Dell 30" monitor any good?

photobug · November 24, 2006

Does anyone out there have a Dell 24" (or, better yet, 30") widescreen LCD monitor and can comment on their experience of setting it up, profiling it, and using it for Photoshop work?

I've been working with a 24" CRT monitor for about 6 years and am concerned that it may be entering its "declining" years. I am seriously considering purchasing a Dell 3007WFP (30") LCD monitor after the holidays. I understand that it uses exactly the same LCD panel as the Apple 30" Cinemia Display monitor, but with different electronics. Getting the 30" display would also require me to purchase a new $100+ video card with dual-link DVI output <sigh>. I use a Monaco Optix colorimeter for profiliing, and yes this monitor would be attached to a WinXP system [yes Andy, I wish I could "go Mac", but still have applications that only run on Windows :cry].

Does anyone have any experience with this monitor, as in, for Photoshop use how does it compare with a CRT monitor for accuracy, ease of setup & profiling, etc?

DJ-S1 · November 25, 2006

Unfortunately, I don't have one...:cry

wxwax · November 25, 2006

30" is pretty darn huge.

I've seen the Apple 30" in person, and understand why at least one dgrinner bought it and then returned it for a 24".

It would appear, despite my strongest instincts, that the concept of "too big" is a valid one.

rutt · November 25, 2006

I've had a 30" Apple monitor for a couple of years. Only problem with it is that stuff looks so great on it! Sometimes this is a little deceptive since nobody else has as good a view!

Seriously, I can't imagine how anyone who actually had room for this thing could have stood to return it.

There was one technical issue. I found I had to slow down the sync rate just a touch or the image would sometimes be unstable. Apple knew about the problem but never offered a solution. If this becomes an issue, and you are on OS X, let me know, and I'll help. On Windows, call helpful Microsoft support.

richW · November 25, 2006

I have the Dell 2405 FPW with a NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX video card. I went from a 19" crt to this and never looked back.
While I can't quote all the tech/spec numbers, I can say I've had no problems with the monitor.
Easy to calibrate with Spyder Pro. The on screen image matches my calibration print..
For me, it's worth having the monitor to view and edit images on a large screen. In fact I'll be adding a second screen soon.....

photobug · November 25, 2006

Thanks for all the responses so far ... I still hope to hear from someone who has used this monitor indicate if it color-calibrates as well as a CRT?

Also, can anyone with long-term experience on color-calibrated CRTs tell me if a CRT really does enter "declining years" after 6-7 years of use? (or is that just an "old wives tale"?) In my case, the 24" CRT (made by Sony I think but re-badged by an OEM computer company) has probably been "on" about 2 hours per day and in low-power standby mode most of the rest of the time (although lately I've been turning it off overnight).

bwg · November 25, 2006

photobug wrote:

Thanks for all the responses so far ... I still hope to hear from someone who has used this monitor indicate if it color-calibrates as well as a CRT?

Also, can anyone with long-term experience on color-calibrated CRTs tell me if a CRT really does enter "declining years" after 6-7 years of use? (or is that just an "old wives tale"?) In my case, the 24" CRT (made by Sony I think but re-badged by an OEM computer company) has probably been "on" about 2 hours per day and in low-power standby mode most of the rest of the time (although lately I've been turning it off overnight).

I've had a 23" apple cinema display and currently have 2 24" dell 2407 monitors.

the apple display is superior color wise to the dell. both my dells have a tiny bit of brightness falloff from left to right. the dells also tend to plug on blacks and reds.

however, the dells are much more versatile than the apples (s-video, component, composite, d-sub and dvi inputs), have a built in card reader, 4 usb ports and picture in picture support. they also have a height adjustable stand and are $300 less than the acd.

so if you have the money and dont need the versatility, the apple is the better monitor display wise.

photobug · November 25, 2006

bigwebguy wrote:

I've had a 23" apple cinema display and currently have 2 24" dell 2407 monitors.

the apple display is superior color wise to the dell. both my dells have a tiny bit of brightness falloff from left to right. the dells also tend to plug on blacks and reds.

however, the dells are much more versatile than the apples (s-video, component, composite, d-sub and dvi inputs), have a built in card reader, 4 usb ports and picture in picture support. they also have a height adjustable stand and are $300 less than the acd.

so if you have the money and dont need the versatility, the apple is the better monitor display wise.

