Budget flat panel monitor?

divamum · October 18, 2009

Yes, I know budget monitors are not the ideal choice for photo editing. However, our existing monitor is in the process of dying and, while it is likely that the BB extended warrantee will fix it (rather than replace it) we may have to buy another in the meantime to tide us over - my daughter needs one anyway (hers died months ago and we just didn't replace it), so it will likely all work out ok for everybody in the end.

The existing monitor is an LG 22". It's ok, but we got it before I started doing a lot of photo editing, and I find that it's almost impossible to adjust the contrast to where it reflects what I see on any other computer, or in prints. Me no likey.

SOOOOoooo with that all in mind - any suggestions for under-$300 monitors? I KNOW that for photo editing this is likely to fall short in some way, but I"m hoping to find the least-bad option within that kind of budget.

Thanks for any suggestions!

darkdragon · October 18, 2009

My husband has this monitor, he got it a couple years ago and it has been a great monitor for him. It is $8 over your budget though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254026

Hanns-G 28"

colourbox · October 18, 2009

There's a Dell that has an IPS panel (preferred for photo editing) at $300.

Pupator · October 18, 2009

colourbox wrote:

There's a Dell that has an IPS panel (preferred for photo editing) at $300.

Yep, this'll take you $27 or so over your budget but you'll never go back to your old monitor for photo editing once you get it.

Newsy · October 18, 2009

Yes, the Dell2209WA would be the logical choice. Much better than any TN panel.

It's hard to figure out where you are located so I'm going to guess in the USA.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=04&sku=320-7825

With coupons this monitor has been priced as low as $220 USD recently. They had an instant $50 discount a couple of weeks ago as well. You just have to keep watching the Dell.com web site and enter 2209WA in the search field to find the discounted SKU.

2209WA review > http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2009/review-dell-2209wa.html

Viewsonic has also just announced the VP2365WB 23" 1920x1080 monitor and it looks to have an e-IPS TFT LCD panel as well. It is listed at about $379 in Canada and as low as $310 in the USA. This monitor is said to be a few weeks away from arriving in the warehouses of North American resellers - possibly as late as early December.
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktop-monitors/lcd/pro-series/vp2365wb.htm

NEC also has a similar product, the EA231WMi, which should be around $379 in the USA and about $450 in Canada. This is a new monitor, just this week arriving in reseller warehouses in North America.
http://www.necdisplay.com/Products/Product/?product=a8f8336f-6f87-4065-b3ad-c2fa8204f2a0

Then there is the HP LP2275w which uses a S-PVA TFT LCD panel and is considered a wide gamut monitor due its coverage of the AdobeRGB colour space. It is priced similar to the NEC product.
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2008/review-hp-lp2275w.html

All of the above monitors are true 8bit panels.

Personally, I would not buy any less than these monitors for use in image editing. Monitor's with TN panels have significant viewing angle issues and colour issues due in part their 6bit panels.

.

brianb · October 18, 2009

I have the Dell 2209WA, got it a while ago for about $220. Haven't used any hardware calibration (used some settings I found in a forum), but prints I've had made match it quite well. Wish they offered a 1920x1200 model, but I've been very happy with it.

Brian

Art Scott · October 19, 2009

looking for budget...go to walmart.....they have budget flat panels.....some under $200.........................

divamum · October 19, 2009

Thanks all. If anybody sees/knows of anything that isn't too dire in the current Best Buy listings, then do share - if they're going to replace (rather than repair) the existing one we'll be limited to their inventory since I believe they give you a giftcard to purchase a replacement.

If they repair instead of replace, I may well try to put together the funds for the Dell Ultrasharp anyway - it has so many recommendations both here and elsewhere that it seems like it's the obvious choice for a lower-end model.

Thanks!

divamum · October 20, 2009

Thanks again for the reccs. In fact, looks like the problem with the existing monitor was a cable, so it was an easy fix in the end. That said, there are some good deals on some of those monitors mentioned, so I'm trying to figure out if I can swing a 2nd monitor anyway - I really don't like the one we have for picture editing. That said, I wind up on the laptop most of the time anyway, but I DO need to print from the desktop, and a more printer-friendly monitor would definitely make things easier!

ETA: Purchased 2209WA. Final cost from the Dell Outlet was $200; it was kind of a no-brainer at that price.....

Njordan · October 22, 2009

divamum wrote:

Thanks again for the reccs. In fact, looks like the problem with the existing monitor was a cable, so it was an easy fix in the end. That said, there are some good deals on some of those monitors mentioned, so I'm trying to figure out if I can swing a 2nd monitor anyway - I really don't like the one we have for picture editing. That said, I wind up on the laptop most of the time anyway, but I DO need to print from the desktop, and a more printer-friendly monitor would definitely make things easier!

ETA: Purchased 2209WA. Final cost from the Dell Outlet was $200; it was kind of a no-brainer at that price.....

Darn... I'm looking for a monitor as well to tide me over for a year or so until I get off the ground enough to buy better equipment. Looks like Dell Outlet is all out of this one! :cry

divamum · October 23, 2009

Njordan wrote:

Darn... I'm looking for a monitor as well to tide me over for a year or so until I get off the ground enough to buy better equipment. Looks like Dell Outlet is all out of this one! :cry

Aww, bummer! That said, keep looking - Dell stuff comes in and out of the outlet at lightning speed, so if you keep an eye on it, you may get lucky.

Mine actually arrived today, well ahead of schedule, so hopefully I'll get a chance to play with it this weekend!

Newsy · October 24, 2009

divamum wrote:

Mine actually arrived today, well ahead of schedule, so hopefully I'll get a chance to play with it this weekend!

Great news!

