Is this monitor worth the money??

[john-o]

https://www.ecomelectronics.com/prodinfo.phtml?id=84470

NEC 30"; $1900

I have a friend who is moving from a PC to a new MBP, at the same time she's starting a new "career" as a photographer... She's asking my opinion of the monitor, and I'd not seen anything more expensive than Apple's 30" until now...

What's your opinion of this? She's very worried about reports that NEC's SpectraView calibration software might not be fully compatible with her new Mac. From what I've been able to find out, as long as she gets one of the Dual-link adapters, she'll be fine...

The bigger question, really, is does she really need to go to that exteme (and expense), or would she be just as happy with an Apple 30" refurb for $1700 [I see they're now down to $1300]?

FYI, I also have an i1 hardware calibration tool from Gretag Macbeth that we could use to calibrate any display she gets....

[onthedownlow]

How about the new 27" iMac for the monitor. The resolution is comparable at: 2560x1440

...plus she'll have two Macs. : )

[jdc]

i dunno why she even needs a 30" at all?

she could get an entire 27" i5 iMac for that... and the MBP could use it as a screen

a really nice dell 27" is about $600

[mattkime]

i'd steer her toward the apple display or a dell 3007 or 3008. and yes, use an i1.

would be silly to get that NEC monitor.

(then again, career probably isn't the right word for it if she's looking at a $2k monitor. thats just not where you start as a photographer)

[laarree]

The reviews of this display from users on B&H's website are interesting: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/54...ml#reviews

If she's got the budget for it, why not? If she's making it a priority over other hardware in an unwise way, e.g. adequate file/backup storage, that's another story.

I do lots of retouching and color work that goes to press or prints on pro inkjet photo printers, and I've found "lower-end" LCDs such as the Apples and Dells more than adequate. I think it's more important to understand color management and know how to interpret what you see on a display along with RGB/CMYK numbers as represented on them than to have the bestest display in the world.

[john-o]

Well put laarree!

I would totally agree. It's going to be so much more important for her to learn about color profiles and the color mgmt in general, than to spend a ton on a monitor like that....

I'm gonna advise against it, and cite all the reasons posted here, which closely mirror what my gut feeling was in the first place!

Thanks all!
John