Question about 'UltraSharp' monitors and colors..

[jb_rhys]

I am interested in picking up in a monitor that offers a sharper image(blacker blacks etc..).

Would this be a superior monitor over standard for design work? The monitor i'm interested in buying is getting great reviews for gaming and entertainment but i'm not sure if its exaggerating the colors or if the average monitor isn't accurate and maybe more on the duller side.

Anyone have any experience with this sorta thing? thanks for the help!

[Varelse]

For gaming and entertainment matrix reaction time is crucial, while for graphics it does not matter that much.

If you want a really professional monitor, you can buy Eizo or FlexScan.
NEC or Dell (with the same matrix as used in Apple cinema Display) can also be a good choice.

I'd rather avoid the basic TN matrix if you need a good color accuracy.

[Dan Grossman]

Look up what type of panel is in it. Cheaper LCDs have 6-bit panels, while more expensive ones have 8-bit panels. For example, Dell has two 20" widescreen LCD displays, the E207WFP and the UltraSharp 2007WFP. The E207WFP has a 6-bit panel, while the 2007WFP has an 8-bit panel. That matters most in terms of color quality of the display.

What's the difference? 6-bit panels can only display 262,144 colors, while 8-bit panels can display 16.7 million distinct colors with each pixel. A 6-bit panel can only display the hundreds of thousands of in-between shades through an optical illusion: they blend overlapping pixels and rapidly change them between two colors to produce the illusion of an intermediate color.

If that's important to you, than look into color quality instead of response time and other factors gamers are more interested in. But that doesn't tell you anything about dullness or blacker blacks. That's when you have to look at contrast ratios, viewing angles, and human reviews... as none of the specifications a manufacturer gives will tell you if that model has backlight bleeding problems... which cause your blacks to be less black.

[jb_rhys]

Thanks for the extremely helpful and speedy response guys!

The monitor i'm looking at is a Dell ultrasharp 2208wfp, so it's good to hear that it's a good monitor.

Those Eizo monitors are a bit out of price range. 21" at $1,800 :O ouch.

[Dan Grossman]

Thanks for the extremely helpful and speedy response guys!

The monitor i'm looking at is a Dell ultrasharp 2208wfp, so it's good to hear that it's a good monitor.

Actually, I think the 2208 is a 6-bit TN panel (the cheap kind... as opposed to PVA or IPS). Dell attaches UltraSharp to a lot of their panels, not just their top-of-the-line like a few years ago. I think they have nice 20" and 24" panels available, but not sure about 22".

Eizo makes some stuff that's just way beyond what you'll find in a consumer electronics store... like 10-bit S-PVA panels