LCD Monitor Suggestions

okididit2wo · August 7, 2008

I'm looking to upgrade my PC monitor. Does anyone have any recommendations? Just so you know I'm on a budget and can afford an Eizo or LaCie monitor. I would really like a S-IPS LCD base on what I have read on the internet, but I would like to know what the dgrin community thought about the use of a PVA LCD for armature photo editing. Any and all model recommendations would greatly be appreciated.

Newsy · August 12, 2008

okididit2wo wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade my PC monitor. Does anyone have any recommendations? Just so you know I'm on a budget and can afford an Eizo or LaCie monitor. I would really like a S-IPS LCD base on what I have read on the internet, but I would like to know what the dgrin community thought about the use of a PVA LCD for armature photo editing. Any and all model recommendations would greatly be appreciated.

I was away without access to the internet and it was wonderful!

Did you get your monitor sorted out?

.

okididit2wo · August 13, 2008

No, not yet. I'm still sifting through reviews on the internet.

Ric Grupe · August 13, 2008

A good one.

Newsy · August 13, 2008

OK!

okididit2wo wrote:

I'm on a budget and can afford an Eizo or LaCie monitor.

Did you mean to say that you "cannot" afford or is this stated correctly? (you have a healthy budget if so!)

Have you read this thread?

The Anand LCD Thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2049206&enterthread=y

Read at least the first two posts in it as they have the technical info and monitor recommendations by task.

I've posted these here before but once again, here are some web sites you may find useful:

****************************

The following is the "hot" zone atm:
30" ..... IPS variant
27" ..... S-PVA but may be a TN panel soon
26" ..... IPS variant (though the NEC 2690 is really a 25.5")
25.5" ... TN's coming
24" ..... IPS, PVA, MVA and most of the inexpensive ones = TN
22" ..... almost all TN (except for 5 - 4 Eizo, 1 Lenovo)
<22" .... most IPS/PVA monitors smaller than 22" are no longer in production

Your resolution is going to be related to the panel size and H:W aspect ratio.

Most 20" 4:3 monitors have a 1600x1200 resolution
but a 20" 16:10 monitor is likely to be 1680x1050

22" 16:10 typical... 1680x1050
24" 16:10 typical... 1920x1200

My standard suggested reading....

The Anand LCD Thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2049206&enterthread=y

XBit LCD Testing Methodology
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/lcd-testmethods_7.html#sect0

Use to discover panel types (type in IPS, etc)
http://www.flatpanels.dk/panels.php
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/panelsearch.htm
(these two sites are typically accurate but sometimes mfg's change panels in mid-model run - aka panel lotteries)

Use to see & compare monitor screens from various angles:
http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=36&mo1=104&p1=1040&ma2=52&ph=8
(and the link should show two monitors that while not the best, are good)

Review sites that shows images of the monitors viewed from various angles:
http://www.behardware.com/html/cat/22/
http://www.anandtech.com/displays/
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/reviews.html

Some review sites that get technical:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/
http://www.extremetech.com/category2/0,1695,23466,00.asp

A review sites that covers a lot of displays:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/displays/

okididit2wo · August 14, 2008

Yeah I fat fingered that post. I'm on a budget, which is restricted by the fact that I am also acquiring a new computer as well.

I have read the Anand LCD Thread, which has been very useful in my research. I am currently leaning towards a Dell 2408WFP it seems to be the best compromise between quality and price. Any thoughts on this model?

Newsy · August 14, 2008

okididit2wo wrote:

Yeah I fat fingered that post. I'm on a budget, which is restricted by the fact that I am also acquiring a new computer as well.

I have read the Anand LCD Thread, which has been very useful in my research. I am currently leaning towards a Dell 2408WFP it seems to be the best compromise between quality and price. Any thoughts on this model?

I have not seen it or worked with it. All I know of it are posts in various forums where people are trying to calibrate it.

http://search.dpreview.com/?forumid=1004&scope=Forums&sort=date&q=2408WFP

a good read > http://monitortest.blogspot.com/

dell monitor forums > http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board?board.id=dim_monitor

.

okididit2wo · August 15, 2008

Reading multiple reviews is like chasing your tail. One site or person says it is an excellent product and the next says that he wouldn't wish this product on his worst enemy.

What models have you seen or worked with? I've only worked with a 4:3 aspect monitor, but the trend seems to be towards 16:10. Do you know of any gotchas I should look out for when choosing aspect ratio?

colourbox · August 15, 2008

okididit2wo wrote:

I've only worked with a 4:3 aspect monitor, but the trend seems to be towards 16:10. Do you know of any gotchas I should look out for when choosing aspect ratio?

Well, if you shoot a lot of verticals, widescreen monitors can be a problem, because when you fit an entire image on screen the vertical images end up much smaller than the horizontal ones.

If this is going to bug you, the three solutions to this are, buy a larger widescreen just so it's taller, or buy a 4:3 monitor instead, or buy a widescreen that supports pivoting to vertical.

