Ufortunatley I can't help directly with your question, I think both monitors are good, but I wouldn't buy one without seeing and trying it, as if your like me you will spend may hours in fornt of it. I have an old formac crt which served me well and used them for years at work too, but when I got a apple cinema display it is difficult to look back, really fantastic monitor! Also have a look on the web there are many sites which may help and talk to your local mac dealer. Hope this helps a bit.

What's the difference between the Formac and 'regular' LCD's like ACD & Dell? are they supposed to have more vivid colour, greater brightness or increased response times?

I've got a 24" Dell LCD - awesome monitor, bright, colourful and most importantly - BIG. but i haven't actually done any work on it yet, only played some games. but so far as i can tell - it's a great display!

I just went through the monitor buying process last year. I was lucky to find a knowledgeable sales clerk who steered me towards a monitor with high "brightness" and "contrast." These figures are usually expressed like "420 cd/m² brightness; 600:1 contrast ratio The higher the figures the better your images will look on screen.

Many typical monitors only have a brightness of about 250 cd/m. I look at these as pasty now that I have a higher brightness of 420 on my Sony monitor. Sony also has an "X-brite" technology that adds brightness to the monitor. Different manufacturers call it different names. It's basically a coating that covers the screen and makes it shiny. I like it. Some people do not like it, claiming that it produces glare in sunny environments. It depends if you work in a dark room or a sunny coffee shop I suppose.

Another device that will make your monitor look near perfect is the Pantone Heuy for a measly $100 bucks (US) http://www.pantone.com/products/products.asp?idArea=2&idProduct=103 It's a cheap monitor calibrator, but it does the job. After running the heuy, the blacks are perfect and that irritating blue cast is long gone.