I remember when a NEC 21" monitor with 1280x1024? res was over $2500 for CAD work. Now they are base system monitors better than that.

If you really need UberScreen, your most cost-effective method is to run dual 27" 1920 with a second vid card.

[LMP900]

The internals are nothing special. It's the 27-inch IPS panel that's special. If that's what you're looking for, then the iMac is a bargain. Dell sells a 27-inch IPS monitor for $1,049 and it's not even LED-backlit.

If not, then you can save a significant amount of money and get a more powerful machine on the PC side of things.

[DoubleClicker]

If you don't want to compromise on the specs, there really isn't anything out there that matches it. Apple focuses on the high end, so they do expensive cheaper than anyone else.

[2cute4u]

So far no one has even come close. :(

I appreciate the effort, but URLs for 17 in laptops or 1920 x 1080 monitors doesn't really address my question The 27" 2560x1440 monitor is the whole point, and if they cost $800, then i beed the rest of the system to be under $800( but do let me know where you saw the $800 monitor, because I haven't found one less than $1000). Please consider the specs of my machine to be the absolute bare minimum that my friend is looking for.

thanx everyone

[cascade9]

Ok for my birthday I got a 27 inch iMac, and it's really great. One of my friends wants to get one but doesn't want to spend $1600. Is there anything cheaper out there that can meet the same specs and has the same quality (not generic Chinese ****).

You are aware that apples are built in china, right?


The internals are nothing special. It's the 27-inch IPS panel that's special. If that's what you're looking for, then the iMac is a bargain. Dell sells a 27-inch IPS monitor for $1,049 and it's not even LED-backlit.

The IPS panel in the iMacs isnt even that amazing. Yeah, its good, but if you buy a normal IPS LED monitor, you can get RGB backlighting, which should give better, brighter colours than the apple (which only uses white LED backlighting).


If not, then you can save a significant amount of money and get a more powerful machine on the PC side of things.

Yep, agreed. You could build a box for a few $100 that easily outclasses the iMac (quad core instead of dual, proper DDR3 1333 not the DDR3 1066 SO-DIMM in the imac, etc). Then take McRats advice and get a monitor that does 1920x1080, you can get IPS RGB LED 24'' for $300.

Then you've got a box thats upgradable easily (try getting into an imac with just a phillips head screwdrvier), uses standard desktop memory, easy to install standard HDDs, upgradable, standard type PCIe video card.

True, it hasnt got 27'' and 2560x1600, but 24'' and 1920x1080 is still very nice. Its an easy upgrade later on as well.

[McRat]

So far no one has even come close. :(

I appreciate the effort, but URLs for 17 in laptops or 1920 x 1080 monitors doesn't really address my question The 27" 2560x1440 monitor is the whole point, and if they cost $800, then i beed the rest of the system to be under $800( but do let me know where you saw the $800 monitor, because I haven't found one less than $1000). Please consider the specs of my machine to be the absolute bare minimum that my friend is looking for.

thanx everyone

Well, I couldn't find a 27" monitor after a brief search, so I went up in size:

Try this then: Go to NewEgg, get the LG 30" 2560 x 1600 5msec and the Acer AMD64 X4 Quad Core with 1TB and 1GB graphics (not the 256mb the Mac has), and you will have more of everything for $49 less, or about $1650. It will be a faster system with a larger screen, more resolution, and it's upgradeable for cheap. Drop $150 bucks, and get the 3.4ghz 4 core Black Edition chip and drop it in.

[Sand & Mercury]

A 2560 is almost overkill especially for a 512mb 4850 anyways.
It may seem so until you try using one. It's absolutely beautiful. I've got a 27" iMac and it is the best screen I've ever used, bar none. I love being able to work with it and not have to maximise a single window.

[2cute4u]

You are aware that apples are built in china, right?
Yes i am aware that they are made in China, not everything made in China is ****. the Chinese can make good products when they have a lot of American money backing them, but many Chinese companies try to make everything as cheap as possible, to undercut everyone elses prices. Those companies put out crap that no respectable American Brand is willing to attach it's name to. That's the generic Chinese **** I was referring to.


Well, I couldn't find a 27" monitor after a brief search, so I went up in size:

Try this then: Go to NewEgg, get the LG 30" 2560 x 1600 5msec and the Acer AMD64 X4 Quad Core with 1TB and 1GB graphics (not the 256mb the Mac has), and you will have more of everything for $49 less, or about $1650. It will be a faster system with a larger screen, more resolution, and it's upgradeable for cheap. Drop $150 bucks, and get the 3.4ghz 4 core Black Edition chip and drop it in.

That monitor looks sweet, but when I priced everything out it came to $1847 that's nearly $250 more than the IMac.

