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Monitor advice
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was looking for a thread on this – but can’t find one – am buying a PC and want to find out what would be the MINIMUM spec I should get
in a monitor for photographic work?All advice appreciated
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Welcome to the club (the PC buying club, that is :wink: ) I’m in the same boat myself and one of the things that has put me off buying so far is monitor selection. There are just so many out there and I’m on a very limited budget at the moment. But, I think I’ve come up with one which will do the job for me. It’s the NEC MultiSync LCD2090UXi-BK. It uses the 20″ LG.Philips S-IPS (LM201U05) panel.
Having done a fair bit of online research at this stage, I would recommend a monitor based on an S-IPS panel as a first choice, with S-PVA as an alternative choice. Steer clear of TN panels as they are usually only 6-bit per colour and create the remaining colours through interpolation. If you want to find out what panel is in a particular monitor, head on over to http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/.
Other issues I’m trying to figure out right now are whether to go with a Core2 Quad-core (Q6600) system or just a Core2 Dual Core system, what type of motherboard, graphics card and memory. It’s easy to just go out and buy the most expensive available, but that’s not going to give you value for money. For example, there’s no point in getting an really expensive 3-D capable graphics card unless you’re into gaming (which I’m not!). Photoshop will never utilise the power of such a card so it’s a bit of a waste of money.
This topic has been discussed here before but I think it’s as well to open a new thread because much of what has been discussed in the past may well be out of date. In fact, I think there should be a thread like this every three months or so :wink:
If you’re considering a self-build machine, or perhaps a barebones machine, it might be worth taking a look at http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/
Thorsten wrote:
Welcome to the club (the PC buying club, that is :wink: ) I’m in the same boat myself and one of the things that has put me off buying so far is monitor selection. There are just so many out there and I’m on a very limited budget at the moment. But, I think I’ve come up with one which will do the job for me. It’s the NEC MultiSync LCD2090UXi-BK. It uses the 20″ LG.Philips S-IPS (LM201U05) panel.
Having done a fair bit of online research at this stage, I would recommend a monitor based on an S-IPS panel as a first choice, with S-PVA as an alternative choice. Steer clear of TN panels as they are usually only 6-bit per colour and create the remaining colours through interpolation. If you want to find out what panel is in a particular monitor, head on over to http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/.
Other issues I’m trying to figure out right now are whether to go with a Core2 Quad-core (Q6600) system or just a Core2 Dual Core system, what type of motherboard, graphics card and memory. It’s easy to just go out and buy the most expensive available, but that’s not going to give you value for money. For example, there’s no point in getting an really expensive 3-D capable graphics card unless you’re into gaming (which I’m not!). Photoshop will never utilise the power of such a card so it’s a bit of a waste of money.
This topic has been discussed here before but I think it’s as well to open a new thread because much of what has been discussed in the past may well be out of date. In fact, I think there should be a thread like this every three months or so :wink:
If you’re considering a self-build machine, or perhaps a barebones machine, it might be worth taking a look at http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/
I have managed to narrow it down the priorities for Photo to memory size, monitor resolution and graphics card. The processor, once faster that 2 GHz will be good enough.
I am seriously looking at a Dell Inspiron 530s, with a Dual Core E6550 processor, 2.33GHz. Monitor is a 20″ widescreen 1680 x 1050 (WSXGA) resolution, 256k graphics card and 3072MB RAM, all for €1004. (also includes 2 speakers, a modem and 500GB hard drive – seems the business!
Hi Kenh
look into http://www.komplett.ie for a computer, it usually gives better specs for the same money
talking about monitors, as Thorsten said, avoid TN if you go for a flat screen
but any €200 CRT will have better colours than most flat screens (certainly the under €500)Thorsten is absolutely right, S-IPS or S-PVA panels are much better in colour fidelity, TN is for gaming and watching movies or anything else. That NEC sounds good, except that 20 inch is not too much if you are using PS or such. The calibration is important, too if you want to print your photos (or you want to show them to anyone else).
