Current 30" vs LP3065

Hi

I currently own a HP LP3065 monitor and I was looking to complement it with another 30" screen.

Now, I can't find any shops that have return policies in my country, those that do take a 20% cut on returning products, that's still a considerable amount of money just for the privilege to test the monitor.

I've been reading up primarily about the HP Z30i and the Dell U3014, but I've read terrible things about both of them, the primary issues being IPS glow and input lag.

Does anyone know how these monitors compare to the LP3065? I know my monitor is by no means perfect... but since I don't have any other reference, I don't know whether I'll get something similar to my monitor or something that's worse.

Any pointers? Thanks!

Well I thought this was a troll thread for a minute mostly because of the name you've chosen lol.

I had to look up the HP LP3065... it looks like a good monitor from a 2 second glance at the newegg spec sheet.

The main thing I was looking for was how many colors it displays, which was easy enough to find--it's sRGB, or 8-bit, or 16.7million colors--all mean the same thing. I ended up with an anandtech review of your current monitor that was published in 2007. I mention the article because the author briefly discusses new models incoming from both Dell and HP in the 30" market at the time that have "improved color gamut". This "improvement" incoming at that crucial moment was what is currently wrong with the 30" 1600p monitors. They are ALL 10-bit, wide-gamut, 1.07 billion colors, and they all display colors improperly unless they have an sRGB mode (expensive addition--cheapest I can think of is the VP2772, which is... 27" so totally unnecessary as sRGB 27" monitors are a dime a dozen) OR if you have a 10-bit video card like an Nvidia Quadro. If you don't have the proper hardware, all of the 30" monitors on the market are a bad choice from a certain perspective. If you are trying to match your 8-bit panel with a 10-bit side by side... I just don't think it's going to be very satisfying at all. They won't match. Considering the issues you mention with returning things etc...

Honestly you could get 2 27" 1440p monitors for the price of a Dell u3014, and generally they are MUCH better monitors in almost every possible way and situation.

Yeah I noticed that the 27" 1440p monitors are so much cheaper, but a matching resolution would have been nice and I like that extra bit of vertical screen space.

Hmm, I never thought about the colors until now. I have a Spyder 3 colorimeter so I thought after it would work out after calibrating, and no, I have a regular Nvidia card.

So, which 27" screens ca ben recommended? 1080p screens that size are out of the question anyway. Apart from that, what do I need to look out for? I've read that PWM dimming is something to keep away from?

Another idea I had been toying with was to get an LG 34UM95 21:9 3440*1440, I imagine that having two documents open side by side would be a dream on that thing. Since it's it's not very high, it might even be possible to mount another one on top, but I'm not sure how comfortable >70cm in height would be at a distance of about 70-80cm.

As for two 27" side by side: That'd be a great and relatively cheap option if I didn't plan on getting one of those high refresh rate monitors for the rounds of CSS gaming and whatnot that I like to do occasionally. For that, the 30" just can't keep up even though there's no scaler or anything of the sort built in to the monitor. Currently, I have my eye on the yet to be released Asus ROG 1440p monitor with 144Hz Gsync, although I don't like the idea of supporting such proprietary technologies, still, even with a 24" screen for gaming, my 30" and a new 27" inch screen, my desk will be consumed by all those monitors, it's "only" 1.80m in length. Otherwise, I'd have to go for a curved desk I guess.

I'm pretty sure this is a troll thread now lol You got me

It's not? Why would you think that?

have a screenshot:
That's an ancient 17" next to my 30", which had to replace my 22" that used to be my primary monitor before my 30" came along.

Oh, it's because people argue about 30" monitors all the time around here. I was only half-kidding anyway. I would have responded right away but I went to sleep.

The other reason was just because there's sooo much info on proper 27" monitors to buy.

That 30" you have is a really nice monitor it seems to me. It's a shame they didn't continue making 8-bit 1600p 30" panels. Seems like the industry just decided 30" was for pro-art only.

My ultimate pick for a reasonably priced 27" is the AOC Q2770PQU but the guy to ask about 27s is NCX, or just read his 27" monitor review thread: http://wecravegamestoo.com/forums/monitor-reviews-discussion/15027-best-2560x1440-monitors.html. That thread won't steer you wrong you can just safely assume he's right.

