suggestions for buying an LCD monitor.

David-J · Aug 2010

Hi everyone,

So I'm about to buy a new monitor for my computer. My budget is $200 USD max. I've been looking at lots of reviews but can't seem to find reviews written by people who make art or deal with color on a day to day basis.

Can you suggest me a couple of models or at least what to look out for. I mean, besides looking for a higher contrast ratio, what else should I look for?

thanks,

-David J

Millenia · Aug 2010

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176144

209 dollars, S-PVA panel, 1920x1200, good colour reproduction

It's definitely worth the extra 9 dollars, probably the best monitor you can find in that price range
Tbh though for that cheap you can't really get a monitor suitable for serious graphics work.

Ps. don't look at reported specs when buying monitors. They are usually bullshit and every company measures them differently (contrast ratios seem to improve all the time, but what is happening is that companies are looking for better and better ways to test their monitors so they would look good on paper.) I don't think any monitor has a static contrast ratio higher than 1500:1 and many monitors have similar static contrast ratios (closer to truth) even though reported ratios vary a LOT. 5 million to one? As if :poly142:

ZacD · Aug 2010

if you can afford $40 more, I'd REALLY recommend a saving for a nice IPS monitor (dell has some of the best monitors)

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-9271

Don't trust the price on that page, its actually $40 off right now, so its $240

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&oc=U2211H

haiddasalami · Aug 2010

ZacD wrote: »

if you can afford $40 more, I'd REALLY recommend a saving for a nice IPS monitor (dell has some of the best monitors)

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-9271

Don't trust the price on that page, its actually $40 off right now, so its $240

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&oc=U2211H

Buddy of mine has that monitor nice color reproduction. Work has the U2410's and I want one, hoping it goes on sale tommorow.

Millenia · Aug 2010

Yeah I have a Dell U2410 myself as well, really good stuff.

EarthQuake · Aug 2010

David, the thing you really want to look for is panel type. I wont go off on a rant but will just cover the basics here.

TN= Shity color, shity view angles, very fast response, low-end
M/P VA = Great colors, Great view angles, moderate response, Mid-range
S/H IPS = Best Colors, Best view angle, slow-moderate response, high-end
E-IPS = This is a newer, cheaper IPS, Great colors, Great view ange, slow-moderate response, mid-range.

Basically the thing you want to avoid is a TN panel. All the rest are pretty good, if you're worried about games just try not get a slower one(some IPS and E-IPS have response rates as low as 20ms). Something like 8-5ms should be fine for games provided you're not a "hardcore professional tournament" gamer or something.

A lot of the times panel type is not listed. A quick way to see is look at the view angles listed, if it says 160,165 or 170, its a TN panel. if it says 176x176 or 178x178, its a VA/IPS/Etc panel, most likely.

Google "Monitor model" + "panel type" or "tn panel" and you should come up with a variety of information about every monitor out there.

If you DO end up cheaping out and getting a TN panel, the most absolutely 100% critical important thing you can do is:

VIEW IT IN A STORE. Go there, look at it, bob up and down, look at it from a variety of angles and decide for yourself if you think the color shifting and poor view angles will be an annoyance. Many people do not mind, and the quality of TN panels varies HUGELY.

David-J · Aug 2010

Thanks a lot. Lots of helpful information. I picked one that was TN before this thread, so now I'm back to searching. That HP looks good. Also I'm going to look into Dell monitors.

Ben Apuna · Aug 2010

I bought a Dell 2311h recently. It's pretty much awesome though not a perfect monitor (contrast shifts a bit at extreme viewing angles). The Dell 2211h should be similar.

Rwolf · Aug 2010

beware tho, Dell's monitors are notoriously bright even at the lowest setting. Although it only probably bother you if you have a diffrent type of monitor beside it. Black is like a dark grey beside a cintiq. But colours more vibrant on the dell.

kaze369 · Aug 2010

I have ASUS monitor that a TFT active matrix and it's working pretty well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236047

It's no IPS but it's not terrible either. If you get a TN panel you'll need to do some serious adjusting.

