[Retired] The LCD Thread

[ClockHound]

Shipping costs shouldn't be excessive and shipping time can be as fast as overnight. FedEx comes here too. Why not email a few of the Canuck sites and find out?

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: xtknight

<some text snipped to keep size down>

There's the Planar PX2611W. This is far from "as good" though. I hear that the UI is clunky and the uniformity is poor. But it's at least an S-IPS wide gamut panel with reasonably decent properties.

I recommend picking up the 275T personally. No reason the break the bank unless you really need to.

I think most of the Eizos are not wide gamut, and besides they are expensive and hard to find. Many are also still VA panels. With new LED or whatever-else panels on the horizon, save your money and get the 275T.

xtknight:

While trying to decide on a 26-27" LCD, I was looking at prices. These are Newegg prices (except for dell), so other places may be a little cheaper.

Planar 26" : 970
Samsung 275T: 1040
Dell 2707: 995
Dell 3007: 1190

I'm thinking that the dell 3007 would be better for me, just looking at the price differential. If you can find a 10% dell coupon, the 3007 will only be ~$100 more then the other 26-27" options.

It's got a S-IPS panel, wide-gamut colors, and low input lag. Since it won't be used for TV or console gaming, the lack of inputs other then DVI isn't an issue, and since I'm not a hardcore gamer, the low FPS shouldn't be as big of a problem. I've got a 8800GT, so for most games, it would seem that I can run at native res (of course, I won't be playing Crysis! Plus I can always run a lower res if I need to) But for desktop use, and photo editing, I would get that HUGE resolution to spread everything out.

Any thoughts? This seems to be a good deal, if you have a good video card to drive it.

Thanks

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: siik

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: siik
i have a 19" DELL 1905FP .. and honestly for gaming i think it's fine .. i want to upgrade to a 22" widescreen .. seeing as how this bad boy is 20ms .. if i can get my hands on a samsung 226cw for cheap .. will i be making a bad mistake? i do photoshop + gaming (MMO's/CS) on this monitor.

Using Photoshop on a 226CW (wide gamut) could be a mistake unless you don't really care about color accuracy that much. It'll be more vibrant and if you're doing stuff for the web, it will end up looking dim on standard sRGB screens (unless you use Photoshop's proof features, but I don't know how well these work).

You should probably stick to the LG L226WTQ or ViewSonic VX2255wmb.

okay thanks for the LG model .. on newegg it only shows up LG L226WTY-BF .. is that not the same?

actually nevermind i found it. compusa.com has this on sale for 279.99 after $50 instant rebate .. but i thought they ran out of business and closed up shop? anyone know if their online is still around? http://www.compusa.com/product...t=&cm_pla=&cm_ite=feed

CompUSA closed half of their brick/mortar locations I think (including one near me). Online they should still be fine.

Besides, even if they were, they'd be obligated to follow through on orders until they took down their shopping cart/order scripts...

L226WTQ is exact same as L226WTY to my knowledge. Definitely a safe bet. Different might be something small like included cables but I've heard it's just a different model # to avoid price matching brick/mortar-based vs online-only.

 

[RobberBaron]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: siik

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: siik
i have a 19" DELL 1905FP .. and honestly for gaming i think it's fine .. i want to upgrade to a 22" widescreen .. seeing as how this bad boy is 20ms .. if i can get my hands on a samsung 226cw for cheap .. will i be making a bad mistake? i do photoshop + gaming (MMO's/CS) on this monitor.

Using Photoshop on a 226CW (wide gamut) could be a mistake unless you don't really care about color accuracy that much. It'll be more vibrant and if you're doing stuff for the web, it will end up looking dim on standard sRGB screens (unless you use Photoshop's proof features, but I don't know how well these work).

