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two crummy monitors or one nice one

R

Rafalski24

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 27, 2009
100
0
Denver, CO
Alright so in the somewhat near future I am going to be getting a Mac Pro, and I had a very nice Samsung 245t monitor! unfortunately it died today, leaving me with a useless hackintosh :mad: Well I will need a new monitor for the Mac Pro so i was thinking you can get a 24" TN panel for about $250 which means it wouldn't be too ridiculous to get two of them. Or for about the same price (maybe a little less) I could get something like the 2048wfp by dell or something like that which is certainly a nicer monitor. What are your opinions?I will be doing quite a bit of FCP editing and Photoshop work.
 
one nicer one. then you can save up a little more money for a second monitor if you want. you really only need one color-correct monitor.
 
I think it really depends on what you'd like to do with them or on them...

For example, if you're a web developer, using a colour matched monitor would be kinda pointless
(besides the output looking good at your end) everyone else surfing the site will probably not have a 'color-corrected' display.
 
One good one. I would go with an HP LP2475W, a Dell 2209WA at least (haven't gotten a good gander at the 2410U yet), and personally I'm looking for another DS-263N for a dual setup (to add onto my current one).

But depends on what you're doing. If you aren't doing colour correction, or anything with colour in general, it probably doesn't matter. However -
Macinposh said:
This is like asking if you should have two crappy and whiny girlfriends instead of one awesome chick.
Click to expand...
- this guy has a major point :D
 
One nice one, no contest. Hell, I'd rather have one nice one than 2 nice ones, never been a fan of multiple monitors. I'd rather have one huge one.
 
Get a nice one AND a crummy one. Use the crummy one as your operations (starting up programs, changing settings etc...) monitor and the nice one as the viewing (web surfing, application ouput etc...) monitor .

That's what I do. In Indesign I have the outcome of what the book will look like in the nice monitor and all the buttons and menus in the crummy one with the exception of the tool bar which is right next to the page layout in the nice monitor. So in the end when I need to view stuff I have more real estate and I don't have the dock and any menu bars in the way.
 
Personally I really like the Samsung 2343 bwx.. It has a very high DPI resolution... I have one next to my Dell 3007wfp-HC and it appears to have a better image.... Best of all.. it's super cheap.

The image and black levels really give it a non-glossy CRT feel.
 
handheldgames said:
Personally I really like the Samsung 2343 bwx.. It has a very high DPI resolution... I have one next to my Dell 3007wfp-HC and it appears to have a better image.... Best of all.. it's super cheap.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have a couple of these (plus a few others ;)) and they are pretty great for the price. My 20" Apple Cinema Display from 2004 still looks better, though. Viewing angle on the recent Samsungs hasn't been that great.
 
I got a refurb Dell S2409W for $180 and I love it. Of course, I just wanted a decent monitor at a decent price. In the end, all I wanted was a 1080p monitor with HDMI and DVI. It works and looks fine to me.
 
One nice one. :)

It should be better on your eyes, and if you're going to have both systems, IIRC, it can allow the user to switch between inputs. Worst case, you'd need a KVM switch to do it (easier and less clutter, as you wouldn't need to use separate mouse/keyboard).
 
Let me re-phrase your question:

Would you rather have a Ferrari Enzo or 2 Ford Mustangs?

IDK about you, but I take the Ferrari. If you have to ask which is better, the benefits of having two "crummy" monitors probably doesn't apply to you.
 
I say get two cheap ones!

I looked and looked and then looked some more and the two $250 TN 24" panels I bought compared to single $800 ~ $4,000 panels, I think are a way better deal. Had I an $8,000 budget (which I did at the time) I would choose the $250 TN panels (which I did) again in a heartbeat.

Wanna know the difference in image quality? Almost nothing at all!

  1. Unless you bob your heard all over the place while you use your computer then the viewing angle is not an issue at all. Sit 80cm ~ 1m from your current monitor, hold an A4 sheet of paper in landscape orientation to your nose (center). Freeze the paper there in space and that's where you can position your head without color-shift. Guess what, an $800 monitor is the same although a $2,000 monitor will be very much less and a $4,000 monitor will have none at all (generally speaking).