I can believe all the above ... agrees with reviews I've read.

All that said, the Dell 30" display is not directly related to the Dell 24" display -- the LCDs come from different vendors and who knows where the electronics come from.

The 30" display has one disadvantage to the 24" -- it does not have S-video, component, composite, or secondary VGA inputs. From what I've read, it's single dual-link DVI input only. (none of the other sources could drive it to anywhere near its full resolution, anyway, but they would be nice in a PIP window)

It does still have the built-in card reader and USB ports, which is a nice touch.

sgbotsford · November 25, 2006

photobug wrote:

Does anyone out there have a Dell 24" (or, better yet, 30") widescreen LCD monitor and can comment on their experience of setting it up, profiling it, and using it for Photoshop work?

I've read that the people who use photoshop for a living prefer CRTs to LCD's. Now that info is a few years old, so may not be true anymore. I know that all LCD monitors to me look like the image is projected onto coloured sandpaper -- I can see the screen pixels, and they distract me. But then at work (I'm a sysadmin) I have 9 terminal windows per screen in 4 point Squint <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/rolleyes1.gif" border="0" alt="" >

Both my wife and I have dual monitors on our systems. I was able to get a bunch of NEC 21" monitors for $75 each. The dual setup is <em>wonderful</em> Keep all your pallets and presets, and toolbars on one monitor and the other one is the pic you're working on. A dual head graphics card is realtively cheap, especially since you don't really care about gaming fps rendering. Do get one that will allow you to run at 1600x1200 pixels at 32 bits.

As to Mac: Be patient. A company called VMware for years has made virtual machines so that linux can run windows, windows and run linux -- any intel based operating system can be a guest OS. My bet is that they will have a Mac version inside a year. CS3 is supposed to be native intel code. Right now you have to run CS2 under Rosetta on a mac -- an emulation layer that takes away almost all the performance gain of running on a pair of dual core processors.

Remember, with computer hardware it will be cheaper next Tuesday.

photobug · November 26, 2006

sgbotsford wrote:

I've read that the people who use photoshop for a living prefer CRTs to LCD's. Now that info is a few years old

I've heard the same thing ... and more recently, that some LCD displays are good enough to satisfy even the most critical users, with more and more LCDs falling into that category as time goes on.

Hence my question -- I wonder how far up the scale the Dell 30" monitor falls.

Both my wife and I have dual monitors on our systems. I was able to get a bunch of NEC 21" monitors for $75 each. The dual setup is <em>wonderful</em> Keep all your pallets and presets, and toolbars on one monitor and the other one is the pic you're working on. A dual head graphics card is realtively cheap

That's a possibility, but for dual heads I would have to use LCDs anyway, due to limited desk space. I can fit one 24" CRT now, but don't think I could fit dual CRTs. (I only have enough desk depth for it on one side, where the 24" monitor currently sits)

Another disadvantage to dual monitors is for viewing landscape images -- I'd still be limited to the width of one monitor (or splitting the image across two monitors, which works, but is clunky). And if I want to watch a movie <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/mwink.gif" border="0" alt="" >, splitting the image across monitors especially wouldn't work very well (although that shouldn't be a concern, because I rarely watch them on my PC).

As to Mac: Be patient. A company called VMware for years has made virtual machines so that linux can run windows, windows and run linux -- any intel based operating system can be a guest OS. My bet is that they will have a Mac version inside a year.

Yes, VMware does make software that allows one OS to run on top of another -- but the combination of Windows on top of Mac OS probably isn't yet available (too bad they don't run true virtualization instead of hacking it as one OS on top of the other, but that's another conversation).

But I don't want to run Windows at all, I just want to run Windows applications. Why should I pay Microsoft a hundred-dollar-plus tax to purchase a stand-alone copy of Windows to run on top of VMware, when all I want to do is run Windows applications (that supposedly comply with the Win32 API)? Wnat is needed is decent Windows emulation software that runs on Intel-based Macs, that intercepts system calls made by Windows applications and emulates them in MacOS. If it can be done on Linux, it can surely be done on Mac OS (which after all itself is a Unix-derivative OS). Ditto, I would think it should be do-able on the Solaris x86 OS, which is even more robust.

