I just want to chime in on the "Best monitor I have ever owned" comments. This really means nothing unless you have used very, very high end monitors in the past. Saying it only means that most likely you have had crappy ones in the past. The models and makes of the monitors owned by the commenters are not super.
I do highly critical color work and manipulation for ads worldwide and cmyk proofing in-house. Across the board, for sheer technical-ness, Eizo is the winner. NEC also makes excellent monitors but their widespread use in the professional (commercial) world in the United States is limited.
In the end, it's up to what you find most important given the specs, size and your personal budget but some of the recommendations here are just "I have this and it's awesome!"......worthless. I'd recommend a lot of things I don't have but really are worth recommending. I don't OWN an Eizo, but I will at my next system upgrade. Stay on the professional level monitors if you really care. Just because monitors by X are very nice, doesn't mean they are all on the same level.