I have a 20" Apple Cinema Display but because of the vertical image size issue I wish I'd gotten a 23", but then I remember that I couldn't afford it. If I had the cash I would get one of those NEC 2690wuxi monitors that all the pros seem to adore.

okididit2wo · August 15, 2008

colourbox wrote:

Well, if you shoot a lot of verticals, widescreen monitors can be a problem, because when you fit an entire image on screen the vertical images end up much smaller than the horizontal ones.

If this is going to bug you, the three solutions to this are, buy a larger widescreen just so it's taller, or buy a 4:3 monitor instead, or buy a widescreen that supports pivoting to vertical.

I have a 20" Apple Cinema Display but because of the vertical image size issue I wish I'd gotten a 23", but then I remember that I couldn't afford it. If I had the cash I would get one of those NEC 2690wuxi monitors that all the pros seem to adore.

I assume you are referring to viewing a vertical image. Becuase if you are editing the vertical image, the view (fit) would just be a function of the window you are working in. Correct?

In clarifying your first soultion, do you mean to say that a monitor larger than 20" would not result in a smaller vertical image?

colourbox · August 15, 2008

okididit2wo wrote:

I assume you are referring to viewing a vertical image. Becuase if you are editing the vertical image, the view (fit) would just be a function of the window you are working in. Correct?

Yes, I'm only talking about viewing a vertical image, and specifically, when you want to fit the entire image as large as possible on the monitor.

okididit2wo wrote:

In clarifying your first soultion, do you mean to say that a monitor larger than 20" would not result in a smaller vertical image?

No, what I mean is that when you're dealing with widescreen as opposed to 4:3, the vertical dimension is so much shorter than horizontal that you might need a bigger monitor than you think, to display verticals as tall as you did on your 4:3.

For example, say you've been using a 20" 4:3 monitor for years and you're pretty comfortable with that. So you think, I need a widescreen, I like 20", I'll get a 20" widescreen, right? Wrong. Let's suppose your 20" (diagonal) 4:3 monitor can display images that are up to 12" tall. If you buy a 20" diagonal 16:9 monitor, it will display images that are only up to 10" tall, because it's wider. You lost 2 inches of vertical display area. To display images on a widescreen as tall as you could on your 20" diagonal 4:3, you need at least 24" diagonal 16:9.

These are just rough numbers from using aspect ratio calculators on the Web, but you get the idea. Many computer monitors are actually 16:10.

okididit2wo · August 18, 2008

Thanks for the insight on the topic of aspect ratio it will be helpful in narrowing down a selection.

davidweaver · September 17, 2008

I'll add here. I'm looking at NEC 2690wuxi or 2490wuxi and the Planar px2611W or px2411W. Everyone likes their expensive NECs and the reviews are inconsistent on the Planar even though there are reports they are the same. Hmmm. Anyone with experience here?

Today, I'm returning a Samsung 2443 I got at Costco. It is not a deal even if I got it for 300 bucks. Very uneven backlighting and some color shifting too! Blaah. Might be a good casual viewing or business only monitor but it is not a monitor for PS work.

dogwood · September 17, 2008

Viewsonic makes decent monitors for those on a budget... but make sure to get the pro series, not the consumer series. The consumer series are kind of crappy. One advantage of Viewsonic (besides price) is you can very, very easily rotate the monitors from landscape to portrait (and newer monitors automatically change the view when you rotate-- no changing settings by the user).

I work on an Apple Cinema display for my day job and honestly, I prefer my dual Viewsonics at home. My main screen is always in portrait format (something the Cinema displays can't do) and the other in landscape. And best of all-- a dual Viewsonic setup like this can actually be cheaper than a single Cinema display.

Osprey Whisperer · September 19, 2008

I picked up a Samsung 245T widescreen monitor a while back. I'm very happy with it. Amazing picture quality. It is HD widegamut S-PVA panel type. It's not the top of the line and may be seen as a compromise and not the best choice for photography use, but it was about half the price as the NECs and others in the upper end of the LCD market. I prefered it over the Dell, which is nice also...but to my poor eyes, the Samsung looked like a better picture.

There are many issues raised about wide-gamut montors and I suggest reading some of the many articles online about the advantages and DISADVANTAGES of such a monitor. When all the technologies catch up and on the same page these will be very nice. Might also look into Firefox 3 or other browser types that have color space indexing...as your image will usually look "off" once posted online if viewed (used with) Windows explorer or other browser that default to S-rgb color space. Lot to learn/know about this (somewhat) new technology of widegamut.

I got a good deal on this Samsung at Buy.com. May be cheaper now somewhere else, but at the time that was the deal. This monitor originally came out at about $1,200 or so. It has dropped quite a bit and isn't much more money than a TN panel type 24" widescreen.

http://www.buy.com/prod/samsung-245t-24-widescreen-lcd-monitor-1-500-1-dc-6ms-1920-x-1200-dvi/q/loc/101/204793769.html

LCD Monitor Suggestions

Comments