Which new (color accurate) 30"+ display for Mac Pro 4,1?

[DDB-UK]

I'm looking to buy a new colour accurate 30"+ display for my Mac Pro 4,1 running at at least 2560 x 1600, and of the sort that can be calibrated to give accurate colours, has Adobe RGB support, etc.

I'll be using Adobe CS6 on the Mac for web graphics / design / coding, and also some design for print, as well as video editing / compositing work.

The Mac only has the stock NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics card (with 512 MB of memory) at the moment. Although it supports resolutions up to 2560 x 1600, it's an old, slow card which will struggle with the new display, so I'll be replacing the card once I've decided which display to buy, and will seek advice on selecting the card in these forums.

If money was no object, I'd either go for the Eizo ColorEdge CG318-4K:

http://www.eizoglobal.com/products/coloredge/cg318-4k/index.html

or the NEC SpectraView® Reference 322UHD:

https://www.nec-display-solutions.com/p/uk/en/products/details/rp/Reference322UHD.xhtml

However these cost over £3,600 and £4,000 respectively here in the UK, so are out of the question. Ideally I don't want to spend more than about £1,200, but I appreciate I may have to if I want to meet my requirements.

In theory a display like the Dell UP3216Q ticks all the boxes and can be had for less than £800:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dell-up3216q-monitor?c=uk&l=en&s=bsd&

However, reading certain reviews, as well as threads such as this one:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1838486&highlight=ev3237&page=2

casts doubt on the quality of the likes of Dell displays when it comes to colour accuracy, true calibration accuracy (not to be confused with faux calibration - see http://diglloyd.com/articles/Recommended/display-calibration.html) top notch sRGB and Adobe RGB etc.

The LG 31MU97-B should in theory be a possibility:

http://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-31MU97

It comes out top from a UK review of six 32-inch Ultra HD monitors:

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/614...d-monitor-review-serious-business-lg-31mu97-b

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/614...onitor-review-serious-business-final-thoughts

Indeed on paper it has some technical specs (for example true 4K resolution and a very useful split screen feature) which are superior to the other displays I'm considering, and it can be had for only £750, but there seem to have been many quality, reliability and poor after-sales support issues reported:

http://www.amazon.com/product-revie..._pr_hist_1?filterByStar=one_star&pageNumber=1

The Eizo FlexScan EV3237 would be a possibility:

http://www.eizoglobal.com/products/flexscan/ev3237/index.html

and can be had for around £1,000 but doesn't offer Adobe RGB:

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/614...d-monitor-review-serious-business-eizo-ev3237

and the very thorough review on overclockers.ru mentions in its summary/conclusions that the display isn't up to the professional levels of NEC and Eizo (CG series) models:

http://www.overclockers.ru/lab/6608...tora-eizo-flexscan-ev3237-plata-za-brend.html

I'm therefore left with a choice of NEC monitors. The MultiSync® PA302W:

https://www.nec-display-solutions.com/p/uk/en/products/details/rp/PA302W.xhtml

which can be had for £1,200 or so.

The "SV2" version of this:

https://www.nec-display-solutions.com/p/uk/en/products/details/rp/PA302W-SV2.xhtml

which comes with the calibration hardware, can be bought for around £1,500, and is recommended by Lloyd Chambers, whose opinion I value:

http://diglloyd.com/articles/Recommended/displayNEC-PA302W.html

or the MultiSync® PA322UHD. The SV2 version with the calibration hardware is listed here:

https://www.nec-display-solutions.com/p/uk/en/products/details/rp/PA322UHD-SV2.xhtml

I've given this link as there doesn't appear to be a page for the non-SV2 version on the NEC UK website.

The PA322UHD is also recommended by Lloyd Chambers:

http://diglloyd.com/articles/Recommended/displayNEC-PA322UHD.html

It retails at over £2,100 but second hand units seem to come up on Amazon UK from time to time at around the £1,100 mark:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00T3SEXK8

I've emailed the seller of these asking about warranties, dead pixels, accessories, etc.

