27" Monitor Help or Suggestion

[Sylin]

I work from home on a 27" iMac, but recently bought a PC for me and the kids to play games on so I didn't have to keep rebooting into Bootcamp. I'm not super hardcore -- just SWTOR, a little SC2, and a few Steam games. The kids are mostly doing the typical Dora/Disney stuff.

After seeing some good reviews, I chose a Planar PX2710MW monitor. Either I am not calibrating the OSD menu settings + my GPU settings properly (possible), or I am just so acclimated to the 2560x1440 + precision color of the Apple display. Either way, I am not thrilled with the Planar.

Depending on how I adjust it, colors either seem too saturated, too dark, or images look good but text and other light-colored things look washed out. Also, the whole display doesn't seem very sharp, and the backlight produces a very noticeable blue glow along the bottom 1/3" of the display.

1.) Is it possible to achieve the same quality on the Planar via calibration, or are the Planar and the Apple on two completely different tiers of display tech?

2.) Would I be better off just getting the 27" standalone Apple display? Or are there other 27" monitors of comparable quality? Dell Ultrasharp? HP?

3.) Anything else I'm missing here?

Forgive my ignorance. Looking for some friendly advice. Thanks.

(NOTE: For reference, I am using an EVGA GeForce GTX 560 GPU, which has what looks like dual DVI and mini-HDMI outs).

 

[Lipruva]

From the specs it seems that the Planar uses a TN panel instead of IPS technology like that you're used to with the imac.

If color accuracy is what you're after you can forget about the Planar or any other TN monitor for that matter. They're cheap, good for gaming and watching movies but that's about it.

 

[DarkMatterTrace]

Hi Sylin

Lipruva is totally right about the TN panel. They have good response times and thats about it unfortunatly 🙁
If you want quality get an IPS monitor. See this for explanation of the different standarts

http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lcd-panel-types.php

Only thing about IPS monitors is that they cost a lot more. Here's an example

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260038


Kindest regards

DarkMatter

 

[Sylin]

Best answer selected by Sylin.

 

[Sylin]

Thank you both. It's been a while since I've used a non-Apple display, so I was not aware of the variables in the tech.

I don't mind shelling out more for a quality display I'll be happy with. I got the Planar for a song, so I can probably sell it used for more than I paid for it new.

Thanks for the links!

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey