The
market for
30-inch monitors is
growing, but that's not the same as saying that your options are plentiful. You'll have a far easier time finding high-res 24- and 27-inch screens to toss together, but if you've got your mind set on a single LCD workspace, HP's
ZR30w has to be on the short list. Coming in at an altogether respectable $1,299, this panel offers oodles of pixels (2,560 x 1,600) and top-shelf image quality. Critics over at
Hot Hardware were thoroughly pleased with the results, keeping in mind that this was designed for the creative professional. They
did knock the lack of ports (only a DisplayPort and DVI connector are included), but the lack of inputs was just about all they could kvetch about. Performance was deemed "exceptional," color reproduction was said to be "superb" and it even managed to hold its own while gaming. You may not be a big fan of the plain styling, but those source links are definitely worth a look if you've been teetering on this here fence.
posted July 28th 2010 8:06AM
I mean, stop complaining about the Cinema Display's price now. Big monitors are just expensive. See?
@Outsider Well, it depends on if the Cinema Display can compete with this. For example this display is matte, which is a gigantic bonus.
Looks hot, though I don't need 30", I'd get lost on something that big and my neck would ache. Something around 22"-24" at a more reasonable price that is this good...
"I don't need 30", I'd get lost on something that big and my neck would ache" - That's what she said.
@Outsider 2,560 x 1,600 > 2560 x 1440
@Outsider 2,560 x 1,600 > 2560 x 1440
@ICWiener ZIIIING!
@MoonWalkerCTE
LED >> CFFL
@kadajawi
There is a 24" model too, ZR24w. It's matte and S-IPS too.
@MoonWalkerCTE
Hence the $300 difference man...
@maratus
CFFL > white led
CFFL has better color gamut
@jou I just bought one a few weeks ago. The screen is excellent for image editing and even games albeit it houses the S-IPS panel. For it's price range, the screen is unbeatable.
@Outsider
Wait a minute? They knocked off HDMI in favor of DVI? Everything uses HDMI and DVI is SOOOO old! What were they thinking?
@McKirf
Please tell me you're kidding....
I dream of the day when a respectable 30-inch monitor is only $500.
@lorddarthmaul I'd be happy paying 700 bucks.
This looks nice, but I'd probably still go with the Dell 30" has more inputs, looks a bit nicer and dell always has quality stands.
The last hp 30" inch monitor that I read any reviews on had major issues and a short lifespan. Hopefully this one is different.
Does anyone know if it's just not technically feasible to do a 30 in TN panel? or if at the size the shortcomings of TN become to glaring?
@tad604 TN panels have such crappy vertical viewing angles that the top and bottom would look differently on such a large display, I think.
Would look "different", dang.
@tad604 The 2007 Gateway XHD3000 had a 30" TN panel IIRC. I see it as more of a market problem, given its modest scaler and lack of connections the ZR30w is probably marketed to graphics artists, photographers and others who 'need' it as a work tool to make money, hence the price.
@lorddarthmaul
dream or not you're dead , Obi-Wan killed you!
@YpoCaramel
Actually, the XHD3000 is S-PVA, not TN. (According to the tftcentral.co.uk panel search). Hence the slightly lower price for its size, but still decent quality. I think, like others said, a TN panel that size at a traditional computer viewing distance would just be an unpleasant experience.
@Dreamscape86 yea, S-PVA is fine technology.
@Dreamscape86 I have a 25 inch 1920 by 1200 TN panel. After figuring out the right settings, it works beautifully. I guess the extra 5 inches might start to show flaws, but I don't the vertical viewing angles would too different event from 18" to 240" away. I'd be more worried about the horizontal viewing angles (which I don't believe are as problematic).
Oh well, when my birthday comes around. I may just shell out whatever for the Dell UltraSharp 3008WFP 30-inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor. I would also consider two UltraSharp U2410 24-inch Widescreen but I don't think my mbp can drive two external monitors (hell I might have issues getting it to work with the 30").
@Dreamscape86 My bad, some of the search results were a bit confusing. Yes PVA is a good tech, I have a Bravia with PVA and PVA do blacks pretty well.
