Help me pick a 27" IPS monitor?

[hoorah]

So I can't say I keep up on display technology all that much and I'm a little confused by all of these specs Im not familar with.

I'm looking for a 27" display in 1080P (the price jump to 1440P seems a bit much. I'd rather pocket the difference in price and save it for a later jump to 4K).

Use is mixed between games and general use. My wife has mentioned that she wants to start learning photoshop at some point, and my very basic understanding is that IPS panels have better color reproduction for photo editing, so would like to get IPS. She may take this monitor from me in the future, but I'd like to at least let her plug her laptop into it once in awhile when doing photos.

My general impression has been that Samsung screens usually have the best PQ (at least when buying TVs) but not sure if the same holds true in monitors. One last thing is that while I don't need speakers now, between two equal monitors I'll take the one with the speakers (image quality more important though).
I do not plan on running multiple monitors.

Looking at the following:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-915-_-Product
Samsung 27", relatively new (only a few reviews), $230, 300 brightness

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824009590
Acer 27", good reviews, $195, 250 brightness. Built in speakers.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-355-_-Product
ASUS 27" MX279H Refurb, good reviews, $220 ($300 regular price), 250 brightness, has speakers.

They all seem relatively similar to me. Is there anything in the specs that I'm missing that would make one particularly better than the rest in regards to image quality or other use?

EDIT: Just realized people post about monitors in peripherals, not graphics. My bad. Mod can move it if they want.

 

[I/O]

Stay away from Acer. That Asus panel has minor ghosting issues but otherwise is a really nice monitor. I think the samsung would be the best option if you want to game on it.

 

[n0x1ous]

1080 on 27inch = big pixels. I can barely stand looking at 1080p on 24 inch anymore, can't imagine it on 27. Brutal.

1440p, 4K or dont bother

 

[guskline]

I have the Acer monitor you list and am please with it. I have a 27" Achieva Simian 2560 x1440p and the color is great. I have an Acer 27" you listed above powered by gtx670s in SLI and it's a good gaming monitor.

 

[KingFatty]

I think a 23" 1080p has a nice pixel size, but would be concerned about blowing up the pixel size to fit in 27".

Why do you need a larger screen size? Isn't the critical factor going to be the amount of information you can fit on the screen - which translates into the number of total pixels?

You can work just as effectively on a 23" 1080p display as you could on a 27" 1080p display, unless you have poor vision or sit exceptionally far from your display.

The real value of the popular 27" 2560x1440 displays is that they fit so much more information than a 1080p display, so you can get more work done, see more pixels of info - it's more than merely "blowing up" the same number of pixels to a bigger size, and so that's why you see the cost bump.

 

[Zardnok]

1080 on 27inch = big pixels. I can barely stand looking at 1080p on 24 inch anymore, can't imagine it on 27. Brutal.

1440p, 4K or dont bother

I am going to echo these sentiments about 1440 as well. Going from a 24" 1080 to a 27" 1440p is one of the best computer upgrades I have done in my life; it absolutely made the most visual improvement.

You are not spending THAT much more money to get a 1440 and the resolution increase is absolutely worth it. 4k is still too much of a premium IMO, but there is no reason not to get a 1440 with the plethora of inexpensive options. I liked mine so much I added two more!

 

[tweakboy]

1080 on 27inch = big pixels. I can barely stand looking at 1080p on 24 inch anymore, can't imagine it on 27. Brutal.

1440p, 4K or dont bother

Agree, nice one!

 

[tweakboy]

Best upgrade from me. 2000 got Sony FW900 and use 2304x1440