Computer hardware manufacturer releases LCD displays aimed at design and graphics industry.

New flat-screen LCD displays for graphics professionals

Flat screen LCD monitors are great space savers, over their CRT forerunners. But many graphic designers and prepress professionals have continued to question their color accuracy.

The new 300 Series display screens, from LaCie, are aimed squarely at the color sensitive graphic design industry.

The monitors are bundled with a number of features that LaCie claim will address some of the reluctance, by many designers, to adopt flat-screen LCD technology.

One of the biggest problems with LCD monitors has been the lack of color fidelity, color banding issues and the difficulty in calibrating LCD screens for use in a print production workflow.

To address this, the displays boast a number of new features. Firstly, 12-bit gamma correction aims to offer much smoother color gradients than regular LCD screens.

The manufacturers also claim a 178 degree viewing angle, to minimise grayscale inversion and loss of contrast when the displayed image is not viewed front on – useful for client presentations.

To emphasise their commitment to the creative and prepress industry, LaCie also claim that each monitor is; "corrected at the factory to ensure the highest grade of brightness and chromaticity uniformity across the display area". Bundled with each monitor is a copy of 'LaCie blue eye pro calibration software', to help build an ICC profile to integrate into the production workflow. This can be combined with the optional (at an extra cost), blue eye pro colorimeter (sold separately at US$349).

The new displays come in three models, ranging from US$999 to US$1,799.

Hardware manufacturer, LaCie, have been in the graphics industry for many years, producing hard drives, external storage peripherals and, of course, computer display monitors.

19 July 2006

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