1160 monitor
600 computer (doesn't have wifi or bluetooth )
30 bluetooth adapter
57 Wifi


I'm going tell my friend about newegg, though maybe she'll see something she likes.

Thanks

[Legendary_Bibo]

Mmmm...such hardware.
Can your parents adopt me :D

[McRat]

Yes i am aware that they are made in China, not everything made in China is ****. the Chinese can make good products when they have a lot of American money backing them, but many Chinese companies try to make everything as cheap as possible, to undercut everyone elses prices. Those companies put out crap that no respectable American Brand is willing to attach it's name to. That's the generic Chinese **** I was referring to.



That monitor looks sweet, but when I priced everything out it came to $1847 that's nearly $250 more than the IMac.

1160 monitor
600 computer (doesn't have wifi or bluetooth )
30 bluetooth adapter
57 Wifi


I'm going tell my friend about newegg, though maybe she'll see something she likes.

Thanks

The computer I looked at was $500, but that is neither here nor there.

I like the new Apple, and I'm typing this on a new MacBookPro. It's a very well thought out notebook. So I'm no Apple phobe, or trying to sell anything.

But as someone who does CAD stuff, large 1920 monitors are fine and they are economical. I'd rather run two 28" monitors with .012" dot pitch, than one 27" with .009" dot pitch. Yes, the finer dot pitch makes photos look prettier, but not by enough to justify the price. .012" is great clarity even if .009 is better.

Two 28" monitors (1920x1200) and a 1GB dual monitor video card are under $700 today. Take the other $1000 and get some muscle to do rendering or image processing. No, it won't be a pretty to look at as a iMac, but it will be a better tool for doing work. You can get a lot of muscle for a grand now.

Now if you want to impress the peasants, nothing say TOO MUCH COMPUTER as well as two hideously large monitors filling up your desk.

[cespinal]

lol...haters gon hate

[formaldehyde_spoon]

I thought the OP was kidding ;)
Macs have their good points (they look sexy, they don't ship with windows, and strong competition in the market is great for consumers) but price/performance ratio isn't one of them.

But she's serious, so to follow on from McRat: $1000 27'' 2560x1440 monitor: http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/dell-ultrasharp-u2711-27-inch-lcd-monitor/18859.aspx
(but I'd prefer McRat's 2 x [1920x1200] 28 inchers for $700)

Then take your pick of either better box (need to add $20 or $30 to upgrade from 500GB to 1TB though):
$650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883241028
$610 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229193

[dfreer]

Ok for my birthday I got a 27 inch iMac, and it's really great. One of my friends wants to get one but doesn't want to spend $1600. Is there anything cheaper out there that can meet the same specs and has the same quality (not generic Chinese ****).

The specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz
3 MB L2 Cache
4 GB Memory
1.07 GHz Bus Speed
1 TB 7200 RPM HD
8X DVD R
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB
2560x1440 display 1000:1 contrast ratio
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
802.11n Wi-Fi
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 800
4 USB 2.0
SD card slot

EDIT: TL;DR - Everyone's pretty much wrong, prices are about the same. Although I would feel more secure with my build since I know I'm getting quality components. And that native res is insane on the iMac.

I have delivered OP, fear not. A couple of quick notes about this build:

Price does not include mail-in rebates. Total was like $85 back though.
A 27" monitor with resolution < 1920x1080 is ridiculously overpriced. I had to go with the lower resolution to make this somewhat fair. Even so the monitor is the single most expensive item on here.
Whenever the OP did not specify on components, I went with high-rated/lots of review items from recognizable manufactures.
I added the price of the Mac OSX OS. Feel free to subtract $144.99 and add the OS of your choice.
I went with a rather expensive case that I felt was the closest alternative to a G5 case. Subtract $239.99 for that.
I had to upgrade the DVD R 8x drive that OP had to a DVD RW 24x.
Couldn't find a card for bluetooth so I added a popular bluetooth USB dongle. Never heard of the company before though. Went with unknown company for the SD Card reader but who cares about those?
For the wireless card, thought about going with name-brand. But the Rosewill (newegg's own brand of items) card had good reviews and was cheap so why not?
I would like to have gone with a bluetooth wireless mouse/keyboard option but they were ~$150 and I don't know what the Mac uses. So I figured Wireless Radio is fine.

I feel that you could go down to $1000 if you didn't HAVE to have such a huge LCD, didn't pay for the OS, and a cheap case. And you could probably get a decent i5 and 5xxx series video card as well.

