ptarmigan Posted January 5, 2010 Share #1 Posted January 5, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Just about to order my new Mac Pro and I'm wondering about whether to go for 2 mid-tier 22" monitors (Eizo Flexscan S2242W) or one stellar quality 24" (Eizo ColorEdge CG243W) or 26" (NEC Spectraview Reference 2690) monitor. I guess a final option might be a 30" monitor (NEC MultiSync 3090WQX) but that pushes the cost up quite a bit so is my least favoured option and I can't afford a top 30" anyway as they are well over £2k and that's atop of the Mac Pro cost! The cheaper Eizo 22" monitors can do 1920 x 1200, same as the 24" and 26". I need good colour representation but do no ultra colour critical work - just weddings and the usual need for some colour management/control for printing. I briefly used two monitors before (iMac 20" and IIyama 19") but with different screen resolutions (the iMac is at 1680 x 1050 and the IIyama I have is 1280 x 1024) so never made best use of them together. So whatever I do is a pretty big step up in quality and I've had no major issues with the monitors I currently use. Thoughts on any of the above monitors and dual vs 1 larger? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 Hi ptarmigan, Take a look here Monitors..... 1 large or two smaller?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
h00ligan Posted January 5, 2010 Share #2 Posted January 5, 2010 DO you wear glasses or have less than perfect eyesight? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted January 5, 2010 Share #3 Posted January 5, 2010 You didn't mention the NEC LCD 2490 WXUi MultiSync with built-in Spectraview. I use it and love it, without a second monitor. It's much less expensive than the Eizo...but my prints don't know that. It was reviewed very positively by Sean Reid. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tribble Posted January 5, 2010 Share #4 Posted January 5, 2010 Never sure why people need such large monitors for most normal work. I've been living very happily with a 19" Lacie 319 for the last 4 years (and a Dell 20" Ultrasharp on a second system) - both calibrated using XyRite I1 Pro. As I'm not using them for absolutely colour critical work (ie commercial product photography or publishing), they're more than sufficient for my purposes. I don't need to buy a new home to accommodate the kit and my clients are more than happy with the results I give them. OK - it would be fun to have more space to work with and a separate monitor for menus, but I'd rather spend my money on glass... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted January 5, 2010 Share #5 Posted January 5, 2010 Just about to order my new Mac Pro and I'm wondering about whether to go for 2 mid-tier 22" monitors (Eizo Flexscan S2242W) or one stellar quality 24" (Eizo ColorEdge CG243W) or 26" (NEC Spectraview Reference 2690) monitor. I guess a final option might be a 30" monitor (NEC MultiSync 3090WQX) but that pushes the cost up quite a bit so is my least favoured option and I can't afford a top 30" anyway as they are well over £2k and that's atop of the Mac Pro cost! The cheaper Eizo 22" monitors can do 1920 x 1200, same as the 24" and 26". I need good colour representation but do no ultra colour critical work - just weddings and the usual need for some colour management/control for printing. I briefly used two monitors before (iMac 20" and IIyama 19") but with different screen resolutions (the iMac is at 1680 x 1050 and the IIyama I have is 1280 x 1024) so never made best use of them together. So whatever I do is a pretty big step up in quality and I've had no major issues with the monitors I currently use. Thoughts on any of the above monitors and dual vs 1 larger? Ian, On my Powermac I use 2 old Lacie Electron Blue Mk IV 22" CRT monitors. They are pretty good as long as you degauss them and profile them about once a month. I paid about £175 each for them three or four years ago but now they would cost about 50p each. The downside is that 18 months ago, I gave myself a hernia lifting one onto my computer table. They weigh about 30+kg each. I keep thinking of getting a 26" LCD/LED screen in place but the price of an equivalent quality one (NEC/Eizo/Lacie) puts me off. I have our local photographic school panting to get the old Lacies. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptarmigan Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share #6 Posted January 5, 2010 DO you wear glasses or have less than perfect eyesight? Er... yes I do wear specs...........? You didn't mention the NEC LCD 2490 WXUi MultiSync with built-in Spectraview. I use it and love it, without a second monitor. It's much less expensive than the Eizo...but my prints don't know that. It was reviewed very positively by Sean Reid. Jeff Just not familiar with this one. Will look at it now thanks. Never sure why people need such large monitors for most normal work. I've been living very happily with a 19" Lacie 319 for the last 4 years (and a Dell 20" Ultrasharp on a second system) - both calibrated using XyRite I1 Pro. As I'm not using them for absolutely colour critical work (ie commercial product photography or publishing), they're more than sufficient for my purposes. I don't need to buy a new home to accommodate the kit and my clients are more than happy with the results I give them. OK - it would be fun to have more space to work with and a separate monitor for menus, but I'd rather spend my money on glass... Well for one reason to get more real estate for multiple images, space for PS windows etc. Also great for using as a lightbox and of course the increased resolution - 1680 x 1050 is nice, 1900 x 1200 very nice. Ian, On my Powermac I use 2 old Lacie Electron Blue Mk IV 22" CRT monitors. They are pretty good as long as you degauss them and profile them about once a month. I paid about £175 each for them three or four years ago but now they would cost about 50p each. The downside is that 18 months ago, I gave myself a hernia lifting one onto my computer table. They weigh about 30+kg each. I keep thinking of getting a 26" LCD/LED screen in place but the price of an equivalent quality one (NEC/Eizo/Lacie) puts me off. I have our local photographic school panting to get the old Lacies. Wilson No way am I going back to CRTs! I don't have the space as my desk faces/abuts a wall anyway. I was hoping to get some informed comment about: the use of 2 'smaller' monitors vs one larger one Do I need a pro spec monitor like a high end Eizo? Endoresements (or otherwise) from anyone using anything like I'm suggesting Other recommendations Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
