EvKar Loc: Middle of the Good Old USA

UHH, This is my first topic that I have started on this forum, but I have been lurking for awhile now; enough to know that there is a lot of Wisdom and Experience represented throughout this site and I also learned that at times, you'd better be thick-skinned!
Need some advice... I'm about to purchase a new monitor for my office work (spreadsheets, email, Word, etc), and I'm running Windows 7 on the PC. I'd like to combine my office work (own my own business for last 24 years, making me the Boss on good days) with my photo hobby. So I'm looking to get a monitor that is suited for photo processing. Right now I'm looking at a 27" DELL, UltraSharp 4K U2718Q ( as it was recommended to me for photo work by none other than the Dell rep), and wondering what your thoughts are regarding this particular monitor... or what should I be looking at instead. Is it the resolution that I need to compare or what? And what does "4K" mean and do for me?
Your thoughts are much appreciated... I'll be making a decision soon.

Robyn H Loc: MainLine PA

I use a 39 inch Sansui flat panel 4K TV for my work station monitor. 4K means the monitor has around 4,000 pixels of horizontal resolution. I could go into detail explaining 4K vs 2K or 1080P but it really would be simpler if you went to your favorite search engine site, mine is BING, and entered 'what is 4K resolution'. 4K is really quite nice when you have a 4K source. These TV sets make great work station monitors and are relatively inexpensive. I believe I paid like $200 for mine on sale at BJ'S a couple few years ago.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Your choice is a great one!

Here is a review for it that is thorough and provides hard data.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_up2718q.htm

One thing to keep in mind is that this display, like the ones that cost 6 figures, has the capability to be hardware calibrated, and requires an Xrite i1 Display Pro, at the minimum, to build a profile. All displays require profiling on a regular basis, since settings drift over time. I do my displays every 30 days.

https://photographylife.com/how-to-calibrate-your-monitor

The Dell is a graphics monitor. It boasts 100% sRGB and Adobe RGB - standard and wide gamut respectively - and benefit from a workstation graphics card that can output 10 bit graphics, and an application, like Photoshop that has a 10 bit (30 bit color) mode. The two choices these days are ATI Fire Pro and Nvidia Quadro. You don't need a high end card with a fast processor and 10 gb of video ram. A low to midrange card with 2-4 gb vram is more than sufficient. Computer displays offer DVI, Display Port and HDMI connections, each of which has greater bandwidth so they are preferable to VGA or Component, which is what is typically available on a TV.

A tv or computer display that has 4K resolution will have a screen resolution of 3810 px horizontal and 2160 px vertical resolution. I prefer to use 2 HD resolution displays because my horizontal resolution of the two displays is the same at 3840, but the vertical is still 1200. The result is fonts that are larger and easier to read. Not all applications offer font scaling and scaling in the operating system is imperfect. Color depth is more important than resolution.

While the notion of using a 4K TV seems like a good solution at first - especially since the price is attractive. But I wouldn't recommend it. Color depth, lag time and resolution can suffer, depending on how you connect your computer - VGA being the choice of last resort. If your computer offers HDMI output, then you may be ok. But then there is color gamut and bit depth that are specs often not provided in the printed materials for TVs.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

I would probably go for a Dell UP2716D because it is 100% Adobe RGB whereas the U2718Q is only 99.9% sRGB.
Although whatever monitor you select should be color calibrated the fact that the 2716D comes from the factory already calibrated to 100% Adobe RGB means you can maybe get away without calibration and still have a pretty good monitor.
And I know they cost a lot more.
I use Dells 32" equivalent of the 2716D and would never go back. The Dells are the closest you can get feature wise to the really professional Eizo and NECs.

miket22 Loc: Northern Massachusetts

If you have room, get 2 identical displays. One for full size screen reviews of your edits and the other for the rest of the editing work. Lightroom works very well with 2 screens. Your Dell should be good. I use 2 - 24" Dell displays for my photo work.

EvKar Loc: Middle of the Good Old USA

Gene... thanks for the articles and taking the time to do some of my research for me. Throughout my lurking on this forum, I have been impressed with your responses... and I was hoping you'd chime in on my request.
As I get more serious with this 48 year old hobby, I like to invest in it, thus the monitor. Looks like the Xrite i1 Display Pro is something needed to maintain the image quality, or give my PP a fighting chance anyway. Any suggestions on where to obtain the Xrite i1 Display Pro... B&H?
Thanks, Ev

EvKar Loc: Middle of the Good Old USA

Chrissybabe,
Thanks for your reply. I looked at the UP2716D just now... yes that definitely will do the trick. The problem that I have is I have to draw a line (live with in my means) on the cost. That is a nice monitor, but as I'm reminded occasionally, I do have other hobbies that I need to support. Even the monitor that I'm looking at purchasing is pushing the limit. And like you, I feel that once I start using this higher end monitor, there won't be any going back, as well. Funny how that works.
Thanks, Ev

EvKar Loc: Middle of the Good Old USA

Mike, Thanks for getting back to me. I too plan on using two screens, as I do in my business life. This new monitor and another one that I have currently. They won't be the same quality, but my work habit is to use the 2nd monitor for storage of information that I need to paste to my main workflow, which now will be displayed on the better monitor. And thanks to your suggestion, I'm going to try to do a split screen for my PP work. Thanks for sharing. You said you use Lightroom, I'm thinking that the PP software that I use, After Shot Pro 3, will allow me to do the same thing... Oh-Oh, I just opened an Can of Worms.. comparing photo processing programs!
Thanks, Ev

EvKar Loc: Middle of the Good Old USA

Robyn, Thanks for your reply... I did consider a 34" and use virtual screens to manage it, but I decided against it due to the size and my business workflow. I bet there are alot of others using monitors of that size tho for PP work.
Thanks for the reply, Ev

bengbeng Loc: Houston, Texas

I have just (today) added a Dell ultrasharp 2516D which is a slightly physically smaller version of the monitor you are looking at, but still 100% sRGB and 100% Adobe RGB.
To start with I set it to sRGB to compare with my older but calibrated LG MB85R (99%sRGB). The Dell looks yellower (warmer) to me out of the box which I'm surprised at and the gamma seemed to need adjusting even though it came with a calibration certificate. Now I have two calibrated monitors , both appear different , I think I've still got a lot to learn. So what I'm saying is ... just because its calibrated doesn't mean its right...lol.

Ron Dial Loc: Cuenca, Ecuador

This is an excellent monitor. Very large color gamut! True 32 bit color. I was just going to purchase this myself as an update to my LaCie monitor.I would highly recommend this if you can afford it. It is one of the best monitors on the market.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Please note when comparing monitors that you compare apples with apples (and this has nothing to do with Macs). If your LG MB85R is truly calibrated accurately then it will look quite dull. You must set the Dell to a similar brilliance level and view them both in low light. And since the screens most likely have different manfs then there will always be some sort of difference. The only way to compare is to have two monitors the same manf and model (and maybe even a similar age although these days that is not so important). Most people, even those who have calibrated their monitors correctly, make the mistake of having the brilliance too high and viewing under conditions often too bright. Not only is there an art to calibrating but there is also an art in the use of the monitors.
Both my wife and I have two monitors. The larger and main monitor is the screen used for LR, the second and smaller screen is used for email or word processing. Both our main screens are Dells with 100% Adobe RGB set as default and haven't been calibrated as we have found that our printer fortunately matches the screens quite closely. My wife who is fussier than me has a shield over her screen and always has the blinds down along with a brilliance setting of about 100.