Those of you with professional-level knowledge on the subject, I need to purchase some 24-inch displays for graphic design. The images will be used both in print and online catalogs. Most images will be hardware-type items, for commercial customers.

There will be two designers, each with two monitors. I'm looking for displays of good quality, but not necessarily top-of-the-line. Good bang for the buck in the under $500 category, if possible. Way under $500 is great, for that matter. Amazon and Dell are my preferred vendors.

Also, do I need to get a calibration device (saw that mentioned in another recent thread)?

What say yous guys?

If color accuracy is critical then the calibration device is needed.
Otherwise most any quality monitor will do.
Most monitors that get pricey are designed around higher resolutions PLUS higher refresh rates for fast pace games.
There are difference in some uber large monitors on edge, but not much of a factor on 24"
.
Monitor types you might want to review IPS v TN v VA panel types but I haven't found a lot of differences if any.
You should however not the type of connection to your graphic card especially if you are running high refresh rates and 4K.
HDMI or DVI won't cut it > you need a Display Port (V 1.4) connection, proper cable and the graphics card that fits it.

https://www.gamersnexus.net/gu...on-tn-ips-pls-va-crt

Assuming your graphics folks know how to work in the proper color spaces I 2nd the calibration tool.

That is really the only way to know for sure what the color(s) look like and that they will be the same on printed pages.

Mark

100% agree with smschulz. Regularly using a color calibration tool is BY FAR the most important thing you can do to insure that what you see on the screen is what you see come out of the printer.

The one spec that might be semi-important is "color gamut" - basically, the range of colors the monitor can reproduce.

There are two common digital color gamuts, sRGB and AdobeRGB. Basically, they are mappings from digital color values to actual real-world colors.

sRGB is smaller than AdobeRGB (there are colors you can represent in AdobeRGB that you can't represent in sRGB), but it's a lot more common.

There are some monitors that can't represent the full sRGB color gamut (e.g., there might be some areas of an image that are supposed to be really, really red, but the monitor can't display a color that red, so it gets displayed as a little bit less red).

I'd suggest something like this from Dell which come factory calibrated.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-UP...or/dp/B012AQIPLM#Ask

$407 for a 25" IPS monitor and covers the color spectrums used in the industry. Factory calibration means less amount of calibration of your end.

Obviously, there are other brands with monitors just as good or better (like Apple and their price premiums), but factory calibration and full color spectrum coverage, with full adjustment capabilities is important no matter which brand you go with. Dell high-end monitors have a pretty good reputation for the price.

You absolutely need to use a hardware calibration device across all systems / each monitor if you want to be confident the work done on one monitor matches the others, and is processed accurately and consistently for print. Also, calibration isn't just a one time thing, it needs to be frequent.

quote:

Originally posted by Xer0:
I'd suggest something like this from Dell which come factory calibrated.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-UP...or/dp/B012AQIPLM#Ask

$407 for a 25" IPS monitor and covers the color spectrums used in the industry. Factory calibration means less amount of calibration of your end.

Obviously, there are other brands with monitors just as good or better (like Apple and their price premiums), but factory calibration and full color spectrum coverage, with full adjustment capabilities is important no matter which brand you go with. Dell high-end monitors have a pretty good reputation for the price.

Those are decent monitors but calibration has to be done where the monitors are going to be, not at the factory. The types of light in the room, daylight through windows, all have an effect. For me weekly is minimum and I keep profiles for daytime and nighttime that I load if I'm in a hurry and don't have time to calibrate. It gets me fairly close.

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:

quote:

Originally posted by Xer0:
I'd suggest something like this from Dell which come factory calibrated.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-UP...or/dp/B012AQIPLM#Ask

$407 for a 25" IPS monitor and covers the color spectrums used in the industry. Factory calibration means less amount of calibration of your end.

Obviously, there are other brands with monitors just as good or better (like Apple and their price premiums), but factory calibration and full color spectrum coverage, with full adjustment capabilities is important no matter which brand you go with. Dell high-end monitors have a pretty good reputation for the price.

Those are decent monitors but calibration has to be done where the monitors are going to be, not at the factory. The types of light in the room, daylight through windows, all have an effect. For me weekly is minimum and I keep profiles for daytime and nighttime that I load if I'm in a hurry and don't have time to calibrate. It gets me fairly close.

I understand that secondary calibration should be done, it's just faster and easier when the monitors are reasonably close from a factory calibration. Same idea as using a particular profile that's close, hopefully the factory calibration then is close so only minor adjustments are needed.

I deal in heavy production of repeatable professional color across multiple sources all day long.

I use plain old Dell monitors and use X-Rite products to keep everything in calibration.

What you are looking for is the i1 Display Pro.

Spend your money on color management and not an expensive monitor built in the same factory as a Dell.

I use the i1 spectrophotometer system for all of my calibration.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

I use the i1 spectrophotometer system for all of my calibration.

Yep, great tool and reasonably priced.