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I'm looking to buy a monitor to plug my laptop into cos this screen isn't good enough for processing photos... but I'm lost.  I want flat screen, easy enough, around 19/20" is fine but what is all this TFT, DGM, DVI, OEM LCD?  What do I need?

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by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 12:19:46 PM EST
What's your budget?
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 12:39:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No more than 150 quid really.

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by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 12:50:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, the 20" Apple Cinema display, which is meant to be ok, is £399. Even allowing for a pretty big Apple tax I'm not sure you're going to get anything great for less than half that. This might be of use for finding out what you're looking out for, but I haven't shopped for a monitor in a long time and can't recommend anything.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 01:02:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
urgh, don't like the sound of that!
Hmm. I can be persuaded to spend more so long as it comes well recommended.  Wondering how much use that a cheaper screen is if I buy a colour calibrator too. I've not noticed any photo mags talk about monitors actually.

Should have thought of this on friday for the ask the experts thread. Thanks for the link.

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by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 01:11:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Geezer just bought a new monitor which he loves. I think it was quite expensive.

Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 01:19:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 01:14:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Of course there are lots of options to explore out there, but the point of that link is that it gives you a sense of the price range.
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 01:18:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks :)

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by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 01:34:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Don't expect a calibrator to fix bad colour, because it won't. The limit is set by the overall colour range, and if that's too narrow you'll get a washed out look with some colours missing at the edges.

Also, the really cheap calibrators are a total waste of space.

And if you need one, I can always lend you mine for a day or three.

There's no easy answer with monitors. You really need to spend around £300 to start getting reasonable-but-not-great colour at a good resolution.

For comparison, the ones used by colour professionals cost £1500 and upwards for a 19". £3000 for a 21" wouldn't be unusual.

Yikes.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 02:13:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
* cries *

300 I can just about stretch to but I can't justify super pro status ones.  I need to get a new external hard drive too so I thought about pushing for a monitor as well. I've got to spend the money at some point on this, and my expenses have just come through so there's a bit of slack in my finances this month.

Once my thesis amendments are sorted I'm setting up my light table so I want a decent screen to work with, especially on macro stuff.

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by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 02:39:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Only the super pros can justify the super pro status ones. I certainly can't.

Dells have a surprisingly good reputation. The 2208WFP is £258 inc VAT, and is 22" at 1680 x 1050.

There's a cheaper 22" but the colours on that will be mediocre.

The HP w2408h has good colour at 24" for £300 or so.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 02:50:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks, I'll take a peek at those.

Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 03:03:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
try one of these they're a good make and should be reasonable for what you want

you'll probably need a vga connector to fit the socket on your laptop.

the important letters are TFT or LCD those say its a flatscreen, the DVI says what type of connector it has, you probably need one that has VGA or DVI/VGA there

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Mon May 12th, 2008 at 02:06:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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