RD3F, Last week literally on spur of the moment I bought the Gateway 30" (speced above). It runs a little warm, but the picture is amazingly better than Apple30", as they both were @ Microcenter. The way economy is looking, I thought why waste money. On surface it looks like, it has all the calibration ability of NEC. I bought it from Micro-center. It is $500 cheaper (than 30"NEC) & if rest of the year is as good as first half than I can use this as 1080p HD TV w/blue-ray DVD player & I am all set for next 10yrs & get me another monitor for my PC. They upgraded my video card, memory & power pack, also at the same time they maxed out my 24"iMac memory.
Its the closest I've seen to that in terms of calibration quality and functionality (ability to calibrate to differing targets and switch on the fly and update profile like Artisan).
The 3090 has a slightly different color gamut than the 2690, and of course there's a difference in size.
>This has all the calibration ability of NEC.
Ah, well no, I don't think so. Unless its using high bit LUTs internally AND the software has direct control over this process as it does in the NEC using SpectraView software (something not available in the European product), it's not close to being the same.
Posts: 1354 | Location: Santa Fe | Registered: 10 November 2000
i would love the 3090 but may need to start with the 2690 and i do not yet have a mac desktop that can (comfortably) drive a 30", but could use the 26" for the time being with the macbook pro i just purchased as the first of several steps of upgrading the system.
would the 2690 be a fairly reasonable alternative to the 3090 in terms of Artisan-like functionality? sorry about needing to be spoon-fed, but as an Artisan owner getting anxious about an aging machine this is the first time something like the 2690 came along until the 3090 popped into the scene.
Hey RD3F, Andrew is far better qualified to answer. But yes in my humble opinion the 2690 is hot, and from what I understand very comparable to the 30, although with a slightly more narrow gamut. But at 96% of Adobe 98 it's pretty darn close!
I can't compare to an artisan as I've never owned one, but it's certainly the best monitor I've ever owned and I'm seeing my work with new eyes.
Yes it has the same hardware calibration if you get the Spectraview system.
Paul - Thanks so much and I value everyone's feedback as owners of notable tools that come along that grabs my attention.
I think the 2690 is at a similar price-point as when I gladly forked out the money for the Artisan back in....2005? And this was maybe shortly before it was discontinued and it didn't matter to me because that was the only game in town back then. Still very much a pleasure to use but nothing's forever, thus all my nerdy inquiries about the NEC units despite all the info floating around out there.
By the way, this forum feels far less cluttered and friendly and I check it frequently, so it's a good launching point for me to branch out elsewhere for info.
>Sorry to take the discussion away from the NEC but has anyone seen the HP Dreamcolor LP2480zx?
I've seen it, its nice. I saw it for all of 3 minutes. I'd take one in a second. There's some way cool capabilities but I'm not certain this iteration is ideal for photographic work (its really designed for the film/video crowed).
Posts: 1354 | Location: Santa Fe | Registered: 10 November 2000
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