Best high-resolution monitor with excellent text readability?

[Texan_100]

I have a Dell U2410 that is basically a great monitor but it is very hard to read text on it, especially that from web pages, and especially when the sites think it is cool to put the text in grey instead of black. First, on the Dell the black doesn't go black enough. Second, the text is not as sharp as my husband's new ASUS N56JN laptop, on which I can read minuscule text with ease.. I am hoping that advances in the four years since I got the Dell have led to a monitor that I would prefer. I am an older person and my eyesight isn't what it used to be, and I was surprised at how well I could read on the ASUS.

Tom's Hardware did a very positive review of the Planar PXL2790MW, but unless the product has been improved recently there is a very annoying screech from the power supply -- and yes I have read that not every one of them has this, and that the volume of the noise can be reduced by setting the device to full brightness; it just is something I don't want to put up with.

Tom's also did a very positive review of the Asus PA279Q, but this review did not comment on the crispness, darkness, or other readability features of the text. Is it as good as the Planar? Or, is there another model that the community would recommend?

I do not do extremely precise color editing on the computer. I do some video editing, but it is mostly of horse shows and exact color match isn't too demanding. On the other hand I was an art student and would be annoyed by colors that are too far off. I am also not much of a gamer, but wouldn't want action from videos and such to be smeary.

Thank you for your advice!

 

[dwatterworth]

I have a similar Dell monitor, a 24" Dell ultrasharp (used) with 1920x1200 resolution on a TFT panel type.
I can't comment on the Planar as far as in-person quality,
BUT,
I do have both the Asus PA279Q and the Asus PB279Q.
I don't think you need the PA279Q unless budget is of no concern. I believe a lot of the difference you see between your dell and your husbands newer? laptop is the panel technology, or switching from TN or TFT to an IPS or VHA type panel. IPS and other similar panels have much higher perceived vibrancy and contrast.


I use the monitors for 10+ hours a day for work, drafting, photo editting, photorealistic rendering etc, so the true white LED backlight on the PA279Q vs the PB279Q's more 'blue light content' backlight seemed like a good investment for eye health.
Other than that difference in the backlight and some very slight color differences I have seen in large color gradations such as a very saturated sky that ranges from deep blue to nearly white, I can't tell the difference.

The programs I use generally have monochrome background viewports, so the contrast was of great importance.
Both panels I am able to comfortably and easily read text on webpages, word documents, PDF's etc.

My workspace is on the south wall of my home, so it gets a large amount of natural/direct light. The monitors are still very visible and legible in everything but direct sunlight that hits the monitor. Glare, reflections and ambient light are no problem, even at my monitors 60% brightness levels during the daytime.

The PA panel does have some handy additions such as very substantial and easily used navigation buttons paired to a fairly simple on-screen-display. The USB 3.0 hub with integrated card reader that is very easy to reach from even a seated position.

The integrated speakers are so-so. I'm used to a dedicated speaker set, so I think any integrated speakers will pale in comparison.

Asus has released an updated panel that is a mix of the PA and PB series panels. I believe it is a MX279Q. Same resolution, updated panel from the PB279Q, sleek silver chassis and Bang&Olufson speakers that are reportedly excellent.

I would also consider the Asus PA248 panel. It's got a 1920x1200 resolution with the same pre-calibrated extremely high quality IPS panel.

 

[Texan_100]

Thank you dwatterworth for your detailed reply. Since I love the display on my husband's new Asus laptop, I will definitely study the Asus monitors.

I have done some reading since I posted my question and discovered font scaling. I think my readability issues with this monitor may go away when I replace my Vista computer later this year with a Windows 10 computer. I believe I tried the readability enhancement when I first got Vista, but it didn't help. This post: http://www.howtogeek.com/175664/how-to-make-the-windows-desktop-work-well-on-high-dpi-displays-and-fix-blurry-fonts/ and several others gave me the term "font scaling" (hard to search for something when you don't know the right name for it) and explained that the success of it has improved over the editions of Windows. My husband's Asus came with Windows 8.0 and we upgraded it to 8.1. I did not notice an improvement in readability between 8.0 and 8.1, as the article I referenced above suggested I might have, but in any case I will try the monitor I have with Windows 10 before I consider getting a new one.

 

[dwatterworth]

That makes good sense. The font scaling has definitely improved with each version of windows. I have windows 7 and I tried a 28" 4k monitor that I borrowed. The text scaling worked OK on most items, but certain menus, icons with large text fields etc all had issues with over-running on eachother and so on. On the 2560x1440 panels such as the PB and PA 27" models, I've found anything over 125% text scaling just ends up with a huge mess of characters for the most part.

Something else to try perhaps would be seeing if there is another font style which could aid in legibility on your current monitor.

I hope you are able to get a solution that will work! Feel free to respond on here or PM me if you have any other questions. I build a lot of workstations for architecture/engineering firms, so I've had a good amount of experience with a lot of different panels across different sizes that seem to work well for legibility and detail line clarity.

One of the more popular models that I see in big box stores (for a demo experience etc on your part) is an LG 27" 1920x1080 (full HD) IPS panel. It's very clear, with similar contrast/brightness characteristics to the Asus panels, but at a much lower cost, usually around $180 on sale, normally in the $215 range.

Here is one of the variations: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824025041
There are many models of the same panel, usually differing in connection options / the base stand.