You should probably stick to the LG L226WTQ or ViewSonic VX2255wmb.

okay thanks for the LG model .. on newegg it only shows up LG L226WTY-BF .. is that not the same?

actually nevermind i found it. compusa.com has this on sale for 279.99 after $50 instant rebate .. but i thought they ran out of business and closed up shop? anyone know if their online is still around? http://www.compusa.com/product...t=&cm_pla=&cm_ite=feed

CompUSA closed half of their brick/mortar locations I think (including one near me). Online they should still be fine.

Besides, even if they were, they'd be obligated to follow through on orders until they took down their shopping cart/order scripts...

L226WTQ is exact same as L226WTY to my knowledge. Definitely a safe bet. Different might be something small like included cables but I've heard it's just a different model # to avoid price matching brick/mortar-based vs online-only.

Actually CompUSA is done sometime mid next year or sooner.

Here is some linkage:

http://www.fudzilla.com/index....=view&id=4634&Itemid=5
http://www.fudzilla.com/index....=view&id=4719&Itemid=5
http://www.fudzilla.com/index....=view&id=4750&Itemid=5

 

[RobberBaron]

Friend of mine was saying Samsung's panel lottery was over. Anyone know any truth to this?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: DoctorM
I've managed to put off my monitor replacement thus far in hopes of something new and exciting presenting itself... but that doesn't seem to be the case.

It's starting to look like this display isn't much longer for this world, so what is the current least sucky lcd?

The 20wmgx2 would be ideal if it were a) a bit bigger and b) available.

To be clear a TN panel is out. I can't put up with 6-bit color, small viewing angles, or backlight bleeding (ok that's not exclusive to TN's but it is to cheaper panels I suppose).

I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't have any magical powers. Summon VA panels...summon IPS panels... Nothing.

If you're not looking for a widescreen the HP LP2065 and ViewSonic VP2030b are possibilities.

Otherwise, there's the NEC LCD2490WUXi. I'm sure you'd be happy with that, but it's just a tad expensive. If you're dead-set on IPS it's the only 24" choice. I don't even think any 23" IPS panels exist anymore, either.

The best idea would be to get a ViewSonic VX2435wm. Roughly the same price as you'd be willing to pay for the NEC, at least, and it's a high quality VA panel.

 

[DoctorM]

I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't have any magical powers. Summon VA panels...summon IPS panels... Nothing.

If you're not looking for a widescreen the HP LP2065 and ViewSonic VP2030b are possibilities.

Otherwise, there's the NEC LCD2490WUXi. I'm sure you'd be happy with that, but it's just a tad expensive. If you're dead-set on IPS it's the only 24" choice. I don't even think any 23" IPS panels exist anymore, either.

The best idea would be to get a ViewSonic VX2435wm. Roughly the same price as you'd be willing to pay for the NEC, at least, and it's a high quality VA panel.

I'm not entirely sure that helped.
What are the pros and cons on these?
Btw, 22" (wide) is acceptable but I get the impression they've all been cheaped down.

 

[Killy]

Hey xt:

Thanks for your reponse! : ) I've picked up a 931Bw (widescreen version) from ncix because they had it on sale for 180.00 (my eyes were popping, really). The quoted response time is 2 ms and since this is similar to the 931C I think I managed to get a steal.

As for the other qualities to the panel (e.g. colour reproduction, light quality), I'm sure that no matter what they will be a step up from my 150S, right? So I'll be happy there. (By the way, what kind of panel does the 150S use? Do you have any sort of opinions / info on this product?)

Thanks alot for your advice ; O

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: DoctorM

I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't have any magical powers. Summon VA panels...summon IPS panels... Nothing.

If you're not looking for a widescreen the HP LP2065 and ViewSonic VP2030b are possibilities.

Otherwise, there's the NEC LCD2490WUXi. I'm sure you'd be happy with that, but it's just a tad expensive. If you're dead-set on IPS it's the only 24" choice. I don't even think any 23" IPS panels exist anymore, either.

The best idea would be to get a ViewSonic VX2435wm. Roughly the same price as you'd be willing to pay for the NEC, at least, and it's a high quality VA panel.

I'm not entirely sure that helped.
What are the pros and cons on these?
Btw, 22" (wide) is acceptable but I get the impression they've all been cheaped down.

