Some thoughts on a few monitors

angus1000

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Jan 19, 2008
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At work I use a 24" Dell UltraSharp U2410 which is a pretty good monitor. Last weekend I went over to Micro Center to take a look at some 27" monitors. I wanted to see how much better I perceived the newer 27" monitors with 2560 x 1440 resolution to be over the u2410 (1920 x 1280).

Microcenter carries two display devices which operate at this higher resolution:


Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD ($1099.99)

27" Apple iMac line of computers


Both are 16:9 as opposed to my u2410 which is 16:10. The u2711 is twice the price as the u2410. I could definitely see better color detail in the newer u2711 which has a wider NTSC color gamut. However, I really wasn't that impressed overall.

The 27" iMac has a spectacular picture IMO. Later this year a 27" standalone monitor will be released for $999, making it cheaper than the Dell. Unfortunately the Apple monitor will only have a mini DisplayPort connector. It appears that Apple not only wants you to buy their new monitor but to buy a Mac along with it since many of them have the DisplayPort. It would be nice if the new monitor featured USB 3.0 ports instead of 2.0, in addition to some HDMI ports.

Lastly, I checked out the Hewlett-Packard 2710m 27" Widescreen Full HD LCD ($399.99) which was less than half the cost of the other 2 displays. I am partial to the glossy, under-glass look so this appealed to me. Despite having wider dot pitch and lower resolution, I'd still take it over the Dell.

I really hope some other monitor manufacturers will compete the 27" Apple display in the near future - IPS panel under glass. Does anyone have any information on such a product?

Thanks,
Angus


 

angus1000

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I will use this monitor for basically everything - surfing the web, e-mail, electronic project modeling, etc. I'm not a gamer though. At home I've got a CRT monitor. Yeah, I'm old school I know, but the color quality is much better than my 24" I have at work and it is great, just too small.

Just about all LCD monitors I've come across have a matte finish. Just wondering if there are going to be any 'glass' monitors with IPS or PVA panels any time soon - other than the Apple 27" which is coming.

-Angus