Photography Monitor?

[duckydan]

Hey all... there's a lot of people here with more knowledge than I have so maybe someone can help me here. My company is looking to buy a monitor for graphic design and photography. The monitor they told me was the Eizo CG301W which costs about $5k.

I looked around and saw two monitors with identical specs for 1/5 of the cost (Samsung 305T and the HP LP3065)

Can anyone see or tell me any reason why these would not be as good?

 

[Van]

Eizo ColorEdge CG301W - Reviews - Hardware - Monitors - LCD Monitors - PC World
Samsung Syncmaster 305T Black 30 Monitor Review - PC World
HP LP3065 Black 30 Monitor Review - PC World
Maybe these three reviews will help.

One thing I saw was the supported resolutions and the pip feature.

 

[Van]

Looks like its a good idea to stay away from the hp.

 

[jayn_j]

Looks like its a good idea to stay away from the hp.

Not sure I saw that from the reviews, only from one dissatisfied user's comments. I kind of thought that the HP and Samsung were the same display except for logos.

However, there are a lot of reasons why a specialty product is needed for a specific application that may not show up in the specs. In this case the review implies greater color accuracy and the ability to change chroma and gamma factors. These are big deals for someone who makes a profession of getting great images.

An analogy would be comparing a Prius and a Porsche. A spec sheet might show that both have 4 tires, an engine, a battery, a couple of doors and similar cargo carrying capacity. They look the same on the spec sheet, but both excel in different markets. You don't buy a Porsche if you want 50 MPG. By the same token, you don't buy a Prius to win races.

 

[Grandpa J]

Jayn_J Well said

 

[duckydan]

I agree with that jayn, but I want to make sure that the difference is that great and that it isn't as minor as a two-door car that costs three grand more than a four-door car of the same make.

Comparing a Prius and Porsche I don't think is as close an analogy as all of these monitors have the same specs line for line including color range and frequency. With the HP there are no OSD controls so adjusting the RGB and contrast is not possible but with the other two (and aside from that difference) the HP included the full range of specs is identical so I just want to make sure the eizo isn't just the Monster Cable of computer monitors.

 

[BuddyBoy]

If you're going to spend a lot of time in Photoshop every day, I'd make sure to get an IPS monitor (that Eizo is one, others include Apple Cinema Displays, some Dell Ultrasharps, high-end NECs, a few others). Otherwise it will drive you nuts the way colors appear to change on a large monitor as you move from one corner to the other.

I doubt those cheaper monitors you listed are IPS panels.