Which monitor do you recommend?

So if you had a budget of about 200, and were tired of your old school CRT, which monitor would you buy for graphic design work? I've been looking at quite a few but really need one that's accurate to true life colors for my print work. I'm thinking there are quite a few in the 22" size, but I'm not sure which would be best. Anyone have any recommendations?

Go with wide screen no matter what!

Maybe not so significant with graphic design, but if you work with text a lot, IMO long line length is much superior to "the square" (shorter lines and more of them).

I know there is some web design statistical research which is counter to this, but I believe that is offset by the consumer -- eg, people who do not work with text, they just read it from time to time, which you want to appeal to them. But the research is statistical and has nothing to do with "what people prefer by nature because of the structure of the eye" or some BS like that.

If you are actually working with text all day, 140 character line quickly becomes preferable to 80 (or less).

Earlier this year I was in a similiar dilema as you on what monitor I needed to buy. I noticed between the monitors I had already that colors varied widely. I wanted something that was more accurate so that when I choose a color I knew I was picking the correct one. I also wanted a wide screen monitor because I never had one of those before and I thought it would give me more work space. Overall though I really didn't learn more about the different LCD types until after I purchased a new one.

I had finally decided on the Dell S2209W which you can see here:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod ... u=320-7438

If I could do it over again I would have not picked this monitor. While it is true that for the most part everything does look great, and I love the fact that it is wide screen. What annoys me about this monitor is that when you change angles in the vertical direction colors appear to vary widely. For instance if I lean up in my chair the blues on ozzu look lighter, the blacks look more like dark greys, and basically everything looks different. The lower I sink in my chair the darker the colors get and you get a completely different feel. This was exactly what I did not want.

So after my purchase I ended up being dissapointed. While the monitor still does the job, and for the most part it is a very beautiful display for watching videos, browsing in general, playing games, etc, it is just not a great monitor when doing graphic design work as you really have no idea what to expect when you see the colors on other displays (which of course can vary anyway due to the different type of monitors out there).

So after doing research I eventually found out that the S2209W is a Twisted Nematic Active Matrix LCD type. You can learn more about that here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_cry ... c_.28TN.29

In a nutshell the twisted nematic displays are the cheapest to produce, but also have very fast response times. That is why they are great for watching video, but not the greatest when it comes to using it for work. Twisted nematic (TN), are probably the most widely made LCD monitors and I am guessing that is probably because of the cost.

There are two other popular types of LCD panels, and that is VA Panels, and IPS panels.

VA panels which stands for Vertical Alignment Panels would be considered middle of the road LCD panels. Usually in the tech specs of a LCD Panel they will be labeled S-PVA or MVA instead of TN. These monitors are better than TN monitors with the fact that they have better color reproduction and wider viewing angles. The responses times are usually worse than the TN panels though, but for the type of work you are wanting to do that probably wouldn't be an issue. One common problem with vertical alignment panels is color shifting, which is what I am also experiencing with my TN monitor as well.

Finally the best type of monitor which is what I am seriously considering for my next purchase are IPS Panels. You will usually find these labeled under the tech specs as S-IPS or H-IPS. IPS stands for In Plane Switching and they offer the best image quality, color accuracy, and viewing angles. They are probably the best type of monitor you can get for graphic design where you need to get accurate color representation. They do have slower response times than TN monitors, so if using for games you might notice ghosting / motion blur. However, for graphical work I think these are the types of monitors you would notice a huge difference on. The main problem with these displays though is the cost, and when I was looking earlier this year I could not find any even close to the $200 price range for the size and resolution of monitor I wanted. Typically what I found was about 4-5x more expensive

So for the same size of monitor I have now, instead of paying around $200 I would probably have paid around $1000 to get the monitor.

So to sum things up twisted nematic displays have the worst color reproduction, viewing angles and contrast ratios of the LCD panel technologies, however they are priced well and you could probably find all sorts of bargains with these. VA LCD Panels are middle of the road, so probably an improvement over the TN panels, but expect to pay a bit more for these. They do offer better color accuracy but still having color shifting issues. Finally IPS offers the best of both worlds, only slightly slower response than TN panels, and by far the best viewing angles and color accuracy, however this all comes at a price.

You might read this:

http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lc ... -types.php

and here is a link which shows some IPS displays available and their costs:

http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/s-ips-lcd-list.php

Hope this helps you make a more informed decision. I know I wish I knew this stuff before I purchased my Dell S2209W. It is a good monitor, just not the best for what I needed it mostly for.

wow, awesome BWM. Thanks for the response, very informative! I'll look into the VA and IPS monitors. Hopefully I can find a decent size for the cost.

Are there any stores you can go to where you can compare print color to monitor color ?

I know places like Best Buy and CompUSA have racks filled with monitors where you can see what each of their screens look like, but do does anyone have their printers and monitors connected in a network where the screen of each can be printed on each ?

It would be nice to be able to look at a few monitors, then find the printer you have or are considering buying, and being able to print out test sheets to carry back over to the computer. Even if pre-arranged test sheets were printed and made available that would be awesome.

This thread got me back into looking for monitors as my wife needs one and I may just give her the one I am using. I see Dell just recently came out with this IPS display I think:

http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfo/periphera ... 2410&s=dfo
http://www.cnet.com.au/dell-ultrasharp- ... 298064.htm

It says:



I am having a problem trying to find the price on it, still looking. But that display is 1920 x 1200 pixels, uses IPS technology, and otherwise looks great. The only thing I am concerned with is what the price is, as I think that would be the determining factor for me.

Finally found this about it:



So looks to be around $760, sounds like its not in the US yet. Still that price is more than I was hoping.

I wonder how good craigslist is for monitors. There's got to be people who spend $500+ on a monitor and then realize their rent is due in a couple of weeks. If you live in the same area Camperjohn does there's probably someone who just wants rid of a monitor because they got a bigger one. You might even be able to meet with a seller and see how it prints before taking it off their hands.

Most inexpensive LCD monitors (like the Samsung 2443BWX above) use the cheapest type of panel technology called "TN," which is fine for general use.

So for a day when I have a LOT more money...what do you guys think of the new OLEDs? Pretty slick if you ask me. 1 million:1 contrast, 170 degree viewing angle, about 3mm thickness, etc. etc.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&productId=8198552921665327724

What OS are you using? Both Win/Mac come with very good color profile support however, its been my experience with LCD/OLEDs that the specific monitor doesn't matter as much for color accuracy as the calibration thats used. (I do remember when that was the opposite for CRT's though). I have a couple dell's and a mac cinima display that all seem to be pretty color accurate as long as I use the supplied color profiles.

For < $200 have a look at the Dell Outlet The stuff is refurbished but a lot cheaper than new. I've purchased 5 or 6 monitors from there and haven't had a single issue with them.

Also some info about getting/installing correct color profiles (ICC profiles)

Do they ship outside of US...? Are you from US?

how in gods name have you had experience with OLEDs? The technology just came out and is extremely extremely expensive? You must be a bajillionare. heh

I will recommend you for the samsung TFT,its working good and its screen resolution is too good than other monitors