Notebook displays for photo editing

[kuhli]

Ok, its time for a new laptop, the old girl has had it. Trouble is 1/2 my reason for having a notebook is digital photography/editing. I've been looking around for reviews of notebook panel performance and I can't find much beyond the anecdotal, "I really love Toshiba" or "There's nothing that compares with (insert brand here)".

So, for the folks who're into digital photography here(and have discovered how bad the average display is). Have you found any info on which displays calibrate the best and have the best display characteristics. As it stands the most consistently good displays appear to be on the Sony's. Personally I'm not a fan, but the value seems ok and if the displays are good. Sorry but a MAC is both out of line in practicality and price...

[kuhli]

Re: Notebook displays for photo editing

Damn, nobody?

[R_Ethug]

Re: Notebook displays for photo editing

all the displays are good.. personally i would buy a new macbook pro and dualboot it but at work we use toshibas and hps and both are great.. dells are great too..

[Mr. Burns]

Re: Notebook displays for photo editing

macbook 17" werd to bootcamp. my next laptop will be a macbook pro 15.4" for sure

[James]

Re: Notebook displays for photo editing

ya, i agree on da mac's....the new intel ones are unreal..bootcamp, as previously mentioned, ftw.

[Triple G]

Re: Notebook displays for photo editing

ya, i agree on da mac's....the new intel ones are unreal..bootcamp, as previously mentioned, ftw.

X2

Crappy Cell phone pick but you get the point

[RedApe]

Re: Notebook displays for photo editing

I don't think I would put too much effort into researching laptop screen performances....they are all pretty much the same.

At work, I have a Dell Latitude D620, and a Dell 21" LCD. The LCD standalone is far better to look at, IMHO. The laptop LCD will do, in a pinch (when not at home), but get something to plug into at home.


Just my $0.21

[kuhli]

Re: Notebook displays for photo editing

Ok, answered my own question...you can see this directly @ http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1783642,00.asp but I've copied it below, no they're not all the same, they're not all that different...but there is some exceptions to the assumption that they're all the same:

As portable computers are expected to do more and more business and entertainment tasks, manufacturers are enhancing their systems with new types of notebook displays. Many vendors are touting proprietary designs, each of which has its own special name.

Some named technologies are not technologies at all. For example, Dell uses the term UltraSharp to refer to any notebook that has a better panel than the base model. The improvement can be in the viewing angle, the contrast, the brightness, or some other attribute. The improvement can also be the result of a different LCD cell structure or the use of different polarizing or diffusion layers.


Other names are based on specific components in the display's design. Dell's TrueLife, Fujitsu's CrystalView, HP's BrighTView, and Sony's XBrite all have panels that appear glossier than the typical LCD panel's matte finish. This "clear coat" technology delivers a higher-contrast image, because the films on the panel diffuse the light less, so that the black level is darker than it would be on a typical panel. A darker black level makes colors look brighter and the overall image sharper.

The matte finish of the typical panel is caused by an antiglare film, which works by diffusing the reflected ambient light. The clear-coat designs increase glare, but they also display images more crisply than a matte finish does. The result is a display that looks great under controlled lighting conditions, though reflected light can make it more difficult to view in some circumstances. This design is especially good for viewing movies and digital photography.

Some technologies use other approaches to improve image quality. Fujitsu's Enhanced CrystalView panels go beyond the company's clear-coat design, adding improved color filters to increase the display's color gamut, making digital photos and movies look better. Toshiba's TruBrite panels have increased brightness, primarily through improved backlight designs. The company's Ultra TruBrite and some Sony XBrite models have dual fluorescent backlights for even more light; brighter images can look more colorful. Dual fluorescent backlights are of most benefit when watching movies. That's why they are often found on wide-format screens.

So what do all these different technologies mean for you? For movie watching and video manipulation, a screen enhanced by clear coating or something more will appear brighter. If you primarily use office apps and work for extended periods, you might want to avoid the "special" screens and stick with a regular matte LCD screen.

[Aleks]

Re: Notebook displays for photo editing

My Dell had a normal screen, and I wouldn't edit **** on it, it was pretty poor, good for browsing the web and whatnot but thats about it......My current laptop has a 15.4 widescreen Brightview (its an HP), and its indescribably better....Now, that leaves my 17" pureflat on my desktop, I find that the pictures look "smoother" on that screen, but my colours "pop" more on my HP......I've done all of my most recent photo editing on my HP (you can see them in the beyond forum "post your latest pic" threads), and I think they look phenomenal personally....

EDIT: I just realized I don't post process the photos I post online.....minus a resize and watermark.....I only post the ones I did right the first time....