Please help me find a good compromise monitor

[jhumur]

Hi,

I'm in the process of building a Sandy Bridge system. I have a handle on the components (I think, hehe). But, the selection of a monitor has become a challenge. I am looking in the 23-24 inch size range, and under $500-700. Here's the dilemma:

I will will be using this computer to do heavy-duty photo editing, so color accuracy is important to me. On the other hand, my son will end up using it for gaming (WoW, Starcraft II, and a FPS once in a while.) So, I am looking for a good compromise. I'll eventually build a graphics workstation for myself, but for a while this one system will be the workhorse.

I have put together a tentative list of panels I think would be good. They're all IPS, or variations of it.

Here's what I've got so far:

ASUS ML239H 23"
ASUS PA246Q Black 24"
Dell UltraSharp U2311H 23"
HP ZR24w 24''
HP LP2475w 24"
LG E2370V-BF 23"
NEC Display Solutions EA231WMI 23" (LED Backlighting)
LG IPS226V-PN 22"
LG E2370V-BF 23" (LED Backlighting)
NEC Display Solutions EA231WMI 23"
NEC Display Solutions EA232WMi 23" (same as EA231WMi but w/ LED Backlighting)
ViewSonic VP2365WB 23"

I was wondering if you guys could chime in and give me some feedback- personal experience, acquired knowledge, opinion, anything that would help to guide me. On the flip side, I might be persuaded to buy a good TN monitor that is "close enough" to an IPS monitor, knowing that in a year or so, I'll have a workstation for myself.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Timop]

I would say get the ML239, for $210 shipped its at a great price, and i think it uses the same panel as the LG E2370, which is actually pretty nice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236122&cm_re=ml239-_-24-236-122-_-Product

FYI, A problem with the Dells (and LG, as I have heard) is an aggressively annoying AG coating.

 

[mk-ultra]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236066 is what i have it is awsome

 

[jhumur]

I would say get the ML239, for $210 shipped its at a great price, and i think it uses the same panel as the LG E2370, which is actually pretty nice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236122&cm_re=ml239-_-24-236-122-_-Product

FYI, A problem with the Dells (and LG, as I have heard) is an aggressively annoying AG coating.

Yes, Timop, I have heard rumblings of the overly aggressive AG coatings on the Dells, didn't know the LGs suffered from the same problem. In fact, I was getting all excited about the Dell Ultrasharp U2311H until I read a post where the OP was not at all happy about that coating. Can someone shed some light on this? What is the problem with the coating? It clearly doesn't affect the functionality or image quality of the monitor; so, what is real issues?

 

[jhumur]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236066 is what i have it is awsome

Hi, mk-utra, thanks for your input. Have you done any gaming on it? Do you notice any ghosting?

 

[mk-ultra]

Yes, Timop, I have heard rumblings of the overly aggressive AG coatings on the Dells, didn't know the LGs suffered from the same problem. In fact, I was getting all excited about the Dell Ultrasharp U2311H until I read a post where the OP was not at all happy about that coating. Can someone shed some light on this? What is the problem with the coating? It clearly doesn't affect the functionality or image quality of the monitor; so, what is real issues?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzpx526WFvs heres a review. If you notice there is not hdmi connecter cable.

 

[mk-ultra]

Hi, mk-utra, thanks for your input. Have you done any gaming on it? Do you notice any ghosting?

Sense my current set up does not have a decent graphics card, i have played combat arms and soldier front. Everything refeshes really fast and no there is no ghosting that i can tell. The monitor came with no dead pixels either, overall it is a very well priced monitor thats worth your money.

 

[Timop]

Yes, Timop, I have heard rumblings of the overly aggressive AG coatings on the Dells, didn't know the LGs suffered from the same problem. In fact, I was getting all excited about the Dell Ultrasharp U2311H until I read a post where the OP was not at all happy about that coating. Can someone shed some light on this? What is the problem with the coating? It clearly doesn't affect the functionality or image quality of the monitor; so, what is real issues?

I haven't used those models personally, but from my other AG coated displays it should be the haze you get around each pixel which translates into "sparkles" with the black space around the pixels themselves.

The response times of modern IPS displays is still 8ms IIRC, so I doubt it would be great for hardcore FPS with a high-end system. Then again, an cheap TN is only like $150.

 

[mk-ultra]

I haven't used those models personally, but from my other AG coated displays it should be the haze you get around each pixel which translates into "sparkles" with the black space around the pixels themselves.

The response times of modern IPS displays is still 8ms IIRC, so I doubt it would be great for hardcore FPS with a high-end system. Then again, an cheap TN is only like $150.

The monitor i was referring to has a 5ms IIRC

 

[Timop]

The monitor i was referring to has a 5ms IIRC

Which is perfectly normal if not a little high for a TN panel, like the one you linked.

 

[jhumur]

thank you Timop and mk-ultra, for your valuable input!

 

[mk-ultra]

thank you Timop and mk-ultra, for your valuable input!

Your very welcome

 

[jgr_bgpc]

I do a lot of photo editing on an NEC P221W as well as a NEC LCD2490WUXi2.

If the latter fits in your budget, I would highly recommend it - the color accuracy (especially after calibration) is fantastic. The former is quite excellent as well - especially for the price.

 

[mk-ultra]

I do a lot of photo editing on an NEC P221W as well as a NEC LCD2490WUXi2.

If the latter fits in your budget, I would highly recommend it - the color accuracy (especially after calibration) is fantastic. The former is quite excellent as well - especially for the price.

Although i'm sure that both those monitors are good I believe that he was looking for something a little less expensive.

 

[jgr_bgpc]

In the OP I read "under 500-700" for the monitor.

They can be had for $350 and $650 respectively. Hard to spend less for heavy photo applications.

As a side note, careful with LED backlighting. A lot of the lesser expensive LED backlit monitors use WLED (vs the oft more expensive RGBLED) which ends up being far less accurate on color than is worth it for the other LED benefits.

 

[jhumur]

I do a lot of photo editing on an NEC P221W as well as a NEC LCD2490WUXi2.

If the latter fits in your budget, I would highly recommend it - the color accuracy (especially after calibration) is fantastic. The former is quite excellent as well - especially for the price.

Thank you JGR_BGPC. I wasn't aware of these monitors. If I can get them for around $500, I would be interested. And, yes, I am shying away from any monitors with LED backlighting. As you said, they use the WLED light sources, and that has a detrimental effect on color.

 

[jhumur]

Best answer selected by jhumur.

 

[BADGJ31]

Which monitor did you end up choosing? I'm in the same boat and trying to decide between the LG IPS226V-PN, ASUS ML239H, or the Dell U2311H.

Can't pull the trigger on anything right now because I can't find any to physically see for myself (Best Buy guys don't even know what IPS is!).

EDIT: Also, while I've seen many people complain about theoretical color concerns with W-LED, I've yet to see any review of a WLED monitor state such a problem (especially after calibration?). It looks like the IPS226V vs. U2311H (with CCFL backlighting) was saying that the IPS226V was slightly better than the Dell for color reproduction if there was any difference at all - mostly due to the better contrast ratio. Does anyone have any direct evidence of WLED backlighting causing a visible difference in color reproduction?