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Archive 2013 · Bigger screen advice

  
 
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Bigger screen advice


Ok I posted a thread a while back considering the imac 27 , but I'm going a bit cooler on that now .

Having had a cleanup on my machine I think my core i5 2500k / 128gig OS drive / 16 gig machine can cope for a while longer yet .


But I do want a new screen . My current 1st screen is a cheap ish Samsung 22inch (TN) which will get relegated to 2nd screen use (none of which will really be photo quality based)

So I'm looking at a 27inch type screen that can do 2560x1440 .

Dell have a couple that look good and get fairly good reviews
The U2713HM is cheaper than the U2711 by about £100 . What in reality is the difference . And are there any other dell's to consider ? I read somewhere that one of the dells (2713 HM I think) is the same panel as the imac27 screen. But this info may be wrong (is it?)

Also the 24inch 2412m keeps getting mentioned on here. Its a couple of inches smaller and has a res 1920x1200 . Is there really that much difference ? The 24inch is 16:10 which may be better for ps .

Going away from te dell screens are there any really good recommendations ? It would be good to keep things down to about £500 (the price of the more expensive dell) , but I may consider a bit more if a screen was really good .
I saw a Samsung screen that looks really nice (almost mac nice) but its not cheap £800 . Then of course the is always the apple 27inch which is about £800 .


Cheers



Apr 19, 2013 at 08:06 AM
15Bit
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Bigger screen advice


The iMac thread was about an upgrade from an i5 2500k? That would have been a downgrade by any measurable performance metric.

In terms of Dell screens - the big difference between the cheap and expensive models at each size segment is gamut, and to some level build quality. The cheaper screens tend to be spec'd as bulk products to corporates, and sell at a somewhat cheaper price to them than you see as a private buyer. They are not premium products. I have a U2412 on my desk at work, and for what it costs it is actually pretty good, but i bought a U2410 for home - that has wide gamut, better build quality and is an all round better screen. I believe the U2410 has been superceded now, so have a look at the replacement model, or maybe an end of line U2410. Competition in the 24 inch segment comes from Asus (with the panels as dell I believe) and NEC. The NEC's are expensive though and at your budget you're probably looking at the SRGB gamut model.




Apr 19, 2013 at 11:12 AM
Sunny Sra
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Bigger screen advice


Ian,
2 cheap upgrades you can do on your computer, if your 128Gig drive is non SSD, upgrade to SSd. Most of the desktops you can upgrade the CPU yourself (even if its Dell, HP, lenovo).

Monitor:
If its not a space issue and you have little extra, go for the 30" monitor. The dell U3011 is excellent, so is the HP one.
As for the 27" i've also been using the U2711 and it provides very good colors. I have not seen the 2713. Go big..not small forget the 24".



Apr 19, 2013 at 11:24 AM
15Bit
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Bigger screen advice


I would recommend that you actually sit in front of a 30 inch screen before buying one - they are huge, like having a window on your desk, and if you don't have a big enough desk to put some space between you and the screen they can be unpleasant to use.


Apr 19, 2013 at 11:35 AM
Sunny Sra
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Bigger screen advice


Yes they are huge! and sometimes it takes forever to move the mouse from 1 corner to the another.


Apr 19, 2013 at 11:40 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Bigger screen advice


Sunny , the 128 gig is an SSD. system perfgormance seems fine now . i think the drive was getting filled with stuff without me realising it . anyway as i said ive had a good clear out and things are running along fine . I may add a 256gig SSD and use the 128 for something else (looking at my rig it looks like i could quite easily make a Hakintosh to play with)
The machine is a self build and I could upgrade the CPU to an i7 but i dont really see much point .

as for screen size , 30" is far too big (27 will be pushing things but managable) .

the 2711 looks good , it would be nice to be able to see these screens in the flesh, but over here thats pretty much impossible now. There is only 1 retail chain that have stores (currys/PC world) and they dont carry stuff like this . I asked in my local outlet last week and the spotty little ameba that could actually be bothered to acknowledge me , when asked about 27" screens just started talikng about TV's and how you could connect a pc/laptop to them . He didnt understand the concept of screen resolution .




