What screen should I buy?

Written By Oli on May. 15, 2008.

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Well I've recently had a decent spate of freelance work and I want to treat myself to a new monitor.

I've been using these two 17" (1280x1024) monitors for about 4 or 5 years now and while there's enough screen space, I want more. They're also not ideal for viewing widescreen media as they're both 5:4 in dimension.

So I've been looking at huge widescreen monitors. 27" (1920x1200) loses me some space. Quite a lot of space (works out at minus 300x1024). And Dell have an offer on until the 28th, meaning I could get one for about £500.

But I'm not entirely happy losing space. I could keep one (even both) of my current ones and keep them either side of my monitor but to be honest, I'm fed up of dual screens. I'd rather just have one massive panel... so onto 30"...

The Dell 30" (2560x1600) looks like it's been around for some time, yet I can't seem to find one on their UK site. Ebay seems to suggest that I'm going to be looking at £800-1k for one... Which is a bit of heavy increase... But at that res, it gives me plus 1440x1024px which is akin to having another one of my current screens. Needless to say, I'm tempted. Really tempted.

But where can I get one? Should I be waiting for an imminent price drop that will knock a couple of hundred off? Are there technical downsides to a larger panel? Which brands and models are best value? Also, where can I actually find one in England?

I need advice from anyone who's looked at large screens in the past 12 months =)

Ozone42

Written May. 15, 2008 / Report /

As far as brands at 30" you want the Dell UltraSharp or the Apple. Dell's non UltraSharp line are crap. I have one of these "budget" models in 24" and sitting next to my 17" imac screen it looks ridiculously bad. It's not really that it's terrible, it's just that the Apple displays are the best and the only peer they have are the top-of-the-lines.

I know over here the Dell Ultrasharp has a lower price point, and many people rave about it..

Oli

Written May. 15, 2008 / Report /

Cheapest I've found is about £900 including delivery and that's a dodgy-looking "new" one from Ebay.

I've just found the Daewoo LCD30KAL Sensy 30"... It's weighing in at about £700 but I can't find any reviews =\

Scrivs

Written May. 15, 2008 / Report /

I have the 30" Apple and I love it...however if I could go back in time I would rather have dual monitors maybe 22"-24" over this 30" anytime. Although you do have a lot of real estate with the 30" I found that I can space out my apps better with dual to see more of what is going on. With the 30" there is an inclination to want to make windows big and therefore reducing what can be seen at once. You can get dual 24s cheaper than a single 30 I think and if not it becomes pretty close. There is no reason to pay for the Apple premium unless you want a prettier stand.

Alan

Written May. 16, 2008 / Report /

I'm with Scrivs on this. Dual 23" or 24" cinema displays would be much better than a single 30" cinema. Especially since you're already used to a dual setup.

Oli

Written May. 20, 2008 / Report /

Well I'm still not sure what I'm doing.

Dell have an offer on where it makes far more sense to buy a 27" ultrasharps over a 24" (the price difference is forgettable) - but I need two.

Still not sure I can justify spending £1000 on monitors because I know how much other cool shit that sort of money could buy (dual quad core CPUs, ALL the RAM, 2 EeePCs, 10,000 penny sweets)

I hate money >_<

I guess the other option is getting two middle-of-the-road 24" ones and spend half the money. There certainly is a premium for the Dell brand. It's nowhere near as silly as Apple's designer mark-up. Just how good are Ultrasharps vs "the rest"?

Oli

Written May. 20, 2008 / Report /

Two 24"ers would mean I get a 75% desktop space improvement, and looks like it would cost £550. £1 gets me 8.3kp (vs the cheapest 30": 5.8kp/£)

Sold.

What I don't get is how some TVs call themselves "1080p ready". I've seen a lot and I've thought "holy shit - that's huge and cheap!" but when you look at the specs, their native res is much closer to 720p. What's that about?