Other than calibrating the brightness, RGB, gamma, and temperature you should consider the sharpness. A lot of users comment that the monitor is actually overly sharp at factory default.

You can use the sharpness test on this web site to check it out.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/sharpness.php

To get to 120cd/m2 white luminance for brightness (good for a moderately lit den/home office) a lot of users have their contrast at around 75-80% and brightness 15-20%.

.

Njordan · October 24, 2009

Newsy wrote:

Great news!

Other than calibrating the brightness, RGB, gamma, and temperature you should consider the sharpness. A lot of users comment that the monitor is actually overly sharp at factory default.

You can use the sharpness test on this web site to check it out.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/sharpness.php

To get to 120cd/m2 white luminance for brightness (good for a moderately lit den/home office) a lot of users have their contrast at around 75-80% and brightness 15-20%.

.

When/if I do come across the 2209wa, what is a good entry level hardware calibrator? Huey?

Thanks

Njordan · October 25, 2009

Just bought the 2209WA. It is retailing from dell.com new for $289. I called customer service and told them I saw it cheaper a few weeks ago and couldn't purchase it then. I asked for that price again ($209) and after some research and asking the manager, the customer service rep was able to knock it down to $225 with free 2 day shipping.

Not a bad deal. If you're in the market for this one just call in to get the deal.

Hope this helps someone out there!

divamum · October 25, 2009

Njordan wrote:

Just bought the 2209WA. It is retailing from dell.com new for $289. I called customer service and told them I saw it cheaper a few weeks ago and couldn't purchase it then. I asked for that price again ($209) and after some research and asking the manager, the customer service rep was able to knock it down to $225 with free 2 day shipping. Not a bad deal. If you're in the market for this one just call in to get the deal.

Hope this helps someone out there!

Great! We haven't set ours up yet (crazy busy weekend) but plan to do so tomorrow.

I use a Huey calibrator on my laptop and have been entirely happy with it. I keep it on the laptop since that's where I"ve been doing most of my editing, but I suspect I'll want to use it for both machines. Can't really afford a 2nd one right now, but I can move it between machines once I've got the software running, I expect. We'll see....!

Njordan · October 26, 2009

divamum wrote:

Great! We haven't set ours up yet (crazy busy weekend) but plan to do so tomorrow.

I use a Huey calibrator on my laptop and have been entirely happy with it. I keep it on the laptop since that's where I"ve been doing most of my editing, but I suspect I'll want to use it for both machines. Can't really afford a 2nd one right now, but I can move it between machines once I've got the software running, I expect. We'll see....!

Just ordered a Huey PRO as well. $79.99 on Amazon right now. Hope fully I get time to set everything up this week! It going to be a crazy one!

divamum · October 26, 2009

Just set up the monitor. Even uncalibrated (have'nt got that far yet) it looks GREAT - the contrast is hugely better than the previous one and it doesn't have slightly neon blues like the old one did (fine for gaming; not so good for photos ... or yahoo mail users - I always had to turn it down!) Colours look pretty good right out of the box, although I'll be calibrating later to see what Huey thinks, too. So far so good, though, especially at that price!

Grainbelt · October 31, 2009

Dell Canada has the 2209WA for 248 CAD right now.

Booked it today! Should go nicely with the PC I just ordered. I've been rolling with a netbook since my laptop died and it really isn't getting the job done.

brandofamily · November 1, 2009

Best Buy has the Dell 2209WA for $199 right now.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=-6957217129623152365&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=2209WA&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

Newsy · November 1, 2009

brandofamily wrote:

Best Buy has the Dell 2209WA for $199 right now.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=-6957217129623152365&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=2209WA&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

That is NOT the 2209WA. That links to the S2209W which is a much different monitor having the much less desirable TN TFT LCD panel.

The 2209WA has the e-IPS TFT LCD panel.

And.... that is Best Buy USA, not Canada.

.

brandofamily · November 1, 2009

Newsy wrote:

That is NOT the 2209WA. That links to the S2209W which is a much different monitor having the much less desirable TN TFT LCD panel.

The 2209WA has the e-IPS TFT LCD panel.

And.... that is Best Buy USA, not Canada.

.

Thanks for the info on TN vs IPS...
Sorry I did not know the OP was limited to Canada...

brandofamily · November 1, 2009

Newsy wrote:

That is NOT the 2209WA. That links to the S2209W which is a much different monitor having the much less desirable TN TFT LCD panel.

The 2209WA has the e-IPS TFT LCD panel.

And.... that is Best Buy USA, not Canada.

.

BTW, how do you know if a monitor is TN TFT of IPS TFT?

Pupator · November 1, 2009

brandofamily wrote:

BTW, how do you know if a monitor is TN TFT of IPS TFT?

You look here: http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/s-ips-lcd-list.php

And if it's not on the list you know it's not good.

Newsy · November 2, 2009

brandofamily wrote:

BTW, how do you know if a monitor is TN TFT of IPS TFT?

I prefer these two sites for cross checking panels:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/panelsearch.htm

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/panels.php

and for monitor reviews:

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/reviews.html

more info on TFT LCD panel technologies:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/panel_technologies.htm

Grainbelt · November 7, 2009

Here you can see the sizable upgrade over my netbook.

The kitchen table will not be the final resting spot, I was just using it for setup before I clean the den.

I have no idea what a nice monitor should look like, as before the netbook I had an old 15" laptop, and before than a CRT. That being said, this is a very nice setup.

The PC is a Core2Duo 3.0Ghz running 4gb RAM to a 640GB HD, running windows 7. Nothing flashy, but a huge improvement over my (dead) laptop and netbook. Should be fine for the small batches of photos I edit.

Budget flat panel monitor?

Comments