What monitor for gaming/photo editing?

[Aaralli]

I have an older Samsung LED monitor. It was built for office use, so it has a terribly low brightness and horrible color accuracy. I want to buy myself a monitor that would be good for both photo editing and gaming, without breaking the bank. I don't do photography professionally, but I do print high quality photos. I want it to be 27+ inches, 1440p, IPS, and hopefully a high refresh rate, but I'm willing to sacrifice refresh rate. I was looking at photography specific monitors like Dell Ultrasharps and Asus ProArts, and then gaming specific monitors like the LG Ultragears, but I honestly don't know if there are better options for me. My budget is $500 USD or under, but I could be convinced to spend more. I would appreciate a cheaper option and a more expensive option, if you know of any.

[Eddie Murphy]

Honestly for what you're looking for Id say your best bet might be the rog strix monitors specifically the ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q. It seems its about 600 currently but its about as good as it gets before you start spending serious money, not to say this monitor isnt extremely high image quality.

[Sorenson]

The LG Ultragear has my vote as long as you get the nano-ips models like this one https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27GL850-B-gaming-monitor. I have the ultrawide version of it and it is the best display I've ever owned. It has really nice color reproduction and gets decently bright. I would look for one of the ultra gears on sale. 

[GhostRoadieBL]

1 hour ago, Aaralli said:

I would appreciate a cheaper option and a more expensive option, if you know of any.

Asus ProArt are amazing, If I wasn't on ultrawide i'd have 2 of them in a heartbeat but that extra space for timelines is just hard to give up. 

They don't have the fastest pixel response so if you play twitchy shooters it's not a great experience but anything else looks fantastic, even racing sims where pixel lag is really noticeable it's hardly there. 

"gaming" monitors is a tough sell for me, if you make money by using the display I would avoid the headache of colour calibrating gaming displays which weren't meant for colour accuracy. 

[Exidor]

I honestly think it is hard to beat the ProArt line in that price range for mixed use.

I do not think it will get much better than that unless you are willing to spend significantly more. And even then the ProArt models go pretty crazy at the high end too.

 

Neither the Ultrasharp nor the ProArt are truly photography specific monitors. They are mixed use monitors with good color accuracy but a far cry from true print mastering and photography editing monitors.

 

I myself use a Dellultrasharp u2720q I wanted a 27inch 4k screen and I use it to check UI/UX and presentation slides. Good screen but nowhere close to a real mastering monitor. I did not calibrate it as I do not own a calibration tool and I can tell you that when I go and print slides in a professional print shop for road shows ETC.... I can see the difference it is slight but it is there. But compared to technically better screens like the calibrated Surface Book 2 I own and the Galaxy note 10+ in web apps you wont see the difference yea HDR content is a different thing on the note 10+ and for print if you really look for it you can see that it is closer to a high end print studio.

Still I go to the office look at the designers mastering monitor pull out the high end print and I do not see a difference.

 

Honestly unless you are playing competitive FPS then most modern screens are fast enough. You need to be used to high refresh rates to feel the difference. 

[xg32]

14 hours ago, Aaralli said:

I have an older Samsung LED monitor. It was built for office use, so it has a terribly low brightness and horrible color accuracy. I want to buy myself a monitor that would be good for both photo editing and gaming, without breaking the bank. I don't do photography professionally, but I do print high quality photos. I want it to be 27+ inches, 1440p, IPS, and hopefully a high refresh rate, but I'm willing to sacrifice refresh rate. I was looking at photography specific monitors like Dell Ultrasharps and Asus ProArts, and then gaming specific monitors like the LG Ultragears, but I honestly don't know if there are better options for me. My budget is $500 USD or under, but I could be convinced to spend more. I would appreciate a cheaper option and a more expensive option, if you know of any.

if you are willing to sac high refresh then it's down to pro art, the 27inch 4k entry model is 2500usd sometimes. If you have to have a 27inch 1440p model then i suggest saving some money and buy used, but last gen mons won't compare to proart mons. (something like a pa272w, i've seen them for 300usd used.)

 

Now if you want a hybrid with decent colors (for gaming monitor standards) then it's down to the 27GL850 for 450usd.

 

It's a tough choice but if you are willing to sac high refresh then i'd decide between going all out for a proart or just get a 1440p ezio or nec used.

 

My gaming mon color mon are separate these days, and even the x27 looks somewhat garbage next to a pa272w (pretty outdated), and the proart from what ive seen looks ALOT better. the 27GL850 is REALLY good value compared to what you get for paying 2k more.

 

TLDR: if i was trying to save money i'd get a 27GL850 for 450usd, and maybe a pa272w used.

 

The best 2 monitor setup right now imho is x27 for gaming and proart for color stuff and movies.