You'd think now that Macs are running on x86 processors, it would be a high priority at Apple to come up with a decent Windows-emulation package. It was available on PowerPC Macs before, although was a bit sluggish because the PPC processor had to emulate x86 instructions. That wouldn't be necessary on an x86 Mac. The Windows system calls and libraries would have to be emulated, which is still a tall order, but at least it could run very close to the native speed as running Windows natively. The market for capturing Windows cross-over customers must be enormous ... I really hope Apple (or a 3rd party) figures out how to run Win32 Windows applications without requiring a Windows license.

But I digress -- this is getting way off the Dell 30" monitor topic!

Guess you hit a hot button for me, there.

colourbox · November 26, 2006

photobug wrote:

Also, can anyone with long-term experience on color-calibrated CRTs tell me if a CRT really does enter "declining years" after 6-7 years of use? (or is that just an "old wives tale"?)

This is known. The CRT phosphors fade over time with use. The way you know is when your hardware calibrator measures its brightness against the optimum brightness level for reproducing a full range of tones. According to my calibrator, my 9-year-old monitor has dropped below that threshold and needs to be replaced. Phosphors fade according to the hours you leave it on, not a set number of years. If someone runs their monitor 12 hours a day every day, it should wear out faster. It sounds like you've been very conservative about it, which is good. I have read that high refresh rates and brightness levels can wear out phosphors faster.

On an LCD, what will wear out is the backlight. It may color-shift well before it goes dark, especially if the backlight is defective. Its life is measured in hours; 10,000 hours is often stated. I cringe whenever I walk into a home and some family has spent a couple of thousand on a top of the line computer monitor that sits idle most of the day on full brightness with a slideshow, because they think it's cool. It's like the most expensive photo album they will ever buy, and they're hastening its death.

photobug wrote:

f it can be done on Linux, it can surely be done on Mac OS (which after all itself is a Unix-derivative OS)....The market for capturing Windows cross-over customers must be enormous ... I really hope Apple (or a 3rd party) figures out how to run Win32 Windows applications without requiring a Windows license...

You mean like CrossOver? Not perfect but there it is. I haven't used it, I use Parallels Desktop which does require a copy of Windows, but even that is imperfect in terms of its video and USB support. But it's good enough for my needs.

jsedlak · November 26, 2006

I love my 24" Dell LCD... Love it to death.

Oh and my second monitor is a Sony Trinitron Flat-CRT 19". Its colors are fading now and the screen is getting darker and harder to read... I have owned it for at least 7 years.

photobug · November 26, 2006

colourbox wrote:

The CRT phosphors fade over time with use... If someone runs their monitor 12 hours a day every day, it should wear out faster. It sounds like you've been very conservative about it, which is good.

OK, thanks -- it sounds like my 2-3 hours/day of use still leaves my CRT in pretty good shape, even after 7 years. I've wondered if I needed to fully turn it off overnight, or just leave it in standby mode.

I have read that high refresh rates and brightness levels can wear out phosphors faster.

High brightness levels wearing out the CRT phosphors earlier makes intuitive sense. (not that what seems "intuitive" always works out to be true!)

On an LCD, what will wear out is the backlight. ...Its life is measured in hours; 10,000 hours is often stated. I cringe whenever I walk into a home and some family has spent a couple of thousand on a top-of-the-line computer monitor that sits idle most of the day on full brightness with a slideshow, because they think it's cool.

I don't know that much about monitors, and even I would cringe at that.

[re Windows emulation] You mean like CrossOver? Not perfect but there it is.

Yes, that's the idea! 'Twill be nice to see a Mac version ready!

photobug · November 27, 2006

jsedlak wrote:

I love my 24" Dell LCD... Love it to death.

And you have been able to calibrate it without much problem so that what you see on-screen matches your prints well?

wellman · December 1, 2006

I can't speak to the Dell 30", but I'll second what Lee said about the 2405FPW. It's not as accurate as the 2001FP in my buddy's office or the 1901FP I use at home. Lots of room, though, so I love it for spreadsheets. Day jobs, you know...

Good luck!

LuckyBob · December 2, 2006

photobug wrote:

Yes, that's the idea! 'Twill be nice to see a Mac version ready!

Not that I've tried it personally, but Darwine should be the ticket on Intel boxes (Wine ported to OSX): http://darwine.opendarwin.org. The other possibility is VMware (or VMware Player) running OSx86 from a PC host.

Dell 30" monitor any good?

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