  2. Now to the business of 6-bit vs 8-bit. 6-bit displays can and do cause banding in subtle gradients over large screen areas. This is noticeable almost exclusively in computer generated monochrome spreads. In photographs for example this limitation shows it's ugly head in about one in 500 of my images and it's almost always a cloudless bleak sky. There is no humanly perceivable difference between a 8-bit and a 10-bit monitor - None, zero, zilch! ;)

  3. The last issue is maybe the biggest issue but is generally only noticeable when the brightness is improperly adjusted and the computer is turned off (while the monitor is left on) - and that's uneven back-lighting. This can sometimes show up in very dark movie scenes as well but during Photo, Video, and all other work in any other applications I've never noticed it at all in two years - and I look for these things constantly.

Almost all monitors under $2,000 exhibit problems 1 and 3 to some degree or another and are equally as noticeable under the same given conditions. I never looked at LED back-lit models; they may not have problem #3, I dunno. None of these problems exist in the $4,000 and up monitors so for me it became a choice of $4,000 or $250 with no middle ground needing to be considered at all. Generally speaking, if I needed to work on studio quality customer stills for print, hollywood feature film grade FX, or vector illustrations for magazines and manuals all day every day for a living, I would go for the $4,000. Otherwise I would get the $250 monitors every time.

All prices and considerations are given a 24" monitor. Mine are the LG Flatron L246WH TN monitors. I use two of them and what really makes the whole set-up work well is the $50 stand I bought for them:

31OTKhsdE6L.jpg

31tzXRIykwL.jpg


BTW, I can't work with only one monitor. It sucks ass! I've been using dual monitors 21" CRTs or 24" LCDs for the past 15 years or so. I hate single monitor setups unless it's dedicated exclusively for watching movies and TV shows.

On a side note here's some of my photography if you're interested:

  1. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/705144
  2. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/749935
  3. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/803748
  4. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/706071
  5. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/704450
  6. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/703714
  7. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/700440
  8. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/700113
  9. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/700345
  10. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/700137
  11. http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/700696
 
i'm looking at replacing my CRT finally and looking into one good display first. wish i had caught a deal on a refurbished NEC 24" IPS but oh well. think i'm going with the HP 24 inch LP2475w. photographer btw.
 
I'd go with dual monitors as well i mean the more screen estate the better. but if youre a photographer like tessy, i'd say get only one with a great color def. ( I still have my matte 23" apple display, still blows ppls heads away, best monitor ive ever had)

but heck get 2 monitors and save up for something big. I MEAN BIG.

then youll have 3 monitors that you can use to <enter what you do here>.
 
you obviously can't be that serious about photoshop work if you're asking whether to get a good display or a bad display (even if 2 of them)
 
Get 2 TN panels. This is my setup. If you're viewing the monitors from a fixed angle (like 99% of computer users), then the price difference is not worth it.

I have dual dell 248WFP's and couldn't be happier. Bought them for like $240 CDN each, brand new, off ebay.

workspacesmall.jpg
 
ManiG said:
Get 2 TN panels. This is my setup. If you're viewing the monitors from a fixed angle (like 99% of computer users), then the price difference is not worth it.

I have dual dell 248WFP's and couldn't be happier. Bought them for like $240 CDN each, brand new, off ebay.

workspacesmall.jpg
Click to expand...

NICE setup. I'm jealous.
 
Definitely a nice one, then later on when you have the money you can add a 2nd nice monitor. :)

I strongly believe that monitors are the most important part of your desktop setup as it easily outlives any desktop machines especially now that the 24" LED ACDs use LED backlighting. Oh and the screen is the part of the computer that you stare at every time you use your mac pro.
 
Let's see. You're doing video editing and photoshop work, where color is presumably at least somewhat important. At the very least, quality is going to be important.

Kind of a no-brainer. You're doing graphic work, so you want a consistent graphic display, not colors that shift at the edge of your screen.

It's more important for you to have one consistent, high quality screen than two color-shifting, dithering TN panels.

Get a PVA or IPS panel. They're cheaper now than they ever have been before, so it's definitely the right choice. Ultrasharp 2408s are dropping rapidly in price so soon you could get two of them.

I use a 25.5" H-IPS display and then I bought a used 20" NEC IPS display; it was definitely worth it. Consistent color is important if you're to trust your displays.

Additionally, why would you spend all that money on a Mac Pro and then cheap out on display? It doesn't make sense. The display is at the center of the work you say you're doing.
 
get the dell 2209wa, they are $289US each so stretch your budget and get 2. Or you could probably get another one later down the road when they put it on sale, They've gone for near $200CAD on sale before I believe.
Great non-TN panels and a very solid and professional looking bezel and stand.
 
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