[avapilot]

hi....i will be getting an external monitor to mainly use with photoshop and in design on my new mac book pro.....being new to apple any reco's on which brand to buy?...i am looking in the 19-24" range...budget is around $300.... the apple monitor is nice but beyond my $$...

thanks

bob

[PhilCat]

It's not hard to find used cinema displays.
For your needs, other than Apple is not cheap either.
I've tried the $300 alternates, and use them for anything but imaging.

MBP's screen is far better.

[jmiddel]

avapilot, if you do web stuff, most all new monitors will do the job. I've seen many, and they pretty much look similar. Go to a store and look at them, have them display a site you know and judge! Brands I've seen: LG Samsung Acer AOC and screens on Windows laptops at costco from Toshiba, Sony and more. I'm comparing to my 27" iMac. For print I don't know, that is way more complex!

[shabbasuraj]

Look at Dell.

[CharlesS]

For Photoshop work, you want a display with an IPS panel, as the TN panels found in most cheaper displays do not have full 8-bit color support and suffer from distortion as the viewing angle changes. The Dell UltraSharp monitors generally use IPS these days (not the generic Dell monitors, though — those are far lower quality), as do HP's high-end monitors.

Dell and HP usually list whether a monitor is IPS in their specifications these days, so just look at the tech specs and pick out a good display.