I have been doing research on monitors. All the research i am doing keeps leading me to the very expensive NEC models. Can anyone suggest a less expensive model that would be good for Photoshop and Lightroom? I usually have my lab do color corrections.
same here - my boss let me bring back a brand new dell widescreen monitor for the weekend to have a play with, and i'm glad I did as I certainly wouldn't recommend it. No sharpness to it.
also, i have had two Samsungs now (granted not expensive ones) and both have started dying after a year - the latest one has dark lines running horizonally and the edges of the screen are getting brighter by the day
i'm beginning to think you get what you pay for - I paid about $250 for each samsung one, and this Dell I'm testing is about the same sort of price.
I'd love the apple 22" as its absolutely amazing clarity, but don't know if I can quite afford it
Depends on what you want...or need...or can afford.
The ones you want or should be using are not cheap. If you don't go that route, then there's not a lot of difference.
The higher the contrast ratio used to be the the one factor to look for, but the highest end ones are not very contrasty. But then, alot of these meausrements should come with footnotes!
Another thing to watch for is response rate. Fast is great for gaming but not needed for editing, so do pay for extra for it, and it may indicate a monitor that was optimized for gaming, not color or contrast.
I've got a samsung 931BW and I like it. My friend had one and his died, but the warranty was good (exchange it at the local UPS store) and hassle free (all done over the net).
My newest box has dual monitors (not sure the model as it's not on the front). These cost me about the same but came with all the cabling including DVI cables (samsung didn't).
I kind of like the samsung a bit better, but all calibrate up fine.
You can get away with a cheaper panel, calibrating them is a pain in the behind because of their contrast (and other things). It's not intended to emulate print is the bottom line.
I calibrated it with Eye-one and am the closest I have been to display / print matching.
My previous display was a Pro Viewsonic which burnt around the edges and got so dim I can't even get the color balance right after only a couple of years.
I could have spent twice to three times the money but I am color calibrated and matched to print better than ever.
Obviously an Eizo is the gold standard in quality all-around. But you certainly will pay a premium for them and IMO they're pretty homely. One thing to make sure you don't get is a TN panel- the easiest way to check for that is if the viewing angle is 160 degrees or less- this usually means it's a TN panel. These TN types are newer panels that the manufacturers are pumping out and are basically junk. The viewing angles are terrible and you get color shifts- not good for photo editing, but they're cheap to make so the prices are low. Apple displays are pretty, and pretty decent for photo editing but can be bested and you pay a premium for those as well. I myself have had good luck with Dell's monitors and if you get the higher end ones they are quite nice. Be aware that Apple comes only with a 1 year warranty while Dell comes standard with 3, which is a pretty big deal as monitors can and do go bad.
Dell has a new 30" that I've been drooling over that is supposed to produce 100% of the Adobe98 color gamut which they list as producing 117% of the color gamut (which I think is based on sRGB). But that monitor comes in at a cool two grand if you've got the clams. Apple's Cinema displays are somewhat dated compared to others, so at this point you may want to shop around. I myself am looking at the Dell 3007wfp-HC, which can produce 92% of the color gamut versus the typical 72%, this sounds sweet but apparently in practice it's not quite as big a deal as it sounds. It does pretty well with color and such but I've just been salivating over that kind of real estate as I am a gamer as well.
The link from Qranc is good and will tell you most of what you need to know.
