LCD Displays for Designers? - Last couple of questions

[MAC7331]

Things change so fast these days in the world of computer displays.

It's fairly common knowledge that LCD's can't cover the color gamut of a good old fashion tube.

But if one were buying an LCD display, for color and clarity's sake, which one(s) would you consider contenders? Talking approx. 20" to 22" here, and price IS an object unfortunately.

I have been looking at the Viewsonic VP2250wb - Link: http://www.viewsonic.com/products/lcddi ... /VP2250wb/

[Keef]

Here's some info that might be interesting to you, anti-leet:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=32149&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

[Spock]

Last week I took delivery of a 27" Dell Ultrasharp (1920 x 1200), less than $750 delivered, as a replacement for a 5 year old 21" Planar (1600 x 1200). Other than bigger, brighter and faster refresh, the main difference is that at its native resolution it is virtually WYSIWYG.

Most probably way more spendy than you had in mind but amortized over a 5 year period its not outrageous.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod ... u=223-9379
Currently $899.00 but it was On Sale for $200 less when I bought it.

[mick e]

The Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP 24" widescreen is very good. It's about $620 right now.

mick e bought one after his venerable Samsung 900NF (diamondtron) CRT finally took a dump. The text and crispness of the Dell is about as good as the CRT, in fact it may be better overall. For the most part, the color has been excellent, with one nitpick. The screen is really fucking bright, almost too bright. As a result of this, in RGB the 100% reds blues and greens appear overly vivid. So far mick e has not been able to figure out a way to adjust the monitor to counter this. Perhaps someone here knows a trick.

Other than that, it's a fantastic monitor - probably one of the best sub-$1000 LCDs out there.

[rtwdwk]

If you need to worry about SWOP calibrated systems your choices drop to a few.
Apple or Eizo are the current SWOP certifed LCD panels.

www.swop.org

[Jimbo-C]

http://www.apple.com/pro/color/


May be useful, probably isn't.

[matt]

Remember to calibrate.

[tighelander]

The best LCDs use IPS panels (Apple, Eizo, and NEC). The popular Ultrasharp line from Dell uses VA panels which can produce more color than you need, like reds that are off the chart. I'm still using a two CRT set-up, two really old CRTs. I would like to get a fab 24" LCD for the least possible price. The Ultrasharp is tempting at about $600 when on sale, especially with it's 3 year warranty, but reading how some colors are oversaturated just about kills it. The 23" from Apple is the industry minimum; it can be had for $750 if there are refurbs at the Apple site, but it comes with only a 1 year warranty, and to get the same protection that is offered with the Dell costs an extra $99.

[matt]

I bought, and am staring at this minute, a NEC 20WMGX2 1680x1050 (16:10) for $380 after tax/shipping/rebate almost a year ago. I don't know if they're even made any longer. I bought it based on the reviews here. I calibrated it and it's been superb since day 1.

It's got the "good" type of TFT, whatever that is.

More: http://appleswitcher.com/wp/forum/topic ... #post-8165

[rtwdwk]

The best LCDs use IPS panels (Apple, Eizo, and NEC). The popular Ultrasharp line from Dell uses VA panels which can produce more color than you need, like reds that are off the chart. I'm still using a two CRT set-up, two really old CRTs. I would like to get a fab 24" LCD for the least possible price. The Ultrasharp is tempting at about $600 when on sale, especially with it's 3 year warranty, but reading how some colors are oversaturated just about kills it. The 23" from Apple is the industry minimum; it can be had for $750 if there are refurbs at the Apple site, but it comes with only a 1 year warranty, and to get the same protection that is offered with the Dell costs an extra $99.

There are mixed reviews on the 23" due to the staggered Tube layout, I have a 23" Apple and it is no longer recommended by Kodak for use in there systems due to color shifts and uniformity problems. I have also gotten poor reviews from a really hight end magazine prepress person that the 23" have a very short life cycle, for calibration and certification. With that said, i run a 30" apple and it is really sweet.

[MAC7331]

Thank you all for the information.

The criticality of my work is a bit less than at most shops. I may not need, nor can we afford (apparently) the best of the best. But I will lean towards Apple, NEC and Eizo since you guys mentioned these.

Apparently I want to get have "IPS panels". And the "good" kind of TFT.

My budget at the shop might be limited to around $400.

Does the built in display on the 20" or 24" iMacs quality for anything? <Edit: Just got around to reading some of that Keef, perfect>

I am especially interested in the SWAP certified thing. Does this mean the monitor comes ready to go or that it's able to be calibrated well?


Thanks,
-WAS7331b4

[MAC7331]

The TN display suffers from limited viewing angles, especially in the vertical direction, and most are unable to display the full 16.7 million colors (24-bit truecolor) available from modern graphics cards. These particular panels, with 6 bits per color channel as opposed to 8, can approach 24-bit color using a dithering method which combines adjacent pixels to simulate the desired shade. They can also use FRC (Frame Rate Control), the less conspicuous of the two. FRC quickly cycles pixels over time to simulate a given shade.

(From the other thread)

This possible dithering or FRC due to non-24bitness is something I need to avoid. The paragraph impies that some TN's do have full 24 bit/ 8 per subpixel.

Is it hard to find out which have 24bit goodness?

I would go with the Apple 20' at $600 if it was my shop.

[MAC7331]

Keef is the Apple 20" TN limited to 6 bits per channel like most TNs???

[silvarios]

Keef is the Apple 20" TN limited to 6 bits per channel like most TNs???

Not Keef, but I do have an answer. If you are referring to the 20" iMac, then yes the 20" iMac is limited to 6 bits per channel. Sorry.


Nathan

[MAC7331]

Keef is the Apple 20" TN limited to 6 bits per channel like most TNs???

Not Keef, but I do have an answer. If you are referring to the 20" iMac, then yes the 20" iMac is limited to 6 bits per channel. Sorry.


Nathan

Thank you silvarios and thank you all. I feel much, much more informed now!

[MAC7331]

Is there a list of TN panels that can display 24bit color? Is there an easy way to find out? In case going with ISP is not be possible for me at this time?

[Keef]

Shit, sorry for not responding to the questions here. I almost never peek into Mac/iPod, nor Photography – I almost forget they exist.