Best 30" Monitor ?

I have 2 x 24" now but want 2 x 30"

 

I second the Samsung 30"....very nice piece of kit. It's the Syncmaster 305T and all the reviews on the internet do it justice.

 

Why not use a 32" HDTV for this? That's what I had planned to do.
__________________
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
- T.S. Eliot -

 

Resolution

You will see that all your charts look very grainy even with the best TV on the market.

 

Isn't that affected by your video card? Just bought this laptop which BTW has an HDMI output.
HP Pavilion dv9700t customizable Notebook PC

* Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
* Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
* 17.0" WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
* 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
* FREE Upgrade to HP Imprint Finish (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone!!
* FREE Upgrade to Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and BluetoothTM!!
* 240GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (120GB x 2)
* LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
* No TV Tuner w/remote control
* High Capacity 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
* Microsoft(R) Works 9.0

 

The resolution of a TV will be at most full HD, which is 1920x1080. This is half the number of pixels of a 30" monitor which all seem to be 2560x1600.

The TV idea may be OK for 'low res' display if you need a large screen mounted further away from your eyes - but it would probably look rubbish if you were viewing it close up like a monitor.

 

720 HD TV has a resolution of 1366 x 768.

1080 HD TV has a resolution of 1920x1080

30" LCD monitor has a resolution of 2560 x 1600

Try this for comparison:

Code:

diagonal	30-monitor	30-720TV	30-1080TV
width		25.3		25.3		25.3
height		15.8		15.8		15.8
sq in		399.74		399.74		399.74
pixel-w		2560		1366		1920
pixel-h		1600		768		1080
tot pixel	4,096,000 	1,049,088 	2,073,600 
pixel/sqin	10,246.66 	2,624.43 	5,187.37 

 

Pixels are the key. From Wikipedia:

Modern computer LCDs are designed with a native resolution which refers to the perfect match between pixels and triads. {Each set of red-green-blue LCD elements = a triad}.

The native resolution will produce the sharpest picture capable from the display. However, since the user can adjust the resolution, the monitor must be capable of displaying other resolutions. Non-native resolutions have to be supported by approximate resampling in the LCD controller, using interpolation algorithms (in CRTs, the physical system interpolates between the logical pixels and the physical phosphors). This often causes the screen to look somewhat jagged or blurry (especially with resolutions that are not even multiples of the native one). For example, a display with a native resolution of 1280×1024 will look best set at 1280×1024 resolution, will display 800×600 adequately by drawing each pixel with more physical triads, but will be unable to display in 1600×1200 sharply due to the lack of physical triads.

Thus a computer monitor with 1680 x1050 native resolution - no matter the screen size - will have a sharper picture than a 30" LCD TV running at 1024 x 768.

In ascending order of resolution:

VGA 0.3 Megapixels = 640×480
SVGA 0.5 Megapixels = 800×600
XGA 0.8 Megapixels = 1024×768 (sometimes called XVGA)
WXGA 1.0 Megapixels = 1280×800
SXGA 1.3 Megapixels = 1280×1024
WXGA+ 1.3 Megapixels = 1440×900
SXGA+ 1.4 Megapixels = 1400×1050
WSXGA+1.7 Megapixels = 1680×1050
UXGA 1.9 Megapixels = 1600×1200
WUXGA 2.3 Megapixels = 1920×1200
QXGA 3.1 Megapixels = 2048×1536
WQXGA 4.1 Megapixels = 2560×1600
QSXGA 5.2 Megapixels = 2560×2048

JackR

 

Has anybody run the Apple 30" cinema monitor? It's quite abit more than the Dell 30 I was looking at and was wondering if there was any differnce between the two or are you paying for apple insignia?

 

If you check out this website:

http://axofiber.no-ip.org/inside/monitor.lcd.panels.en.htm

You'll see that the Apple display uses the same panel as Dell (the LG Philips).

Also, in the past Dell have kept ahead by including the latest available 30" panel before Apple does. So yeah, the extra price for the Apple is the premium for the look and logo - and maybe a little for having Firewire ports instead of only USB.