New 27" Monitor

I'm sure there are a million monitor threads here so sorry for starting another.

I have a mid 2010 27" iMac that I use for work and I need to add a second screen due to some new systems.

I also do about 50% of my editing on this computer the other half I do on my current model macbook pro 15".

I may as well get something that will be great for photo editing that I can have permanently set up as a dual monitor system with the ability to plug my laptop in when needed.

Let me know what I should get and why. Happy to spend up to $1000, more if needed.

I would go with one of these

http://www8.hp.com …t-detail.html?oid=579196​0

I would pick something from EIZO or NEC. I am afraid that $1000 for mentioned 27" monitors is not enough.

NEC (check Wide Gamut monitors or SpectraView):
http://www.necdisplay.​com/category/desktop-monitors

EIZO (CG and CX series):
http://www.eizo.com …ucts/coloredge/​index.html

El Pedro wrote in post #17166064
I have a mid 2010 27" iMac that I use for work and I need to add a second screen due to some new systems.

Let me know what I should get and why. Happy to spend up to $1000, more if needed.

Hello, I'm running the same setup as you, a mid-2010 27" iMac and a second monitor, which is an NEC PA272W, and it works great. I actually lucked out and bought this display for $1000 new during a sale at B&H, it's back up to $1,278 now. There really is no comparison to the image quality between the two, as well as the flexibility and build quality of the NEC, but at the price I guess it's to be expected.

I would go with one of these

http://www8.hp.com/nz/​en/products/mo...ml?oi​d=5791960

The HP is a bit expensive, and would require a method of outputting 10-bit color from your computer to make the purchase worth it. AFAIK, you need an Nvidia Quadro or ATI Firepro graphics card, as consumer graphics don't have 10-bit output, and they cost a whole lot more even for older models, not that you could put one into an iMac anyway.

Kolor-Pikker wrote in post #17168662
Hello, I'm running the same setup as you, a mid-2010 27" iMac and a second monitor, which is an NEC PA272W, and it works great. I actually lucked out and bought this display for $1000 new during a sale at B&H, it's back up to $1,278 now. There really is no comparison to the image quality between the two, as well as the flexibility and build quality of the NEC, but at the price I guess it's to be expected.


The HP is a bit expensive, and would require a method of outputting 10-bit color from your computer to make the purchase worth it. AFAIK, you need an Nvidia Quadro or ATI Firepro graphics card, as consumer graphics don't have 10-bit output, and they cost a whole lot more even for older models, not that you could put one into an iMac anyway.

yea your right, that monitor is rather expensive, I would go with this instead. http://www8.hp.com …t-detail.html?oid=536729​7

if you have got a NVIDIA card then you should have no issues with a 10bit display.
http://nvidia.custhelp​.com …rt-on-nvidia-geforce-gpus

Mark0159 wrote in post #17169984
if you have got a NVIDIA card then you should have no issues with a 10bit display.
http://nvidia.custhelp​.com …rt-on-nvidia-geforce-gpus

From the same link:
"this method is not used for professional applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Photoshop. These programs use OpenGL 10-bit per color buffers which require an NVIDIA Quadro GPU with DisplayPort connector"

DirectX 10-bit is no problem, but OpenGL is, and almost all professional applications where 10-bit would actually matter are OpenGL.

First off that link was last updated in 2011, gforce cards have come a long way since then.

Any new gforce or AMD card will support 4k. With cheap cards that have 2gb of memory they will have no issues. Since 2011 cards have supported 10bit displays but not with opengl, but since then most cards now come with display port connectors that won't be an issue.

Also nvidia is covering the ass if people have issues.

Mark0159 wrote in post #17171304
First off that link was last updated in 2011, gforce cards have come a long way since then.

Any new gforce or AMD card will support 4k. With cheap cards that have 2gb of memory they will have no issues. Since 2011 cards have supported 10bit displays but not with opengl, but since then most cards now come with display port connectors that won't be an issue.

Also nvidia is covering the ass if people have issues.

Currently only the FirePro and Quadro cards do true 10bit output.
And once you start rendering anything to 4K the work load for a graphics card gets harder and harder.