Originally posted by: talgtapp
It seems I finaly will be able to get a new LCD :-D
My price range is 700-800$
That will get me the Samsung SyncMaster 215TW or the Nec MultiSync LCD20WGX2 in Norway.
Are there any other good options in that range?
Hmmm....how much is the BenQ FP241W going for in Norway?
I'll be using it for all sorts of things but my choice will be made for the best monitor for graphic design work/photo adjustment. The monitor must be able to give correct RGB values, and emulate correct CMYK.
I'm not sure about the CMYK, but if they display RGB correctly they will be able to do the inverse (CMY). If you mean matching to a printer's color space, they will do it better than any other LCD I know of.
Do you guys know when we can expect consumer LED backlight models, I know samsung are releasing LED TVs now. I would hate getting a monitor now only to see the next gen hitting the market in a few weeks.
The Samsung SyncMaster XL20 is coming soon (
press release). However, it's going for $2000 US, which probably means even more in Norway.
From what I have read here you prefer the Nec over the Samsung. (Im a little pissed that the Nec went up 100$ the last few weeks (its more expensive than the samsung here).) But the reviews I've seen, especialy the one done by Tom's hardware made me a little sceptical. Like I said correct colour rendering is my top priority ( I don't have a colorimeter, but have some experience adjusting monitors, I would prefer to only do contrast/brightness adjustments.)
Both Tom's and X-Bit have measured a high black level (0.5 or higher). They must give out some pretty bad review units. I get 0.2 nits black level on mine, and another person I know of with a calibrator gets 0.25 on his. We both end up with about 600:1 contrast. I'm very shocked to say the least.
Most of the time THG and X-Bit's measurements agree, but now look at the response time. THG measures the NEC at twice the response time half the time. Scary, huh?
THG's settings don't make much sense to me either. Brightness at 60 on the NEC is not a good idea. Calibrated settings are more like 10 brightness/80 contrast. They seemed to have measured at an uncalibrated setting.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/20-21inch-2_15.html
All I can tell you is how good my own unit is though. I have absolutely no uniformity problems like THG experienced. It's the most uniform screen I've ever used.
I don't really trust THG's response time/overdrive ratings. They gave the VP930b (which I owned previously due to their great review) an A on the overshoot, but the 20WGX2 a C. Yet, from personal use and testing, the NEC is
much better than the VP930b here, which had horrible streaking on some transitions.
ExtremeTech's experiences with the 20WMGX2 seem much more in line with my own:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1945222,00.asp
I've never actually used the Samsung, but it's pretty clear the NEC is still superior in image quality (glossy/S-IPS/better gamma curve), response time, and input lag. My only peeve with the NEC is more screen-door-effect than I'm used to. If I sit back farther, that's remedied however. The Samsung may display dark tones better at uncalibrated/default settings.