I've been running in circles trying to find and decide on a new monitor. I want to keep the prices down as much as possible, but can stretch a little bit if I know a monitor is worth it for my purposes. The most important things this will be used for are video, photo, graphics and sound editing and web development. Less important but still a factor it will be used for gaming, but I'm not a competitive gamer and don't play a lot of fast paced games very often.
I've been looking at 24" because I'm under the impression that 27" really warrants higher than 1080p resolutions, but that jumps the price more than I care for and 24" is already significantly bigger than what I have now. Definitely want an IPS, not a TN, panel for the color accuracy.
Right now I'm looking for one, but I will likely at some point get a second monitor (which is also why I don't want to break the bank on the first monitor). If I can save a bit of money here, I can put it towards a new graphics card soon too and other system stuff (since I'm not working with great stuff right now on that front).
Some 29" Ultrawides I'm considering. A bit more expensive than I want but pretty cheap for 29" and if they are really good I might be able to stretch it: LG 29UM68-P 29-Inch 21:9 UltraWide IPS Monitor with FreeSync - $280 http://www.amazon.com/LG-29UM68-P-29-Inch-21-UltraWide/dp/B01B9IDLAW
I include the last one just because I hear good things about the Dell Ultrasharps in general and this is pretty discounted, but it's pretty high price for one monitor for me, so it would need to be really worth it or be better than getting two other monitors. I hear some of their 24" ones are the best at somewhere like $255, but I don't have the budget for two of those and don't want to spend that on one unless it's so much better to justify the big price jump.
Thoughts? I'm open to other suggestions as well. It's been a long time since I've bought a monitor and while I research like crazy, my knowledge and experience in this arena isn't great.
I plan to keep it to one or 2 monitors, keeping 2 under $350ish (might be able to stretch that a bit if really necessary/worth it, but would rather not). I know that's a pretty low budget for most people and understand there's only so much I can expect, I just want to stretch it to get as good as I reasonably can.
I don't think much will be for paid for purposes. My wife will be using it to do artwork and editing for competitions she does, and she's talked about doing webcomics and other art from time to time but nothing solid. Her primary profession is web development (though her degree is in studio art, so she does a lot of unrelated art on the side). She has no idea what she needs though beyond "better colors and bigger" than we have now, which isn't saying much, as she hasn't really had much better to work with.
She will be using Adobe Creative Cloud 2014 (focus on After Effects, Photoshop, etc) and Clip Studio Paint, which should support higher bit, but she hasn't said that it's necessary anyway.
On my side, I'll do video editing for a some small youtube projects with my brother, but right now I mostly use OpenShot and OBS, and some other linux editors when needed. We do some chroma key stuff, and I like to dip into AMVs but nothing very fancy or anything on that side.
We both do more in terms of audio recording, editing and mixing, so I guess the only thing the monitor would effect there is how much of the time line and how many tracks we can see?
I don't mind mixing and matching monitors, so as long as neither are completely crappy, I don't mind putting more into one and less into another.
I'd easily go for a giant 4k if I found one in that budget range, but I haven't seen such.
I don't know if it fits your need but I've had two Acer K272HULbmiidp 27" 1440p monitors for a couple years now and have been very happy with them. They sometimes go on sale for $200 each and it's much closer to an IPS than a TN. It's probably not going to give you the perfect sRGB or Adobe colors but it should be something you can calibrate to be pretty darned good given that you don't need this for professional purposes.
I'm not saying this definitely fits the bill for you but if you're itching for 27" and 1440p, this might be a good way to break that barrier given your needs and budget.
Don't know if it will help you or not but we just this week bought a 24" LG IPS LED monitor for $100 at Sam's Club seems so far to be a great looking monitor for that price point....
From what I can find on the Acer K272HULbmiidp, it's an AHVA IPS panel (which I hadn't heard of before, but looks like it's the tech used for getting 144Hz IPS panels), so that sounds good though I hadn't seen much about whether it's as good with colors as other IPS. For $200 that sounds like it would be worth it if I can find it at that price.
If the quality really is good, the price is certainly right. I've seen a couple $99 monitors lately, but don't think I saw IPS ones. Do you know the model?
For editing photos and videos I wouldn't settle for anything less than 1440p 27". The extra resolution makes a world of difference especially for being able to see what you're doing with photos.
They're usually at Newegg when they drop to that price. Keep an eye out at Slickdeals - they usually go front page for several hours before they sell out at this price. Also, make certain it's this same model - there are some other models that sound the same but have different letters and are far inferior (not the IPS-like quality).
I've noticed Acer has a weird system of having a standard looking model designation for their lower quality monitors, and adding random lowercase letters for higher quality, higher everything monitors. Don't understand it, but seems to be their thing.
Yeah, I think it's in part to confuse consumers. :-(
For example, I have a pair of Acer K272HULbmiidp monitors, which are 27" 1440p AHVA (an IPS-equivalent) and I love them! It's ridiculous that they have all of those letters though (I could be wrong but I believe there are a few different K272HUL models, which is what's displayed on the front of the panel). :-/
I still like my Asus vg27ah. They're out of production now, but they offer really good image quality with low refresh rates. They have built in 3D as well, though I never use that feature.