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Computer Monitor Recomendations?

March 11th, 2010 Posted in portal.juzhang.com | edit
  • I am in need of a new monitor. The one I am using now is showing sure signs of dieing soon. :( It was purchased soley on the basis of screen size and price anyway. Time for something better. I am pretty sure I want a CRT Monitor since I haven't heard anything too great about editing photos on an LCD. I have about $500 to spend. I could go higher, but it will hurt. Any recomendations?


  • awesome, congrats on your first lcd! i'm sure you'll love it :)


  • My photo printer does all of my color corrections for me when they print anyway. But then any printing I do still has to be correct. I don't know.

    AHA!!! This opens up a whole new can of worms for you. This is where the 'Spyder' Device comes in. It is a device that creates a 'profile' of your monitor and then can reset the color so that you have a uniform set of colors that will always look 'right'.
    What I mean by that is the colors should remain consistent after each time you 're-calibrate' your monitor.
    The monitor adjuster sets up the monitor so you can do color corrections. It doesn't actually calibrate the monitor, but instead keeps the colors consistent. Then you set up your printer to match what you see on screen, and whala, you should be well on your way to color correction of your photos.


  • that monitor looks quite nice, actually. from what i've seen of that monitor, there are only a few problems with it...like say the 'footprint' (the base that supports the display) is fairly large, but still smaller than CRTs. If you like lower resolutions (which would be odd) then it's not so great, as it doesnt handle downgrading resolutions from 1600x1200 too well. that shouldnt be a big deal though, as the more resolution you have usually the better. is it going to be used only or mostly for photo stuff?


  • I'm curious to why editing photos isn't as good on a LCD? I was looking into getting a monitor for my laptop for editing/running design software.


  • Thanks everyone. I am thinking the viewsonic as well. I am trying to decide if I will really notice the difference if I just got an LCD instead of a CRT. They are just SO big and my office is SO small. My photo printer does all of my color corrections for me when they print anyway. But then any printing I do still has to be correct. I don't know.


  • I think I may have found a monitor! This is the one I am curently looking at. Most of the technical stuff means nothing to me, though I am learning a lot through this process! Any comments or advice would be VERY appreciated!!! THANKS!

    ViewSonic VP2030b 20.1" LCD Monitor-Black

    Product Features
    20.1 color TFT active matrix UXGA LCD
    Display Area - 16.1 horizontal x 12.1 vertical; 20.1 diagonal
    Optimum Resolution - 1600x1200
    Contrast Ratio - 1000 - 1 (typ)
    Viewing Angle - 170 degrees, vertical & horizontal @ contrast ratio > 10 - 1

    Technical Details
    Model: VP2030b
    Item Package Quantity: 1
    Type: 20.1" color TFT active matrix UXGA LCD
    Display Area: 16.1" horizontal x 12.1" vertical; 20.1" diagonal
    Optimum Resolution: 1600 x 1200
    Contrast Ratio: 1000:1 (typical)
    Viewing angle: 170 degrees horizontal, 170 degrees vertical
    Response Time: 8 ms gray-to-gray (avg); 16 ms black-white-black (typical)
    Brightness: 300 cd/m2
    Light Source: Long life, 50,000 hrs. (typical)
    Panel Surface: Anti-glare
    Analog Video Input: RGB analog (75 ohms, 0.7/1.0 Vp-p)
    Digital Video Input: DVI (TMDS, 100 ohms)
    Frequency: Fh: 24~92kHz, Fv: 50~85Hz
    Synch: H/V separated (TTL), composite sync on green
    PC Compatibility: VGA up to 1600x1200 non-interlaced
    Mac Compatibility: Power Mac G3/G4/G5 up to 1600x1200; PerfectSuite and pivot function not support by ViewSonic
    Analog Connector: 15-pin mini D-sub
    Digital Connector: DVI-I (digital and analog capable)
    Power: Internal power; 3-pin AC plug
    Voltage: AC 100-240V, 50/60Hz (auto switch)
    Power Consumption: 52 W (typical)
    Power Management: Meets TCO'99 and ENERGY STAR standards
    Width: 18.4 inches
    Height: 15.9 inches
    Depth: 2.4 inches
    Weight: 19.8 lbs
    Warranty: Three year limited on parts, labor and backlight


  • first off, I used to have a syncmaster. it was an excellent monitor for 4 years, then it got rather dim on me. However, I let it sit for a few months and it is fine now. The color was great, and it was crisp and detailed.

    As stated before, never trust an image on an in-store display. They are usually tuned to be untra bright with a lot of contrast.

    The one thing that you will notice is the black level. This is the seperating factor between television sets. CRT gives the deepest color definition out of LCD, plasma, and frontal projection. You will notice the that in comparison, the LCD will be a little pastel-ish. You can tune the hue/saturation in to be just as good as the CRT, but it will take some fiddling with.

    Im am not sayign that you shouldnt go with the LCD. They are exceptional monitors and with the way the cost is coming down, its hard to beat. You most likely wont notice the difference unless the two monitors are next to each other. I am just giving you something to look out for.


  • Actually, the new breed of LCD's are just as reliable and accurate as a CRT. There are a couple of discussions in the archives about them.

    Woodsac is on the money with his assessment of current LCD monitors. The technology has come a long way in the last two years, and these monitors are now equal to CRTs, at least for the purpose of photo editing.

    My next monitor will likely be the Viewsonic LCD VP930b. I am leaning toward that particular model because of its contrast ratio (1000:1) and it’s within my budget (under 400US). I love my current Viewsonic CRT, but it’s too damned heavy and takes up waaay too much valuable desk space.