The PC has to have at least 2 gigs of RAM, but looking at the memory prices, 4 gigs are really cheap nowadays and only Photoshop with plugins and Windows with all it’s crappy programs can use up to 2 gigs on their own… then you have other RAW Converters, Bridge, a browser, music, etc… you need 4 gigs. Hard drive 500gigs, CPU a core duo is almost the same for these applications as a quad, but they are in the same price, so go for a 2.4 quadro if you can. Graphics ARE important in my opinion, and you can get a very good card for €200-250. Buy an Nvidia GT 512MB, the latest version.
Go and have a look on the overclockers.co.uk or komplett.ie websites, they do readymade configurations, too.
Sorry to hijack this thread
randomway – except that 20 inch is not too much if you are using PS or such.I was planning on upgrading my computer and moniter aswell. But I was thinking about the 20″ Dell Widescreen SIPS. Does this mean that I’d be wasting my time or what ? Bear in mind, I’m only starting out and it’ll be Elements 6 I’ll be using
If you’ve got a 6-bedroomed house, then a 4-bedroomed house isn’t much! It’s all relative! I’m using a 17″ CRT monitor at the moment so a 20″ monitor is a big step up for me. Sure, I’d love a 24″ monitor or even the lovely 30″ monitor that Dell have, which seems to be the bees knees. But here’s the thing – larger monitors like that cost a lot more, depreciate faster and take up more space. And I don’t live in front of my monitor either – I’d much rather be out shooting than post-processing and spend my money on faster lenses than bigger monitors! I’m taking a number of other factors into account in my monitor selection, as follows:
Buying a smaller more affordable monitor suits me better right now until I start earning some money again. If I find it really is too small for me, then it’s easy to just add another monitor of the same size and have a dual monitor setup – try doing that with a 24″ monitor and you could find yourself stuck for space and for money! The other thing is that LED monitors are starting to come on stream which are far superior to the current fluorescent monitors. They are still relatively expensive and few and far between but I don’t think it will take them too long to get a firm foothold in the digital imaging market. I’d much rather chuck out a €700.00 monitor to buy an LED monitor than throwing out a €1400.00 monitor! :wink:
So Thorsten, you reckon go for the glass 1st and then worry about the monitor again ?
I already posted in the beginners section about a shopping list I had. I won’t repeat it all but I’m just trying to find out what order to purchase stuff in ..
As in tripod, lenses, battery grip, flashgun, A4 printerGuys, armed with your excellent advice, the results of my labours :D are as follows:
System would be a Dell Inspiron 530 with Dual Core 2.67GHz, 4096GB RAM, 320 GB HDD, 256MB G/Card, for €779
combined with a
Viewsonic 19″ monitor (with S/PVA panel) for €272,
Total package is €1051.
It seems good, what do you think?
8)
dont do it ken. komplet is your friend
http://www.komplett.ie/k/cart.aspx €1039 for a better pc and no head aches form Dell
i posted this in an other post mabe u started also?
best package I could get on Komplett was €853 (without the monitor) against the Dell €779. It was called an Intel T180?
does the package you got include the right monitor (S-PVA panel?)
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sorry, i didn’t want to hurt anyones feelings with my comment on the 20 inch monitors. if the resolution is somewhere around 1600*1400, they are good. thinking about the future i wouldn’t buy a lower resolution monitor. i forked out the money for the 24″ because i spend my life in front of it… that’s just me
the bigger the better :) at the moment i have a 20acer wich i payed 485 euro for last year and i havnt seen a 24″ that can replace this on Looks and its 1680X1050 max
Thhis comes from Thorsten, he recommends a monitor based on an S-IPS panel as a first choice, with S-PVA as an alternative choice. Steer clear of TN panels as they are usually only 6-bit per colour and create the remaining colours through interpolation
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