Screen for editing

[BW]

I am in the process of getting a new computer. Up to now, I have used a 2010 27" Imac, which is starting to slow down. The whole chain of events, from starting the mac and lightroom/ps, to a finished web-ready picture might take up to an hour. The total editing time in ps should not be more than five minutes, so the waiting for the pictures to download from the card and and the saving and backup process makes up for most of the wasted time. The two alternatives are a special built pc or the newest Imac. The question is what screen would you recomend with a custom built pc? Links to your recomendations are very welcome. I still keep an open mind towards different solutions, but I have to admit That I really like the Imac.

[charlie]

The newer iMac screens are better than the old ones but they are also very glossy which isn't the greatest for photo editing. NEC makes great screens for photo editing of which the spectraview series comes with software & hardware for calibrating. Though I would warn that my spectraview calibrating puck/software, even though it is an X-Rite eye-one calibrator, only works with NEC monitors and can not calibrate other monitors. I believe they changed this on newer models but it is something to look into and if they still behave this way I would suggest to buy the monitor separately from the calibrating device so you can calibrate any monitor.

http://www.necdisplay.com/category/desktop-monitors

Eizo is another quality brand for photo/video editing albeit a bit more expensive.

http://www.eizo.com/home/

[Andrea B.]

I really like the NEC monitors every time I see them at a show or in a store. Diglloyd has some reviews which explain a lot about them. There might be newer models available since these reviews. I've always wanted a NEC monitor but have been so happy just using my 15" MacBook Pro Retina these last couple of years that I have never taken the plunge.

NEC PA322UHD 32"
NEC EA244UHD 24"
NEC PA Series 24", 27", 30"

Also, Diglloyd has a review of this Dell monitor. I have not seen any Dell monitors recently, so cannot say from experience.
Dell 24":  http://diglloyd.com/articles/Recommended/DellUP2414Q.html

The iMac retina screens are pretty nice too.  I could go definitely go for that 27" iMac Retina 5K. The glossy screens don't seem to bother me. The (Macbook Pro Retina is glossy.) Although sometimes one does need to be careful about positioning so that room lights don't reflect off it.

[chris dees]

If you like your iMac you should have a look at the 5K screen of the latest iMac. Big difference.

[BW]

Thank you for the tips, Andrea and Charlie. I will certainly look at them. Chris, it is not that I dont like the screen on the iMac, but the hardware specs are quite bad, compared to what you can get for the same price in the PC world. I love my macs but I dont want to pay big money for design. But I am willing to pay big money for (good) speed and storage

[Frank Fremerey]

I did build a new PC based on the Computer Thread by user "Andy" here in 2016.

My single thread performace did not increase, but for what I do the machine is perfect:

From 8GB RAM to 64 GB
From 4 Cores with 4 Threads to 16 cores with 32 threads

The graphics board and screen and calibraton hardware / software are still as they were in 2009

A 1920 x 1200 HP High Gamut screen
Gretag / X-Rite i1 Display 2
Radeon HD7750 passive cooling

[David H. Hartman]

You get more bang for your buck out of a Windows computer but I'd still like a new MAC bookpro, not for post processing so much, general use. I've got a mid 2007 24" iMAC and it's fine for surfing the net and general stuff. The iMAC doesn't play dead with CNX-D but it's quite slow. I don't have Photoshop on the MAC and it's not on the approved hardware list for Sierra. I

That's my ha' penny,

Dave

[BW]

The NEC 27" MultiSync PA272W looks very nice, Andrea. Quite expensive, but renders colors very good. I wonder if there is any reason to go to these extremes to edit pictures for the web ?

[charlie]

I wonder if there is any reason to go to these extremes to edit pictures for the web ?

Think of all the other extremes you go through to put pictures on the web, why not add this to the list 

[Andrea B.]

Well, you don't need even a new iMac to put pictures on the web! A little Acer mini laptop will be just fine for that. 

But if you print anything at all then a good monitor is very helpful. Buy a good 27 - 30" monitor once and keep it for years.

[arthurking83]

I can highly recommend the Samsung U32D970Q.
4K, 32", not overly excessively priced .. considering it's 4K and 32" and super high quality panel!

Calibrates as well as any other screen .. and 4K is just amazing.
it's hardware is 10bit capable which gives something like 99.something percent aRGB capable

Probably the handiest feature I've found on it so far is the ability to set two different colour spaces in a split screen mode.
colour spaces can be anything like sRGB, aRGB, or other obscure types like BT.709, EBU, DICOM, etc.
Obviously for photography oriented usage, splitting the screen between aRGB and sRGB can be useful.
Makes it easy to compare the same image set in two different colour spaces. The separator for each colour mode is vertical down the centre of the screen only.
I can line up (for example) Capture NX-D to use the split screen/compare view mode so that each image lines up along the central split line.

The only problem with this feature is the convoluted OSD menu system needed to access it(requires about 10 button presses to activate it). Would have been better in the easier to access Colour mode section of the OSD, where two or three button presses could have turned it on/off.

[Frank Fremerey]

NEC Screens are the way to go if you want the best

Yet. If there are budget concerns you might find very good screens from:

HP, DELL and SAMSUNG

[BW]

You are right Charlie and Andrea I found a great link about screens for photo editing http://thedigitalcamera.net/best-monitor-for-photo-editing-and-photography/. I think both the BenQ monitors in the comparison table looks nice and is pleasantly priced as well. The resolution on my iMac (2560 x 1440) matches the resolution on most of the screen listed here, and I have never felt the need for higher resolution. I would like the opportunity to view the pictures in Adobe rgb to match prints. The Samsung recommended in Arthurs reply also looks nice. All this choices makes me dizzy. I guess this was the reason I chose iMac in the first place

[BW]

NEC Screens are the way to go if you want the best

Yet. If there are budget concerns you might find very good screens from:

HP, DELL and SAMSUNG

If I go for the best, there is no room for blaming the equipement. I will be the weakest link in the chain. We wouldnt want that, would we?

[Almass]

Why do you want to pay for an expensive screen. Do you really need it?

In case your set up is a complete set up from screen to printer, then it will work for such a close calibrated set up.
If you are printing outside or only web posting, then you really do not need a super duper screen.

Most importantly and always overlooked, is when people calibrate their monitor and printer and do NOT properly set up Photoshop for retouching...as for LR....it is slower than my GranMa playing Pokemon Go.