I think that's because, outside of screen dimensions, the hardware is not so important as the software.

I currently own four computers (If you count the dinosaur in storage), two of which are using 17 inch LCD monitors. The max resolution on my G5 Mac (All four machines are Mac) is 1440x900, and the resolution of my Powerbook is 1680x1050. Both work fine for all things photography. My personal system for calculating minimum screen resolution is to measure the width of the screen, in inches, and multiply by 75. The resulting answer is the minimum width resolution I need to perform my sharpening techniques in Photoshop. Photoshop also requires a minimum resolution of 1024x768 to open Raw images, so that would be my absolute minimum.

On specific brands of monitors, I have no specific advice, as Macs are integrated systems (at least in my case).

One last piece of advice: consider investing in a notebook. I can shoot a baseball game, hook the laptop into my phone's internet via bluetooth, download and process the images while still at the game, and by the time the kids get home, the pics are posted on my website. Or upload landscape shots while still in the field, and pick up the prints on my way home. Having a notebook just kind of changes your whole outlook.

For what it's worth.

- Joe U.