@lorddarthmaul
keep dreaming, this type of monitor ain't target to consumer, is mostly professional that use, mac selling this type of monitor for 2 grand and that is like couple years ago. price of this monitor isn't going to t
Do want!!! :D
@EddieN Ditto.
I've been lusting after a 30" for a while (that's what she said)
Oh yeah, time for an upgrade from my current Dell 2209WA IPS screen :D
That is one hell of a monitor, and a great price too considering other large monitors on the market!
looks nice but DANG! 1300 for a 30"? lol
@SParklingCYaNide
You got that spam e-mail too?!
After using the amazing Dell 30" monitor for several years i am still waiting on a 36 inch or better monitor. 30" just doesn't cut it anymore.
@bob e I think you're SOL unless you're happy with 1080p in which case you can pick up a tv.
@bob e I have an old Dell 30" and it is great. I would LOVE a real computer screen that is 36" as well (not a TV acting as a screen). It is strange that Apple and Dell haven't released a new 30" in ages when I have so many clients waiting for a new 30" from either Dell or Apple to replace the old models.
The logo on top looks weird...
@Peytral
I misread that as Lego and got really excited.
Nice! I've been waiting for HP to come out with such a 30 incher! Will see if I finally commit to the 30" realm.
If I just want to upgrade from my base model Dell 24", a Full HD 32" TV would be good enough for MS Office, movies, and PS3 yeah?
@davedrastic
A TV will only output 1080p resolutinon = 1920x1080
Monitors this size or even 27 will go to around 2560x1600. You need a graphics card that can also output these resolutions - anything around an NVIDIA 8800 or higher will do it.
Theres a big difference in the way it looks. My neighbor was trying to show off one day to me with his 46 inch bravia used as his computer screen. I told him it looked like butt because everything was stretched out to fit on the screen. Then I told him to come to my house and look at the Dell 30" monitor I have and he was amazed how everything looks sharper and right when using the right resolution.
At a certain screen size you have to upgrade the resolution or everything becomes stretched to fix that screen real-estate. Television is different because you normally aren't reading pages of text or have user interface controls (buttons, listboxes, checkboxes) that need to be manipulated so everything looks okay. Once you connect a computer to that tv you quickly understand why the lower resolution of tv's is not appropriate to use as a full time computer monitor.
it''s nice but for that kinda money why not due what i due i use my 37" vizio lcd as my monitor and save some cash
@Bocefuss4500 Because that is 10X crappier than this?
@Bocefuss4500
Screen resolution.
HP 2560X1600
Vizio 1920X1080
@daytripper
bull shit i can see if it were sub $1,000.00 bucks but at current price would a really want to go down in screen size, number of hdmi ports available, cost twice as much all for better resolution i would not notice in day to day activity
Where can I go to see an IPS monitor on display? I just want to see how different it is from a regular monitor.
@jim28
An iPhone screen.
@jim28
Go to a Best Buy or an Apple store and take a look at the 27" iMac. Make sure it has the 2560x1440 display, though. You'll be able to tell by the pixels ;)
@OverDriven
the iphoen ips display is piss poor compared to tthe 24" and up ones just compare your iphone an imac and the imac one does not even compare this one
@DefPoet
You're out of your mind. The iMac's screen is eye meltingly gorgeous. So is the display on an iPad. The iPhone's display isn't IPS tho, it is some kind of subset of IPS. If OP wants to see what an IPS screen looks like then he should go look at one of those at maximum brightness as it would give him a good idea.
@Liquidmark
the imac screen is good looking it does not compete with the dell and NEC monitors which produce industry best color
@Liquidmark
they might be but they do not compare to the displays that DELL and NEC make
@Liquidmark
The iPad has a nice screen but I, for one, was actually let down when I saw it in person. Sure, it's light-years ahead of your typical TN laptop display (though that's not saying a whole lot, in and of itself) but compared to the Dell U2410 that I'm typing this post on, it just wasn't that spectacular.
Don't get me wrong, though, if that display were used on a real computer, laptop or tablet, it would make my next portable computer purchase that much easier.