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Monitor recommendations for Photoshop/CS on a Mac Mini

L

los-graphicos

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 14, 2010
32
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Hopefully this won't be going over old ground/repeated posts but I'm looking for monitor recommendations for using with CS5.5 for print work in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign on a Mac Mini.

I've got a Spyder 3 for calibration so that side of things is ok, the Apple Thunderbolt display is a bit of range due to price, ideally I'd be looking to spend no more than £500 and size wise about 24" would be ideal due to the amount of deskspace available.

I've heard a bit about Dell, NEC and Eizo monitors so are there any recommendations that people could make based on experience in colour critical print work?

TIA for any/all help/recommendations!
 
U2412M is nice and goes on sale for less than $300 often. Not for professional photography, but will do the job. Comes with a 3-year warranty if you buy from Dell (but you have to wait for them to put it on sale).
 
NEC or Dell?

I've been scouring the web for a suitable monitor like yourself, and settled on the NEC P232W. I do quite a bit of photography work, and this monitor seems to hit the right compromise. 23", 1920X1080, 8 bit IPS, advanced features. Reviews are very good, especially if you use a standard gamut for your workflow. It's about $550 in North America. Sure it's a bit pricey for a 23", but I figure I'll use it for quite a while.

If you need a wide gamut at that price (perhaps better for print?), the Dell U2410 would be your best bet in terms of that price range (though no experience with their panel consistency).

The wait for my 2.3 2012 mini is killing me ;D Good luck on your search!
 
Another vote for NEC. Dell quality doesn't quite measure up and Eizo is out of my price range. NEC has 23" CCFL and LED displays for around $550 MSRP. Standard gamut 24" displays are around $800 MSRP. There are around 50 models to choose from. In the U.S. discounts can be found at B&H Photo and other online retailers.

My NEC2490WUXi2 24" is built like a tank; it weighs more than my 24" iMac. Height, swivel and tilt adjustments. 8-bit IPS with anti-glare matte panel. Standard four-year warranty. Advanced hardware and software controls. And my experience with NEC customer service has been top-notch.

I think that NEC is currently the best bang for your pound when it comes to displays intended for color-critical work.
 
The NEC does seem to have been reviewed very well and a very good option, have you had any issues or experience with colour calibration on it and how that works out?
 
Check prad.de for good tests of the monitors, and then especially the color gamut coverage section of the tests. First choice would be a monitor with a backlight that matches sRGB very well (Don't be fooled by AdobeRGB, it almost serves no purpose in a sRGB oriented world). You can get the U2410 from DELL, but be carefull, it only functions as AdobeRGB monitor. In its sRGB preset it behaves very weird (unsaturated washed out look) as it has no 3D lut.
With a NEC, you can usually throw away your Spider, and live a much easier life on the Color workflow. Just pop it at sRGB, pop OSX at sRGB, turn on auto-brightness and never look back again. Eizo works like that too, but you have to search a bit in the models for a sRGB one (the ones with good sRGB/AdobeRGB from Eizo are crazy expensive). Mostly the Foris models have out-of-the box awesome sRGB calibration.
 
Found a great 2nd hand version of a ACD27 for $700. Not sure if that's what you're after, but you may score one if someones buying a new imac and wanting to sell
 
How do these monitors stack up against the monitor in the iMac 2011 model?

I'm looking to possibly buy a Mac Mini, but don;t want to spend more than $200-$300 for a monitor.
 
At the moment, MacMini + display is cheaper than iMac, and faster, and better available. Not so hard!
Buy a Mini that is twice as fast as the upcomming top iMac (2.6ghz BTO mid model) for 899$
Buy a NEC PA271W that is in every aspect a much better screen (KVM switch for use with 2 machines, AdobeRGB/sRGB out of the box perfect calibrated with 3D lut, 24P playback, pivot, tilt, swivel, height adjustment, ambient light sensor, uniformity control, matte display, 30 bit colour, 5 year waranty) than the TB or iMac screens for 1100$
You spend exactly the same as the top iMac (1999$), but you have a machine that is almost twice as fast.
 
I hadn't heard of the Eizo Floris models previously, though not read much in the way of views/opinion on them compared to others, seem to struggle on greyscale though – how much of an important factor is the sRGB setting? Bearing in mind I won't be using the display for gaming or film/tv streaming or much web work, how much of a consideration should it be when it comes to purchasing a monitor? (bit of a layman/newb question!)
 
sRGB is important as it is the standard for
- Web
- Photo prints on real photo paper
- Mobile devices
- TV
And besides that, sRGB fits most CMYK colour spaces, except for a tiny piece of the most extreme green and yellow, say 99% coverage.
AdobeRGB has a way bigger gamut. This is nice to see all Pantone colours correctly, but other than that, working in AdobeRGB removes bits from the used spectrum. With sRGB you have 16million colours, everyone can see. With AdobeRGB you have 16 million colours, of which roughly 60% can be reproduced by most displays and printers. It is like working with colour as colour blind.
I really don't get photographers having their camera on AdobeRGB, and then shopping on an iMac (sRGB), delivering mainly web content (sRGB) and printing on a lambda printer service (less then sRGB).