22" LCDs are all TNs, except for the new Eizo and Lenovo monitors (1680x1050 S-PVA and 1920x1200 S-PVA). Unfortunately, the latter LCDs are probably not that great of a value (too expensive).

So I assume this means 22"s are out for you. The best 22" TNs IMO are the ViewSonic VX2255wmb and LG L226WTQ. Actually, they are the best TNs out of any size category IMO.

The VX2435wm is big and probably the best VA panel you'll be finding for the price range.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...824116079&Tpk=vx2435wm

How it compares to the VP2030b? Not entirely sure, but it's probably better as many bigger panels tend to be.

The LP2065 can use either an AMVA or S-IPS panel (a lot have been S-IPS actually). But if you're willing to get this the VX24 is a better idea as it's probably a better VA panel.

Even though the 20WMGX2 is good, I think having 24"-26" worth of space is invaluable. I can admit that I love my 26" even though I've had a 20WMGX2.

Does this answer your questions?

 

[tomoyo]

Hmm, I think my friend has zero blackout issues with the FP241W I recommended. Since this seems a warrantyable problem, I'll continue recommending the FP241w.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Trean
xtknight:

In regards to the BenQ FP241W, last I looked deeply into this monitor there was a lack of 1:1 mode and a huge overscan problem where it made the image larger than 1920x1200 then cropped like 5% of it or something, oh and you couldn't turn it off. These were for the supplies of U.S. consumers, but the last time I looked into this monitor was back in June.

Edit -> found answer on hardforum; so you can skip all those above. Answers were yes black outs exist; overscan is supposably fixed, you can now toggle it and 1:1 has been added. If you get the 1:1 firmware you should also have other fixes, don't know if they came together just know that they are all in the 1:1 firmware.



Both are similarly priced at the moment, after the Viewsonic's 100 dollar rebate. However, with all the BenQ's input options it seems that it should be priced at a greater amount or the Viewsonic at a lesser due to its lack of inputs. Any knowledge to why this is?

Additionally, they have two different panels in them: MVA for Viewsonic and S-PVA for BenQ. In your OP you state MVA is the cheaper of the two, but I read a different site that said the opposite. Since its late I only read one site, and since you have presented a ton of great info I just wanted to make sure you are right on MVA is the lesser in quality of the two.

Why the ViewSonic costs less? I have no idea. Sometimes that's just how things turn out.

P-MVA is generally agreed to be inferior because there is "residual retardation" (meaning the crystal of a P-MVA cell leaks a little light since it is not perfectly aligned vertically). Therefore S-PVA has a higher contrast ratio.

MVA is very often cheaper to produce than PVA tech, and this is reflected in the many cheap MVAs that [used] to be on the market.

That said, the BenQ uses a P-MVA or AMVA panel. The BenQ definitely does not use an S-PVA. It was suspected the Z version did, but I believe even then they concluded it was an AMVA.

The ViewSonic uses an S-MVA panel from Chi Mei Optoelectronics. These seem to be just as high quality if not better than P-MVA panels by a little. I think they are still the type of VA to have "residual retardation" though. But frankly that's just a term Samsung likes to throw around to make you believe their S-PVA is a lot better. And really it isn't. Besides there are other factors like default color accuracy (deviation from gamma curve) and the S-MVA seems to really excel here while the S-PVA 24" (e.g. HP LP2465) does not. That's why I recommend this S-MVA for photo editing.

And lastly, do you know whether the BenQ is 8-bit or 6-bit? I believe I read somewhere the Viewsonic is 8-bit; could be wrong info though if you have sources stating something contrary.


Again thanks for all the help.

They should both be true 8-bit but this matters little with the high quality 6-bit+Hi-FRC techniques out there today anyway. ViewSonic has been known to use 6-bit DACs in VA panels (e.g. ViewSonic VP930b), but I doubt they do this anymore. And BenQ certainly wouldn't be any less likely to do it. But I've never heard complaints from either camp that would indicate dithering.