Ultimately I find Samsung Super PLS to be the very best IPS tech iteration and so that's the AOC I mention above, or the Eizo EV2736, which is closer to the price of the u3014 but just absolutely blows it away from every possible angle. I like PLS because it is very uniform and often comes with very little IPS glow. The Eizo is pretty much guaranteed to be glow free, and the AOC is very close behind. The other 2 name-brand monitors in this field are usually both a little bit more expensive and not quite as good all around. These are the Benq BL2710 and the ViewsonicVP2770. Any of these monitors is a good choice but any of them could show up with defects also so I would go out of the way to work with a vendor that can do exchanges. I have no idea where you are but just as an example, US-based B&H photo has started shipping to Brazil and they are really awesome.

Ah, the venerable LP3065. I had mine for years and finally sold it (for nearly as much as I paid for it... If anything, those 30"-ers held their value). I think there are a couple generalities that can be thrown out here on what you can expect from the newer 2560x1440 monitors. namely, you'll be taking a step back in resolution (obviously), but a step forward in refresh rate (the 3065lp is 16ms, if memory serves) and additional inputs (think I remember the 3065 only having three dvi inputs).

At the end of the day, an improvement, but don't expect to be blown away

Yes, we all know that NCX doesn't like the 30" monitors around. I do like 2560x1600 though.

The marginal pixels are a little expensive though...

I dont think you will notice much of a difference. I still use my LP3065 next to a retina MBP and the LP3065 can hold its own still. Would be nice to get a glossy without the anti-glare. But if that is not overly bothersome to you I would stick with the HP.

I picked up a U3014 yesterday. Was basically new in open box for €700. Cheapest U3014 new from store is ~1000 euro's here.

I already had a 3007WFP-HC (a monitor from the same time as the HP LP3065) and so far I can say this:

-Stupid inputlag on the U3014 on every mode except game mode. So game mode it is. NCX seems be to right with the weird color thing on game mode. Although nothing is quite as horrible as he tells it. Monitor like the LP3065 and 3007WFP-HC don't have the inputlag problem at all.
-Stupid functions you don't want like dynamic contrast, Energy Smart (just lock you brightness), auto rotate (does it really have it? stock base doesn't rotate). The HP3065 doesn't bother you with that stupid crap you need to manually disable when you get your screen.

Now, here's the positive:
+It doesn't act like a face-heater. It stays much cooler; energy consumption is considerable lower and you won't feel the heat coming off of it when you sit in front of it.
+Inputs. It has Displayport. The LP3065 is great with it's three DVI inputs, but my 3007WFP-HC was kinda irritating to connect to both my laptop and desktop. I have a DVI switch on the way for that though. Displayport is version 1.2 so you can daisy-chain multiple screens.
+Minimum brightness is lower. Unless of course the CCFL's are worn out for the most part monitors like the 3007WFP(-HC) and LP3065 have a too high minimum brightness. The bigger range on which LEDs can be regulated solves that problem without having any of the big-name reviewers going nuts over reduced maximum brightness ("higher is better"). Range is now 45-315 (cd/m^2)(ratio=7) instead of 110-390 (ratio = 3.5) with the 3007WFP-HC (and probably LP3065 too).

The game mode uses the displays native wide gamut which is illogical and the color controls are locked. Most 150$ monitors offer far better colors than the xx14 monitor's game mode. Then there is the overshoot ghosting and glow (30" vs 27" glow comparisons)...return it and get a similarly priced glow free EV2736W or LG 34UM95, BenQ BL3200PT, ect. instead, then thank me.

You can do so much better without spending more money, don't settle because you already have low standards set by a CCFL back-lit 30." You can sit as close as you want to the EV2736W and not worry about glow which easily makes up for the smaller size.

That's a 27" with 2560x1440... not 30" with x1600; so it better be cheaper...

For new buyers: yeah; do that. I particularly like x1600 and his 30" is the centerscreen on 20-30-20 PLP.

No returning. Private sale

700 euros isn't the end of the world either and I can probably still sell it for the same amount. But I hate 16:9 ; period. The extra 160 pixels (4 cm) vertically and associated Matlab lines or Solidworks work area are worth some IPS glow... to me at least. If I could buy a 4:3 2560x1920 for 50% more I would probably have done it.

I just don't get why they put in such a stupid set of presets; only the game-mode is usuable due to inputlag of all others... and why it's apparently so hard to build a 30" without all those other flaws. They should have all options configurable. Like turning off all the crap that's disabled with game-mode.

On a side-note: a shame all the 1600x1200 20" monitors disappeared. The only way to get 20-30-20 PLP now is with rather old monitors.