looking for a good monitor

[bladowphoto]

Hello, i am currently editing pictures of of my laptop and i can not seem to get consistent results due to the monitor

being in slightly different possitions each time, so i am looking for an external display, preferably LCD because im

living in a dorm. also i would like to stay under $150 if i could. i was wondering if any one had sugesstions.

[davidmoore]

Off-axis viewing is only one of the problems with using a laptop for photo work. There are a few pretty good

laptop displays, Apple MacBook Pro in particular, but many are just terrible even on-axis. And most offer limited

or no ability to adjust the display, other than overall brightness.

 

It will be hard to find a really good flat screen in your price range, but you can probably find something a lot

better than your laptop. Dell makes a nice 19" display for well under $200 that may suit your needs.

 

If you want a great display, spend some time in local thrift stores. You can probably find a nice Sony, VueSonic

or other professional graphics CRT monitor for $50 or less.

 

Then you could spend the rest of your budget on a calibrator and really get a handle on color accuracy and gamma.

If you do, make sure your laptop will let you switch profiles between the laptop screen and external monitor. How

well they play together will depend on your laptop, operating system, and calibrator software. Most laptops

support external displays, but not all laptops will let you maintain separate ICC profiles for the laptop AND the

external display.

[casey_murray1]

I think that's the million dollar question for everyone. If someone had such a product for that price you would see a line around the block

with me at the head of the line. But the fact is you won't find a monitor under $150 that will do what your wanting it to do. To get a monitor

that will produce color, shadows, highlights accurately and consistently you will have to dig deeper into your pockets. The best thing you

can do for your self is to invest in an i1 that can set ambient light giving you the ability to easily set your LCD on your laptop in a position

that is consistent each time for the ambient light in the room. It doesn't matter if you have a laptop or an LCD monitor if you don't do color

management you are just taking a stab in the dark each time you try to edit an image.