It is time for me to get a new monitor. My 22″ at home is pretty beat up. The amount of backlight bleed is terrible, there are several stuck pixels, including a green one right smack in the middle of the panel that drives me nuts! As well there is real image consistency issues. All this to say I need a new panel.
There are a few that I am considering but I would really like a >=27″ IPS panel, with resolution greater > 1920×1200.
When you get into this space, there is really only a two.
There is the new Dell u2711, which has great reviews, but is very pricey for what you get ($1250 regular price).
The other option is actually to buy the new 27″ iMac from Apple. For the first time they added a display input to it, so it can be used as both a computer and an external display. I just noticed one on the refurb site (and based on the issues so far, there are going to be lots of refurbs coming) for $1550.
Now I figure that I will see the Dell go on sale (at some point) for about $899, yet that is just a guess. Right now between the two I get an almost identical panel and for $300 extra with the Apple I get a decent computer slapped on the back of one.
Still dropping this kind of cash on a monitor is tough.
One final option is the Dell u2410 which is very similar to the u2711. It is regular $750, but semi frequently goes on sale for $499, which is quite reasonable. Still the 1920×1200 resolution leaves me wanting in comparison to the 2560×1440 of the 27″ panels.
Now one of the reasons that I am looking for such a large screen is because I miss having a true dual monitor setup when using my MBP. I could go for 2 24″ panels and go with this hacked together version of dual monitors for the MBP: MacBook Pro with Dual Monitors.
At the moment I am leaning towards the iMac, since being able to cluster video rendering would be pretty awesome, but the price tag is kinda tough to swallow.
Now if the u2711 drops to say $799 I am all over it, but I fear that I will probably just purchase the u2410 the next time it falls to $499 and consider a second one at some point. Please feel free to tell me why I am stupid, and what I should do to be smarter about all this.