IPS Panel Laptop vs PC and screen

[Peter_S]

I just got my ASUS UX31A ultrabook back from repair. It is a nice ultrabook, with one of the best laptop screens out there...IPS, good color accuracy and full srgb coverage, Retina territory pretty much.
OK...but I am getting tired of the unreliability of modern laptops and have started to travel with a tablet anyways, and shoot mainly film.

So now I wonder if a PC and good screen, that I can calibrate, would not make more sense. I am eyeing up a Dell 2711, and wonder, mainly from a performance perspective, how much of an advantage would a PC bring if I

- shoot mostly b/w and need greyscale accuracy more than color accuracy,
- publish regularly in magazines, but they can do final fine edits anyways?
- personal prints (outsourced) look great with the ASUS.

What do you think?

 

[Ranchu]

I think you only need a fancy screen if you shoot digital, because the colors are not right and need to be 'fixed'. If you buy a desktop, get an all in one mac. You'll be able to adjust the backlight to an editing level, instead of panel blocking to get it down from screaming bright. That's my 2c.

 

[Spanik]

If you are looking at the Dell U2711 then fine. Got an older (not led backlight) ultrasharp 27" and it is really a very fine monitor. As there aren't any b&w monitors you need color accuracy to get good greyscale.

If you want the ultimate screen look at a Barco medical one. They have greyscale monitors like the Coronis Fusion 10MP.😱

 

[cinemakyle]

Any monitor will need calibration, yes, even a "retina" macbook pro. I recommend the X-Rite i1Display Pro over the Spyder. I've used both, and found the i1 has a better software suite and gives better results.

 

[Peter_S]

Any monitor will need calibration, yes, even a "retina" macbook pro. I recommend the X-Rite i1Display Pro over the Spyder. I've used both, and found the i1 has a better software suite and gives better results.

with IPS panels and stable viewing angles...any sense in calibrating a laptop screen? I know until recently that was not really possible

 

[Spanik]

IPS gives you better viewing angles and stable colours over those angles. But it does not guarantee correct colours.

 

[sevo]

with IPS panels and stable viewing angles...any sense in calibrating a laptop screen? I know until recently that was not really possible

Recently? If any, the issue early on was that there were no affordable calibration devices that could handle LCD screens - I've gone through several Laptops since the late nineties where it already was possible, at least when using a external CRT screen or spending a extra 1000€ on a calibration device. IIRC all Nvidia and ATI (and, before that, Matrox) equipped Notebooks/Laptops had the required editable CLUT. Only the bottom line of embedded Intel graphics did not have that until the mid 2000's, but computers with these weren't up to photo editing for many other reasons as well...

 

[Bille]

- shoot mostly b/w and need greyscale accuracy more than color accuracy,
- publish regularly in magazines, but they can do final fine edits anyways?
- personal prints (outsourced) look great with the ASUS.

What do you think?

IPS hands down

http://cdn.overclock.net/8/81/81f300c5_11_ips_vs_tn.jpeg

 

[ruben_c]

I achieved the best results with a Spyder4Elite using its iterative gray balance function and the monitor model optimization they do using their online database with the color information of specific models.

With this settings, the calibration takes quite long, but absolutely worth it...

 

[icebear]

Get the biggest monitor you can afford. In you work area (what ever software) only a certain area will cover the actual picture the rest obviously is your tool panels. You would be surprised how small your picture is on a 27" screen. Don't go smaller than that. The Dell seems reasonable, I also looked at that and finally went with an NEC PA271w and Spider 4pro calibration. Works for me, no trouble, awesome b/w.

Edit : And make sure that you have a graphic card with DP connection to support the max resolution your monitor is capable of, otherwise you waste your money on a great display and run it only at 70% resolution. I did not think of that but was lucky that is worked out in my case.