Ok... So I'm getting the Mac Pro! Now monitors?

M

markyf

Well-known member
I am going to get this:

-Two 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
-2GB (4 x 512MB)
-250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
-NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 256 MB (single-link DVI/dual-link DVI)
-One 16x SuperDrive
-Both Blueport 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
-Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse -U.S. English
-Mac OS X - U.S. English
-AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro/Power Mac

Now I would like to get two 17"-19" matching monitors, which by my brief searching can be had for a pretty good price these days. But I don't really know what to look for.

I was thinking of something like this from Dell:

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/pro...l.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=320-5787

the price is very good at $219.

But I've also heard Samsung have the best reputation. Is it worth paying a little bit more for something like this:

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=83,428,4247&webid=675528&affixedcode=WW

Just so you know, I'm setting up an offline studio. Super critical optics is not what I need, but obviously I want as good as I can get within my budget.

Mark
 
For my final cut system, since I've been spoiled by my 4 monitors on my work avid, I use one LCD and one CRT. That way, if I want to watch something in high contrast, I just drag it to the CRT. It's easier than hooking up component connections to TV monitors, cheaper and space saving as well.
 
not a good idea. Dont go with anything that small. Especialy getting two small monitors thats pointless. Get a dell 2408 (24inches) then down the road another monitor.
 
I agree with lairhair that its better to go with a 24inch and then add another one later. I use a 23" Apple and a 17" Apple and just couldn't live with out the two for what I do.
 
I made the horrible mistake of going cheep with a dell 2208 and if I move my head one way about 1 degree the whole screen truns red. Avoid the dell 2208
 
If money is no object I would deffinitely get a Apple Cinema display. On the cheaper side, I like Viewsonic alot. I had also heard that Samsung was good but I have been a little dissapointed in the 20in that I got. Its black lvls are not near as good as my Viewsonic.
 
Yeah don't go cheapo on the monitor- think of your critical color work, think of your eyes. Really don't go cheapo on anything if you are using the gear for daily work but definitely not on the monitors.

Noah
 
Rookie here, so bear with me. I don't really understand why one big monitor (24" for example) is more desirable than two smaller ones (2x19" for example). Obviously two 19" monitors give you 38" of screen space for less that the cost of a 24" monitor. The editor I work with now has everything on the left monitor and the canvas on the right monitor and that's what I thought I would do. I kind of like two monitors in this sense because it splits things up. Are there any advantages to one big monitor over two?
 
Its a personal preference thing. Probably most of the editors here started with two monitors, I did. And yes just by simply adding the square footage together two 19" monitors are larger than a single 24" monitor.

But once you edit on a larger single monitor you won't want to go back to using two monitors. I went from the Dell 24" to the Dell 30" and love it. I have tons of canvas space, I customized my layout so I can easily switch to different layouts to take advantage of the extra real estate with the touch of a button.

Also, if your planning to do HD, then the smallest monitor you should use (IMHO) is the 23" cinema display which gives you a pixel to pixel 1920x1080 image. Anything smaller then some sort of image filtering has to take place to get the HD image to fit. I believe the Dell 24" is 1920x1600.

But no matter which way you decide to go, as Noah mentioned, don't go cheap on the monitor. You sit for hours looking at editing content and the monitor you choose can have a big impact on the quality of your work, both from an output and quality of work experience.
 
Just bought the Dell 2408 on Dell.ca. Thanks a bunch everyone! I'm sure I'll be back in touch in no time regarding storage, etc...
 
Markyf,

Tell us how the Dell is. I've heard people complain about uneven lighting (one side brighter than the other) and varying degrees of a red tint (like lairhair mentioned).

-A
 
Way back when, I edited with 2 17" CRT monitors. Life was great. Then I upgraded my system and had to decide on the new display or displays. It was between a single 30" or two 17" displays again. I opted for the 30" and was glad I made that choice. The main reason was the size of the timeline. I love having a large timeline, width and height of the tracks, plus I can have more tracks visible at once. It makes a world of difference for me. That said, I've since added a second 30" display so I can have every possible tool on the screen at one time: scopes, mixer, frame viewer, etc. Both options are very advantageous, but having been in both situations I'd take the larger single display over the two smaller displays any day of the week.
 
For my Mac Pro, I got two Gateway FHD-2400 monitors. One of the selling points for me was that it didn't have all of the problems the Dell monitors were getting. The other major selling point was that the monitors came with a color calibrating software. Dell needed a professional calibrating software. The Gateways also come with a bunch of connections, (VGA, DVI, HDMI, Composite)

Oh, its HDCP ready by the way.
 
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