Best monitor for photo editing

In your opinion what is the best monitor to get for photo editing? Matte vs. Glossy finish (screen), minimum screen size, contrast ratio, response time? Are two better than one? Instead of one 20"-24" model, should I get 2 17"-19"?

been covered to death but since ive been doing more monitor research lately than ill assume anybody else on the forum ill give my two cents

the best* monitors for photo editing would be ones with ips panels. these are the most color accurate monitors with best viewing angles. They are hard to find and usually cost much more than their tn or pva counter parts.
however lucky you, you mac fan, apple cinema displays happen to all use these amazing s-ips panels. you can also find them in some older ultrasharp dells (a bit of a lottery). and you can find them in a lot of monitors which are much more expensive than acds such as eizo lcds.

most photo manipulators prefer matte screens over glossy. glossy tends to make colors over saturated and are harder to calibrate using external hardware based calibrators such as the huey.

screen size is totally up to you. most people love the 23-24in size but some also live for nothing less than 30in lcds. The dual monitor vs single larger monitor is all personal pref again. I happen to like the feel of a mediocre 20in and a larger screen like a 23in next to each others. others go with 2 20ins or 23ins. the main reason for dual monitors is that you could have all your palettes and stuff on one screen and your other screen be solely dedicated to your image.

currently i have a macbook 13in and a 22in. i actually use my macbook for teh image and the 22in for palletes and what not just cause its not the best monitor. im saving for an acd 23in and either a dell 2007wfp or a acd 20in as a side monitor.

the contrast ratio and response rate are basically insignifant as long as you pick out an ips panel and you dont plan on heavy gaming.

let me know if you have any more questions

Just dont use a monitor that can double as a tv. the colors will be WAAAAAYYYYYYYYY saturated. Also whenever you get a monitor, buy a product that can calibrate your monitor. A monitor is no good for photo editing if it is not calibrated.

Thanks for the input anmoldagreat and kc0ngg. anmoldagreat, is response time important? The Apple Cinema displays have a response time of 12ms and some Samsung monitors I was looking at were around 2-4 ms. Is this response time more imprtant when doing video editing or gaming where fast moving frames need a faster response time? How can I find out what panels are being used by the manufacturers and on what product lines? I was looking at the NEC monitors what product line and product series uses the IPS panels? The NEC MultiSync LCD2070WNX has a higher contast ratio 500:1 vs Apples 300:1, brightness are the same but the NEC response time 10ms to 14ms in the Apple...plus the cost is $200 cheaper...but I don't know if it has the IPS panel ....how can I find out?

finding out if a certain monitor has an ips panel is very very difficult
your best luck is to google search the exact model number of the monitor and "ips" and youll probably get a forum result or a good review site that will actually know.

the samsung monitors you looked at are all tn or pva panels. not the best for photos and color calibration but decent for gaming and the budget minded crowd. If you want to do a lot of gaming you might be better off at going pva for the response time. as far as video editing goes though i doubt youd notice any type of difference between 2ms and 10ms.

i am no expert though on different monitors especially some of the higher end necs.. i would recommend checking out display forum on hardforum.com

be ready to learn more than youd ever want to. i happen to really like the planar 26in px series lcd screen. so if you want something that big for less than a grand id go for that one.

or if youre looking for something smaller and much more affordable i just sold my old 22in and bought a dell 2007wfp ips monitor from dell outlet which has a bunch in stock right now. of course its a bit of a gamble but after scoring a second interview with apple i was feeling good.