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Help Finding a New Monitor!

383 views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Mullinz 
#1 ·
So after having fun messing around and gaming with my surround setup for a few years I find myself tiring of the hassles that come with it. I know that I am set on a 30 inch monitor with a 2560x1600 res. I know many of you will suggest the korean 27 inchers, but I don't mind spending more for quality assurance and warranty, and I'm really set with the 30 inch size. I'm mainly going to be using this monitor for coding, gaming, and light photoshop work. I don't play hardcore fps games or anything so response time is not as important to me as image quality. My budget if I was to buy one now would be anywhere between 1000-1500, but if I waited awhile to buy it I'd be willing to spend more.

I know many of these 4k monitors might be coming out this year and they are enticing, but most of the prices just seem absurd and information on them is sparse. So I was just wondering what people might suggest apart from the U3011 or U3014.

Thanks for taking the time to read!
 
#2 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mullinz View Post

So after having fun messing around and gaming with my surround setup for a few years I find myself tiring of the hassles that come with it. I know that I am set on a 30 inch monitor with a 2560x1600 res. I know many of you will suggest the korean 27 inchers, but I don't mind spending more for quality assurance and warranty, and I'm really set with the 30 inch size. I'm mainly going to be using this monitor for coding, gaming, and light photoshop work. I don't play hardcore fps games or anything so response time is not as important to me as image quality. My budget if I was to buy one now would be anywhere between 1000-1500, but if I waited awhile to buy it I'd be willing to spend more.

I know many of these 4k monitors might be coming out this year and they are enticing, but most of the prices just seem absurd and information on them is sparse. So I was just wondering what people might suggest apart from the U3011 or U3014.

Thanks for taking the time to read!
Can't really go wrong with the U3011 and U3014.
This one has some good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/HP-ZR30w-30-inch-S-IPS-Monitor/dp/B003RBNMJA
I have no experience with the one I just linked though.
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#3 ·
Yeah I reckon 4k will stay extremely expensive for quite a while. Be careful with ZR30w, I believe it's wide gamut and has no srgb mode, so you'll forever have bogus colours and there'll be no way to fix it since you can't just calibrate that out in the video card.

u3011 or u3014 seems the ticket, given what you said about not feeling comfortable with Koreans. You can buy squaretrade warranties on them though, and the Crossover 3020MDP looks interesting.
 
#4 ·
As long as you don't play CS or any other fast-pace game, go with the Dell dispays that you suggested. I honestly haven't heard of the U3014, though. Also, HP make some 30 inchers... The ZR30W, namely. These are the two real contendors in the market. This thread should help you make the decision:
http://www.overclock.net/t/921698/dell-u3011-or-hp-zr30w

In a nutshell, if you want the display that better for gaming but less suited for graphics, Go for the HP. Also the HP is quite a lot cheaper
If you want a display that's better suited for graphics, go for the Dell. Not only does it have a OSD/Scaler, it also has a "pixel perfect" warranty which ensures a new display if your display has any dead pixels.

Hope this helped.
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#5 ·
All great suggestions and I appreciate all of them! I guess I just was curious also about the quality of other brands out there, including the 30 Inch koreans(which seem to be difficult to get information on). Also according to Sharp they are bringing out a new 4k monitor this month yet there's hardly any information on it. Information on these things should be easier to find!
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#6 ·
Yeah, the issue with the 3020MDP and the reason I didn't take a punt on one is I couldn't find anyone who could say whether or not it has an SRGB mode. All 30 inch displays that I'm aware of are 10 bit panels (wide gamut) which unless the only use you have for the thing is photo editing in a true 10 bit workflow (ie. a fully colour controlled flow from monitor to print output) is basically useless - nothing else will look right on it (games, web pages, the desktop etc.).

All "bypass" monitors (with no OSD, often preferred because they have lower input lag because there's no electronics in the way doing any processing to slow things down) will be unable to emulate srgb. That's fine with bypass 27" monitors like crossovers, because their panels are natively 8-bit, so there's no need to emulate anything. With the 30" monitors though, all the panels are 10 bit so the bypass versions are useless for anything other than photo editing in a fully colour managed workflow.

The ZR30W falls into this category - it's a wide gamut display without an OSD and hence has no SRGB emulation mode - ie. useless for 99% of normal computer usage (but doubtless extremely good at what it's designed to do).

For the 3020MDP, I couldn't verify one way or the other - no-one here seems to have one yet. It does have an OSD and multi-inputs, which suggests it quite likely has an SRGB mode, but whether it works well or not is another question, so someone will have to get one and calibrate it, then look at the gamut obtained to see if it can properly display srgb colours.

For normal usage, you either need a natively 8-bit (SRGB) display, or you need a 10 bit display that has a proper SRGB emulation mode that works properly. If you're dead set on a 30" rather than a 27", that means no native 8 bit monitors available so you need a monitor that properly emulates srgb. The dell u3011 is known to have a proper working srgb mode, which is why I'd recommend it, it's also reasonably priced compared to the NEC etc. alternatives.

By the way, you should also be aware that there are no 30" monitors available that don't have an antiglare coating. AG coatings cut down the detail visible on the monitor, and most people dislike them. I am somewhat ambivalent about them, but at the moment I am using glossy monitors and don't see myself changing back - as long as you can exercise some control over light sources behind you so as to cut down on reflections, glossy does look much better.
 
#7 ·
Yeah I am aware of the AG coating. Although in the most ideal settings I'd probably prefer glossy, I currently use my 2410's daily and their coating isn't much of an issue for me. I just wish there were more options when it comes to 30 inch displays as after seeing the comparison between a 30 in and a 27 inch in person the real estate is just too enticing on a 30 inch monitor.
 
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