Round 3: Gaming

A 30-inch monitor is just the ticket for an immersive gaming experience. But most games and graphics card setups don't support the high, 2,560x1,600 resolution found on these LCDs, and scaling the image to fill the 30-inch screen causes quite a bit of distortion. So, we tested gaming performance using World of Warcraft, which supports the monitors' native resolution, as well as Quake 4, which is scalable only up to 1,600x1,200.

World of Warcraft: Both monitors looked amazing, showing bright, vivid colors, crystal-clear pictures, and well-defined dark backgrounds. Frankly, we'd be thrilled to play this game on either monitor. The Apple Cinema Display, however, provided slightly more color differentiation than the UltraSharp 3007WFP, particularly in the game's wood grains, where we saw more shades of--and more gradual movement between--browns. The Cinema Display's subtle color differentiation was also evident in backgrounds where we saw more even progressions from lighter to darker shades of blue and purple. The UltraSharp 3007WFP's changes were more abrupt, and colors looked slightly less vibrant.

Quake 4: Scaling the image to 1,600x1,200 resulted in some distortion on both monitors, but the game was still playable, and both models displayed smooth movement and rich colors. Again, the Cinema Display took the upper hand by rendering more-varied gray tones, which gave the game more texture and a slightly more realistic appearance.

Winner: It's Apple by a hair for its better color differentiation.