So here goes the post. I've spent some time over the past few months dwelling over an upgrade for my workstation. I did the research, attempted to design a system around my usage habits and optimized the entire environment to best fit what I believed I'd be trying to do. Part of my plan was, down the road, to buy a 24" LCD to compliment my 19" standard aspect Samsung 930b. While it's nothing terribly fancy, the screen was decent enough to carry me through as the compliment to a color-accurate CRT. Not too long ago, my CRT bit the dust, shoving me into actively searching for a new display. Roughly two weeks ago, I purchased a Dell 2408WFP.
Upon receiving the LCD, I discovered two issues. First, hardware trouble shunted me off into VGA as there are "recorded issues" with using this product on some Nvidia G92-derived video cards. (Doh!) The second problem was less good. It's a wide-gamut display, and what I did not manage to gather during my research was the impact this would make on my non-color managed applications. That is, I didn't even come remotely close to understanding the true impact shoving one color space into another would make in casual interaction. So while this issue is not technically a failing of the product, it does present me with a bit of trouble (namely blown-out colors and over-saturated warm tones)
It's worth mentioning that I run Windows XP. This is, I believe, the source of so much of my trouble right now. While it offers some level of color management, it does not make the correct assumptions (and resulting applications) with regard to non-tagged color across the entirety of the OS. This leaves me with a display that is nearly flawless in color managed applications, but somewhat brutal on the eyes in anything else. I'm still somewhat hesitant to upgrade to Vista as my day-to-day experience using it has never been terribly satisfying. I've got Leopard installed (in some form) on this machine, but I have not had the time to refine it into a truly stable platform ready for daily use.
My third issue is just a grumpy one. My Pantone Huey is displaying the usual failing: significant red cast, so it's in the process of being RMAed, so I lack a means of calibrating the 2408. Damn these electronics!
So I'm left either looking to keep the LCD and live with the wide gamut as an on-again/off-again problem until I transition to an operating system with better color management, or I can search for an alternative.
Requirements:
24"-ish, 1920x1200
"Limited" Gamut (~85%/traditional)
Matte-finish/non-glossy panel. Glossy bezels are fine.
Preferrably PVA, MVA, or IPS.
Uses: Design, RAW photo processing, some gaming (typically RTS and the likes), video editing, movie viewing.
<$650
Are there any other 24" displays out there which meet this criteria? Given how much of my work is design-based, I'm desperately hoping to avoid falling back to a TN panel, and I have been unable to hook up with an older Apple Cinema Display from a reputable source.
Should I just move up to Vista and stop bitching?
Upon receiving the LCD, I discovered two issues. First, hardware trouble shunted me off into VGA as there are "recorded issues" with using this product on some Nvidia G92-derived video cards. (Doh!) The second problem was less good. It's a wide-gamut display, and what I did not manage to gather during my research was the impact this would make on my non-color managed applications. That is, I didn't even come remotely close to understanding the true impact shoving one color space into another would make in casual interaction. So while this issue is not technically a failing of the product, it does present me with a bit of trouble (namely blown-out colors and over-saturated warm tones)
It's worth mentioning that I run Windows XP. This is, I believe, the source of so much of my trouble right now. While it offers some level of color management, it does not make the correct assumptions (and resulting applications) with regard to non-tagged color across the entirety of the OS. This leaves me with a display that is nearly flawless in color managed applications, but somewhat brutal on the eyes in anything else. I'm still somewhat hesitant to upgrade to Vista as my day-to-day experience using it has never been terribly satisfying. I've got Leopard installed (in some form) on this machine, but I have not had the time to refine it into a truly stable platform ready for daily use.
My third issue is just a grumpy one. My Pantone Huey is displaying the usual failing: significant red cast, so it's in the process of being RMAed, so I lack a means of calibrating the 2408. Damn these electronics!
So I'm left either looking to keep the LCD and live with the wide gamut as an on-again/off-again problem until I transition to an operating system with better color management, or I can search for an alternative.
Requirements:
24"-ish, 1920x1200
"Limited" Gamut (~85%/traditional)
Matte-finish/non-glossy panel. Glossy bezels are fine.
Preferrably PVA, MVA, or IPS.
Uses: Design, RAW photo processing, some gaming (typically RTS and the likes), video editing, movie viewing.
<$650
Are there any other 24" displays out there which meet this criteria? Given how much of my work is design-based, I'm desperately hoping to avoid falling back to a TN panel, and I have been unable to hook up with an older Apple Cinema Display from a reputable source.
Should I just move up to Vista and stop bitching?