I hope I'm helping you make the right decision. You seem to have a lot of questions.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: tomoyo
Hmm, I think my friend has zero blackout issues with the FP241W I recommended. Since this seems a warrantyable problem, I'll continue recommending the FP241w.

I continue to suggest it to people individually too, but I don't feel like recommending something on the official list that works half or 3/4 of the time. All it is is negligence by the manufacturer.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Mallomar
Okay, so if I don't already have a colorimeter, and if I can find an SV that's less than $250 (the cost of the SVII Kit) higher than the non-SV, I should get the SV. My old Mitsubishi Spectraview CRT came with a colorimeter -- I can't find it at the moment (found the empty box!) but it's around here someplace -- but I'm guessing it wouldn't work with a new NEC LCD. I did some googling and that old colorimeter was a SpectraSensor.

Hmm I don't know if that would work or not. It might not even support the LCD display type in general.

So now I have to decide where to order the monitor. I did impulsively "buy" a 2490 from buy.com's eBay site for about $825, but of course they cancelled the transaction. (They still have the 2490 in stock, but for considerably more than $825.) Anyway, I really wanted the 2690.

Do you know if there are any gotchas to ordering from Canada (I'm in the U.S.)? I worry about international shipping costs, long shipping times, and the possibility of the monitor getting hung up in customs. But nobody in the U.S. seems to have it in stock (except for the obscenely priced one at amazon -- over $1,600 and it's not even the SV). I guess I should just order it from one of the U.S. vendors and resign myself to a long wait.

I've never had this much trouble trying to give away $1000+.

Sorry, I've never ordered from Canada before either so I don't know what to tell you.

I certainly wouldn't condone spending $1600 on the non-SV model though.

The LCD24 doesn't sound like a bad idea but did you mean you canceled the order? I can't remember if you were doing print matching or not but that's the only case where the LCD26 would be beneficial. In fact, the LCD24 probably has better quality control.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: GarfieldtheCat

Originally posted by: xtknight

<some text snipped to keep size down>

There's the Planar PX2611W. This is far from "as good" though. I hear that the UI is clunky and the uniformity is poor. But it's at least an S-IPS wide gamut panel with reasonably decent properties.

I recommend picking up the 275T personally. No reason the break the bank unless you really need to.

I think most of the Eizos are not wide gamut, and besides they are expensive and hard to find. Many are also still VA panels. With new LED or whatever-else panels on the horizon, save your money and get the 275T.

xtknight:

While trying to decide on a 26-27" LCD, I was looking at prices. These are Newegg prices (except for dell), so other places may be a little cheaper.

Planar 26" : 970
Samsung 275T: 1040
Dell 2707: 995
Dell 3007: 1190

I'm thinking that the dell 3007 would be better for me, just looking at the price differential. If you can find a 10% dell coupon, the 3007 will only be ~$100 more then the other 26-27" options.

I was in your same situation, and I decided against the 3007 for several reasons actually. But they might not all apply to you

First of all it's really too big for my desk. Second of all the Dell lacks most controls and it's tough to calibrate to any certain color temperature because of this. I didn't like that at all. Thirdly its resolution simply makes it unsuitable for gaming on my 7800GT card and I don't feel like buying another very expensive 3D card at the moment. I did at least discover my 7800GT had a dual-link DVI to support the 3007WFP for desktop use. Fourth, the LCD2690WUXi is about the same price and it's a pro quality LCD with everything I want including a built-in LUT. I had loved my other NEC for the most part, so I ended up with the LCD26.

A review of the LP3065 (same panel as 3007WFP-HC) and Samsung 305T ended up with the reviewer preferring the 305T actually. It was surprising and I still recommend the 3007WFP more since it's an S-IPS, but it drove me away from the 3007WFP a little. The S-IPS seemed to actually have worse default calibration from the complaints I had read.

http://phpmind.net/305t_lp3065/index.html

It's got a S-IPS panel, wide-gamut colors, and low input lag. Since it won't be used for TV or console gaming, the lack of inputs other then DVI isn't an issue, and since I'm not a hardcore gamer, the low FPS shouldn't be as big of a problem. I've got a 8800GT, so for most games, it would seem that I can run at native res (of course, I won't be playing Crysis! Plus I can always run a lower res if I need to) But for desktop use, and photo editing, I would get that HUGE resolution to spread everything out.

