aammatj Loc: Zebulon, NC / Roscoe, Ill

I'm looking for recommendations for a 27" LED monitor in the $300 - $700 range to run on a Dell Studio 540 desktop computer. While I run a small international consulting business off the desktop, I also indulge my photography addiction doing post processing with Capture NX2 and PSP X4. My older eyes could use a larger monitor (current is a 21"). Would appreciate thoughts from the UH "brain trust" members.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Dell UltraSharp U2711 ($800 - $900). Don't skimp on one of the most important components of your system. Spend the money on what you see! :-)

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

Unless you run the new monitor at the same resolution as your old (unlikely, and not recommended), you'll just see MORE small stuff, not BIGGER stuff. A 27" monitor will run a huge pixel resolution (in the neighborhood of 2500 by 1400, if it's a 16:9 widescreen), which actually may make some objects SMALLER than what you see now. Many PC objects and icons, for example, are a particular, fixed size (such as 64x64 for a desktop icon). So when you get a bigger screen, running at a higher resolution (e.g. more pixels per inch in many case) that 64x64 icon is visually SMALLER on the big screen. You can verify this by adjusting your current desktop resolution up and down. If you are now at 1024x768, for example, and you downsize to 800x600, everything gets BIGGER. If you're at 1024x768, and you upsize to 1280x800, everything gets smaller. So you can imagine, if you run 1024x768 on your 21", you'll run a lot higher on a 27" screen. Things will get FINER, and SMALLER. But you'll see MORE of them. :)

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

I hve no bad things to say about my Dell SP2309W(Digital) with 2048x1152 rez.

Sarge

jjestar Loc: Savannah GA

Ips monitors are best and cann easily calibrated Dell has one of the better ones U2410, I payed $400 for mine on sale and wouldnt hesitate to buy another.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

JimH makes a very good point here. A wide screen monitor with higher native resolution will makes things smaller. To offset this a little, you might want to consider two smaller monitors side-by-side with a lower resolution.

aammatj Loc: Zebulon, NC / Roscoe, Ill

I agree that the desktop Icons will be smaller at best resolution on a 27" screen, but when I am running a program such as Capture NX2 and set the software to fill the screen with the image, won't the higher resolution on a larger screen give a sharper image?

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

No. Not necessarily. You might be confusing resolution, sharpness and images size. Each monitor has a "native resolution" it should run at to give you the sharpest picture possible. For wide screen monitors this resolution is pretty high. However, for icons and programs to appear larger, you actually want a lower resolution. The problem with running a large monitor at a lower resolution (or a non-native resolution) is that you lose sharpness.

Not sure if you remember tube (CRT) monitors, but they were great at supporting multiple resolutions while maintaining sharpness. LCD screens don't have this advantage. Therefore, if you get two 21" monitors side-by-side with a native resolution of 1280x1024, things will be bigger and sharper. Bottom line, before you invest in a large monitor, make your eyes are comfortable with the "native resolution" of that monitor.

aammatj Loc: Zebulon, NC / Roscoe, Ill

Thanks for all the info. It has helped a lot.