No agenda. Just sharing some experience, which, among other things, includes about fifteen years designing and manufacturing high-performance, high-reliability display systems for demanding applications; from military to industrial. Hardware, software, mechanical, etc.

I have personally bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of shit panels from LG and Samsung and others. Not third hand or gray market, but through official and approved distribution channels in the US.

The LCD business is surreal. It is nasty as can be. Most people don't know this and don't believe it until they are inside the beast for a while. I know of one company who got sued by the US government to the tune of millions of dollars for not delivering on a contract to buy a number of custom monitors.

Why couldn't they deliver? Because the panel manufacturer decided to discontinue the panel they were using without any advance notice. And, because most of these panels are single-source, the aforementioned company was royally fucked. They, quite literally, had their product evaporate into thin air. They could not build them to save their lives.

I don't know how the ordeal ended. We, at the time, got hit with the same issue but were lucky enough to "only" have burned about $800K developing a product around the newly obsolete panels. We had to spend another half a million to design a new product around a new panel. Brutal. This is one of the reasons I am glad I moved into the software business and left hardware behind.

As for the implied quality because Apple is using the panel. All I can say is I am laughing so hard my head hurts. As I mentioned in my post, there are various grades of panels. What Apple specifies, buys and accepts could be miles away from what manufacturer B is receiving, even if they use the same part number to order them.

Even Apple gets shit panels from LG. The original aluminum 23 inch Cinema Display had a horrible purple/magenta shift problem and some had a band of discoloration along the top --both due to the LG panel. Just Google it.

I bought some of these LG panels at the time. Same exact part number Apple was using. Exactly the same panel, right? Nope. I got a batch where more than half the panels went purple within about six months or less. I figured we burned $250K on bad panels on that one. And, what's worst, you have absolutely no recourse with the panel manufacturers. The OEM business is very different from buying a monitor at Best Buy. Once we cracked-open the factory packaging (bag/box) the warranty evaporated very, very quickly, thirty to ninety days, if you were lucky. Most stuff is sold "NCNR" (Non Cancelable - Non Returnable). Translation: It's yours.

The idea that the same part number equates to the same quality and results doesn't necessarily hold water. It's akin to the idea that all models of the same car are just as good as the best one they ever built. There is such a thing as good and bad versions of that same exact car, lemons, if you will.

Saying "hey, I bought the same car my neighbor bought" doesn't guarantee that it'll be just as good or as bad as hers. Don't fall into the trap of believing that because Apple (or whoever) uses a certain panel or part then all instances of that panel or part must be good. That could not be farther from the truth.

With regards to the cheap 27 inch monitors, do as you wish. It's your money. I am merely pointing out that things are not always as good as they seem. Other than that, I don't care if you or anyone else buys them. I am no-longer in that business and I am glad. Software is sooooo much easier than hardware.