External LCD monitors - important specs???

Hi,
I'm looking at getting an external 20" - 22" LCD monitor to go with my 15"MBP C2D.
Looking at the specs of various models, I'm wondering how important the contrast ratio is - it seems to vary from 500:1 to 800:1. I'm using the comp for video editing/design work and am keen on faithful colour reproduction.
I guess viewing angle is another important spec while response time is important for gamers. What are other specs to look out for? Pixel pitch? Display colour (is 16.2M adequate or should I hold out for 16.7M?)?
BTW, are there any third party models out there that offer additional USB/FW ports as the cinema displays do?
Thanks, Sean

If color is important to you the most important thing to look out for is professional reviews; specs are secondary to that. On paper one monitor might have better specs than another... but when you look at the two side by side the lesser spec monitor can have better overall image quality.
Basically narrow down all the models/brands you can afford... and then start googling for reviews on them. You'll find lots of reviews on online mags like trustedreviews.com etc... but you dont need to search those sites... just search google. Read all the reviews and then you can make your mind up from there.
The profesional reviewers usually use software like DisplayMate to measure the performance of the monitors in loads of different areas of image quality... color gradients, bw gradients... shadows, midtones, hilights, grey-grey response time, black-white response time etc. The figures you see in specs usually dont mean much as they have a lot of marketing crap attached to them. E.g. most cheap monitors which boast hi response times usually omit the fact that they can achieve those response times because they use lower-bit depth panels... which mean dark gradients appear very banded etc. YOU wanna make sure your monitor has as little banding as possible. Also the contrast ratio which they boast arent always accurate... they may say 800:1 contrast ratio but for some reason when the contrast ratio is measured it is nowhere near that figure... whereas other brands/model quote more accurate figures....
So in short, google for reviews.... dont put all your faith in ONE review but read as many as you can and look for COMMON points from all reviews (e.g. one review may prefer model A over model B, and another review may prefer model B over model A... this can be down to personal taste... but lookout for what common things which both reviews say about both models.... that stuff is probably accurate).
MacBook Pro C2D 17" Mac OS X (10.4.8) Week 46 Build

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