What should I look for in a new monitor?

There are a lot of recommendations here for Eizo ColorEdge displays, and from everything I've heard and read, if I had one, I would probably be very happy with it for Photoshop and Lightroom.

But unlike many of us here, you said you need it to produce images that are accepted for MIR. I had no idea what that means and had never heard of that term before, so I looked it up. Is this MIR as in Medical Image Retrieval (and not MRI)? Have the people you submit to given you specific requirements for a display? Because when I do web searches on medical displays, there seem to be technical requirements that need to support certain medical workflows and compliance. Like certain luminance ranges, gamma curves, and so on, depending on the standard being met.

And the thing about medical imaging is, the same company we are talking about, Eizo, is very active specializing in vertical industrial markets. Eizo has an entire section of their website devoted to displays designed specifically for medical imaging. Are you able to ask any of your colleagues if they have used or are familiar with the medical imaging displays in the Eizo line, if they would be more suitable for editing the images you need to produce, or if they recommend another company? Here are a couple of links on the Eizo website that I was looking at.

Eizo Medical Imaging Solutions

RadiForce Medical Monitors

One display’s description says stuff like “…monochrome images such as CT, MRI and X-ray are displayed in the ideal grayscale that corresponds to DICOM Part 14, while color images such as 3D rendering, nuclear medicine, ultrasound and endoscopy are faithfully reproduced corresponding to Gamma 2.2.”

I know nothing about medical imaging, but this seems to be important, because although many of us here are familiar with what makes a good display for creative digital imaging, I don’t think there are many discussions here about displays that need to meet requirements for vertical niches in different technical industries such as health care.

@vleo512 As others have mentioned if you have the budget an Eizo Coloredge screen is worth the expense. Then even appearance and 5 years warranty means it's not perhaps as expensive as it seems.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
Help others by clicking "Correct Answer" if the question is answered.
Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

A major factor to consider especially when upgrading a computer is to buy what you can afford. A monitor is one component of the system you may only need to buy once. Therefore should be the highest quality you can afford or need based on your requirements. A new motherboard, CPU, and RAM you replace ~5 years. A new monitor buy once. 

Banding happens because of insufficient bit depth. It sounds like you're working in 8 bits?

In addition, jpeg compression can introduce color banding on its own, because the color component is more aggressively compressed than the luminance component. It's not usually a problem as long as you keep working in 16 bits up until the jpeg save, but it can still show in smooth gradients, especially synthetic gradients created in Photoshop.

As for the monitor, you want one with even color and brightness across the entire screen, from corner to corner. Over the years I've been pretty shocked at how even quite costly monitors can look like this:

This is something they can get away with because there's no parameter for it in the spec sheet.

You also want a 10 bit capable monitor with true hardware calibration. This means the calibration is performed internally in the monitor's own processor, in high bit depth, securing an absolute even output to a 10 bit panel. This eliminates any on-screen banding.

For photography, you don't need 4K. It can even be a disadvantage, because you really need to get a feel for the pixel structure of the image at 100% view. You need this to properly assess sharpness and noise. In my experience, the ideal size and resolution is 27 inch at 2560 x 1440 pixels. You can go down to 24 inch at 1920 x 1200 if you have a secondary screen.

4K is more of an advantage with vector data and text, in apps like Illustrator and InDesign.

The only really safe bet is still Eizo. People say they're expensive, but that's a misunderstanding. It's the other brands that are cheap. They compete by price, and cutting corners to cut the price is common (as per the photo above). With Eizo you get exactly what you pay for. NEC also used to make high quality monitors, but they seem to have discontinued their Spectraview line.

The Eizo CS series is the best value for money on the market. The CS 2731 is about $1300, the CS 2400 under $1000. They are both excellent. Just make sure you get the edition that has ColorNavigator software included. It supports all calibration sensors available.

Paging @D Fosse 

What is your budget?

Which monitor do you currently have and what do you normally calibrate it with?

Can you upload examples of your work where banding is allegedly present but you cannot see it?