    As for color/hue and contrast issues, Soocom1’s suggestion to use a hardware/software ‘Spyder’ periodically is something we should ALL be doing to insure our prints match what is seen on our monitors!


  • not specific but get one from some one who makes good moniters, dell, hp, sony somthing like that


  • Actually, the new breed of LCD's are just as reliable and accurate as a CRT. There are a couple of discussions in the archives about them.


  • Prior to my Mac Display, I was using a Samsung 955DF. I was never really happy with it. I've heard really good things about Viewsonic.


  • Personally I would take the Viewsonic.

    The NEC runs a very close second. The big point here would be to have a image off of the same computer, with the two moniters hooked up at differant times, and put to the same settings to get an idea. The displays at the big box store dont do the color any favors given that they are mostly lit by HEI lights and give off a funky blue hue. You'll just have to do the hard comparison.


    Sorry, I mean H.I.D. lighiting... I always seem to get the HEI and HID confused.. sorry about that.


  • The two biggest reasons I want a CRT is price and color.


  • These are the monitors I am currently looking at... Any thoughts?

    Viewsonic G220FB 21" CRT Monitor
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000071W9A/ref=sr_11_1/102-6321399-6454527?%5Fencoding=UTF8

    Samsung SyncMaster 1100DF 21" CRT Monitor (Black)
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000B0SNW/102-6321399-6454527?v=glance&n=172282

    NEC Accusync 120 (Black Cabinet) 21" Flat Screen Monitor
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000665VO/102-6321399-6454527?v=glance&n=172282


  • Sorry I can't help more. Maybe someone else with some experience with new CRT's will chime in. If I had $500 to spend on a new monitor right now, this is what I would buy.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001226


  • I think I might just go to Fry's and buy a monitor. I still don't know what I want! Lol. I hate making decisions! Thank you so much for all of the advice!


  • I bought a Samsung Syncmaster 913N 19" LCD recently from Ebuyer.com and it works fine, no burn in problems and better colour than my old CRT, it was also pretty cheap at just over £200 inc VAT and delivery, well worth looking into...


  • OMG - my head is starting to hurt! Thanks so much for the in depth answers though. This is exactly what I was looking for even if it is making my head hurt! Maybe I will go with an LCD. I do not have the room at all for a CRT, so if I can get an LCD that is just as good, then that would be awesome!


  • If you get an LCD, you want one that uses an 8-bit panel for decent colour reproduction. The Dell 2007fpw etc fall into this category. Most screens that list a response time of 8ms or below do not.

    Another guide, though less reliable is how many colours the specifications list. A 6-bit panel will generally list either 16M, 16.2M or more than 16M colours, this isn't really accurate as they use dithering to acheive these colours. A 6-bit panel can only show 64 shades of grey.

    An 8-bit panel on the other hand should list 16.7M colours (Though some 6-bit panels list this, so it's not a definative guide). An 8-bit panel can display 256 shades of grey.


  • ^i'll second that. I was in the same position a few months ago and ended up getting an LCD because I didnt have the space to fit a 21" CRT (if you are wanting a CRT still, look for monitors with trinitron or diamondtron displays. sony and NEC make some good models). There are several numbers that you can look at to determine what LCD to buy (contrast ration, brightness, gray to gray time, black to white time, etc.), but for us photographers it's narrowed down to only a couple things. Pretty much anything over 500:1 contrast ration is going to do well, although higher is usually better. the brightness really doesnt matter IMO, as you're not going have many problems with LCDs being not bright enough...sometimes they can seem too bright, but you can tune that down or just get used to it :)

    it all boils down to the display itself. Although color calibration software and devices help alot, some monitors just don't calibrate as well as others. an uncalibrated lcd with good color accuracy can look better than a stubborn lcd that doesnt calibrate well even after it has been calibrated. There are ALOT of models out there to choose from, but I ended up choosing a slightly larger (not huge) widescreen LCD because of the space it saved and the workspace it provided. For widescreen LCDs in the 20" range, IMO there are really only a few competitors. For my research and price range, i narrowed it down to apple and dell. Apple makes some fantastic widescreens under the 'cinema' name, but they can be pricey. However, when i found out that the displays used in the cinemas were the same as the ones used in dell's widescreen ultrasharp series, i dropped the apple idea and went to dell. After alot of research and comparisons, i ended up buying from them. I'd check out their 2005fpw (which is what i bought), it has great color accuracy and works quite well with calibration (although as of now i'm only using software). PM me if you have any questions about it!


  • lcd's have burn in, and needs to be calibrated often


  • I would go for the ViewSonic. I have one, the Optiquest version and really like it. The one your looking at is very good. 2,048 x 1,536 maximum resolution at 68 Hz, 0.25 mm diagonal pitch. Will be a good monitor. You wont be dissapointed.


  • that monitor looks quite nice, actually. from what i've seen of that monitor, there are only a few problems with it...like say the 'footprint' (the base that supports the display) is fairly large, but still smaller than CRTs. If you like lower resolutions (which would be odd) then it's not so great, as it doesnt handle downgrading resolutions from 1600x1200 too well. that shouldnt be a big deal though, as the more resolution you have usually the better. is it going to be used only or mostly for photo stuff?

    Thanks so much for your response. The monitor has official been ordered and should arrive early next week! :wink: It will be used for other stuff besides editing & viewing photographs, but it's main purpose will be photographs. The other stuff isn't so important.


  • Thanks!







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