30" LED IPS 2560x1600 Monitor for <$700?

So who knows about these Korean Yamaksi Leonidas 30" monitors? LINKSeems like a crazy deal if they are any good. Says they use an LG panel which is fine, but what about the power driving circuitry and the interface control board?

I've been using a 27" Yamakasi at work for a while now. I love it as much as my 27" iMac.

I've read reviews... be careful of dead pixels, and the warranty or lack thereof, but if you get a good one they're meant to be ok. Kindof like Sigma lenses. Personally I'd rather pay more for a product with no dead pixels and a warranty.

No dead pixels on this one, or the one the owner bought after he saw mine. Instances of dead pixels will be exactly the same as any LG-based panel. This monitor cost 35% of what a name brand model with same panel would cost.

tim wrote in post #14793992
I've read reviews... be careful of dead pixels, and the warranty or lack thereof, but if you get a good one they're meant to be ok. Kindof like Sigma lenses. Personally I'd rather pay more for a product with no dead pixels and a warranty.

Oh believe me, so would I, which is why I previously had the Samsung 305T and now have the Dell U3011. But i was just curious if anyone here was using them or knew much about them.

It reallllllly depends on how much you care about color accuracy, screen size, ability to calibrate, warranty, etc.

If you are wanting to have an accurate monitor that supports a high coverage of srgb and adobeRGB colorspaces or others, this is not a monitor I would recommend.

If you're looking for a good deal with nice screen size and resolution and not too worried about color accuracy, this may not be a bad idea.... though I believe there are other deals out there...

For the price that it is listed at on the ebay auction, you can pretty easily find used apple 30" cinema displays around that price. Maybe a touch higher if the screen is in excellent condition and has little to no dead pixels.

just my .02c

Hopelessdfilms wrote in post #14800938
It reallllllly depends on how much you care about color accuracy, screen size, ability to calibrate, warranty, etc.

If you are wanting to have an accurate monitor that supports a high coverage of srgb and adobeRGB colorspaces or others, this is not a monitor I would recommend.

If you're looking for a good deal with nice screen size and resolution and not too worried about color accuracy, this may not be a bad idea.... though I believe there are other deals out there...

For the price that it is listed at on the ebay auction, you can pretty easily find used apple 30" cinema displays around that price. Maybe a touch higher if the screen is in excellent condition and has little to no dead pixels.

just my .02c

Well see now thats what sparked me to start this thread. The listed specs on this monitor are matching the high end 30" monitors...

Hopelessdfilms wrote in post #14800938
It reallllllly depends on how much you care about color accuracy, screen size, ability to calibrate, warranty, etc.

If you are wanting to have an accurate monitor that supports a high coverage of srgb and adobeRGB colorspaces or others, this is not a monitor I would recommend.

If you're looking for a good deal with nice screen size and resolution and not too worried about color accuracy, this may not be a bad idea.... though I believe there are other deals out there...

For the price that it is listed at on the ebay auction, you can pretty easily find used apple 30" cinema displays around that price. Maybe a touch higher if the screen is in excellent condition and has little to no dead pixels.

just my .02c

Ummm these monitors use S-IPS screens.... ergo color accurate. The difference between these panels and the ones used in Dell/Apple/HP etc... is nothing in specs. the difference is that these monitors are A- quality and Dell/Apple/HP use A+ panels. The difference between the grades is unknown to me but color accuracy is not one of them.

The monitor linked above says its a 10 bit panel so it can do 1 billion colors. Does that require anything special on the computer end of it? My display is set to True Color (32 bit) in Windows but presumably my old TN LCDs are only 8 bit per pixel (24 bit total for 16M color).

Also, the 27" LG S-IPS panels being sold from Korea say they're 8 bit but supposedly Dell uses these panels in their U2711 but they advertise 1 billion colors. Are they doing something outside of the panel itself to get a wider color gamut that the discount monitors aren't?

A true 10bit work flow requires software that supports it (photoshop and LR and some high end cad programs), a 10bit capable graphics card (Firepro or Quadro card) and displayport.

However, I've seen a 10bit display running at 10bit next to one running at 8bit, and I'll be damned if you can tell the difference.


The panel used in the Dell 27' is the same as the one used in most other monitors as well, including the iMac, LG and HP panels.
Dell just to some clever tricks with the firmware to claim to be able to make it work as a 10bit display.

Moppie wrote in post #14803541
However, I've seen a 10bit display running at 10bit next to one running at 8bit, and I'll be damned if you can tell the difference.

Wikipedia says we can distinguish about 10M different colors. I know human vision is much more complex than anything in a computer, but I guess at some point adding more shades of color just doesn't matter to us.

mike_d wrote in post #14804535
Wikipedia says we can distinguish about 10M different colors. I know human vision is much more complex than anything in a computer, but I guess at some point adding more shades of color just doesn't matter to us.

Yep, just like in the audio world, most humans cant hear anything above 20KHz but you have all kinds of speaker manufacturers releasing specs saying they hit 30KHz and higher and thus a whole slew of people swearing they can tell the difference. Same on the low end, though at least you can FEEL the low end when amplified A LOT. And dont get me started on cables/wires! lol

sometimes I guess it's a good thing I'm colorblind....

ben_r_ wrote in post #14801591
Well see now thats what sparked me to start this thread. The listed specs on this monitor are matching the high end 30" monitors...

While some of the specs appear to be similar, there are other 'specs' that aren't listed commonly.

For example, in most eizos there's a feature that regulates the brightness uniformity. Or making sure that there are NOT hotspots anywhere on the screen so if you were to display a fullscreen image of a solid color there would not be any shading of the color, it would all appear the same, where a screen without brightness uniformity will have hotspots which will cause color and brightness casts on anything displayed in that area.

There are also monitors that have built in hardware using high bitdepth look up tables, ie 14bit LUT which will smooth out gradients in colors.

There are many other things that high end monitors have that aren't always listed in the main 'specs'

I won't lie, this screen does look appetizing from some of the limited specs we've seen....

But, with that said...

If there were a screen out there that could compare equally to the high end Eizo, NEC, Lacie, and other top end monitors, wouldn't it be taking over the market? as the new super high end budget monitor? And also be putting those high end manufacturers out of business?

Bottomline, there are more than just 'specs lists' and whats on paper.

just my .02c

(keeping an eye on this screen to see what it really can do)

Hopelessdfilms wrote in post #14809627
While some of the specs appear to be similar, there are other 'specs' that aren't listed commonly.

For example, in most eizos there's a feature that regulates the brightness uniformity. Or making sure that there are NOT hotspots anywhere on the screen so if you were to display a fullscreen image of a solid color there would not be any shading of the color, it would all appear the same, where a screen without brightness uniformity will have hotspots which will cause color and brightness casts on anything displayed in that area.

There are also monitors that have built in hardware using high bitdepth look up tables, ie 14bit LUT which will smooth out gradients in colors.

There are many other things that high end monitors have that aren't always listed in the main 'specs'

I won't lie, this screen does look appetizing from some of the limited specs we've seen....

But, with that said...

If there were a screen out there that could compare equally to the high end Eizo, NEC, Lacie, and other top end monitors, wouldn't it be taking over the market? as the new super high end budget monitor? And also be putting those high end manufacturers out of business?

Bottomline, there are more than just 'specs lists' and whats on paper.

just my .02c

(keeping an eye on this screen to see what it really can do)

Oh of course! But since Ive never been in the market nor willing to pay for those top end 5% features that I may or may not ever need or even notice, all I was looking to compare a monitor like this to was the more commonly owned ones like the Dell U3011 I have or other similarly priced 30" monitors out there.