Sorted out PC - need help with monitor

jem16

I currently have a 4yr old 19", non-widescreen monitor. It works perfectly well although I have noticed that photos printed out quite differently to what I saw on the screen. Some websites can be difficult to read, especially those with a dark background but perhaps that's my eyes!

Anyway I have had a look at an e-ips monitor, the Dell 2209WA. It seems to get very good reviews and price is not too bad for an ips monitor at around £230.

However is it necessary or will a cheaper 22" widescreen model do? I'm not going to be running games - mainly just web browsing, emailing and viewing photos. Occasionally watching BBC/ITV player but would probably put that through the TV rather than the monitor.

If not the Dell, any suggestions?

weegie.geek

Photos printing out differently will be to do with your printer and your monitor not being calibrated. People in the print industry pay a premium for colour-calibrated stuff. It's normal for consumer stuff to be like that. The paper you use plays a part too, as does the size of what you're trying to print. Blow something up and the quality will be worse, etc.

Websites being difficult to read is more to do with the native resolution of your monitor and the resolution you're trying to run it at. TFT/LCDs have a set native resolution. Run windows at that resolution and it'll be pin-sharp. Run it at a different resolution and the screen will upscale or downscale. Because the screen has a set number of pixels, upscaling or downscaling will blur the image.

I wouldn't pay £230 for a 22" monitor, there are plenty of really good 22" monitors around the £150 mark. I see Creative have a few of the Hanns-G monitors. They're cheap but they tend to get pretty good reviews.

jem16

weegie.geek wrote: »

I see Creative have a few of the Hanns-G monitors. They're cheap but they tend to get pretty good reviews.

Yes I saw that when I was in yesterday. They always used to stock Samsung but apparently put side by side with the Hanns-G nobody could see the difference so they're stocking the Hanns-G now as it's cheaper.

Really just reading about those who say if you've used an ips monitor you'd never go back to a tn monitor.

As to website that are difficult to read I mean those strange sites that seem to think red text on a black background is good! I have no problem with the majority of websites.

weegie.geek

Ah that kind of hard to read. Yeah, silly design choice really. It's just a case of increasing the size of the text, not much else can be done.

If the monitors at Creative look fine I'd probably go for one of them. You're not much of a gamer, so you have to ask if the extra outlay is worth it.

boliston

You might want to look at the HP ZR22w, a good 21.5" monitor selling for about £240.

The main disadvantage with the dell is the poor resolution, I was thinking about the dell originally but I'm glad I got a "full HD" screen.

See my blog page about the HP screen ... http://boliston.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/hp-zr22w-review-of-21-5-ips-monitor/

Spank

I have the 22" IIyama E2209HDS-1 Widescreen LCD, 1920x1080, 2ms, 20000:1 DCR, HDMI, DVI which is only £150. I use it for gaming as well as surfing & Office work, & am very happy with it.

DVardysShadow

weegie.geek wrote: »

Photos printing out differently will be to do with your printer and your monitor not being calibrated. People in the print industry pay a premium for colour-calibrated stuff. It's normal for consumer stuff to be like that. The paper you use plays a part too, as does the size of what you're trying to print. Blow something up and the quality will be worse, etc.

Even if they are calibrated, they will not be consistently the same.

Try this if you have a painted wall near your monitor. Set the desktop background to match the wall as nearly as possible. Then compare at various times with differing lights. Even if you cannot quite make the match, you will find that as the light changes, so does the colour match.

weegie.geek

Very true. Bottom line is, don't be too worried if colours on the scree don't match colours on paper.

closed

change the colour settings on the monitor, check you are using the native resolution, cleartype, maybe change font, accept that prints aren't going to be identical to monitor colours.

A new monitor isn't going to cure badly designed webpages or poor eyesight, and is a waste of money given your reasons for changing, the new one will probably be exactly the same.

weegie.geek

The new one will be shiny and new, and widescreen. You've maybe not read the last thread but jem is after new toys as well as an upgrade.

closed

OK, another retail therapy thread, in that case, perhaps OP needs a new printer too, to match the new screen colours.

I did come across it briefly until my eyes glazed over with case specs , but didn't link the two.