Looking at Dell 20" monitors: Wide aspect for PS work?

[david_simonds]

Friends,

I am in the market for a new monitor. For the past two years I have

been using a Dell Ultrasharp 17" which has served me well for photo

editing. But the eyes are a bit strained. So I am looking at one of

the 20" Dells. There are two offerings - one is a square with 20"

diagonal (400:1 contrast) and another has a wide aspect (600:1)

aspect. They both go for around $600 new on Ebay. I am editing MF

images and hope to be doing 4x5 in the near future. Is there any

reason not to go with the wide aspect screen for a dedicated photo-

editing set up, especially since it has the higher contrast numbers

and reportedly has a bit more real estate for multi functions?

Thanks.

[Uhooru]

One reason for the wide format is in photoshop you have that extra space for your tool pallettes [sp] which allows you to work with a bigger image without have to move the tools around out of the way.

[eric_konieczny]

For what it is worth, I bought an entire new Dell system 3 weeks ago with a 20 inch Ultra Sharp Monitor and am returnig the monitor. I just looked at the new Apple Cinama Displays and ordrered the 23 inch. I did not want to be second guessing myself in 6 months, so I went for it now.

[david_simonds]

Eric, I am sure that the Apple is a lovely display and I wish you well with it. But for its $2000 price, I can have the very capable Dell monitor as well as that Toyo AX 4x5 field camera with Rodenstock 150mm gem that I have been lusting for. And in a couple years when both our monitors are obsolete (and my camera isn't) I won't feel so bad. I mean no disrespect, but your comparison is truly between apples and oranges.

[kevinking]

I just got the Dell UltraSharp 2001FP Monitor last week. I also have the new iMac G5 20" on my desk as a demo unit. (I work in IS) I have had about 20 people by my desk the past week, both Mac and PC users, and no one can tell a difference between the monitors. I imagine there is only one source for the 1680x1050 screens. BTW I got the Dell monitor for $580. Save your money and just get the Dell. The Dell also rotates for landscape or portrait, does picture by picture. I have been playing with the monitor in portrait mode with a HD TV feed on top and the PC at 1024x768 on the bottom. The Dell has 4 inputs to switch between.

Kev...

[Uhooru]

Kevin, not to hi-jack this thread, but as you are using a new Imac, have you had a chance to utilize it for serious Photoshop work? If so, what do you think? I really love its small footprint, but am afraid it doesn't have the oomph for large files w/layers etc. Hopefully, my impression is wrong???

Cheers

[andy_heffernan1]

Kevin, I think you are referring to the Dell 2005FPW monitor, which is a 20" wide-screen (16:10) monitor reputedly using the same LCD panel as in the aluminum Apple Cinema 20" display. The electronics driving the panel are different, of course.

 

Anyone interested in buying this display ought to browse through the topics at First Adopter Forum, [H]ard|Forum, and Anandtech. This particular display has been plagued with bad backlighting, with some folks exchanging display after display with Dell until they got something acceptable.

 

The sample I received would show gray in the corners when the display was black (bad blacklight bleeding). Also, it was way too bright, even when turning brightness down to zero -- I had to skip the brightness calibration step with the G-MB Eye-one display. It went back to Dell and I'll stick with the CRT for a while more.

[david_simonds]

Andy, thanks for the heads up. I will certainly check out the forum links you mention. I am not so committed to an LCD that I would not go back to a superior CRT. What are you using, or would recommend? Thanks.

[kevinking]

Andy, you are correct that it is the Dell 2005FPW. I cut and pasted the wrong information. We have 2 of the monitors at work and they are showing no problems. However they are 2 weeks old. I would still not hesitate to purchase another one for half the price of the apple monitor. The Dell even came with a 3 year warranty to boot if problems do arrise.

Barry, I have not used it for Photoshop. We are evaluating them for work. The Mac seems fast enough, however when we start virtual PC it is very slow. It would probably have enough power for low end work. We did end up purchasing 5 G5's with 10 CRT's instead of the iMac's. We needed dual processors for editing video. All that said and done I will probably buy a G5 for home use when my PC dies and just use my NEC CRT. LCD's are fine at work when I am not paying for them ;)