Monitor Help

Kev R

Kev R

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Name
Kevin
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I am buying a new PC which will now be used mainly for photo editing post processing and storage etc.

I have took the plunge and gone for a new i7 (920) with 6GB ram nVida graphics with 1GB dedicated memory etc. etc. the list goes on...

I am looking for a monitor to do this justice I have no idea what is good or bad. I want a minimum 24" that is well suited for photo edidting work.

Budget is up to £300 much less if possible any help would be appriciated.

Cheers....Kevin.
 
To be honest, no monitor is probably going to do it justice for that size for less than £400. Anything below that, and you might as well just pick up a 22-24" generic brand LCD from Comet for about £120.

I ended up going for the HP LP2475w (they cost around £550 or so when I was buying).

That's probably the best value IPS monitor worth getting for photography (not just my opinion, hit google and read the reviews from people who've owned it and other monitors in the same class). The next quality level of monitor above those start at about a grand.

Here's a full list of S-IPS, H-IPS and e-IPS monitors currently on the market, but the prices are in US$. You'll have to do some digging around to compare UK prices.
 
The Dell U2410 is ips and gets good reviews but it's £440, if you want to go down to 22" you can get a Dell 2209 ips monitor pretty near your price.
 
I can recommend the Samsung T260 which you should be able to pick up for about £300 delivered.

When the budget allows get a monitor calibration product since the T260 has a blue cast like most monitors when used out of the box.

Please tell me you are installed Windows 7 64bit on that machine!

John.
 
Don't forget that if you don't have one already a monitor calibrator is a must if you are serious about photo editing
 
Kaouthia said:
To be honest, no monitor is probably going to do it justice for that size for less than £400. Anything below that, and you might as well just pick up a 22-24" generic brand LCD from Comet for about £120.

I ended up going for the HP LP2475w (they cost around £550 or so when I was buying).

That's probably the best value IPS monitor worth getting for photography (not just my opinion, hit google and read the reviews from people who've owned it and other monitors in the same class). The next quality level of monitor above those start at about a grand.

Here's a full list of S-IPS, H-IPS and e-IPS monitors currently on the market, but the prices are in US$. You'll have to do some digging around to compare UK prices.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I just don't have that sort of cash available at the moment!:bang:

JohnD76 said:
I can recommend the Samsung T260 which you should be able to pick up for about £300 delivered.

When the budget allows get a monitor calibration product since the T260 has a blue cast like most monitors when used out of the box.

Please tell me you are installed Windows 7 64bit on that machine!

John.
Click to expand...

Thanks John, I will have a look although to be honest I just don't like Samsung TV's or monitors.

The machine is being delivered with Vista premium 64 bit...is Windows 7 a massive leap? Is it stable? I have heard varying views on its worth at present.
 
the samsungs like most monitors are graduated in one way or another, the t range are brighter from top to bottom, its difficult to see unless you view a decent background, all the top end Dells ie 2407 and 2408's are brighter on the left side

take a look at my website http://www.rlphotos.fotopic.net/ sit directly in front of your screen and have the screen set at eye level and you'll see what i mean, the only monitor ive ever owned which isn't brighter at one side or from top to bottom is the discontinued Benq FP241W
 
Where are you getting the machine from out of interest?

Mine came with Vista Home Premium 64bit and it is good but Win 7 is better, but Vista should do you fine as is.
 
mikeward said:
you can get decent monitors for alot less than £400 just avoid the high street stores.
Click to expand...
It depends on your definition of decent really. I thought the 22" widescreens I got from Comet for £120 were decent until I bought the HP, but now I see that on the cheap ones, the contrast and brightness changes just casting my eyes from the top of the monitor to the bottom. Just moving your head up and down in front of the monitor you can see it getting lighter or darker as you go up and down.

The IPS monitors are designed so that they have a much wider viewing angle (like most medium-to-high end LCD TVs these days) so that you don't have to have your eyes at a specific height and distance from the monitor (or have the monitor mounted at a certain angle) in order to be able to see accurate colours & contrast.

Monitors also degrade in quality over time, and the cheap ones can start degrading in as little as a couple of days after first turning them on. After a year, they're not accurate at all (even when regularly calibrated whites get very yellow, and they lose a lot of colour intensity).

For me, it made more sense to spend £500 on monitors that would last 5 years or more, than having to spend £120 per monitor every 6-12 months on cheaper ones just to make sure I saw accurate colour - which still wasn't even really that accurate brand new (and then having the hassle of selling/disposing of monitors that I no longer needed).
 
OK I have sold one of my children today so I have raised enough for a decent monitor...:lol:

question is:

HP LP2475w or Dell Ultra Sharp U2410...?

I really do need some help here this is a big spend for me at the moment.
 
You can read many many comparisons and reviews online between those two.