Any thoughts? This seems to be a good deal, if you have a good video card to drive it.

Thanks

Well I did try Crysis@High on my 1920x1200 panel and 7800GT and it wasn't pretty. It ran out of memory to render even the menu interface and I had to click buttons three times to get them to register, it was so low of an FPS. Lesson learned.

Maybe the 3007WFP-HC then is a good choice for you. It wasn't for me, though. I am thrilled with my LCD26 but I can certainly see the benefits of the 3007WFP-HC too. But you've got to decide between that and the 305T somehow. The 305T would offer higher contrast and it seems, better colors. The S-IPS offers a wider viewing angle though and probably a softer white, with likely lower input lag. I think I'd prefer the S-IPS myself but I don't know for sure. The S-PVA certainly looks appealing enough that having me choose between the two would drive me nuts.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: RobberBaron
Friend of mine was saying Samsung's panel lottery was over. Anyone know any truth to this?

This is not true as far as I know. The 2032BW was supposedly supposed to end it, but hasn't. The 226CW has always used an S panel but it's wide gamut and has other shortcomings (input lag, not as accurate colors, not quite the response time).

Interesting about CompUSA though.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Killy
Hey xt:

Thanks for your reponse! : ) I've picked up a 931Bw (widescreen version) from ncix because they had it on sale for 180.00 (my eyes were popping, really). The quoted response time is 2 ms and since this is similar to the 931C I think I managed to get a steal.

The 931BW is std. gamut but still a decent deal.

As for the other qualities to the panel (e.g. colour reproduction, light quality), I'm sure that no matter what they will be a step up from my 150S, right? So I'll be happy there. (By the way, what kind of panel does the 150S use? Do you have any sort of opinions / info on this product?)

Thanks alot for your advice ; O

The 150S uses an old TN panel. I know nothing else about it. But I believe the 931BW will be superior in every last aspect as it's newer and TN has improved drastically over the years.

 

[Killy]

Hallo xt, last post about this issue probably;

I picked up the BW because it seemed to be just a 931 except in widescreen format. Hopefully I'll be able to configure it go a 4:3 or 16:10 depending on how it affects my gaming. I also chose the BW because it was easier to justify spending the money on it - a bit cheaper and in the same 'series.'

Do the C and BW series differ by much?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Killy
Hallo xt, last post about this issue probably;

I picked up the BW because it seemed to be just a 931 except in widescreen format. Hopefully I'll be able to configure it go a 4:3 or 16:10 depending on how it affects my gaming. I also chose the BW because it was easier to justify spending the money on it - a bit cheaper and in the same 'series.'

Do the C and BW series differ by much?

Like I said in my above post the C is a wide gamut and the BW is std. gamut. Wide gamut has slightly more vibrant colors but it can also be inaccurate (the 931C was known for inaccuracy).

But you should have options in your video card control panel for scaling things. Hope this answers your questions.

 

[Trean]

xtknight:

Ultimately, it comes down to these two monitors; have any opinion as to why you would take one over the other. Both are pretty much the same price. Dell has the Viewsonic for like $700 for before the $100 rebate and NCIX has a no dead pixel policy for 30 days (for $30) and has the BenQ for like $570. Take the black out issue for the BenQ into account if you wish; but it matters only a little bit to me--in my research it is noted to happen to only part of the consumers and for them on average it only happens once or twice a week.

I am leaning towards the BenQ FP241w at the moment because of the no dead pixel policy for 30 days offered by NCIX.com.


