After a year of researching choices, I am at a loss and totally frustrated. I beg fellow [H]ers for their wise guidance and experience to help me find the right match. Much thanks, in advance.
Synopsis:
I've got a $4,500 budget to find the best 2560x1600/2560/1440 triple monitor setup to go with a pair of SLI'd 4GB GTX 670s that'll be used 12+ hours every day of the year for everything from coding, reading, general office work, watching videos, and heavy duty high-end gaming. I want to find something I won't spend the next 5-10 years having buyer's remorse over.
Details:
I've spent more than a year poring over options for high resolution monitors that I wouldn't regret buying and every time I'm ready to pull the trigger, I am discouraged by the lack of options and performance. After the issues with the DELL U3011s, I decided to put off my purchase for another year and now with the DELL U3014s, I feel like the wait wasn't worth it.
To give some background on my monitor usage: I've only used matte Apple Cinema Displays for the last decade, going back to the 23" with the awful (and constantly failing) plastic chassis and kickstand, followed by an older 2560x1600 30" ACD and then a more current one (from 2009, if I recall correctly).
I want something that will look at least as good as these displays have and, preferably, perform even better. The problem is that there is such a dirth of choice when it comes to 30" displays. Especially at 2560x resolutions (and even more pathetic, if you prefer 16:10 to 16:9). I prefer 30" and 2560x1600, but 27" and/or 2560x1440 would also be acceptable if the quality of the monitor makes that compromise worthwhile.
I've spent hours here, on other sites, reading countless articles, and seemingly days at TFT Central. I always walk away feeling that I can't get low input lag and high quality monitors at high resolutions. Period. Something has to give. I don't really want to make any sacrifices, though.
I mostly write and read a lot of code, surf the web, watch videos, and play a lot of demanding games - so I need both low input lag and color/image quality. I'm not doing professional photoshopping for glamour magazines or the National Geographic cover, but I think that I need to stay with IPS over TN panels.
Slimmer bezels are preferable, since these will need to be mounted together. I'll be stuck in front of these for at least 12hrs a day, every day of the year. Because these will be paired with two 4GB GTX 670s in SLI, I believe I'll have to use both DVI and HDMI connections.
The only screen covering I've used on my desktop has been the matte of the ACD. I have seen/heard nightmares about the U3011's anti-glare coating and hear that the U3014 is much lighter. I don't want anything worse than the ACD's matte. Preferably better. Glossy would probably be acceptable, too (though it seems those don't exist at or above 27").
I even considered the very high resolution Eizo last year, but the reputation for reliability and support was discouraging for the high cost. Most recently, I've been considering the DELL U3014. I like the Game Mode that bypasses processing and results in a nearly 0ms input lag, while having a reasonable 16-18ms input lag in standard mode. However, I've heard issues with "IPS glow", issues with backlights, and more concerning, demonstrations of severe pixel transition overshoot, causing massive ghosting (even annoyingly found while using the mouse on the desktop). These seem like major flaws for $1,500 monitors. I was also looking at the ZR30W, last year. It seems to be okay, but nothing particular special. Any thoughts on this as a current choice in 2013?
I'd also appreciate any guidance as to mounting arms and other solutions for various monitors. The options for multiple monitors of these sizes seem very sparse, if not flat out non-existent.
I'm at my wit's end. I just want to buy the right monitors, hand over my cash, get them mounted, and not worry about it again for another 5-10 years. Any guidance and suggestions would be ever so greatly appreciated, my friends.
Synopsis:
I've got a $4,500 budget to find the best 2560x1600/2560/1440 triple monitor setup to go with a pair of SLI'd 4GB GTX 670s that'll be used 12+ hours every day of the year for everything from coding, reading, general office work, watching videos, and heavy duty high-end gaming. I want to find something I won't spend the next 5-10 years having buyer's remorse over.
Details:
I've spent more than a year poring over options for high resolution monitors that I wouldn't regret buying and every time I'm ready to pull the trigger, I am discouraged by the lack of options and performance. After the issues with the DELL U3011s, I decided to put off my purchase for another year and now with the DELL U3014s, I feel like the wait wasn't worth it.
To give some background on my monitor usage: I've only used matte Apple Cinema Displays for the last decade, going back to the 23" with the awful (and constantly failing) plastic chassis and kickstand, followed by an older 2560x1600 30" ACD and then a more current one (from 2009, if I recall correctly).
I want something that will look at least as good as these displays have and, preferably, perform even better. The problem is that there is such a dirth of choice when it comes to 30" displays. Especially at 2560x resolutions (and even more pathetic, if you prefer 16:10 to 16:9). I prefer 30" and 2560x1600, but 27" and/or 2560x1440 would also be acceptable if the quality of the monitor makes that compromise worthwhile.
I've spent hours here, on other sites, reading countless articles, and seemingly days at TFT Central. I always walk away feeling that I can't get low input lag and high quality monitors at high resolutions. Period. Something has to give. I don't really want to make any sacrifices, though.
I mostly write and read a lot of code, surf the web, watch videos, and play a lot of demanding games - so I need both low input lag and color/image quality. I'm not doing professional photoshopping for glamour magazines or the National Geographic cover, but I think that I need to stay with IPS over TN panels.
Slimmer bezels are preferable, since these will need to be mounted together. I'll be stuck in front of these for at least 12hrs a day, every day of the year. Because these will be paired with two 4GB GTX 670s in SLI, I believe I'll have to use both DVI and HDMI connections.
The only screen covering I've used on my desktop has been the matte of the ACD. I have seen/heard nightmares about the U3011's anti-glare coating and hear that the U3014 is much lighter. I don't want anything worse than the ACD's matte. Preferably better. Glossy would probably be acceptable, too (though it seems those don't exist at or above 27").
I even considered the very high resolution Eizo last year, but the reputation for reliability and support was discouraging for the high cost. Most recently, I've been considering the DELL U3014. I like the Game Mode that bypasses processing and results in a nearly 0ms input lag, while having a reasonable 16-18ms input lag in standard mode. However, I've heard issues with "IPS glow", issues with backlights, and more concerning, demonstrations of severe pixel transition overshoot, causing massive ghosting (even annoyingly found while using the mouse on the desktop). These seem like major flaws for $1,500 monitors. I was also looking at the ZR30W, last year. It seems to be okay, but nothing particular special. Any thoughts on this as a current choice in 2013?
I'd also appreciate any guidance as to mounting arms and other solutions for various monitors. The options for multiple monitors of these sizes seem very sparse, if not flat out non-existent.
I'm at my wit's end. I just want to buy the right monitors, hand over my cash, get them mounted, and not worry about it again for another 5-10 years. Any guidance and suggestions would be ever so greatly appreciated, my friends.
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