Apr 19, 2013 at 11:59 AM
Sunny Sra
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Bigger screen advice


Ian,
If i remember correctly you weren't too keen on wide gamut screen? Here is what i've found on the 2713
The U2713HM is an LED-backlit display that offers the sRGB colorspace and a resolution of 2560x1440. It uses an IPS panel that is 8-bit, but unlike the U2711 doesn’t support AFRC for simulated 10-bit color.
FWIW...i like my U2711.



Apr 19, 2013 at 12:35 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Bigger screen advice


I assumed PC-World had gone out business in last year's retail collapses.

Even if you had a decent PC shop nearby they wouldn't be able to get the Dell models, and they certainly wouldn't stock the more expensive models you are interested in. So i'm afraid you are left with taking the recommendations of trusty folk from the internet.

Do you have an Apple store anywhere nearby? They will certainly have larger screens for you to at least get an idea of size.

Speaking personally, i have limited space and a 24 inch is the most i would want to have. I actually only bought the one i have because there are no decent 22 inch models available anymore.




Apr 19, 2013 at 12:42 PM
Eyeball
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Bigger screen advice


Ian,
I have sort of been starting to shop for a new monitor myself. I currently have a Dell 24" and it has served me well but it is starting to fade a bit around the edges and I'm kind of interested in going wide-gamut.

Here are the two sites that I have been spending some time on recently:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/
http://www.prad.de/en/guide/vergleich_auswahl.html

I was kind of thinking about going bigger with a 27" but there seem to be weaknesses at that size (the 30",too) in terms of response, uniformity, etc..

The review on the latest Dell 24" (U2413) looks promising though. It has wide gamut and decent performance. It also has had a discount this last week in Mexico.

One thing I like is that these last versions of Dell monitors seem to have a nice balance of glare control on the screen. They are matte, not glossy, but Dell is now using a less aggressive anti-glare screen that does not have that grainy/sandy appearance that some people complained about with their earlier matte screens. The new matte screen is on the U2413, U3014, U2913WM, U2713H, and the U2713HM.



Apr 19, 2013 at 01:51 PM
Alan321
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Bigger screen advice


I highly recommend that you get a wide gamut screen because the cameras easily capture visible colours that are outside the sRGB range. Especially bright reds and orange and cyan. Modern printers can print more than sRGB too, so wide gamut will not be wasted.

On a Mac computer most if not all of the system applications respond to the colour profile that you'll create for your wide gamut screen, so the colours will not look bad.

Big monitors are impressive but not necessarily useful. Be sure to get one with enough pixels so that the pixels per inch is high enough to suit your eyesight and viewing distance without you being able to notice the individual pixels. When the pixels are small enough and close enough together you will find that text looks sharper with less artefacts and so will fine details in your photos. That makes it easier to get the capture sharpening and processing right. For me, nothing less than 110 ppi works well enough but that is partly because my ageing eyes are not flexible enough to change focus easily at monitor viewing distances, and me glasses are suited for a very narrow distance range. 132ppi is very nice but not available on desktop monitors. With a 1920x1080 or 1200 screen you'll be down to about 95ppi if it is a 24" and so I'd either go smaller or go for a higher resolution.

Because photos often contain dark areas I find that I really dislike glossy screens - the reflections dominate the details too much. Matte screens don't have deep, deep blacks but that doesn't bother me as much as the reflections do on glossy screens. Besides, prints also do not have super deep blacks and so it's not really a big issue for me.

Eyeball mentioned the problem of poor uniformity on the bigger screens. To overcome that you need to spend the big dollars on the likes of Eizo or NEC Spectraview screens with their internal processing to keep the tones and colours uniform.

- Alan



Apr 20, 2013 at 05:38 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Bigger screen advice


15Bit wrote:
I assumed PC-World had gone out business in last year's retail collapses.

Nope , they are still going . But they only seem to be interested in flogging laptops now .
Although I did manage to snag a nice portable hard drive (1tb) for £15 less than it was listed on amazon last week .

Even if you had a decent PC shop nearby they wouldn't be able to get the Dell models, and they certainly wouldn't stock the more expensive models you are interested in. So i'm afraid you are left with taking the recommendations of trusty folk from the internet.