Oh and sorry about all the questions; I feel like I need to know everything about the purchase if I am dropping $600 of my well saved dollars. And I started asking questions on the HardForum too, some guy that recently purchased a BenQ is giving me a bunch of opinions on the BenQ monitor and his impressions of the monitor to this point as well as it in its pre-calibrated state. So yeah I am asking a lot of questions.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Trean
xtknight:

Ultimately, it comes down to these two monitors; have any opinion as to why you would take one over the other. Both are pretty much the same price. Dell has the Viewsonic for like $700 for before the $100 rebate and NCIX has a no dead pixel policy for 30 days (for $30) and has the BenQ for like $570. Take the black out issue for the BenQ into account if you wish; but it matters only a little bit to me--in my research it is noted to happen to only part of the consumers and for them on average it only happens once or twice a week.

Well I would probably take the ViewSonic. Its image quality looks great to me. If you want to, check out the prad review:

http://prad.de/en/monitore/rev...ic-vx2435wm-part8.html

Not that the BenQ is not as good image quality wise (not sure completely), but I just trust ViewSonic as a brand a little more also. It's a little hard to know because I dwell on decisions for weeks on end. So I'd have to get back to you in a few weeks about that. If it were me I'd be getting an IPS LCD2490WUXi probably.

Also I'd probably try the VX because I'm more of an adventurist. The S-MVA sounds a little different than the P-MVA that I already have and wasn't 100% thrilled with. The S-MVAs seem to have better default colors and uniformity. CMO or ViewSonic seem to have good quality control lately, because the VX22 and VX24 are both like this.

I am leaning towards the BenQ FP241w at the moment because of the no dead pixel policy for 30 days offered by NCIX.com.

I personally wouldn't be taking a risk with it, but I'm not you so it's really up to you.

Oh and sorry about all the questions; I feel like I need to know everything about the purchase if I am dropping $600 of my well saved dollars. And I started asking questions on the HardForum too, some guy that recently purchased a BenQ is giving me a bunch of opinions on the BenQ monitor and his impressions of the monitor to this point as well as it in its pre-calibrated state. So yeah I am asking a lot of questions.

That's fine, I don't really have a problem with it. I can relate to it completely. I would drive people nuts, that's why I decided to be my own consultant. I'm just very startled you're like me too.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

@xtknight:

First off, thanks for taking time to answer my questions (and all the questions in this thread!).

Luckily, I've just upgraded my PC (passing my parts to my wife's PC) with a Q6600 @3.4GHz and a OC'd 8800GT. So SupCom and Dawn of War should run OK.

As a proud new owner of a bouncing baby Nikon D300, and who is just getting into editing/touching-up my photos (currently using Capture NX, might try out Lightroom and maybe CS3), I am a bit confused as to the whole "wide gamut" problems. I have searched over at dpreivew, and it seems several people don't like the "HC" displays, because Windows isn't colorspace aware, so you get one color in photo programs like CS3 or CNX, and another color when viewing in IE or other programs.

The 3007 (and it appears the 305T does as well) doesn't have any hardware calibration options, but it could be done in video driver, with a spyder or Eye one I mean, correct?

Since you have a "wide gamut" NEC, how do you handle the color calibration problem? Some people have commented to avoid all HC type displays for photo editing. Is this overkill on their part?

EDIT: My worry is that if I use a WC monitor, and edit my photos in CNX, they will look correct when I view then in CNX. But as soon as I email them to friends/family (who will be using regular non-HC non-calibrated monitors), they will look wrong.

Thanks!

 

[DoctorM]

The LP2065 can use either an AMVA or S-IPS panel (a lot have been S-IPS actually). But if you're willing to get this the VX24 is a better idea as it's probably a better VA panel.

To be clear, with the LP2065 you win the lottery if you get the S-IPS, but if you end up with the AMVA it's not as good as the VX2435WM's panel?

Also how is the Viewsonic for gaming (he asked as his CRT monitor continued to slowly shrink in height...)?

Edit: Does anyone know how NewEgg and TechOnWeb are for returns?
From what I've read NewEgg seems distinctly unfriendly about returns.
I've dealt with ToW before (not an LCD) and they really seemed determined to be helpful.

