Gyroscopic Investing

Has anyone else heard of these 27" IPS monitors that are available on eBay now from South Korea?  I just picked one up for under $300 shipped.  It is, without a doubt, the best computer monitor I have ever personally used.  IPS, or in-plane switching, is a technology used to improve the quality of the image and get wider viewing angles.  It is the same type of panel used in high-end displays intended for graphics or design work.  Usually these displays in 27" 2560x1440 format retail for around $1,000+.

The panel on my display is manufactured by LG in South Korea.  Rumor has it that these are the same panels used in the 27" Apple Cinema Display, and that Apple has very high quality standards in their contract with LG.  If a few displays in a batch don't meet Apple's standards, they reject the entire batch, and LG has a contractual obligation that they cannot sell the rejected displays in the North American market.  So, they basically bin the parts - the few bad displays in the batch get scrapped, and the rest perfectly good displays get sold to the local South Korean market for around $250 each, to try to recoup costs.  Enterprising South Koreans are putting these up on eBay and selling them to the US.

These were first found by PC enthusiasts: 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1225919/yama ... nitor-club

Here is a report from someone that bought one:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/23291

This is the one I purchased - no dead pixels and the quality is amazing:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120947301991#ht_20350wt_1158

I figured there are enough people on here that spend significant time on their PCs and don't want to spend $1,000 for an Apple Cinema Display...

Another personal experience with them:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/0 ... ution.html

Disclaimer:  We've been pretty lucky getting quality screens, but there is the odd chance you might get a dud, considering they are shipping from S. Korea and not exactly backed by AppleCare.  Good luck.

Are there any smaller ones on the market yet? 27" is a bit more than I have a use for at home, but a nice 22" or 24" would fit the bill very nicely.

Pointedstick wrote: Are there any smaller ones on the market yet? 27" is a bit more than I have a use for at home, but a nice 22" or 24" would fit the bill very nicely.

I'm not sure the 22" or 24" would have the same quality as these 27" 2560x1440 screens.  This particular panel seems to be the sweet spot in the pro display market because Apple and Dell are building their high-end screens around it.

Storm wrote: Has anyone else heard of these 27" IPS monitors that are available on eBay now from South Korea?  I just picked one up for under $300 shipped.  It is, without a doubt, the best computer monitor I have ever personally used.  IPS, or in-plane switching, is a technology used to improve the quality of the image and get wider viewing angles.  It is the same type of panel used in high-end displays intended for graphics or design work.  Usually these displays in 27" 2560x1440 format retail for around $1,000+.

Pretty interesting and its not too expensive to be out of the realm of possibility, but I'm wondering what the practical advantage is?  It's too slow for games (motion blur), requires high end video cards to drive it, a special DVI cable, and a HDTV is likely to still be overall better for viewing movies.

MachineGhost wrote:

Storm wrote: Has anyone else heard of these 27" IPS monitors that are available on eBay now from South Korea?  I just picked one up for under $300 shipped.  It is, without a doubt, the best computer monitor I have ever personally used.  IPS, or in-plane switching, is a technology used to improve the quality of the image and get wider viewing angles.  It is the same type of panel used in high-end displays intended for graphics or design work.  Usually these displays in 27" 2560x1440 format retail for around $1,000+.

Pretty interesting and its not too expensive to be out of the realm of possibility, but I'm wondering what the practical advantage is?  It's too slow for games (motion blur), requires high end video cards to drive it, a special DVI cable, and a HDTV is likely to still be overall better for viewing movies.

The panel I got has 6ms response time and seems fine for playing games.  The main driver is the screen quality difference.  This is the same panel, made by LG, that is used in the Apple Cinema Display.  Yet, for the price of a single Apple Cinema Display, I can get 3 of these.  I you see one of these in person (go to the Apple store), the difference in quality is night and day from a regular LCD display.  The color and clarity are excellent.