Total Build Cost: $1,485.44

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 @ 3.06 Ghz 3MB L2 Cache 1066 Mhz FSB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115059) $144.99
RAM: G-Skill 4x1GB DDR2 800 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231136) $114.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284) $89.99
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030) $24.99
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 512MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125238) $99.99
LCD Monitor: ASUS MT276HE Black 27" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236080) $349.99
Bluetooth Dongle: Cirago USB 2.0 Micro Bluetooth Dongle (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833242003) $24.99
Wireless Card: Rosewill 802.11n (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166038) $24.99
Mobo: ASUS P5N-D with Gigabit Ethernet & Firewire (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232) $89.99


Misc Stuff:
Case: LIAN LI PC-V1200A Silver (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112065) $239.99
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-550VX 550W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004) $79.99
Internal Card Reader: Sabrent 68-in-1 USB 2.0 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820300608) $12.99
Keyboard/Mouse: Rosewill Wireless 2.4 GHz Slim Keyboard and Mouse (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201035) $29.99
SATA Cables: Nippon Labs 18" SATA II x2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816027) $6.29
Operating System: Apple Mac Box Set with Snow Leopard/iLife/iWork - Family Pack (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832110062) $144.99

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/11-112-065-S01?$S640W$

[2cute4u]

The computer I looked at was $500, but that is neither here nor there.

I like the new Apple, and I'm typing this on a new MacBookPro. It's a very well thought out notebook. So I'm no Apple phobe, or trying to sell anything.

But as someone who does CAD stuff, large 1920 monitors are fine and they are economical. I'd rather run two 28" monitors with .012" dot pitch, than one 27" with .009" dot pitch. Yes, the finer dot pitch makes photos look prettier, but not by enough to justify the price. .012" is great clarity even if .009 is better.

Two 28" monitors (1920x1200) and a 1GB dual monitor video card are under $700 today. Take the other $1000 and get some muscle to do rendering or image processing. No, it won't be a pretty to look at as a iMac, but it will be a better tool for doing work. You can get a lot of muscle for a grand now.

Now if you want to impress the peasants, nothing say TOO MUCH COMPUTER as well as two hideously large monitors filling up your desk. I never thought about that, but my freind loves the Idea of dual monitors. She ended up ordering Dual monitors, and a computer from NewEgg. I don't know what the specs are on the computer though, since she didn't go into detail when we talked. Thank you soo much :guitar:


I thought the OP was kidding ;)
Macs have their good points (they look sexy, they don't ship with windows, and strong competition in the market is great for consumers) but price/performance ratio isn't one of them.

But she's serious, so to follow on from McRat: $1000 27'' 2560x1440 monitor: http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/dell-ultrasharp-u2711-27-inch-lcd-monitor/18859.aspx
(but I'd prefer McRat's 2 x [1920x1200] 28 inchers for $700)

Then take your pick of either better box (need to add $20 or $30 to upgrade from 500GB to 1TB though):
$650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883241028
$610 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229193
That's like the best price I've ever seen on the dell monitor. I guess you have way better Google Karma than I do. :lolflag:



EDIT: TL;DR - Everyone's pretty much wrong, prices are about the same. Although I would feel more secure with my build since I know I'm getting quality components. And that native res is insane on the iMac.

I have delivered OP, fear not. A couple of quick notes about this build:

Price does not include mail-in rebates. Total was like $85 back though.
A 27" monitor with resolution < 1920x1080 is ridiculously overpriced. I had to go with the lower resolution to make this somewhat fair. Even so the monitor is the single most expensive item on here.
Whenever the OP did not specify on components, I went with high-rated/lots of review items from recognizable manufactures.
I added the price of the Mac OSX OS. Feel free to subtract $144.99 and add the OS of your choice.
I went with a rather expensive case that I felt was the closest alternative to a G5 case. Subtract $239.99 for that.
I had to upgrade the DVD R 8x drive that OP had to a DVD RW 24x.
Couldn't find a card for bluetooth so I added a popular bluetooth USB dongle. Never heard of the company before though. Went with unknown company for the SD Card reader but who cares about those?
For the wireless card, thought about going with name-brand. But the Rosewill (newegg's own brand of items) card had good reviews and was cheap so why not?
I would like to have gone with a bluetooth wireless mouse/keyboard option but they were ~$150 and I don't know what the Mac uses. So I figured Wireless Radio is fine.

I feel that you could go down to $1000 if you didn't HAVE to have such a huge LCD, didn't pay for the OS, and a cheap case. And you could probably get a decent i5 and 5xxx series video card as well.