 

[redlinez33]

Well I have the HP W2207 and have played a few games now, and I notice a few things. First it has backlight bleeding around the edges of the screen. Is this normal for a TN panel? or should I return to get a new one? It also has a dead pixel right in the middle.

Otherwise its a pretty good monitor. Image quality isnt as good as my samsung 971P but its much better for games. I love the size. Right now I wouldnt consider myself happy with this monitor, but its not BAD..... I am thinking of either returning it for another w2207, or returning it for a viewsonic 22" or samsung 22".......

xtknight (or anyone else with experience) what would you recommend? Is backlight bleeding around the edges normal for TN panels????

 

[Mallomar]

Originally posted by: ClockHound
Shipping costs shouldn't be excessive and shipping time can be as fast as overnight. FedEx comes here too. Why not email a few of the Canuck sites and find out?

I checked one of the Canadian sites, and they don't even list any shipping options outside of the country -- only the provinces were listed.

I'll probably just go ahead and order the NEC from one of the U.S. resellers -- I'll just have to wait for them to get it. I don't know why they're so hard to find -- I can't imagine that suddenly there's a big rush on such expensive monitors!

 

[Mallomar]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: Mallomar
Okay, so if I don't already have a colorimeter, and if I can find an SV that's less than $250 (the cost of the SVII Kit) higher than the non-SV, I should get the SV. My old Mitsubishi Spectraview CRT came with a colorimeter -- I can't find it at the moment (found the empty box!) but it's around here someplace -- but I'm guessing it wouldn't work with a new NEC LCD. I did some googling and that old colorimeter was a SpectraSensor.

Hmm I don't know if that would work or not. It might not even support the LCD display type in general.

So now I have to decide where to order the monitor. I did impulsively "buy" a 2490 from buy.com's eBay site for about $825, but of course they cancelled the transaction. (They still have the 2490 in stock, but for considerably more than $825.) Anyway, I really wanted the 2690.

Do you know if there are any gotchas to ordering from Canada (I'm in the U.S.)? I worry about international shipping costs, long shipping times, and the possibility of the monitor getting hung up in customs. But nobody in the U.S. seems to have it in stock (except for the obscenely priced one at amazon -- over $1,600 and it's not even the SV). I guess I should just order it from one of the U.S. vendors and resign myself to a long wait.

I've never had this much trouble trying to give away $1000+.

Sorry, I've never ordered from Canada before either so I don't know what to tell you.

I certainly wouldn't condone spending $1600 on the non-SV model though.

The LCD24 doesn't sound like a bad idea but did you mean you canceled the order? I can't remember if you were doing print matching or not but that's the only case where the LCD26 would be beneficial. In fact, the LCD24 probably has better quality control.

Nope, I didn't cancel my order for the 2490 -- buy.com did it for me.

I'm one of the people who ordered it for $825 when buy.com was flipping the prices back and forth a couple of weeks ago. I waited a week, during which I heard nothing, then got an e-mail telling me the item was out of stock and they were canceling my order. I bought mine from the buy.com eBay store, but the same thing happened to several people who ordered it at the lower price from the web site. Buy.com still has the monitor listed (their eBay store claims to have dozens of them in stock), but they raised the price.

One person in another forum said he did receive the monitor he ordered at the $825 price. I guess he was just lucky. I'm very disappointed in buy.com -- never had a problem with any of my previous 14 transactions.

But I really wanted the 2690 anyway (I just ordered the 2490 on impulse because it was such a deal -- I was going to give it to my husband if I didn't like it), because I'm a graphic designer and frequently have to adjust photos in Photoshop. So I'm convinced that the wide-gamut 2690 is the monitor of my dreams. My current CRT is very good, but it's too small (21"). I'm so tired of moving palettes around so I can see what I'm working on!

I'll probably go ahead and order the 2690 SV from one of the US resellers next week. And then relax and wait several weeks to get it!