Do you have an Apple store anywhere nearby? They will certainly have larger screens for you to at least get an idea of size.

There's not an apple stor that close but I can get to one . I had that in mind for next week . (Must remember not to take any for of ability to pay with me otherwise it could be an expensive trip ) really the apple store is going to be the only place I can view a 27inch . But then as I've already seen the 27 imac I know how big I'm looking at . Other tha that its a cardboard cutout on the desk

Speaking personally, i have limited space and a 24 inch is the most i would want to have. I actually only bought the one i have because there are no decent 22 inch models available anymore.



Yeah I know I need to make sure the 27 will fit me (hence the cutout comment above) I know 30 is going to be way too big . If I find 24 being better then so be it . I gues the advantage there is they are 16:10 screens so there is less of a loss top to bottom ( 240 pixels) compared to the horizontal pixel loss . Which when dealing in photos may be the better option . Certainly cheaper



Apr 20, 2013 at 08:06 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Bigger screen advice


Sunny Sra wrote:
Ian,
If i remember correctly you weren't too keen on wide gamut screen? Here is what i've found on the 2713
The U2713HM is an LED-backlit display that offers the sRGB colorspace and a resolution of 2560x1440. It uses an IPS panel that is 8-bit, but unlike the U2711 doesn’t support AFRC for simulated 10-bit color.
FWIW...i like my U2711.



I don't know if I would say I'm against the 10bit . But I've been reading a bit on reviews and I'm not sure i really need it . Heck I'm pretty much red/green colour blind anyway so I doubt I'm seeing all the colours the world has to offer anyway



Apr 20, 2013 at 08:09 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Bigger screen advice


Alan321 wrote:
I highly recommend that you get a wide gamut screen because the cameras easily capture visible colours that are outside the sRGB range. Especially bright reds and orange and cyan. Modern printers can print more than sRGB too, so wide gamut will not be wasted.

On a Mac computer most if not all of the system applications respond to the colour profile that you'll create for your wide gamut screen, so the colours will not look bad.

Big monitors are impressive but not necessarily useful. Be sure to get one with enough pixels so that the pixels per inch is high enough
...Show more

Alan I'm defiantly NOT looking at resolutions lower than 1440 for a 27inch or 1200 for a 24 inch. When you say either go smaller or higher res , I must say that I've not seen anything 24inch that goes above 1200 or 27inch that's above 1440 .
I guess if there are such about they will be big £££ . I guess at some point apple will 'retina' the imac and their screens



Apr 20, 2013 at 08:15 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Bigger screen advice


Looking at the reviews (thanks for the TFT central link by the way ) I think I'm heading in the 2713HM direction . Although I really like the looks of the Samsung S27B970D . But I think head will rule heart . The dell screens are if nothing else cheaper


Apr 20, 2013 at 08:18 AM
Mr Mouse
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Bigger screen advice


Ian.Dobinson wrote:
Alan I'm defiantly NOT looking at resolutions lower than 1440 for a 27inch or 1200 for a 24 inch.


The 1440 and the 1200 pixel for a give size work out to be around the same 100 DPI resolution. Resolution is sharpness how fine the the detail is. The problem is there are no high resolution desktop display since the demise of the IBM t221 22.2" 204DPI. That display did not fail because of its high resolution. It failed because it required special display adapter or multiple display adapters to drive its 9.2M pixels 3840x2400 pixels. The IBM t221 was a beautiful site to behold.

I hope this will change now that there are tablets with high resolution ips displays some with more pixels the 2560x1600. However I would like to see a display size that is larger then tablet display sizes and still be driven with common display adapters. I feel what would be ideal is a 20" display 16:10 aspect ratio with 2560x1600 native pixels. Such a display would have a 151 DPI resolution. Current Desktop Applications GUI would still be readable and current display adapters could be used to drive them. I would much rather have a 20" 2560x1600 display then the bulky 30" 100 DPI displays that are the only choice available these days. The 151 DPI display would be much sharper then the current 100 DPI crop. All 2560 x 1600 desktop displays I have been able to find are 30" beasts and cost anywhere from $660 to $3,500..
What I find these days
A few more



Apr 20, 2013 at 11:56 AM





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