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Thread: lcd monitor

  1. #1

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    lcd monitor

    My CRT is on the blink (literally) and new CRT's are hard to find.

    anyone bought a 19inch LCD recently and what were the options?
    I'm not looking for the ultimate. The NEC 1970GX looks reasonable though I'm not sure if I need its speed for image editing and general PC work. Any thoughts/experience on current models would be appreciated.

    (i have checked previous posts and no mention of this new NEC monitor was found)

  2. #2
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    lcd monitor

    I calibrated a new Lacie LCD for the lab I use the other day. It looked pretty good. It was a 19" I think and they said it costs 600.00 or so.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  3. #3

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    lcd monitor

    Here at work we've started using the Apple LCD monitors. You can see things in the high values that can't be seen on the CRT monitors. That said I don' t think all LCD monitors are created equal. One workstation I use has 2 new ViewSonic LCD monitors and they are fuzzy.

    Ron

  4. #4
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
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    lcd monitor

    I have a hard time looking at low- and middle- end LCD monitors. I've done a lot of design work using Apple cinnema displays, but I don't like them for photography. There's still too much change in brightness and contrast when you move your head. Also, a phenomenon that I don't hear people talking about ... on most LCDs, there's a kind of exagerated sharpness. It's as if each pixel has a vilible halo of light around it. The result is a kind of harsh and crunchy look that I don't like when working with images.

    So far, the first monitor I've seen that seems completely free of this (and that's also as calibrateable as a CRT) is the Eizo. Sadly, they cost a fortune. The 19" one lists for close to $2000. I haven't seen the LaCie LCDs.

    I just handled the problem the Craigslist way ... found a barely used LaCie electron blue 19" for $250 (including cab fare home). I think deals like this can still be found. A lot of these monitors are only a year or so old and have a lot of life in them. I'm hoping that when this thing finally dies, the price of a good LCD will down from the stratosphere.

  5. #5

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    lcd monitor

    I write computer books for a living. You can see what I do at http://www.mwgraves.com or by looking up one of my books on Amazon. I have to agree with Ron that the LCD panel used on the Apple Display is the best you can get. Dell sells one of their high-end LCDs that uses the same panel, and it's nearly identical. However, the controls aren't as nice, it doesn't look as nice and it costs just as much.

    At 800 and change, the 20" version is a bit pricey, but if you can afford it, you'll be glad you did. It's a .27dp display instead of the typical .29dp of most typical LCD. If you can't afford that, you'll find that only a couple of manufacturers actually make the panel that goes into the majority of conventional PC LCD monitors. So there won't be too much variety in in dot pitch. However, with an LCD, the support electronics have nearly as much to do with image quality as the panel itself. The same Samsung display on one monitor might look a bit clearer with one manufacturer than it does on another. Also, a monitor powered by DVI is going to be much sharper and display cleaner colors than standard VGA.

    I've found that the Dell monitors are quite nice. I really liked the Hyundai L90D and wound up putting that on my PC at home. However, my main machine is my Power MAC Dual-G5. That's got the 20" display on it and it almost hurts to go back over to the PC those times when I have to use it. If you don't need DVI input, Sceptre has a nice one for under $300 bucks at Costco. But even if your current graphics card doesn't support DVI, you might want to spring for it in case you upgrade video cards or computers later on down the road. As I said before, DVI graphics is drastically better than VGA.

    The key to an LCD monitor is to make sure you run it at its native resolution. They're not like CRTs where different resolutions look pretty much the same. Running an LCD in non-native mode can make it look unsharp and muddy. If the native resolution results in icons and text that is too small, you can change most of that in your Preferences. You can calibrate an LCD display to Photoshop quite nicely, so make sure you do that if you plan on using it for graphics.
    Michael W. Graves
    Michael's Pub

    If it ain't broke....don't fix it!

  6. #6
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
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    lcd monitor

    "I have to agree with Ron that the LCD panel used on the Apple Display is the best you can get."

    huh?

    I'm someone who's been accused of being an extremist pro-Apple zealot, but it's obvious to me even with a quick glance that their monitors are not high end units. They are excellent midrange monitors--ideal for graphic design and working with vector art and video. But they're not in the same league (quality or price) as the true high end LCD monitors like the Eizos, which most of the retouching studios and prepress shops in NYC seem to use now.

    I know a lot of people like the Apple displays, for various reasons. But if you're used to the calibrateability and smoothness of a high end CRT, the Apples (and anything else in their price range) are going to be a big step down.

  7. #7
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    lcd monitor

    The new lacie Monitors are available and reasonably priced.

    www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10684
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  8. #8
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
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    lcd monitor

    here's a pretty serious review from August ... this is part II, and includes apple, viewsonic, and eizo:

    http://graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20050830/index.html

    there's a link to part I which includes a LaCie (which might be the best buy, if you don't need to go as far as the eizo).

  9. #9
    Ted Harris's Avatar
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    lcd monitor

    To chime in behind Kirk, I just got the LaCie November newsletter and they ahve two 19" LCD monitors under $500. Both look good .. especially the lowest priced (429 from them direct and maybe even lower elsewhere 119).

  10. #10

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    lcd monitor

    I've been researching LCD monitors for my work (Graphic Designer) for the last month or so. We were all ready to buy Apple Cinema Displays but stopped at the last minute when I learned that you can only expect to keep them in gamut for about 2 years max. My vote is for LaCie or Eizo. While the Eizo Color Edge series is very expensive the Eizo Flex Scan series is a great value considering they still have the 5 year warranty on them and will stay in gamut for the majority of that time, and are still a high spec LCD device. We are waiting for the 24" 16:10 version to come out in the new year and will probably buy that (based on a successful trial).

    If the Eizo is still too much money then LaCie is the way to go. Be sure to keep enough money left over for a calibration device. The Getrag Macbeth EyeOne Display 2 is on sale for $219 right now and is a great little package.

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