30" beasties

Tumbletop

Tumbletop

Tumbletop

Associate
Joined
29 Jun 2006
Posts
195
Hello folks,

I am in the market for a monitor upgrade, as my 10 year old Sony 21" CRT is beginning to show its age. I absolutely don't believe in skimping on the monitor, this is your view into the digital world and a decent monitor can last for generation after generation of the PC which its attached to. The monster resolutions of these panels will also be fantastic for photo editing, as well as coding.

With that in mind, I am focusing on the 30" TFT panels as the next purchase. The PCs going to be sat on a "substantial" Linux box, being driven by a 512Mb ATI 1900XT-X, which should have enough grunt to drive the mighty resolution of these beasties (any game playing will be done within a window on a subsection of the screen).

I am aware of three 30" panels at present, the Dell 3007WFP, the Samsung SM305-T, and the older Apple Cinema HD Display. Ruling the Apple out (too old and expensive), that leaves the Dell and the Samsung. Both monitors appear to suffer from a distinct lack of inputs - why on earth do they only have a single DVI input? :confused: Am I right in thinking the Samsung is the technically superior (and better) model (which accounts for the higher price tag?).

My main question - does anyone know of any other 30" panels which I've missed, or any which are about to be released? I saw on this forum that Samsung are about to release the LED backlit models, but people seemed to think these would be beyond the budget of us mere mortals?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.
 
The Apple cinema displays are due an update soon. I'd hold out and see if Apple release them at the same time as the new Mac Pros if I were you.
 
Hi there,

it depends on how much money you have to spend and what you want to use your monitor for..

if you can Wait a few more months, for samsungs new LED back light 30" then do, but if you cant its either between samsungs current 30" and the gateway or even the HP 30"

but stay well clear of the dell 3007 HC, older non HC 3007 are quite good if you can find one. The HC have a problem of having slightly off white.
 
Thanks everyone for all the comments. I had no idea about the Gateway, or the HP! Doesn't look like we can get the Gateway here though - they state they will only ship to US addresses so that ones out. The HP appears to use an updated version of the panel used in the Dell. Its big bonus is that it has three DVI inputs!

I'll see if I can hold out at least until Samsung's LED back lit panel is launched, just to see what the price is going to be. So far, only the Gateway has any onboard electronics - this is annoying!
 
i would certainly think about a crossfire setup for the panel, particularly using X1xxx displays.

x2 of these would really do you a favour!

OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

i would definately be inclined to wait for the new Samsung panel also..!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom