Has anyone ever used a "high end" LCD monitor?

[justin]

Here are a couple reviews of a 24" EIZO, which you can get for around $2400 (about 3x the price of Apple's 23" and 4-5x the price of popular Dells/etc)

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/09/16/eizo-coloredge-cg241w-high-end-monitor/

http://www.macuser.co.uk/macuser/reviews/129056/eizo-coloredge-cg241w.html

excerpt:

It's the underlying circuitry that makes the CG241W special. The display performs internal image processing at 16-bit with a 12-bit lookup table. To put this into perspective, most mainstream 24in panels use PVA technology with 8-bit colour, and cheap TN displays use 6-bit colour dithered to 8-bit. So in theory, the Eizo's much higher processing enables it to discern many more shades of grey and colour, which is clearly what you want if you are a design professional or you use scientific or medical applications.

Eizo quotes a gamut coverage of 98% sRGB and 96% Adobe RGB. Most everyday panels offer only 72% of the sRGB gamut, and even the latest wide-gamut technology increases this to just 92%, so the Eizo is well beyond the norm.

pricey though

[hYdrociTy]

My friend in animation told me about those. He got a 21 inch one at b&h not too long ago and was thrilled. Now I want one to replace my lacie, if it's really that much better..

[bhd812]

unless you do serious photo/video work on the pc that Monitor is useless. most people want size and decent video quality..$500 for a 32 inch 720p lcd hdtv.

$2400 is almost my entire computer rig..

[slwiser]

I am quite happy with my 24" dell widescreen.

[Dusty Chalk]

I bet videophiles who watch on their screen would want it also.

[Ben Gramain]

I bought a couple of the Coloredges out of curiosity. In addition to that I have the Apple 23" and 30" monitors, and the Dell 24, 24HC, 27, 30, and 30HC monitors. I'm a regular user for the most part, and the imaging stuff I do (mostly review and bitch about product, engineering and architectural schematics and mockups) is more dependent on image quality than colour accuracy - I don't do any print work. The short and curlies of it is that IMO the Eizos are absolutely not worth it unless your colour matching needs are critical.

[hYdrociTy]

I bought a couple of the Coloredges out of curiosity. In addition to that I have the Apple 23" and 30" monitors, and the Dell 24, 24HC, 27, 30, and 30HC monitors. I'm a regular user for the most part, and the imaging stuff I do (mostly review and bitch about product, engineering and architectural schematics and mockups) is more dependent on image quality than colour accuracy - I don't do any print work. The short and curlies of it is that IMO the Eizos are absolutely not worth it unless your colour matching needs are critical.

Which apple ones did you use? I have a 20 inch apple cinema displays (the adc ones) as well as a lacie electronblue III crt monitor with gm eye one for calibration, and was wondering how you felt the eizos were compared to the apple ones which seemed to me (when I bought it) to more or less the best lcd's within reasonable price limits. Of course if the eizo's are so advanced that their color comes very near to my lacie crt then I would definitely be on the watch and buy one come time to buy computer stuff.

[Ben Gramain]

I didn't have any experience with the ADC models. All of mine are the newer aluminium Cinema Displays. Since I got rid of some early 2006 23" and 30"s my oldest Apple monitors are now mid-2006.

As I hinted critical colour matching is a complete irrelevance to me and I bought the Coloredges with a view to see if these offered better image quality than the Dell or Apple. They don't, or at least not to a noticeable level.

[iceman94]

I do photography semi-professionally on the side- most people just stick with the standard OEM stuff (that includes Apple, they're not special). I probably can't talk because I do stuff on a laptop to be printed on fishwrap, so the professionals I know are AP guys and the like, but even most quality, knowledgeable advanced amateurs I've come across on forums (who are more likely to blow money on gear than pros) stick with "regular" monitors.

Instead, spend a couple hundred on a hardware monitor calibration solution. I cannot emphasize enough the difference calibration makes. The Eizo is worthless without being calibrated- there goes your $2400. Seriously, I can't work on uncalibrated displays anymore, and find them tiring even for simple stuff like web. I'd probably even calibrate a non-photo machine, now that I know the difference.

[tkam]

Sorry haven't used any of the high-end lcd's but I've been happy with my Dell 24"

[philodox]

Crazy monitorphiles!

[n_maher]

Instead, spend a couple hundred on a hardware monitor calibration solution.

Any recommendations?

[grawk]

Amazon.com: ColorVision Spyder2PRO Win/Mac: Windows & Macintosh: Electronics

When I was into photography, I saw the various spyder products recommended a lot.

[hYdrociTy]

gretagmacbeth eye-one

[iceman94]

Any recommendations?

Haven't been paying attention for a long while, but I'm satisfied with the Monaco I have. Don't know how it compares, just got it at the time (3-4 years ago) because it could do multiple monitors.

[laxx]

I have a Spyder2Pro sitting on my desk at home. =T

[Iron_Dreamer]

The stats on this monitor put my jaw on the floor: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article784-page1.html

Just wait until the technology matures even more!

[Edwood]

Meh. Can't draw directly on any of those screens.

[Edwood]

you could with the right marker.

Hmmm. True. I have a couple of dry erase markers. And a couple of sharpies, if I'm trying them out in the store....