LCD Replacement for CRT user

[LittleMike]

Hello all,

I know there are a million threads on this already and I've tried going through about 30 of them and it just left me a) more confused and b) thinking there is no good solution for my situation.

Here's where I'm at. I use a CRT now that I use for gaming as well as heavy Photoshop work. So because of that I need something that's fast, good color representation, no input lag. Basically I want the closest thing to a CRT that I can get.

I'm not necessarily going to purchase anything right now but I always check with [H] first to see if any new technology has come out that would satisfy my needs. It's my understanding that a lot of LCDs are now wide gamut and that's bad because graphic work is done in sRGB. Let's imagine that cost is of no issue (it is, and as I said, I may not be buying right now anyway, but I wanted to do ask you guys first).

For what it's worth, I would also like alternatives that I can pick up at Best Buy as I have a bunch of gift cards that would help mitigate the cost. This is not a deal maker or breaker, though.

Thanks!

-LM

 

[brumwald]

I'd investigate whether you really are sensitive to input lag or not, because (as you probably know) your demands are tough to meet.

For your needs I'd recommend an IPS monitor, but that more or less is equivalent with wide gamut today. Since photoshop is color managed the wide-gamut issue isn't that bad (well, depends on how serious you are), there are some precision loss which make banding more prevalent but how much of a problem that is I don't know.

If money is no object theres the Nec 2490 (which isn't wide gamut) which I think meets all your demands but one, input lag (not sure how fast the response time is though). Then again it costs quite a bit.

There hasn't been any recent breakthroughs with LCD technology and probably won't be for a while either. The only thing with promise (I think) at the moment is LED backlights. LED holds promise but haven't matured yet (same story as always) so you'd probably better off without it if your buying this year. I'd guess.
Perhaps the Mac 24" LED is an alternative, I haven't looked at it since the hype (partly because it's displayport only and glossy).

You didn't say what size that was of interest.
Theres the new 120 Hz monitors (22" I think) which you probably will find great for gaming, but not so for photoshop. If you are really serious about both gaming and photoshop your best LCD option might be a dual-setup with a 120 Hz TN monitor for gaming and something like the HP 2475 for photoshop. Combined they'd cost less than the 2490

If neither the 2490 or a dual-setup is an alternative I'd say that you have to start compromising. Or search for a CRT in good condition.

 

[LittleMike]

I'd investigate whether you really are sensitive to input lag or not, because (as you probably know) your demands are tough to meet.

For your needs I'd recommend an IPS monitor, but that more or less is equivalent with wide gamut today. Since photoshop is color managed the wide-gamut issue isn't that bad (well, depends on how serious you are), there are some precision loss which make banding more prevalent but how much of a problem that is I don't know.

If money is no object theres the Nec 2490 (which isn't wide gamut) which I think meets all your demands but one, input lag (not sure how fast the response time is though). Then again it costs quite a bit.

There hasn't been any recent breakthroughs with LCD technology and probably won't be for a while either. The only thing with promise (I think) at the moment is LED backlights. LED holds promise but haven't matured yet (same story as always) so you'd probably better off without it if your buying this year. I'd guess.
Perhaps the Mac 24" LED is an alternative, I haven't looked at it since the hype (partly because it's displayport only and glossy).

You didn't say what size that was of interest.
Theres the new 120 Hz monitors (22" I think) which you probably will find great for gaming, but not so for photoshop. If you are really serious about both gaming and photoshop your best LCD option might be a dual-setup with a 120 Hz TN monitor for gaming and something like the HP 2475 for photoshop. Combined they'd cost less than the 2490

If neither the 2490 or a dual-setup is an alternative I'd say that you have to start compromising. Or search for a CRT in good condition.

Brumwald, thanks for the response. It looks like the same old story then, unfortunately. Oh to answer your question, 22"-24" WS or so would be fine. Input lag on most IPS panels does bother me, TN panels have bad color representation, and MVA are slow. Ugh, this sucks. Well like I said, my current CRT is still kicking just fine. I was just looking to free up some room on my desk. I'm not ready to make any sacrifices, though. Thank you for helping. Looks like I'm keeping my money for now. No sense dropping a grand on something that's not going to give me any better than I have already.