Total Build Cost: $1,485.44

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 @ 3.06 Ghz 3MB L2 Cache 1066 Mhz FSB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115059) $144.99
RAM: G-Skill 4x1GB DDR2 800 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231136) $114.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284) $89.99
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030) $24.99
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 512MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125238) $99.99
LCD Monitor: ASUS MT276HE Black 27" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236080) $349.99
Bluetooth Dongle: Cirago USB 2.0 Micro Bluetooth Dongle (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833242003) $24.99
Wireless Card: Rosewill 802.11n (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166038) $24.99
Mobo: ASUS P5N-D with Gigabit Ethernet & Firewire (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232) $89.99


Misc Stuff:
Case: LIAN LI PC-V1200A Silver (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112065) $239.99
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-550VX 550W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004) $79.99
Internal Card Reader: Sabrent 68-in-1 USB 2.0 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820300608) $12.99
Keyboard/Mouse: Rosewill Wireless 2.4 GHz Slim Keyboard and Mouse (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201035) $29.99
SATA Cables: Nippon Labs 18" SATA II x2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816027) $6.29
Operating System: Apple Mac Box Set with Snow Leopard/iLife/iWork - Family Pack (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832110062) $144.99

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/11-112-065-S01?$S640W$
Wow that looks so much like a G5 mac, totally cool.. If I was going to buy a new computer, and had the money, I'd buy something like that, Though I would still want the Dell monitor listed above or dual monitors. \\:D/




BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE !!!

[K.Mandla]

Ok for my birthday I got a 27 inch iMac, and it's really great. One of my friends wants to get one but doesn't want to spend $1600. Is there anything cheaper out there that can meet the same specs and has the same quality ... ?
Not to be obtuse, but I was under the impression that just about anything that could meet the same specs would be cheaper than an iMac.

[C.S.Cameron]

Only four USB 2 ports?
I could not survive without dual monitors.
Two 24's suit me perfectly.
Apple is way too locked down for my likings.

[McRat]

Parting shot - While large monitors are cool, be aware there is a double penalty when going big:

a) They use more electricity, some are 125w and up.

b) Your A/C in the building must remove that heat, so triple that.

Last, tight budget CAD/Photo platform:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6052503&Sku=S445-10067&cm_re=Homepage-_-Spot%2001-_-CatId_6_S445-10067

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4938558&Sku=H94-2804

About $800.

[Paqman]

a) They use more electricity, some are 125w and up.


Yikes! I could light my whole house on that.

[McRat]

Yikes! I could light my whole house on that.

That's 2 Kenner EZ-Bake ovens! :D

Use dark screen savers and backgrounds. Only light colors use alot of power.

[Frak]

Not to be obtuse, but I was under the impression that just about anything that could meet the same specs would be cheaper than an iMac.
Absolutely. I could substitute other brand parts out of that case and drop the price even further. It's just the argument that would come up about which parts are equal (and which ones that are included on the Mac are over-ambitious).

[Miguel]

Use dark screen savers and backgrounds. Only light colors use alot of power.

TFTs use roughly the same power regardless of the colour.

By the way, the issue with cheap 27" monitors is not the resolution. As LMP900 said, IPS is the key here. It's the same with 24" monitors: you can get dirt cheap 24" monitors, but an IPS 24" monitor will cost you more than 400$. The Dell Ultrasharp U2410 is actually 599$.

Now many people will be wondering why one would pay extra for an IPS monitor. Well, these babies have 178º/º178º as their viewing angle. Furthermore, colour is independent of the angle of view. Finally, these panels have a much richer colour gamut. Putting the Dell again as an example, it has a 110% gamut, compared to the typical 70% of cheap TN panels. If you do photography with a TFT monitor, you almost certainly want an IPS monitor.

Finally, and regarding the original topic, if the OP's friend would settle for a 24" IPS screen, you can most certainly smoke the iMac. Core i7, ATi evergreen, true DDR3, you name it. But you are losing on the screen.

[McRat]

TFTs use roughly the same power regardless of the colour.
...

My info could be dated (like my socks).

But have you actually tested this? Normally it takes energy to create light.

Seems I remember changing my backgrounds to black on notebooks extended their battery life, but I tested that over 12 years ago.

[Frak]

My info could be dated (like my socks).

But have you actually tested this? Normally it takes energy to create light.

Seems I remember changing my backgrounds to black on notebooks extended their battery life, but I tested that over 12 years ago.
My information told me that LEDs used less to no power for creating black, while LCDs used the most power to create the color black. That would be due to the crystals having to obscure all light from passing through a pixel, thus using more power. I doubt it's that big of a deal, though.

[Miguel]

My info could be dated (like my socks).

But have you actually tested this? Normally it takes energy to create light.

Seems I remember changing my backgrounds to black on notebooks extended their battery life, but I tested that over 12 years ago.

I don't need to test it, although I'll try to find a benchmark. As you said, creating light takes energy. It turns out that the light-generating device in a TFT is always on (the backlight). The different colours are seen depending on the state of the molecules in the panel. Of course, changing that state requires energy, but not nearly as much as the backlight.

[Zerocool Djx]

How about a 27" match to burn the thing with?

[McRat]

OK, sounds like I need to brush up on what has happened in the last 10 years . :D