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View Full Version : Best 20"+ LCD monitor for under $400...



tim atherton
1-May-2008, 19:57
Okay, I didn't want to hijack the other thread

Is it at all possible to find a non-tn (i.e. s-ips, pva etc) monitor for under $400.00 (budget restraints - not mine) for imaging use

and if it's not possible to find a non-tn monitor, any suggestions for a monitor from the current crop of tn ones that will "do in a pinch"?

Stephen Best
1-May-2008, 21:02
Apple's Cinema Display 20" is $599 and has an IPS panel. It's great for general use but lacks electronics to move it away from its 6500K white point. I believe there are (cheaper) Dell displays that use the same Philips panel but you're unlikely to get decent electronics (LUTs) for Photoshop work at this price.

Adam Kavalunas
2-May-2008, 06:45
I have a Dell 2007FP (not wide) that uses an I-SPS panel. Bought it last summer new for $340. I do all my PS work on it and it calibrates perfectly.

Steven Barall
2-May-2008, 08:07
I use a 19 inch Dell Ultra Sharp and the thing is great. They have 20" and 22" wide screen Ultra Sharp monitors that are both well under $400. (Make sure you look into the Ultra Sharp monitors and not the cheaper ones.)

The only complaint about my 19" monitor is that the angle of view could be better but that is something that only seems to get better with money. At this price point, my monitor is great. Good Luck.

Colin Graham
2-May-2008, 08:09
In an emergency I got a temp LCD a few months back when my tube monitor went t.u. It's a LG 204WT Flatron (http://www.lge.com/products/model/detail/l204wt.jhtml) (heh). It's a decent screen, but you have to pretty much hold your head in a vise in the sweet spot. The gamma flares considerably up and down, though not so much left to right. Anyway, it was around $350 for a widescreen 22", and looked considerably better than the Samsungs, HPs and Gateways it sat next to, at least after 1 hour's worth of fiddling with each one of them- I took a CD with some of my stuff on it with me to test gray scale specifically. Responds well with Eye-1 calibration and holds it pretty well. Has decent manual controls for RGB, etc, and the factory calibration for 6500K was surprisingly close. Backlight bleed is pretty good, and fwiw it does very well on the tests at Dry Creek (http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/monitor_black.htm). LG claims the contrast ratio is 5000:1, and the response time is 2 ms. Top rez is 1680x1050.

RPNugent
2-May-2008, 09:08
Last year when I was looking for one Ted Harris sent me to Eizo's refurb page. Right now the biggest is 19". It has been very reliable as he said it would be.

http://www.eizo.com/purchase/direct/monitors.asp

rugenius
7-May-2008, 19:31
Look at the other thread and note they are under $400

Gary Nylander
9-May-2008, 22:12
I recently bought a 22 inch Viewsonic VP2250wb ( their professional series ) display for $450 cdn for my Macbook that I am very happy with, I was originally looking at the Apple Cinema Displays, but at a much high cost, more than double the price of the Viewsonic. The display comes with a nice sturdy stand and seems easy to calibrate, it came highly recommended by several professional photographers that I know.

xmishx
10-May-2008, 11:37
Dell here, 20 inch, 2007 something or other... I got it off delloutlet for under $400.

navratilova
21-Nov-2008, 01:45
Yeah, I'm considering getting a new LCD monitor for photographic use. I currently have a Samsung 931B and Acer x171 (running dual monitors on Gigabyte video card -- 256mb-- and Acer is just for dragging palettes out of way in Photoshop.) I'm considering a 22" widescreen to go down to a single monitor, but am on a fairly tight budget. Any ideas for LCD Monitor For Photography will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.