need monitor advice
ngon master
after about 4 years of literally 24/7 usage, my monitor is about to shit itself. it already did it before christmas but i had it repaired, and now it's out of warranty so i need to look for a new one.
here's the thing though, i've never really been into what specs i should look for as an artist.
so with a budget of < £300, what would you all say are THE most important things to look at? do you have any monitors in mind and what are they?
thanks a lot guys.
here's the thing though, i've never really been into what specs i should look for as an artist.
so with a budget of < £300, what would you all say are THE most important things to look at? do you have any monitors in mind and what are they?
thanks a lot guys.
Replies
One piece of advice I've got though, and this is through my own experience, is go for two identical monitors while you have the cash. I bought a Samsung display about 2 years ago, which I'm still using now and is fantastic, but when I bought a second monitor at the end of last year, I couldn't get the same one.
Despite both being Samsung, and from the same range, the colour on them is different and it's annoying. I've managed to get them close through messing with the settings but it's still slightly different.
I really recommend Samsung though. I've had 2 of their displays and two TV's at home and they've been absolutely awesome.
With your budget you could get 2x [ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SyncMaster-B2230H-widescreen-monitor/dp/B0038P9AUU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297437699&sr=8-1[/ame]
And still have some change.
I've also heard good things about Dells IPS displays too, although never actually seen one.
http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=PAD&cs=RC1059031&sku=421265&~ck=dellSearch&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=3
I mean, if you look at Dell's own description in the bullet points, the IPS benefits are 'collaboration at your desk or showing video to your colleagues'... I'm not sure my colleagues enjoyment of my display is worth an extra £90 over the Samsung.
Jokes aside, I have heard very good things about them though, might be worth checking one out 'in the flesh' if you can.
They're only a few cents per cap but some repair places only replace the bad ones which leaves the other ones in there as a sort of ticking time bomb. Repeat business anyone?
I'm in the process of replacing the bad caps in a monitor I had and its not as scary as you might think. So far I'm into the repair for $7, most of that was shipping for the caps.
Check out www.badcaps.net they have a good general guide and most monitors have a thread about them where people will list a walk through. If you managed to do something horribly wrong oh well no love lost. If it works, problem solved it's going to carry on for a good long while.
turn it off again, wait 5 seconds or so, turn it on and it powers up fine, but there's like... a buzzing sound coming from the back, and the monitor flickers occasionally.
every now and again when it starts up, the backlight is incredibly dim and won't go any brighter no matter what.
also, when i tried to adjust the brightness/contrast a few minutes ago, the screen just went black, but the power light was still on (but it was black like it was off, not just black like there's no signal... you know, the backlight was completely dead).
The difference between tn and ips is pretty big, easily noticeable by the untrained eye.
[ame]
If it gets pretty hot that's normally a sign you have bad caps. If adjusting the brightness down makes it seem to work better for longer with less flickering or unexpected dimness, than its more than likely bad caps and everything else is fine.
Either way, bad caps or not, its a pretty common problem with monitors so I would check to see if any new monitors you might pick up are notorious bad cappers.
I appreciate that the viewing angle is quite obviously far superior on the IPS, but what I'm not sure about is why that justifies an extra £90. For a living room TV where seating positions vary, fine, but in my office, on my desk, I only sit in one place with relation to my monitor... in front of it.
As the Dell site states, it's useful for showing work to others, but on two monitors, that's £180 extra just to save your colleagues neck strain.
http://www.samsung.com/be_fr/consumer/pc-peripherals-printer/monitor/led/LS24B5LVFH/EN/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail
its not just about viewing angles, ips are better for rooms with a lot of light, and you don't even need to be at an angle to notice color shifting with a tn.
For a more affordable IPS screen, try this one.
I went the cheap route :P Used my old tn monitor as my second monitor and use my 24inch Dell IPS as the main. I use it a lot for my ps3 movie playback etc so viewing angles was a high priority for me. I can notice the color shift on my TN panel pretty easily. All in all comes down to user preferences. Try both out (if you know someone with a dell etc)
aye, well this is also a 37" HDTV that i'm using as a monitor. originally it's because i was living in a bedroom and didn't have room for a PC + tv + monitor, so i went for a tv that could work as a monitor as well.
this however has led to texturing not being so easy as the screen just doesn't hold up so well for it, and isn't easily adjustable.
i'll buy a new monitor (probably an IPS), and replace the caps in this one, then use it in the bedroom as a tv
thanks for the advice though man, really helpful!
37" Monitor?!!!
Isn't that a bit... big?
believe it or not, it's actually a problem with guitars as well as tv's. a lot of companies skimp out on parts to cut costs.
those all have very awesome panels
If you sit really close to a monitor like I do (bad eyesight) then the IPS makes a huge difference. I can't function at all on a TN panel the color and contrast shifting is just too much for me.
Before that I had been using a CRT so color and contrast were perfect. I was worried the Dell U2311H wouldn't be good because all my previous experience with non-crt monitors had been TN panels, but I've found it to be an awesome replacement.
The only thing about the U2311H is that it's really bright. I sit in a sunlit room and had to turn the brightness down to 15 out of 100.
Now considering two 27" Iiyama monitors if I can find the extra cash.
Still, go for Samsung or Iiyama panels if you have the choice
it's a shame the 24" model is like £150 more (for just 1" of screen size).
http://reviews.cnet.com/lcd-monitors/samsung-px2370/4505-3174_7-34048108.html