I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this, but y'all have been so helpful in the past that I thought I'd risk it. When my Dell 2407WFP-HC died on me almost a decade ago, a close friend happened to be upgrading his own set-up and was kind enough to gift me his pair of regular (non-HC) Dell 2407WFP's; so that's what I've been designing on ever since. According to the specs on the back, these were manufactured in 2006, suggesting 18-year-old technology. One of them just made a ZAP sound, shut off, and I can smell a slight burning scent coming from the top; right in the middle of working. It's dead. I still have its twin, but can't work with just a 24" screen so I'll need a quick replacement. And unfortunately, this is happening at the worst possible time, as I just spent a fortune on more pressing needs; so budget is a huge concern. On the bright side, I've just been informed that even the cheapest of today's monitors might actually be better than the older ones I was using. And by cheap, I mean something like this Samsung (LS27C330G) which Best Buy is selling for $150 in Canada. In this scenario, I'd be going from 24" to 27", and from 60Hz to 100Hz; which are both improvements (I always felt 27" would be the sweet spot for a dual-monitor set-up, despite having only experienced 24"). On the downside, the brightness would be dropping from 400 to 250 cd/m² but I'm not too worried about that since I work in the dark (and always lower the brightness + saturation levels of my screens for work). The resolution would also be taking a small hit, from 1920 x 1200 to 1920 x 1080 (Dells sure loved the WUXGA 16:10 aspect ratio back then). You'll notice the one thing I haven't mentioned is the number of colors, which is pretty important for design work; but I'm having the hardest time finding that info for the older Dells. However, according to displayspecifications.com, the budget 2023 Samsung I quoted above can do 16,777,216 (24 bit). So I assume this is the baseline for today's monitors. Number of colors isn't something I feel too crazy about downgrading from what I've been used to. So my first question is : how naive would it be of me to think that an average $150 Samsung screen released in 2023 could be just as effective for today's graphic design work as a $600+ Dell screen released in 2006? As for the type of design work, it's mostly digital (website images, PDF, some video, etc.) with the occasional print job (posters, book covers, expo booths, etc.). Things like 4K, lower response times and even higher refresh rates would be nice-to-haves (since I also own an Xbox Series X) but gaming is a very secondary concern. Work is more important. I can get a 3rd gaming screen later. Monitor recommendations are also welcome, as long as they have my (unfortunately) tight budget in mind. I can go about $250 (CDN) max right now. Brick & mortars like Costco & Best Buy would be ideal locations, but I'll order online if it's worth it. Thanks!
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