topoxforddoc Posted January 5, 2010 Share #7 Posted January 5, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Ian, On my Powermac I use 2 old Lacie Electron Blue Mk IV 22" CRT monitors. They are pretty good as long as you degauss them and profile them about once a month. I paid about £175 each for them three or four years ago but now they would cost about 50p each. The downside is that 18 months ago, I gave myself a hernia lifting one onto my computer table. They weigh about 30+kg each. I keep thinking of getting a 26" LCD/LED screen in place but the price of an equivalent quality one (NEC/Eizo/Lacie) puts me off. I have our local photographic school panting to get the old Lacies. Wilson Wilson, Aren't they just fantastic monitors? I have an Electron Blue Mk III 22, which cost me 60 quid. I hate to think what I would have to pay to get anywhere near the image quality. Charlie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstotler Posted January 5, 2010 Share #8 Posted January 5, 2010 OK - it would be fun to have more space to work with and a separate monitor for menus +1. Instead of two monitors of the same size, I have one larger-sized screen centered on me/keyboard and another, smaller screen, to my left. I use the smaller screen to keep my mail open and visible, with tool palettes floating over there for Photoshop, MS, text documents, chat windows, etc. I work with my documents large, on the main monitor. It works great. Very efficient. If you're in a pinch for budget, consider putting money into a decent-sized, easy-to-color-calibrate "primary" screen and then a bit of money into a left- or right-hand screen for secondary use. BTW, I find the 30" monitors "too big" to work for me as whatever I'm working on tends to be centered, wasting real-estate on the left and right. (That wasted real-estate not really being large enough to open another window fully and keep an eye on it, like my mail.) The two-screens approach centers my work more than large enough and gets the clutter of controls onto screen two. Thanks, Will Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptarmigan Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share #9 Posted January 5, 2010 +1. Instead of two monitors of the same size, I have one larger-sized screen centered on me/keyboard and another, smaller screen, to my left. I use the smaller screen to keep my mail open and visible, with tool palettes floating over there for Photoshop, MS, text documents, chat windows, etc. I work with my documents large, on the main monitor. It works great. Very efficient. If you're in a pinch for budget, consider putting money into a decent-sized, easy-to-color-calibrate "primary" screen and then a bit of money into a left- or right-hand screen for secondary use. Thanks, Will Will This obviously works for you but it won't for me. I tried a 20" iMac with a 19" screen aside it but with 2 different sizes and resolutions it just didn't work for me. It'll be two the same or one larger one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
h00ligan Posted January 5, 2010 Share #10 Posted January 5, 2010 If you wear specs I suspect you may find 1920 on a 22" to be very small for non photographic work... unless you sit relatively close... just a thought. Overall the pixel density will make things look more sharp, so you may not see the huge quality jump to the 24" if you can live with the font size on the 22's I'd go that route prices being similar. I have a similar setup as Will - i use a 19" monitor with 1280 res for mail, pallets etc - and a 23" @ 1920 as my main screen - It's great for what I need, but not great for calibrated color work flow (decent after calibration but not all that bright). I would submit to you that there are plenty of mainstream manufacturers that offer absolutely fantastic solutions at what may be substantially less cost than the 'high end' manufacturers gearing towards digital workflow. This was much more of an issue in the CRT days than it is now imho(will has some great crt's there were widely used but had their own issues as he stated). We evaluated three monitors for our production studio at a publishing print house and cost for color representation actually ended up with a high end dell (which beat the apple studio display in tests) and another which was cost prohibitive for the 2-3% increase in accuracy at 2.5x the cost. I personally believe most high end lcd's from the majors can be calibrated very near to the high end which unless you are in a pre production environment should be good enough. Where are you printing? At home? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theendlesshouse Posted January 5, 2010 Share #11 Posted January 5, 2010 I have a NEC SpectraView Reference 21 and Eizo Flexscan working side by side NEC for colour critical window, Flexscan for menus etc.(the benefit of two displays over 1 large one) Prior to that I had two SpectraView 1980's. I have never encountered a better monitor for colour than the reference 21 and before that the 1980's they have great menu systems also and fantastic customer support. Not to keen on the Flexscan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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