Are there any 24/25" monitors that can compete with Apple displays?

[Matt174e]

I have a friend with a MacBook Pro and the picture quality is absolutely amazing. It's not just the resolution, the colors and brightness are just amazing. I've never in my life seen a regular monitor that looks as good.

I'm currently using a Dell U2211H monitor. It's an IPS "Ultrasharp" panel. It's supposed to be really good, but imo, it's crap. The display seems so washed out, especially in comparison to Apple displays. I even looked at a Top 5 list of monitors and the 30" version of what I have was listed at #5, I couldn't believe it. I tried all kinds of settings on my monitor, I just can't get it to look decent.

I'm looking to upgrade to a 25" display. And I really want to make a good decision this time. Any recommendations?

 

[Arcticfox04]

If I remember its an LG display on the Macbook Pro's. Though its built to Apple's spec's.

 

[SuperSubZero]

There are reasons Apple has gone full-bore with glossy panels on virtually everything. Glossy panels give colors more pop and brightness. Your Dell monitor, from what I can tell online, has a matte coating on it. This tends to reduce the pop and brightness.

That said, it can be too much of a good thing. The 13-15" Retinas I love. My 17" Pro is a glossy type and is about the edge of what I call acceptable for glossy. The 27" iMac is *way* too much glossy.

As for 25" displays, find 3-4 you like and narrow it down that way.

 

[Morkai]

If I remember its an LG display on the Macbook Pro's. Though its built to Apple's spec's.

It can be LG or samsung (last I checked). When i bought my mbpr at the end of 2012, the samsungs were quite a bit better -better quality and the LG had problems with image retention.

Running this shows the manufacvturer (LP is LG; LSN is samsung):
ioreg -lw0 | grep \"EDID\" | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6

 

[Rectal Prolapse]

The gloss on newer Dells are a lot better than the U2211H that I have. My Dell UP2414Q is much nicer. Aside from the firmware bugs that is, and that it needs MST to support 4K@60 hz.

 

[NCX]

All of the new 24" monitors either use matte or nearly grain free, semi-glossy coatings. Fortunately, manufacturer's are not dumb enough to use the same edge-to-edge glass which the 27" Apple's, Dell S2740l and Samsung S27B970D use, since it makes blacks look gray and is extremely reflective. The old 24" ACD uses a grainy matte coating, as does the 30" ACD. All matte CCFL back-lit 30" use the same grainy matte coating.

Monitor coating comparisons. Edge-to-edge glass looks nice until dark content is displayed, which looks horrible since the glass makes blacks look gray and dark content look severely washed out. Sites which put 30" monitors in their top 5 should not be taken seriously since there are at least 20x 21.5-27" AHVA/IPS/PLS panels made in the last 2 years which are vastly superior for general use. Eizo's new CG and CX 27" 1440p monitors also embarrass all of the 30" for color accuracy related use.

 

[austinpike]

I'm currently using a Dell U2211H monitor... I even looked at a Top 5 list of monitors and the 30" version of what I have was listed at #5, I couldn't believe it...

You cant really compare panels in different sizes, they all come from different suppliers and can have vastly different specs. That 22" has 6bit+FRC color, while the 30" is a 10bit wide gamut panel. In my experience the 22/23" IPS panels out there really aren't that great compared to the 27" options.

I'm looking to upgrade to a 25" display. And I really want to make a good decision this time. Any recommendations?

Assuming you don't want a TN screen, the HP 25xi seems to be one of the only IPS options in that size. I've never seen one but many reviews seem to indicate it is very glossy (maybe you'd like that if you are comparing to Apple.) I can't find much specific info about the panel.

What are you trying to get out of an upgrade and what are you looking to spend? How important is gaming vs color? A 25" is still going to be 1920x1080 so you aren't getting any more pixels over the 22" you have now. A 27" 1440p would be more of an "upgrade" and even the cheapest ones have true 8-bit color. You'll have a range of matte to semi-gloss to glossy to choose from.