Graphic design & choice of display

Question

Hidy,
I'm a novice graphic designer and seeking advice from designers. I would like to know what your vision is on the choice of a display for graphic design purposes. I heard a rumor that the LED-backlit displays aren't really useful for graphic design since they wouldn't represent true image, is this correct? Would you go back and use a Mac like the iMac 24" Core 2 Duo 2.16 just because its display is LCD? Or would you go with the future and buy those new iMacs with LED backlit displays? What could be the advantage or disadvantage? Any real life situation experiences? Any suggestions?
Cheerio !

Answer 1

I suppose the best answer, if you are a novice graphic designer, is to ask if you intend to do color matching with a calibrated measurement device. If not, you choice of display really doesn't matter.
You cannot do simple visual color matching with any LCD or LED-backlit driven panel, whether matter or glossy, as none produce sufficiently accurate color. You must instead use specialized tools like the Pantone matching system and calibrate or set your display for optimum accuracy, while clearly understanding that you must trust the software, and not your eyes.
I do a great deal of graphics work, and find glossy—as opposed to matte—screens difficult to work with. While their highly saturated color makes them good wide-screen DVD playback platforms, the reflective glare from ambient light is annoying. If you choose a glossy display, which is pretty much all you can these days, be sure to set up your environment so as to minimize reflective light sources such as lamps and windows in your workspace.
For the most part, backlighting is backlighting. Backlights driven by light emitting diodes were introduced almost solely to eliminate the undesirable component parts of cold cathode fluorescent lamps and make displays ultimately easier to recycle, lowering their adverse impact upon the environment.