_____________

So, to summarise, I'm down to a choice of 4 displays.

The LG 31MU97-B, which is true 4K, has Adobe RGB support, has the split screen feature, etc, and would seem perfect at only £750, but there are so many quality and support issues mentioned online that buying one of these would make me nervous.

The NEC PA302W on the other hand isn't 4K, or even UHD, "only" having a 2560 x 1600 resolution, but from a colour accuracy point of view, a brand new SV2 version of this may be the best choice, as it comes with calibration hardware.

The NEC PA322UHD is UHD (almost 4K) and is rated very highly for colour accuracy by Lloyd Chambers too, but I'd have to risk buying a second hand unit.

And the Dell? It can be had for less than £800, but it's not an Eizo or an NEC and as such would appear simply to not be in the same class. It's merely a Dell. A compromise it would seem. Or is that just snobbery on my part?

Wise, meticulously thought out opinions would be most welcome!

Many thanks.

 

[pixelblue]

NEC is very accurate, especially for sRGB if that's what you care about, which it sounds like you do since you're creating web graphics. I've used them at work.
The Eizo monitors I've used are the best, bar none, especially if you care about color grading or work with high bit depth images, but possibly overkill for photos / printing.

The LG has some unique features, most notably DCI 4k resolution and a 17:9 aspect ratio to match. But it doesn't sound like you're necessarily interested in film grading standards, so probably not the best choice since you would probably target Rec 709 / sRGB, and not DCI P3, which is that monitors big selling point.

 

[illustrator]

You should indeed skip the LG 31MU97_* when your on Mac. Instead look at its sister model the LG 31MU97Z-*. It has one Thunderbolt 2 port in and one Thunderbolt 2 port out. It costs a tiny bit more though.
The Thunderbolt ports were specifically added for better Mac compatibility.
Mac's Thunderbolt port connected to the DisplayPort port didn't work too well :
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7pRFjy6xOGs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xRZP3wiLCHA
One big disadvantage of these 2 monitors is the HDMI 1.4 port though.
But it's excellent for your print design jobs.

 

[davewolfs]

If money is no object why not just buy the Dell OLED for 5k and tell us common folk how it is? If you want a monitor that has good color accuracy and warranty just get an NEC that comes bundled with a color meter.

 

[baii]

Well, if you can't stand software calibration(w.e faux they are talking about), you are stuck with models that can do hardware calibration.

If you can go smaller, eizo have srgb monitors with hardware calibration ability.

 

[Deleted member 89018]

In theory a display like the Dell UP3216Q ticks all the boxes and can be had for less than £800:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...uk&l=en&s=bsd&

However, reading certain reviews, as well as threads such as this one:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?...=ev3237&page=2

casts doubt on the quality of the likes of Dell displays when it comes to colour accuracy, true calibration accuracy (not to be confused with faux calibration - see http://diglloyd.com/articles/Recomme...libration.html) top notch sRGB and Adobe RGB etc.

All of the information regarding the Dell 30" displays won't apply to the UP3216Q. I mean, it could still have problems (I haven't seen any reviews posted yet) but those 30" displays are entirely different panels, older 30" 2560x1600 models, some with very grainy matte coating, etc (someone somewhere joked that all of the 30" 2560x1600 displays have been using the same panel since 2005, and that's why they all have one terrible issue or another - fix one problem and more pop up).

Even reviews on the UP3214Q wouldn't necessarily apply to the UP3216Q - the 16 model uses a new panel. It could be the best wide gamut display yet, but until people have done testing and posted results, we won't know.

(I mean, if you look at reviews of the U2713HM and the U2715H, the difference is night and day - the 13 model had lots of various problems, and the 15 model is just fantastic.)

Do you have color calibration tools? If the new Dell ticks all your boxes, buy it and test it yourself. And let us know the results.