Even backlighting on modern monitors?

TheAlex · 30 Jul 2012 at 23:37

I'm looking to buy a new monitor - my first-ever-monitor - a 13-year-old CRT has gone kaput (permanent pincushion effect).

One of the things that has stopped me upgrading before is the lighting difference between the top and bottom of LCD monitors - am I right in thinking that IPS LCD monitors don't suffer from this, and are backlit evenly from top to bottom? I've read that IPS are best for photo-editing (the most important function of my monitor) but whether the backlighting is even isn't made clear.

I've been doing a lot of reading and the Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM looks like a good option. Ideally I didn't want to spend over £120 but it looks like I'll have to spend a bit more...

Thanks.

spoffle · 30 Jul 2012 at 23:52

Generally monitors don't really suffer from uneven back lighting, I think you might be thinking of colour shift instead?

An IPS monitor will be what you want for photo editing really though.

TheAlex · 31 Jul 2012 at 11:31

I'm not sure on the technical side of things. On every LCD monitor I've seen, the same colours are darker at the top of the monitor compared to the bottom, so I want something where the colour is uniform across the display, if that's possible. I don't know if this is the same thing - http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/content/dell_u2312hm.htm#uniformity - as that pattern goes all over the place?

PCM2 · 31 Jul 2012 at 11:47

The backlight uniformity can cause changes in brightness at different points of the screen - this isn't an area where IPS panels are inherently any stronger than TN panels. What you describe regarding a colour being darker at the top of the monitor than the bottom is a change in gamma and colour (often called a 'colour shift') that is due to viewing angle limitations on common TN panels. The Dell U2312HM is much better in that regard, as with other IPS panels, so does not suffer in that way. If you would like some further thoughts on that be sure to check out this review and try comparing the results in the 'viewing angles' section with reviews of TN panels such as the Samsung S24B750V.