New Monitor

Visit the coffee shop for a general chat about anything....

New Monitor

Postby RuaridhM » Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:25 am

I’m thinking of upgrading my monitor, mainly to give myself some more screen space for photo editing, and I’d be interested to hear which features of monitors other folk find useful, and which less useful or a waste of time.

Other than photo editing, I use the computer for the usual e-mail, calendar, etc., web browsing, word processing, occasional spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, reading PDFs – but not gaming!

So, for example:
Are more pixels better? Even if so, there’s probably a limit? Is it worth going for a 4k screen?
Aspect ratio: 4:3, 16:9, 21:9?
Size: There’s probably a limit before it becomes awkward to use?
Refresh rate?
Technology: IPS, VA, …?

I’ll probably keep my existing monitor as a second screen.
I hope to join Tuesday evening’s Zoom Photo Café, and chat about monitors there, too.
User avatar
RuaridhM
Club Secretary
 
Posts: 268
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:01 am

Re: New Monitor

Postby rogerb » Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:47 pm

I recently bought a BenQ SW2700PT, from Wex, which I am happy with. It is aimed at people for whom colour accuracy is important, and is cheaper than many monitors that, according to reviewers, are of similar quality. I decided that a 27” screen was worthwhile. It only goes to 2560x1440 resolution (not 4K or 5K), but has an IPS display and covers the whole of the AdobeRGB colour space. Resolution matters to a certain extent, but especially if you are trying to control how pictures will look on your printer or on a calibrated projector, the ability to reproduce colours reliably is probably more important. There is no point in using a Spyder or other calibration method if the monitor is not going to display colours consistently. It seemed a good compromise between price and features. It even has a hood to prevent reflections.

There are lots of features I don’t use. For example, there is a puck, with buttons to change the colour space it uses from AdobeRGB to sRGB or mono, but I have never known when I should want to use it.

But I am sure others will have different opinions and it will be interesting to see what other advice you are offered.
rogerb
 
Posts: 555
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 1:21 pm

Re: New Monitor

Postby mattd » Sat Jun 27, 2020 6:40 pm

I bought one of these off amazon early in lockdown to hook up to my work laptop (as they insist on using compact ones with a 14" screen, so I plug into a larger monitor when at work anyway)

Dell S2319H 23 Inch IPS LED-backlit Ultrathin 2019 Monitor

Very pleased, I believe the rich colour offered by the IPS is excellent, calibrated ok with my spider too. I did not go larger as I know I'm going to sit relatively close and believe in unless you are going to go 4K then further size increases are just increasing pixel size, fine if you have a nice big desk but if you've just room for a keyboard in front of the monitor I think its better to go smaller - that's just a personal opinion though. Like it so much I'm tempted to get a second for dual monitor setup, but I need to arrange a bigger desk first!
User avatar
mattd
 
Posts: 507
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2013 9:45 am
Location: malvern


Return to Coffee shop

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron