Wow! I need a new monitor!
rpcrowe
Registered Users Posts: 733 Major grins
I have been using my Dell AS501 19" monitor which came with my Dell Optiplex 745 computer and have never really been happy with it. However, while at my daughter's house; I pulled up my smugmug.com galleries on her computer with a Samsung 22" wide screen display and the images absolutely blew my socks off. The images looked far-far better than they do on my monitor at home and I have decided to get a new monitor!
BTW: I use my monitor for Photoshop post processing and for surfing the web. I don't do any gaming.
I want a minimum of 23" up to a maximum of 27" and could easily settle for either a 23" or 24" screen if that would be best for my Photoshop work..
I want to keep my purchase in the area of $500 or so and I have been considering three monitors which I will list in order of increasing price (as listed on Amazon.com):
Samsung P2770H ($358.80)
This has a 27" screen and is the least expensive of the three models. I like Samsung products. All three of my televisions are Samsung. My daughter's 22" samsung shows up my smugmug images in a spectacular way. I am not necessarily locked into the P2770H and would consider another 24" or 27" Samsung model if that would be best for Photoshop.
Dell Ultrasharp U2410 (512.99)
I have previously used a Dell 19" Ultrasharp monitor which came with my previous Dell computer (I used to get great deals on Dell computers/monitors since my wife worked for a local community college and we could piggy-back on the college purchasing program). I have read some good things about the U2410. i don't know if the U2410 has USB ports but, the one thing that I like about my present AS501 is that it has a pair of USD ports at the side of the monitor. I find this really handy.
HP LP2475W ($572.99)
This is probably at the top of my price range but, I have read some very positive reviews about it. I know that this monitor has USB ports. The USB port is not a make or break issue - just that I find it very handy.
Salesmen in both Fry's Electronics and Best Buy (who probably only know gaming and not PS post processing) recommended that LED monitors are better that LCD monitors for post processing.
Fry's recommends: ACER 5243HL ($299.00)
Good Buy recommends: Samsung PX2370 ($309.00)
Both of these units are less expensive than the above three choices but, they are both 23" monitors and at the bottom of my size range.
What should I do? BTW: I am retired and not doing my imagery professionally and i cannot really justify a thousand bucks for a NEC monitor.
BTW: I use my monitor for Photoshop post processing and for surfing the web. I don't do any gaming.
I want a minimum of 23" up to a maximum of 27" and could easily settle for either a 23" or 24" screen if that would be best for my Photoshop work..
I want to keep my purchase in the area of $500 or so and I have been considering three monitors which I will list in order of increasing price (as listed on Amazon.com):
Samsung P2770H ($358.80)
This has a 27" screen and is the least expensive of the three models. I like Samsung products. All three of my televisions are Samsung. My daughter's 22" samsung shows up my smugmug images in a spectacular way. I am not necessarily locked into the P2770H and would consider another 24" or 27" Samsung model if that would be best for Photoshop.
Dell Ultrasharp U2410 (512.99)
I have previously used a Dell 19" Ultrasharp monitor which came with my previous Dell computer (I used to get great deals on Dell computers/monitors since my wife worked for a local community college and we could piggy-back on the college purchasing program). I have read some good things about the U2410. i don't know if the U2410 has USB ports but, the one thing that I like about my present AS501 is that it has a pair of USD ports at the side of the monitor. I find this really handy.
HP LP2475W ($572.99)
This is probably at the top of my price range but, I have read some very positive reviews about it. I know that this monitor has USB ports. The USB port is not a make or break issue - just that I find it very handy.
Salesmen in both Fry's Electronics and Best Buy (who probably only know gaming and not PS post processing) recommended that LED monitors are better that LCD monitors for post processing.
Fry's recommends: ACER 5243HL ($299.00)
Good Buy recommends: Samsung PX2370 ($309.00)
Both of these units are less expensive than the above three choices but, they are both 23" monitors and at the bottom of my size range.
What should I do? BTW: I am retired and not doing my imagery professionally and i cannot really justify a thousand bucks for a NEC monitor.
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Comments
My monitor should arrive in a week or so; I'll post my thoughts on it here when it comes in.
Is the Dell U2410 equipped with USB ports? My present Dell monitor has two USB ports and I really find them handy.
Don't bother - a 6bit "TN" panel, suspect sRGB coverage, viewing angle issues
Not too bad a choice but be aware that it is a "Wide Gamut" monitor. Do you work in the AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB color spaces? If you don't, then stick to a standard sRGB color space monitor. Your life will be a lot simpler and less stressful.
This monitor has a bit of a tarnished reputation. The first version Dell released had all kinds of issues - mainly tinting and dithering in sRGB mode. The second firmware version fixed the dithering but there are still people going through 3 units trying to get one without a tint.
Otherwise it has some good spec's offering a claimed 10bit H-IPS TFT panel with 100% sRGB and 100% AdobeRGB coverage.
Also a wide gamut monitor. You really have to have a grasp of color management issues to deal with these wide gamut monitors. Non color managed applications such as the Windows desktop or some image viewers will show greens and reds to be too vibrant, overly saturated.