If you are really serious about print, you could work in AdobeRGB to get that last extreme Pantone swatch correct on screen, but only if you have an AdobeRGB capable screen! That means CCFL backlit wide gamut, and nothing else. LED (white LED) ≠ AdobeRGB. There is RGB LED, but only at an out-of-this-world price.
 
My advice, get the Dell u2713hm. Same AH-IPS panel as in the Thunderbolt display, flicker-free just like the TBD, loads of connection options, four USB 3.0 ports and even a soundbar expansion available if you need one. Also comes precalibrated from the factory.
 
For your stated purpose (print) it makes sense to get a display capable of representing the AdobeRGB colour space. You might find something from NEC within your budget.
 
blanka said:
sRGB is important as it is the standard for
- Web
- Photo prints on real photo paper
- Mobile devices
- TV
And besides that, sRGB fits most CMYK colour spaces, except for a tiny piece of the most extreme green and yellow, say 99% coverage.
AdobeRGB has a way bigger gamut. This is nice to see all Pantone colours correctly, but other than that, working in AdobeRGB removes bits from the used spectrum. With sRGB you have 16million colours, everyone can see. With AdobeRGB you have 16 million colours, of which roughly 60% can be reproduced by most displays and printers. It is like working with colour as colour blind.
I really don't get photographers having their camera on AdobeRGB, and then shopping on an iMac (sRGB), delivering mainly web content (sRGB) and printing on a lambda printer service (less then sRGB).

If you are really serious about print, you could work in AdobeRGB to get that last extreme Pantone swatch correct on screen, but only if you have an AdobeRGB capable screen! That means CCFL backlit wide gamut, and nothing else. LED (white LED) ≠ AdobeRGB. There is RGB LED, but only at an out-of-this-world price.
Click to expand...

great, thanks for clearing that up, and clearly too :) I'd heard mention of the sRGB v Adobe RGB debate a few times before, but a lot of the discussion is hard to follow if you haven't looked into calibration/colour correction/profiles before so a simple summing up is much appreciated
 
los-graphicos said:
The NEC does seem to have been reviewed very well and a very good option, have you had any issues or experience with colour calibration on it and how that works out?
Click to expand...

No problems. I use software calibration via SuperCal.

I use ProPhoto and AdobeRGB color spaces and I have never felt a need for a wide gamut display. Wide gamut capability adds around $200 MSRP to the cost of an NEC monitor. B&H Photo is currently selling a 24" NEC wide-gamut monitor for $779: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...41W_BK_MultiSync_PA241W_BK_24_Widescreen.html. The regular price is $999. Be sure to click the link on the B&H Photo webpage to see the current price.

Wide gamut display info: http://www.gballard.net/photoshop/srgb_wide_gamut.html

More info: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/faq.htm
 
Last edited:
No way in the world I'm buying a monitor for more than $300
for that I will just get an iMac......

What is the Best monitor in the $200-$300 range?

Thanks
 
los-graphicos said:
I've heard a bit about Dell, NEC and Eizo monitors so are there any recommendations that people could make based on experience in colour critical print work?
Click to expand...

I just noticed you're in the UK. In that case it's easy - get an Eizo (unlike in the US, there's no premium in buying Eizo over NEC in the UK).

I bought an Eizo CG275W from these guys, and use it with a 2011 Mini:

http://shop.colourconfidence.com/section.php/10312/1/eizo-monitors

I'm very happy with the Eizo (less so with the mini, which struggles to drive it).

The cheaper Eizos are within your budget.

Give Colourconfidence a call - I think they'll give you good advice.

(No affiliation, just a customer.)
 
Why not just use a HDTV?

I was just looking at both small (under 32" HDTV) and computer monitors at Best Buy (local electronics super store).

The HDTV 's are 1920x1080, good contrast, refresh at 60 ghz to 120 ghz, have various input options.

There is a 24" HDTV that was selling for $229 (Toshiba 24L4200U), the screen was bright and the colors looked natural, with white whites and black blacks, and it includes a TV tuner and nice speakers.

Besides spending more money, what are the advantages to purchasing a "computer monitor" vs a TV?
 
elliotn said:
I just noticed you're in the UK. In that case it's easy - get an Eizo (unlike in the US, there's no premium in buying Eizo over NEC in the UK).
Click to expand...

I wish I had known that before I spent all that time touting NEC! :rolleyes:

Well, now I know what to tell other Europeans in the future... :D
 
elliotn said:
I just noticed you're in the UK. In that case it's easy - get an Eizo (unlike in the US, there's no premium in buying Eizo over NEC in the UK).

I bought an Eizo CG275W from these guys, and use it with a 2011 Mini:

http://shop.colourconfidence.com/section.php/10312/1/eizo-monitors

I'm very happy with the Eizo (less so with the mini, which struggles to drive it).

The cheaper Eizos are within your budget.

Give Colourconfidence a call - I think they'll give you good advice.

(No affiliation, just a customer.)
Click to expand...

I think I'd have to be happy with a monitor at that price! Way out of budget that unfortunately, nice and regarded as the Eizo's are there's no way I'm paying that much for a monitor, virtually all of them are out of budget sadly.
 
one other note regarding Eizo's is that only the FlexScan series of monitors fall within the £500 or less bracket which lack the wide gamut ideal for print work, and the highly rated NEC PA241W is well out of budget unfortunately which is a shame
 
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