I am looking at replacing my ancient monitor with something more up to date. What specs should I be looking for ? I’m tired of looking and editing at my photographs through this old monitor. How much does the video card impact the end result on the screen ? Should I also be looking at replacing the card as well.
For $500 you should be able to find a decent 23-24" IPS model. Quality varies between units (more likely with the cheaper models) so it is very important to buy from a store that has a good return policy.
I'm afraid you'll have to accept something bigger than 21 inches - there don't seem to be any good screens below 24 inches now (unless you want to spend a fortune on an Eizo). Probably the only decent consumer level one was the Dell 2209 UW and they retired that. I know i've just replaced mine with a U2410 simply because i couldn't find a decent screen smaller.
I recently got one of the korean 27" high res IPS screens (Achieva Shimian with zero dead pixel guarantee). If you are willing to go higher than 21", this is the best bang for your buck by far.
I recently bought the Dell U2410 and it is a beauty of a monitor. Fantastic colors and for photo work it is perfect. This monitor has a lot of fans and I would take a hard look at it.
I just bought a new monitor yesterday at Staples. I ended up with an HP 2511x monitor that was $ 90 off. It is a 25 inch monitor that barely fits on my computer desk. I don't think it weighs more than 15 pounds if that much. It is 1920x1080 resolution. It can be attached by VGA, HDMI, or DVI-D to your computer. I paid $ 209 for it on sale.
I was looking at the NEC monitors, but I would have had to buy it on the internet and have it shipped to me.
This monitor replaces a 15 inch Sony that was between 8 and 10 years old.
My only complaint is that there is no instruction manual in the box, just one of those sheets with diagrams to put it together. I could not access the user's manual on the CD that was included for some reason. It only has 4 buttons. I had to figure them out by trial and error.
It seems like everything you buy now does not have a printed user's manual. It really ticks me off. Did they save $ 5 by not giving one?
