Samsung XL24

LED backlighting makes the XL24 a marvel of color reproduction right out of the box. It required absolutely no brightness or contrast adjustments, and subtle variations of color were much more noticeable than on most monitors.

According to Samsung, the XL24 is capable of producing 123 percent of the NTSC color gamut, which gives the display a broad enough range to reproduce color at the higher end of the spec true in the Adobe RGB and CMYK profiles favored by professional designers (CMYK is a precise formula for printing colors).

Melding those together, in theory at least, enables you to print on paper exactly what you see on the screen. Samsung converts theory into practice by providing a calibration tool that attaches to the screen and gives you software to create, save, and recall color profiles.

Also, keep in mind that as monitors age, their color display ability can shift slightly saving profiles with the calibrator allows you to mitigate this effect. The overall calibration procedure is slightly intense but not onerous by any means, and an included three sided screen hood will keep unwanted ambient light from altering the colors you see.

Physical specifications for the XL24 are otherwise quite mundane A 1,920x1,200 native resolution makes it suitable for 1080p high definition sources, and viewing two pages side by side on the screen is comfortable. A 1,000 to 1 static contrast ratio is more than adequate without the harsh backlighting of cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) used in standard LCD monitors.