Seeking a monitor recommendation for GCSE Photography Students use

[speckytecky]

I'm looking for monitors suitable for GCSE Photography student use.

 

Not MACs.

 

Probably looking for 5 new workstations for this as well.

 

Currently Server 2008 environment with XP Pro workstations.

[Duke]

We just bought 3x Samsung P2250's and Dell Precision T1500's over summer for our new photography course. Not sure if they've even really used them yet, but the screens were gorgeous when I was setting them up. 21.5" 1080p, really really crisp. Crazy bargain at £114 ex. VAT (via CCS Media) but I think that was limited pricing.

[sonofsanta]

How desperate are they for absolute colour precision etc? If they really need high-spec IPS monitors I'd have thought checking out various tech review sites would be your best bet, maybe ask the forums at dpreview? (Can't get on there right now myself to see if the question is already answered). In general I think the Dell monitors have a good rep at the moment - TechReport are recommending the Dell Ultrasharp U2410 and HP LP2475w & ZR24w monitors as good IPS monitors, so something in those product ranges at the size you're looking for maybe?

 

If they just want "nice shiny LCD" then we got some 21.5 1080p LG monitors for £95 ex VAT before the summer that work a treat - they're £93.60 ex VAT right now, in fact.

 

You can always get a Spyder monitor calibration tool for somewhere south of £100 to get the settings identical across the monitors and calibrated correctly - you'll want to calibrate the printers as well if you do this, but it would be by far the best solution.

Edited September 16, 2010 by sonofsanta
Edited for bad typing.

[Robbocop]

There's a stepp price hike once you start looking at colour accuracy because there are so many factors to consider. Eizo claim to make the best ones and it seems that our commercial creative customers really like them. NEC make a couple of ranges. Anything with the Spectraview tag on it is in their professional colour grade range. Anything saying Multisync isn't but uses similar technology and tends to be really good at a lower price. New technologies are coming out at the moment to help evenness of colour across the screen and also consistency of colour over time. For the moment the big issue has been how wide a viewing angle you get without colour change. Basically anything using IPS or S-IPS technology is your friend here. For a couple of hundred quid we're getting great feedback on the HP ZR22W we've been selling since the Summer. You can get a good LCD for half that these days, but it probably won't be consistently the same spec each time you try one, and might also not be stable over time. As always, it depends on how important that consistency is. Hope that helps you.