New monitor advice needed

[Liz]

I'm probably asking for the impossible, but here goes.

I'm looking for a relatively not terribly expensive monitor. My criteria is:


...Relatively small 20 - 22"
...Easy to calibrate (without paying for the more expensive software)
...best for photo viewing/editing
...non-glare screen

Thanks for any input, advice, other thoughts or suggestions.

BTW, my present monitor is the HP w2207h flat panel "bright View." The bright view is exactly that. It is almost impossible to get rid of the glare/brightness. When I have a migraine, I can't even look at the monitor at any setting due to the brightness. I never had this experience with a monitor.

Liz

[BlueRob]

Hi Liz...the best way to find a monitor is go to a store and actually look at them, at least is what I like to do. Most stores have on display their screens, look for the right one. TBH few flat screen make me happy because most of them look like crap IMO, compared to the old style high end CRT type, but since the are extinct, LCD is the only way this days. The new technology on the matter are the ones so called LED which claim to be way better than plain LCD´s.
On the technical side look at the specs, every brand have plain good ones and "high end" models. Three specs you should take into account.
- Refresh rate, the lower the number the better expressed, in milli-seconds MS
- Contrast ratio expressed like this 15000:1...the bigger the ratio the better.
- Native resolution, and here is a long explanation involved....still with me? Ok.. good.
Your computer has a piece of hardware called GPU (graphic processing unit) better known as video card, this card will be able to display the image in different resolutions (sizes).
The monitor you choose will have a native resolution...an ideal size to be displayed, make sure you video card can display that resolution, LCD´s working with other resolutions than its native will look bad guaranteed or at least it will not look as good. This is important!.

Sorry for the long and sort of technical explanation, but if you are spending money I think you should be aware of the main differences between models and thus prices.

HTH

[BlueRob]

After all my explanation I was thinking...is you monitor well set (configured)?
I check the specs of it, and is not a Ferrari but you should obtain decent quality out of it.

[Liz]

After all my explanation I was thinking...is you monitor well set (configured)?
I check the specs of it, and is not a Ferrari but you should obtain decent quality out of it.

Thanks for your quick response and good explanation, specs I should look for. When I purchased this monitor, I had a similar list of what to look for which is still basically good. However, my obstacle came when I tried to look at the screen which to me was the most important aspect. The flourescent (yellow and greenish) lights in most of the stores I went to - or at times, the lack of light, but "hues" and other interference made it impossible to see the screen. The one I purchased looked the best - it actually looked great. However, as I discovered later, that was because it was the "brightest" due to the "brightview panel" that HP advertises. To be honest, I kept it too long to try it out - couldn't return it.

It's configured as best I can do. The colors are off no matter what I do. Sometimes I don't see just how off it is until I see the photos elsewhere.

Thanks again.

Liz