What finally did it for me was reading several independent reviews from people that had actually owned both. Many of them went and bought the Dell after reading corporate reviews (magazines, commercial websites, etc), but then ended up taking it back within a month and buying the HP instead.

After getting the HP, I've had no desire to look any further into the Dell as the HP is just perfect. :)
 
Matt. After the initial "oooh shiny" factor when I got a laptop with a glossy one a few years ago went away, it's not something I want any more. :D
 
Kaouthia said:
You can read many many comparisons and reviews online between those two.

What finally did it for me was reading several independent reviews from people that had actually owned both. Many of them went and bought the Dell after reading corporate reviews (magazines, commercial websites, etc), but then ended up taking it back within a month and buying the HP instead.

After getting the HP, I've had no desire to look any further into the Dell as the HP is just perfect. :)
Click to expand...

I'm going goggle eyed at the moment reading reviews, shed loads of them...re the HP quite a few of the small number of complainants refer to a side to side colour cast even after calibration! Did or have you experienced this?

The HP also requires calibration before use, how dificult is this? I know you can get specialised calibration devices but its more money and every penny I have is going into the monitor, can it be done by a list of settings? for example your calibrated settings input to my monitor etc. I am not sure if the monitor is usable out of the box!

The HP is looking good compared to the Dell...
 
Everything requires calibration before use. Adjusting your contrast, brightness or even switching to a different version of your graphics card drive will knock the calibration off a bit, so there's no way they can pre-calibrate them.

I've had no issues with side to side colour casts really. There is a very faint one when I first turn the monitor on, but after it's had 10-15 minutes to warm up, everything's peachy.

Your monitor should be usable out of the box, but you're basically judging it by eye (which is how monitor calibration devices do it anyway, just their eye is more accurate). You can at least get your contrast right using images like this one. In the case of that image, the screen shouldn't be so dark or the contrast so strong that A & B and Y & Z merge into each other. You should be able to tell there's a difference between black & white and the boxes directly next to them (something which doesn't happen on my Emprex monitors, but is more than obvious on the HPs).

If you search Google Images for other monitor calibration images, there are others out there that will help you with colour, but without a dedicated device it's pretty much impossible to get perfect calibration (but you can get "close enough").

I picked up the Spyder 2 Express for calibrating monitors. It doesn't officially support multiple monitor setups, but there's workarounds. For a single monitor setup, it's a great device.

I mentioned the workaround for multiple monitor systems, but it really is a pain in the arse. Basically you have to reboot your PC several times switching monitors (how many times depends on how many screens are on the PC), and then once everything is re-enabled, the software just detects which monitor is on which display port and loads the appropriate profile for each screen. On the rare occasions it doesn't automatically pick up a monitor (eg, you have two identical make & model monitors on the same system), you can use DisplayProfile to assign specific profiles to monitors in real-time (but you have to do this each time you reboot. Which is why I only reboot my PC about once every couple of weeks). ;)

So, I'll be looking to pick up a Spyder 3 Pro soon as it really is a pain having to go through all that lot every month or so (and the pro supports multiple monitor systems), especially when I have 2 PCs each with 3 screens (24" HP, 22" Emprex, and a 32" 1080 Sony Bravia on oneand a 42" 1080 LG on the other), another with a pair of 22" Emprex monitors (I don't use those screens for image accuracy, but I still want to get them as close as I can for watching the odd movie or youtube while I work), and a laptop to which I regularly attach an external monitor.
 
Thanks Kaouthia

Really appriciate your advice, I will only be using the one monitor and only for photo edditing, might try the odd game now and again! No work that will be done on my notebook so no need to multitask.

Sounds like you are planning a rocket trip to Mars with the array you have!

Anyhow I am going to try and pick-up the HP 2475 on line tomorrow, Overclockers have it for around £450.

Cheers...Kevin.
 
How about a pair of Dell 2209WA - this is 22inch and uses the e-IPS panel. Last/current price was approx £210

HTH maybe :)
 
I bought a new NEC EA231WMi for about £300 delivered from ebay.

23" IPS and am very happy with it.
 
I went with the high spec PC route too..
Spent a bundle on Quad core CPU,8GB Dual Chan DDR,2 x Nvidia GTX280 gfx cards,full tower case with enough cooling fans to beat a Chinook's lifting capability etc...
And have it coupled to a Acer X223HQ monitor. :gag:
bought for the princely sum of £99 from PCworld...lol
REALLY must get a decent monitor..
 
Aye, it certainly doesn't look huge until compared with my 17" NEC !
 
jerry12953 said:
But bear in mind that its only 13" in height and 22.5" wide. Quite letter-box in shape really.
Click to expand...

That's about the same ratio as your standard widescreen TV, 16:9. Most monitors aren't that far off either at 16:10 (which is why you always get narrow black bars across the top & bottom when watching DVDs on the PC).
 
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