monitor/system suggestions

[MartinCh]

regarding raw file processing, how much difference will upgrading to a monitor (such as IPS or PVA panel) make in a final output print? are there differences/nuances the output print will be working from laptop screen to monitor?
my current laptop workstation is a t42 with a xga tft screen, (24 bit color)

will eizo monitors produce vastly different quality prints than a Dell 2209A or Nec P221? based on just monitor quality?

what are suggestions on proper photoshop editing monitors along with related computer hardware system specs?
for both laptop and desktop configurations.

do you get a better edit (better output print?) with a desktop monitor than a laptop screen?

[Czornyj]

regarding raw file processing, how much difference will upgrading to a monitor (such as IPS or PVA panel) make in a final output print? are there differences/nuances the output print will be working from laptop screen to monitor?
my current laptop workstation is a t42 with a xga tft screen, (24 bit color)

will eizo monitors produce vastly different quality prints than a Dell 2209A or Nec P221? based on just monitor quality?

what are suggestions on proper photoshop editing monitors along with related computer hardware system specs?
for both laptop and desktop configurations.

do you get a better edit (better output print?) with a desktop monitor than a laptop screen?

The modern display for color critical applications has larger gamut and internal 10-16 bit LUT to calibrate it precisely without compromising quality. You can see more details in the shadows and highlights, the image is neutral and smooth, and you can see some colors that the printer can print, but normal display can't show.

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

I only camera I shoot with in the moment is a Canon Powershot G11 and
I am planning for some sort of "real" camera system, maybe even 4x5" in the future.

But my first next investment will be a hardware calibrated (wide gamut?) monitor,
maybe an Eizo or Quato or NEC or whatsever. After a lot of looking and checking and
trying to use my office monitor (DTP94 software calibrated Samsung SyncMaster 245 B)
I finally came to the conclusion, that the next step to technically significantly improve my
images will not be another camera, but a serious monitor.

My $ 0.02.

Cheers
~Chris

[Czornyj]

I only camera I shoot with in the moment is a Canon Powershot G11 and
I am planning for some sort of "real" camera system, maybe even 4x5" in the future.

But my first next investment will be a hardware calibrated (wide gamut?) monitor,
maybe an Eizo or Quato or NEC or whatsever. After a lot of looking and checking and
trying to use my office monitor (DTP94 software calibrated Samsung SyncMaster 245
I finally came to the conclusion, that the next step to technically significantly improve my
images will not be another camera, but a serious monitor.

My $ 0.02.

Cheers
~Chris

245B is pretty pathetic, so any change will be like night and day. Here's an interesting article regarding quality of LCD displays (punkt c - digit! Artikel):
http://www.colormanagement.org/de/monitortest.html

[PeterAit]

regarding raw file processing, how much difference will upgrading to a monitor (such as IPS or PVA panel) make in a final output print? are there differences/nuances the output print will be working from laptop screen to monitor?
my current laptop workstation is a t42 with a xga tft screen, (24 bit color)

will eizo monitors produce vastly different quality prints than a Dell 2209A or Nec P221? based on just monitor quality?

what are suggestions on proper photoshop editing monitors along with related computer hardware system specs?
for both laptop and desktop configurations.

do you get a better edit (better output print?) with a desktop monitor than a laptop screen?

A "serious" monitor can make your job easier but has little relation to the quality of your prints. A skilled photographer will make great prints using any monitor, and a poor photographer will make crappy prints even with the best monitor.

[Mark D Segal]

regarding raw file processing, how much difference will upgrading to a monitor (such as IPS or PVA panel) make in a final output print? are there differences/nuances the output print will be working from laptop screen to monitor?
my current laptop workstation is a t42 with a xga tft screen, (24 bit color)

will eizo monitors produce vastly different quality prints than a Dell 2209A or Nec P221? based on just monitor quality?

what are suggestions on proper photoshop editing monitors along with related computer hardware system specs?
for both laptop and desktop configurations.

do you get a better edit (better output print?) with a desktop monitor than a laptop screen?

Monitors don't produce good or poor quality prints - you do, and in doing that you are guided by what you see on the monitor; so if the monitor is not capable of proper calibration and profiling or if it were capable but you did not do so, there would be a substantial risk that it will deliver wrong luminance and colours, and those wrong signals will induce you to make incorrect image edits which will then result in crummy prints.

Laptop displays are usually not of the quality of good desktop displays, and every time you change the viewing angle, whether you move the screen or your head, you see a different protrayal of light and colour, so they are seldom reliable. They can be helpful in conjunction with a histogram for doing very basic edits such as setting white point and black point and compensating for major exposure errors, but that's as far as I would spend time with a laptop display. Ideally, your laptop should have an independent graphics card capable of supporting an external display and colour management. Then if you wish to work from your laptop, plug the external display into the laptop, and make sure it is calibrated and profiled.

There are a number of monitors covering quite a price range which will serve well. There is an abundance of information in other threads on this Discussion Forum discussing the ins and outs of various models. Use the sarch function and see what's been said.