Skip navigation

Print design

VARinHI Calculating status...

Currently Being Moderated

What size monitor is recommended?

Aug 16, 2010 8:01 AM

My consulting Client creates a new edition of a regional newspaper every two weeks. Color is used for the 16" x 11.75" Front Page

He organizes or creates: articles, photos, ads, classified ads, the usual. He has a PC shop, and accepts stories and photos from one or more reporters.

He is planning to migrate gradually from Ventura Publisher (with Corel Draw & Photo) to the CS5 suite of products (InDesign, Photoshop, whatever else is useful) as he learns more. For this aspect I'm considering recommending a dual boot environment, as he currently runs XP in 32-bit mode. I prefer Windows 7 in 64-bit mode.

He sends the color separated final version with regisration marks to his print vendor as a PDF.

When open, the physical paper measures 23 wide x 16 tall.

I feel like a 30" display will give him the space he needs for his publication, photos, ads, text, tool palettes, and the other applications windows needed such as Word. He doesn't want to waste his restricted money, and feels that his workflow now fits in 21" or so.

If anyone out there is under regular deadline pressure and can make a recommendation (vendor, model, size), we would greatly appreciate some advice here. A memory recommendation would also be gratefully accepted. I'm thinking 8-12GB, though we have 3GB now.

Thanks and Aloha!

792 Views 4 Replies Latest reply: VARinHI, Aug 29, 2010 8:34 AM

Replies

Currently Being Moderated

1. warzenbeisser,

Aug 26, 2010 7:57 AM in reply to VARinHI

Report

For a limited budget, you get a fairly versatile and decent quality monitor with the Dell UltraSharp U2410. At 1920x1200 pixels, there is ample room for document windows and palettes, plus it has an IPS panel which is highly desirable for serious photo editing and other colour-critical work (such as soft-proofing – it's quite accurate once the monitor is properly calibrated and profiled with a hardware tool such as the X-Rite Eye-One Monitor 2 [I do professional consulting in this area of expertise, BTW]).

To take into account when considering a 30" TFT is the need for a graphic card equipped with a dual-link DVI port (single-link DVI does not provide enough bandwidth for 2560x1600 px resolution at 60 Hz) which can add to the already considerable total cost. Personally, I would prefer a better but smaller monitor over a bigger but mediocre one. Do stay clear of anything equipped with a TN type panel by all means; these are the cheapest and boast very fast response times (something totally irrelevant for print design) but a are IMHO a real nuisance to look at over longer periods of time (or at all if you are accustomed to an IPS-TFT).

Eric

|
Mark as:
Currently Being Moderated

2. VARinHI,

Aug 26, 2010 5:46 PM in reply to warzenbeisser

Report

Thank you very much, Eric for your knowledgeable reply.

Now I have another question, this time about the 1920 x 1222 screen size. Will this wide screen form distort typefaces in my docs created on a 1280 x 1024 monitor?
Any comments on the Nvidia 460 or 480 card with the monitor you recommend?
Thanks

Bill Hill

Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:57:22 -0600
From: forums@adobe.com
To: novovida@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: What size monitor is recommended? What size monitor is recommended?

For a limited budget, you get a fairly versatile and decent quality monitor with the Dell UltraSharp U2410. At 1920x1200 pixels, there is ample room for document windows and palettes, plus it has an IPS panel which is highly desirable for serious photo editing and other colour-critical work (such as soft-proofing – it's quite accurate once the monitor is properly calibrated and profiled with a hardware tool such as the X-Rite Eye-One Monitor 2 Re: What size monitor is recommended?).

To take into account when considering a 30" TFT is the need for a graphic card equipped with a dual-link DVI port (single-link DVI does not provide enough bandwidth for 2560x1600 px resolution at 60 Hz) which can add to the already considerable total cost. Personally, I would prefer a better but smaller monitor over a bigger but mediocre one. Do stay clear of anything equipped with a TN type panel by all means; these are the cheapest and boast very fast response times (something totally irrelevant for print design) but a are IMHO a real nuisance to look at over longer periods of time (or at all if you are accustomed to an IPS-TFT).

Eric
>

|
Mark as:
Currently Being Moderated

3. warzenbeisser,

Aug 26, 2010 11:15 PM in reply to VARinHI

Report

Hi Ben,
No, you should not see any distortions; the operating system can properly handle various monitor aspect ratios. TFTs have perfectly square pixels as long as you set the monitor to its native resolution. Smaller resolutions can be set also but shouldn't for design work because interpolated resolutions degrade sharpness of the displayed content.
I have no personal experience with the Nvidia 460 or 480 cards.
Eric

|
Mark as:
Currently Being Moderated

4. VARinHI,

Aug 29, 2010 8:34 AM in reply to warzenbeisser

Report

It's Bill

Thanks, Eric for your comments.

That's exactly what I was worried about.

Have fun.

Later
Bill

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:15:38 -0600
From: forums@adobe.com
To: novovida@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: What size monitor is recommended? What size monitor is recommended?

Hi Ben,
No, you should not see any distortions; the operating system can properly handle various monitor aspect ratios. TFTs have perfectly square pixels as long as you set the monitor to its native resolution. Smaller resolutions can be set also but shouldn't for design work because interpolated resolutions degrade sharpness of the displayed content.
I have no personal experience with the Nvidia 460 or 480 cards.
Eric
>

|
Mark as:

Forum guidelines

Answers + Points = Status

10 points awarded for Correct Answers
5 points awarded for Helpful Answers
10,000+ points
1,001-10,000 points
501-1,000 points
5-500 points