A recurring thread, but I hope not a redundant one.
My Mitsubishi Diamondtron screen is starting to flicker and wave, and it's time to get something new. Here in Sweden the secondhand market is restricted and expensive, so the advice in previous threads to look for a reconditioned CRT isn't really practical and I am certain that my next monitor will be a LCD, and I will almost certainly have to buy it mail order. I would therefore love to garner opinions from a bunch of fellow photographers rather than rely on generic web and print reviews.
Naturally I have gazed with lust upon the Eizo Coloredge and Radiography screens, but that is just too much money.
The Apple 20" Cinema display is attractive, has a fairly good reputation and is priced at a level I can justify. However, other marques offer more the money: more screen, tilting/rotating for portrait images, more and more varied inputs. Also, I prefer squareish aspect ratios so the widescreen benefits are lost on me.
The local market offers LaCie, Sony, Eizo Flexscan and Philips models at around the same price as the Apple, with LaCie and Eizo specifically targeted at graphics arts and photography usage. There are also cheaper screens with similar specs from Dell and Samsung, but those who rave about them on the net don't go into specifics about the image quality and suitability for digital photography.
At present I am leaning towards the Eizo Flexscan L797. It's a bit more than the others, but Eizo's warranty is much better, their policy on defective pixels is much more rigorous, and they generally talk a language that implies they are used to selling to those who care about image quality as LF photographers understand it.
Specific Questions: Is the Eizo L797 as good as its specs and Eizo's general reputation would suggest?
Are there any current standouts for price/performance among the other models?
Any makes I should definitely avoid, and if so, why?
I am grateful for any and all responses, even ones that don't make sense (.-).
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