Posted by Kent Staubus on November 4, 2011 at 10:09 PM
My LaCie 324 monitor flamed out yesterday. Looks like I need a new one. What I'm looking for is a mid priced ($500-800) 24 inch IPS wide gamut. I looked at Eizo and just can't justify those. The NEC 24 inch runs a bit over $1,000, and again I can't really justify that either. The $300 ones are just too cheap and not really made for graphics. So, what's out there that's decent? Will be run on a quad-core PC with 8gb DDR and high end Radeon graphics card.
Kent in SD
Posted by Harold Ankney on November 4, 2011 at 11:44 PM
Kent
If you aren't hesitant about buying refurbished items. NEC has some great deals on their site . I bought this monitor two years ago and haven't had any problems with it. http://www.necdisplay.com/p/P221W-BK-R
Harold
Posted by Kent Staubus on November 5, 2011 at 12:26 AM
Refurb or used is always fine with me if there is a savings.
If you decide to go with the NEC P or PA-series monitors, check out their SpectraView-II calibration software and NEC-branded iOne colorimeter. The colorimeter is specially tuned to work with these wide-gamut monitors. Once you setup the parameters for calibration, i.e. color temperature, contrast and luminance, the software sets everything automatically. It's a great system that I use on my P221W. This will add to the cost, but you'll have an integrated system.
For more info on how to calibrate one of these monitors using SpectraView, take a look Here.
--P
Posted by Joseph Jupin on November 5, 2011 at 12:39 PM
Have you looked at Dell? I have the Dell™ 24" ST2420 Full HD Monitor with LED. And I think it is great. Dell is currently running a sale with "instant rebated on monitors and their "top of the line" is $269.00 after $50 rebate.
Posted by Joseph Jupin on November 5, 2011 at 12:49 PM
Kent...This link may be of some help to you. http://mansurovs.com/best-monitor-for-photography.
The anandtech LCD thread has been providing excellent recommendations over the past decade. The latest recommendations are listed in the second post. Be aware that there are over 100 pages in this one thread.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on November 6, 2011 at 1:06 AM
Hey Kent, you do want to at least have a look at the Dell 24" IPS Monitor, it's quite the fave with a lot of folks, and Dell just released a new version that's even cheaper, $399.
Joseph does mention the ST2420 in his post, but that one isn't IPS with that succulent 110% sRGB gamut. It also has a native 1920x1080 resolution, whereas the U2412M IPS monitor sports 1920x1200. Plus the U series gives you a three-year No-Dead-Pixel guarantee. Not a bad deal.
If you go for the Dell, MAKE SURE the DVI cable they give you is dual-link. I've heard that they put in a cheap single-link cable which won;t get you full resolution or quality. FAIL. You should also know that this monitor doesn't support HDMI. DVI Dual Link looks as good as HDMI but DVI doesn't carry audio obviously, and if you plan on playing Blu-Ray discs on your PC then you need a video card AND a monitor that are HDCP compliant, which means HDMI. But if you're just looking for fantastic quality for photo editing, for $399 this thing is a gem.
Posted by David Graham on November 6, 2011 at 5:18 AM
How does the 24" Asus PA246Q stack up to meet your needs...98%RGB at less than $500?
http://www.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/PA246Q/
Dave G in SD
Discussion
10 repliesKent in SD
If you aren't hesitant about buying refurbished items. NEC has some great deals on their site . I bought this monitor two years ago and haven't had any problems with it. http://www.necdisplay.com/p/P221W-BK-R
Harold
Kent in SD
If you decide to go with the NEC P or PA-series monitors, check out their SpectraView-II calibration software and NEC-branded iOne colorimeter. The colorimeter is specially tuned to work with these wide-gamut monitors. Once you setup the parameters for calibration, i.e. color temperature, contrast and luminance, the software sets everything automatically. It's a great system that I use on my P221W. This will add to the cost, but you'll have an integrated system.
For more info on how to calibrate one of these monitors using SpectraView, take a look Here.
--P
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=39226
ME
Joseph does mention the ST2420 in his post, but that one isn't IPS with that succulent 110% sRGB gamut. It also has a native 1920x1080 resolution, whereas the U2412M IPS monitor sports 1920x1200. Plus the U series gives you a three-year No-Dead-Pixel guarantee. Not a bad deal.
If you go for the Dell, MAKE SURE the DVI cable they give you is dual-link. I've heard that they put in a cheap single-link cable which won;t get you full resolution or quality. FAIL. You should also know that this monitor doesn't support HDMI. DVI Dual Link looks as good as HDMI but DVI doesn't carry audio obviously, and if you plan on playing Blu-Ray discs on your PC then you need a video card AND a monitor that are HDCP compliant, which means HDMI. But if you're just looking for fantastic quality for photo editing, for $399 this thing is a gem.
http://www.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/PA246Q/
Dave G in SD