All my life I have been working with CRT type of monitors. I know that the current LCD monitors offer much better performance, especially for photo editing. But as long as the good old CRT boxes keep on working there’s nothing broken that needs fixing. But something did break. About a month ago my 21″ CRT monitor all of a sudden gave a high pitched noise and then a short snap. On top of that, it went completely black. It didn’t take much expertise to diagnose its death. Luckily I had another old CRT box as spare. However, it was only 19″ and behaved funny every now and then. For the time being, though, I could continue to work. For photo editing it was a disaster. Besides its smaller size, the colours were different also (even though I did calibrate it). To cut a long story short: time to invest in a new LCD monitor. Minor question: which one?
You have the obvious brands, like Eizo, NEC and LaCie. Without a doubt all very good monitors. Also very expensive. Way above my budget anyway. However, these brands also deliver entry level monitors. Eizo, for example, has next to their (expensive) ColorEdge line, the (cheaper) Flexscan monitors. The same goes for LaCie. Most of these cheaper models have IPS panels (which in my opinion is an absolute must for photo editing). Talked with both vendors at the Professional Imaging event. Asked them both specifically about the difference between their entry level monitors and IPS panels from Dell and HP (and recently also LG). When you compare the technical specs they’re all the same. They couldn’t give me a satisfying answer. My feeling is that with these brands you still pay for their name, even in the case of entry level monitors. They will still cost you roughly about € 1,000 to € 1,300. Although, ultimately I was prepared to pay this amount of money, I wasn’t convinced of the technical superiority. So what did I do in the end? Gathered as much reviews I could find on the web (there isn’t that much that feels really trustworthy, though). For a long time I switched between Dell’s U2410 and HP’s LP2475W, but after reading the reviews at www.prad.de and www.tftcentral.co.uk I finally ordered the HP LP2475W. I have it now for almost 5 days and it feels really good. I did calibrate it with my Xrite Eye One Display2. The 24″ size is simply heaven to work with. In Capture NX2 I can now compare images next to each other without a problem. What have I been struggling with for all these years? Should have done this lang ago. A 24″ wide gamut monitor that covers 100% of the sRGB and Adobe RGB colour spaces. For “only” € 495 (including VAT). If you’re looking for a good monitor for photo editing with a good price performance ratio, take the LP2475W.
All detailed technical specifications can be found at www. hp.com and at the review sites mentioned earlier.