[Mika]

Hello,

Does anyone have recommendations for a monitor with a resolution of 2500 x 1600? Looks like they are available with 30" diagonals, but is there a 27" equivalent?

I'm looking for one in my workplace first (so that I don't need to pay it first), and if I like the color reproduction, I might consider buying one at home as well. At work, I do something related to CAD design, so the large display area makes things easier nevertheless, while at home I need a larger monitor for photograph handling where accurate color reproduction is important.

I currently have a display capable of 1900 x 1080 at home, but I miss a bit larger screen estate to see photographs printed larger than A4 immediately. Note that system cameras usually photograph with the aspect ratio of 3:2, so 16:9 is worse than 16:10.

[CP5670]

I don't think you can get 16:10 displays at that size and resolution. There are a couple of 27" 16:9 2560x1440 monitors like the Apple and NEC ones.

[Grizzly]

Buy another 16:9 monitor, and place it above your current one?

[Mika]

Buy another 16:9 monitor, and place it above your current one?

This would be the easiest way in some cases, unfortunately not in mine. Some software developers have made certain decisions regarding how their software opens new windows when running two instances, and in this case, using multiple monitors results in design (and if it goes unnoticed, a real world) disaster. Think of confirmation boxes appearing only on one display if either program is told to do something and then you start to get the idea...

There are 2560 x 1600 monitors available with 30 to 27 inch diagonals. HP3065 and Dell U3011 seem to be available, but the user ratings of the latter seem to be quite abysmal, mainly due to anti-glare film in the display, which is something they specifically mention in the specifications they do not specifically mention in the specifications. Some of the reviews mention that it is not possible to adjust the colors of the displays, or that they only accept two resolutions!

What it comes to image quality, I still think my earlier 1280 x 1024 LCD display was actually better than this 1920x1080 that I'm currently using.

EDIT: Crap, why are negatives such a hard thing in this language?

[Astronomiya]

The Dell U3011 or HP ZR30w would be my picks in the 2560x1600 class.  They both have IPS panels, which will be important for you since you said you're doing color-sensitive work (well, at home anyway).  Of course, any monitor you pick will need to be calibrated using a colorimeter if you want truly accurate color.

You may want to look into something like the NEC LCD3090WQXi or PA301W; both are professional quality monitors, but they're almost twice as expensive as Dell or HP ($2200 versus $1300).

[Mika]

Thanks, I picked up also all the choices you listed. The good news from the high price is that it doesn't lose resale value either. Had I bought one 2009, and if I sold it now, the total cost of using that thing would be in a couple of hundred euros. That's amazing, and sort of lasting value which would be more welcome in the electronics nowadays! I'll be ordering one at work on this week.

For home, I might look at what NEC has close the Christmas time - or immediately thereafter, now that my financial resources are spent in a certain zoom lens... But I'll take a look at the image size at work, and since the typical use at work doesn't stress the display that much, I see this as a good way of testing the suitability. But the question is, does anyone know anything about the models listed here from personal usage? The specifications do not tell the whole story, some people get very nauseous of anti reflection glare, or are annoyed by the clear mirror like boundaries. I'm not sure of the anti-reflection glare, but the latter is a major annoyance, and that the color space depends on the viewing angle makes watching movies rather "interesting" experience.

I'll report my notices here, since it seems that not a lot of people here have them. Funny that I get to be an early adopter for once

[Davros]

Buy another 16:9 monitor, and place it above your current one?

This would be the easiest way in some cases, unfortunately not in mine. Some software developers have made certain decisions regarding how their software opens new windows when running two instances,

replace your gfx with a cheap amd 6000 series card and you wont need to run 2 instances only one
as far as any program is concerned you will only have a single monitor with a massive resolution
i currently run games at 5284x1050 

[Astronomiya]

I've basically been without Internet for the past week, so apologies for the late reply, Mika.  My experience with the HP's little brother, the ZR24w, has been pretty good so far.  It calibrates very well, and so far as I can tell has a very pleasing and accurate color palette.  It only does sRGB, which is fine.  It does have a somewhat aggressive AG coating, so on pure white windows and such you'll notice sparkle (Firefox menu bars and stuff like that show it as well), but I don't really notice it otherwise.  The screen is quite bright (in fact, for proper calibration, at least two of my three have to be set to zero brightness to get near the 120 cd/m^2 recommended brightness spec), which is nice if you work in a very bright office or something like that. There is no color shift, no matter how extreme an angle you view from - thank you IPS!  I would imagine that the ZR30w would be similar, just bigger.

replace your gfx with a cheap amd 6000 series card and you wont need to run 2 instances only one
as far as any program is concerned you will only have a single monitor with a massive resolution

Eyefinity works well, but it does funny things to the color handling.  Since there is some variability between panels as far as color reproduction goes (i.e., two ZR30w's will not produce exactly the same colors for a given input), rendering the desktop as one giant monitor screws up the calibration for one of the screens.  If you're okay with just one screen being well calibrated at once, though, it's fine.