Uses an 8bit H-IPS TFT panel. This monitor may be about to be discontinued - to be replaced by the HP ZR24w.
Don't go back there - those salesman have been in the sun too long. When they state LED they mean the backlight vs the standard CCFL back light most LCD monitors use. LED's are of most benefit for energy savings. A white LED may cover most of the sRGB colour space but you need a RGB LED to provide a wide gamut display. I've read that there are lifespan issues with the Blue LED. If you check out the leaders in monitors such as Eizo, Lacie, and NEC, you will see that they all continue to use CCFL back lights. There is a reason for that! (Accuracy)
Stay away from these... both use "TN" panels. btw... I think you meant Acer S243HL S=5.
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For image editing and viewing it is all about the panel type. In terms of image quality for photo editing, these are the TFT LCD panel types from best to worst:
IPS (newer variants are S-IPS, AS-IPS, H-IPS, e-IPS, etc)
PVA (newer variants are S-PVA, c-PVA)
MVA (newer variants are A-MVA, P-MVA, S-MVA, etc)
TN
If you would like some background on these panels, read this article:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/panel_technologies.htm
All TN panels are 6bit.
All IPS and PVA panels, at the least, are 8bit. Some are claimed to be 10bit with 12 or 14bit electronics.
IPS and PVA panels have far better viewing angles than TN panels. TN panels will exhibit a shift in gamma/color at even small angles off straight on.
example: IPS on left, TN on right - ignore the dark blue tone, note the shift in skin color.
http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=88&mo1=477&p1=4862&ma2=88&mo2=218&p2=2098&ph=8
If you don't need AdobeRGB (wide gamut), then consider these monitors and buy a hardware calibrator - almost all LCD's require a tweak to get them to optimal RGB and brightness. The following all use a variant of an 8bit e-IPS TFT panel.
Dell 2209WA
.... 22" 1680x1050
.... 99% sRGB coverage
.... can be found for $220 USD
.... generally considered the best bang for buck low end image editing monitor in the market at the moment.
NEC EA231WMi
.... 23" 1920x1080
.... 96% sRGB
.... can be found for about $310
Dell U2311H
.... 23" 1920x1080
.... 96% sRGB
.... brand new; unproven; no reviews from good tech sites
.... some reports of tinting issues
.... $299 USD list
HP ZR24w
.... 24" 1920x1200
.... 97% sRGB
.... recently introduced
.... can be found for $390 USD
"Xrite i1 Display2" or "Spyder3 Elite" Colorimeters
.... in addition to calibrating RGB, Gamma, and Temperature, both of these units feature the ability to precisely target a specific white luminance value. Lesser versions of these models do not. White Luminance is the means by which you measure and control the monitor brightness.
You can read reviews on these monitors at these sites:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/reviews.html
http://www.flatpanelshd.com/reviews.php
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That is a bit concerning. My U2410 arrives on Friday; I hope I get a good one. I'll report back once I have it up and calibrated.
I took a quick look at the review on TFT Central (the review I read when I decided on this monitor) and it look like it has two USB ports.
The vast majority of users have found theirs to be OK. A substantial number have seen some tinting but decided it would not affect them. A few have decided it was intrusive and played the RMA game with Dell.
Dell stated that they considered the tinting a "normal panel characteristic" and will no longer RMA U2410's for this issue. Which means to get a replacement you send it back with a stated cause being a bad pixel (Dell has a Zero Dead Pixel policy) or noise or something.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/peripherals/f/3529/t/19302919.aspx
The tinting will show on a white or medium/light gray background as green on the left and red on the right.
Use this web page to check for it. Btw... this page came about to check the new Apple 27" panels which have had numerous issues including yellow tinting on the bottom half of the screen,
http://tapplox.com/imac-led.html
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First impressions:
1. The color is remarkably better than on my old monitor (an HP2009w). In particular darker colors render much more accurately and overall images look smoother and more detailed. Right away, browsing my photo collection I can see issues in my images which appeared in print but weren't visible on my old screen. I expect as I develop more experience with it, the new monitor will give me much more confidence in print preview as on the new monitor photos on screen look much more like the prints I have made.
2. The green/magenta gradient is is definitely there, but I don't yet have a sense of how big an issue it will be. The center of the screen is fine but the edges do pick up the green on the left and magenta on the right color casts. In Lightroom where typically the photo is in the center of the screen and the UI on the edges is pretty dark it largely isn't an issue. However I may find working in Photoshop more difficult as the UI is mostly white and will pick up the cast. Also, I am going to experiement with how I calibrate the monitor to see if I can minimize the effect by being careful where I put the puck on the screen.
3. The screen is very bright. I had to turn the brightness down to 15/100 to hit 120 cd/m2. That leaves me wondering if the display will perform better if I calibrate to a brighter target. More testing is required.
4. The overall package is nice. The frame is very minialist flat black (which I like--no distractions) with just a Dell logo at the bottom (which I'll cover with electrical tape). The control buttons are backlit with blue LEDs and invisible when not in use which is pretty slick. The Monitor has 2 USB connectors and an SD card reader (!) on the left hand side. If my camera took SD cards that would be great; as is it probably won't get much use.