So many displays...so little knowledge.

[Stephanie Brim]

Let's just say that I'm still in the dark ages of monitor usage. I use a 6 year old Dell CRT that I feel has at least decent color rendition, but I can't be sure because I can't even do minimal RGB calibration on the thing. That being the case, I've decided that I'm in the market for a new monitor. This one appearing to be close to going out notwithstanding, I feel it's time to finally get with the program and get a flat panel.

I have a few things, though, that I need to make sure of with said flat panel.

I want at least 19", and no more than 20". I know it really narrows down my choices, but I have a very, very small desk right now. I want at least a 1600x1200 (or equivalent widescreen) resolution because I'm sick of my available screen real estate being 1024x768. I want good contrast and good color rendition because I do look at photos on the thing all the time, and I also plan to have a book printed of Rinoa's first year photos for family so I'm going to need a monitor that can allow me to see as close to what something would look like printed as possible (I also plan to buy calibration equipment before doing that project).

Any recommendations?

One I've already found and am possibly considering is this Viewsonic number, which is a 19" widescreen LCD with a native resolution of 1680x1050.

 

[PaulDalex]

Stephanie,
My history is similar. I had a Sony CRT, but after many years it deteriorated and in the evening after looking at the screen all day long I started feeling bad.
After a lot of study I settled on the Viewsonic VP2130B, which has the optimum res. at 1600x1200 (almost 2 MP).
I wish I could afford a top of the line Eizo. But the price here in Europe is a nonsense (much higher than in USA).
Also considered another CRT, because I am convinced that they are better than LCD. But they are hard to find and the big ones are so heavy that I was concerned about the stability of my desk.
Considering the performance of my five years old Sony, the VP2130 is much better. The resolution gives a lot more real estate (Sony was 1,3 MP).
So I feel I can recommend the Viewsonic, but it has to be the VP series, that is designed for image processing.
Cheers
Paul

 

[Larky]

I always go Iiyama, always. I've done colour calibration as a job before, and the Iiyama is the only range I'd suggest.

As for hardware to calibrate, unless you have a huge budget don't bother, spend it on glass!

Sorry if this sounds negative, but trust me the cheaper calibration systems aren't too hot.

 

[amateriat]

Hi, Steph!

I'm something of a CRT partisan, but it's getting harder to stick to that like as time goes on (the CRT monitors I now have–a 22-inch LaCie Electron Blue and an Apple 17" Studio Monitor–are in good shape and easy to calibrate, but likely have just a few years of usefulness left). LCD, even some of the pricierr ones, can be tricky to calibrate, though not the horror show most of them were just a few years back.

Right off the bat, IMO, Apple and LaCie have the graphics-friendly LCD market in-hand, if not exactly cornered, but neither option is cheap, and Apple's monitors work out best if you happen to own a very late-model Mac. Closer to the mainstream, I like some of the mid-to-upper-end Viewsonics as well, and I think the model you linked to is probably okay, though if I had to replace my big monitor tomorrow, I'd likely pop for this (or its next-biggest size). Of course, there's always the budget to consider.

As far as calibration goes, I'd say it's important enough to eventually consider a calibration device, and while there is cheap and nasty stuff out there (I've heard very mixed reviews about the Huey models), I'm liking the Spyder 2 and Spyder 2 Pro a lot in terms of bang-for-the-buck. Probably not the last word in calibration, but probably the best thing out there well south of 500 bucks, and certainly far better than just "winging it." If you're doing a lot of image-based work, it really is money wel-spent.


- Barrett

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Go for Apple.

Whatever they have that looks good and is available now.

 

[Graham Line]

Would like to have a LaCie, but instead am using a Dell, which is a lot cheaper, easy to calibrate and doesn't drift much. I touch up the color balance every six months or so. I'll check at work and see what the guys are using for pre-press, but I think they are LaCie, and we're printing on newsprint anyway.
I was able to look at the Dells at a mall kiosk near my house -- if you can look before buying, that's a huge help.