Desperately searching for quality monitor....

[Greg Miller]

But who makes DELL, I doubt they make their own monitors.

ASUS, Samsung, Sony, Eizo who else makes the actual monitors?

I don't know. I'm pretty sure that they use somebody's IPS screen, then add their own proprietary hardware and software. Very similar to how Nikon uses Sony sensors in their pro line DSLR's (and adds their own processing chips and algorithms). I don't really need to know who made the sensor, only that the end result delivers a very high quality result (different than, an in many ways better than Sony cameras with the exact same sensor). That's the current state if electronics - manufacturers buy components from other vendors (often with their own custom tweaks baked in), add their own proprietary processing, and end up wiht very different products than other manufacturer using the same components.

[Kirk Gittings]

While I know Eizo makes good monitors, as a photo teacher at a university who bought them, I have seen them crappy right out of the box, uneven and incapable of a proper calibration. Returning them was no problem (and this was a few years ago), but given their price I was surprised by this.

So I have access to these where I teach and quite frankly never felt like owning one was a necessity either for my personal or commercial work even for highly demanding national magazines.

[Tin Can]

Just like most things, people usually like and defend whatever they buy, inherit or marry.

Hard to make or admit a mistake if ego defines quality or goodness.

'Take my wife, please!' Henny Youngman

[Corran]

Dell Ultrasharp...

Unless you are doing critical color work for magazines, I doubt you'll be unhappy with it. Never had any problem with colors, and I do shoot/edit a lot of work that gets published locally. Mine is great. About the only thing I can criticize is a slightly brighter area in the bottom left of the screen. Doesn't matter in usage. Older models can be found crazy cheap.

Or just about anything with an IPS panel is a good place to start.

[Lenny Eiger]

I am very unhappy with Eizo. I paid $3,000 for this thing. I was embarrassed into buying it because of my scanning business. I had been using Apple monitors before and it was time to upgrade...

A year and a few months later there are big marks on the monitor from de-laminating. I had the same things on the Apple, I got it repaired and it they back fairly quickly. I'm not particularly hopeful that it can be repaired fully to where the marks will never re-appear.

I called them and they said their spiffy 5 year warranty didn't cover de-lamination. Excuse me?!!! The cost to fix was fairly small, around $150, but if I somehow package up this 27 inch behemoth and send it to them I'll be out of commission for 3-4 weeks, including shipping time.

What am I supposed to do during this time? I am certainly not buying another thing from Eizo. They don't have loaners... which I don't understand.

I did like that it calibrated with a spectro that fit into the monitor. However, their Mac software was mediocre at best. Now that Apple has shipped its iMac with the 5k pixels, I am hoping they ship a standalone monitor, with a decent color space in the near future. Then I will buy that, it will come with a video camera, something I use multiple times a day for video conferencing, and it will be nice and sharp.

Then I will send off my Eizo to get fixed, and when it comes back I will sell the thing. Screw Eizo....

My experience is that color management is clearly oversold, having a perfect, full RGB space may or may not be useful to anyone. It hasn't been to me. I look at the print... this Eizo was not worth the money.


Lenny

[Jim Andrada]

My next monitor will probably be an NEC 30".

My problem is more about the sensors that scan the monitor - ie my eyes, than with the monitor itself. One thing that I do find bothersome about most monitors is that you can't crank the brightness down far enough to match up with the normal room illumination levels. I particularly find that overly bright monitors are bad when color grading video.

Full disclosure - NEC is my client (although not the display end of the business) and I have always been impressed with their engineering and quality control. Smart people. They still think technology matters unlike most US "stockholder (well some executive stockholders that is) value".

[Peter De Smidt]

I used a inexpensive Dell IPS monitor for a number of years. I"m sure that the newer ones are better, but it wasn't all that great. When I scored a big, color-critical, post production gig, I went with an NEC Multisync PA271W, Spectraview II, and an i1Display Pro. It's a lot more money, although I've seen specials for the package at around $1000. It is an outstanding and very easy to use system. It paid for itself with one job. My client has the same system with a 24" monitor, and it's great to know that we see the same image. (Yes, we've checked them side-by-side.)

[pinup tragic]

My little square 19" monitor died.. i loved it - so i bought a Dell 2410 ultrasharp as a massive upgrade - older tech now.. a wide gamut monitor - moved house wrapped the monitor in a blanket ( stupidly threw out the carton ) get to the new place fire up the PC - there is dust inside the panel shows as specs of dirt against the white ! - very badly designed but a super monitor

[Ari]

Another vote for Dell monitors, I've been using the same 23" monitor for six years.
If I had money or need for a new screen, I'd look at the UltraSharp series; pretty good bang for the buck, and after six years, I have no complaints about Dell monitors!

[onnect17]

Found a used NEC a few years back (in the auction site) for half the price and very happy so far. The color space covers almost all of AdobeRGB.