PixelMasher · Aug 2010

Ill throw in my vote for the U2410, have one here at work, every job where I have used dell monitors the image quality has been top notch.

its pretty bright next to my cintiq, but my cintiq was pretty dim to begin with. I managed to somewhat match the dell by boosting the gama on each rgb channel through my card drivers. the color reproduction is really good.

as they go on sale for 399-499 like ive seen before Im snagging one for home, maybe 2. 699 cnd is a lil steep for a monitor for me.

Snowfly · Aug 2010

Bit off topic, but are LED monitors specced the same as LCD's? Excluding the backlights of course...

ZacD · Aug 2010

"A monitor can be an LCD monitor, and use either LED or fluorescent tubes for the backlighting of the monitor. Just because a monitor uses LEDs for the backlighting doesn't mean it's not an LCD monitor, though. It's still called an "LCD monitor" because it uses the same LCD panel that older, non-LED-backlit monitors use."

Snowfly · Aug 2010

Thanks for the copy and paste. Practically though...I think most folks here have experience using the fluoresecent lit LCD's, and when I was out shopping for a new monitor recently, pretty much all my choices were LED backlit. Unfortunately the salepeople weren't able to tell me what type of panels they had.

So has anyone on here use an LED-lit panels for color accurate work? How would an LED-lit IPS compare to a flourescent lit one?

ZacD · Aug 2010

I'd like to be able to assume any monitor with IPS has led lighting, but I don't think tech specs list if its LED or fluorescent tube.

fluorescent tubes cause uneven lighting and typically aren't as bright as LEDs, So I'd like to think all Dell IPS are LED, but I don't know for sure.

Artifice · Aug 2010

I can't speak for the higher end models, but both the u2311h and u2211h are CCFL. In my (somewhat limited) experience with IPS panels, it more comes down to the company's build and often the individual monitor. LED looks great on paper as far as even lighting, but it's really an issue of a company's quality control. I've seen several LED IPS monitors that were as uneven as any CCFL TN. I've also seen CCFL monitors that were as even as you could want. Sadly, it's really luck of the draw. I think that's one of the reasons the Dells are so popular; they come with their free Advanced Replacement plan, so it's free shipping and no restock fee for RMAs, as long as you can convince the customer service person that your monitor truly sucks. You just keep sending them back until you get a good one..

ZacD · Aug 2010

Yeah the 1 dead/stuck pixel policy is awesome, some companies you NEED 17!!! dead/stuck pixels to get a replacement.

"Contacted Asus support and they told me unless there are 8 or more dead pixels they will do nothing."

Also monitors are expensive to ship, about $17.

Artifice · Aug 2010

Yup, it's an awesome policy. I usually buy my hardware from Newegg, but their monitor return policy sucks ass, so I won't shop with them for screens. One thing to be aware of with the Dell is the LG panel they use (same as the one in the NEC EA231WMi) has had problems with tinting.. blue on the left, yellow on the right, I believe. Some are acceptable, ie you have to be looking for it, some are horrible right out of the box. Unfortunately, Dell doesn't consider this an issue and won't replace based on tint issues unless you talk your customer service rep into it.

haiddasalami · Aug 2010

PixelMasher wrote: »

Ill throw in my vote for the U2410, have one here at work, every job where I have used dell monitors the image quality has been top notch.

its pretty bright next to my cintiq, but my cintiq was pretty dim to begin with. I managed to somewhat match the dell by boosting the gama on each rgb channel through my card drivers. the color reproduction is really good.

as they go on sale for 399-499 like ive seen before Im snagging one for home, maybe 2. 699 cnd is a lil steep for a monitor for me.

Thought they would go to 499 today went to 549

Gonna wait for a 100$ off coupon to show up..449 = win price

suggestions for buying an LCD monitor.

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