How do I choose a monitor for web design?

High contrast ratio, good response time (<5ms), matte screen, a lot more things that I can’t remember right now.

Seriously you’re not impressed with the MBP screen? Mine is very good colorwise. I have a second LCD screen that I use when I’m doing a big project, but I find the color depth to be very good. Use the system prefs to set up your display… perhaps you missed something.

You find the biggest screen possible, and buy two of it.

Buy two 20”+ monitors. One crappy one and one with a great contrast ratio. You put your code on one and the design on the good one. Make sure both monitors have the same resolution, and that they are of the matte type, not glossy ones.

For print, you might want to look for SWOP certified monitor. However, I’ve been in graphic design for 23 years. I don’t personally use one anymore. I used to work for a German fine art publisher. To be able to match the colors of the artworks is extremely critical.

For web, I will just make sure I check the colors on both Mac and PC. The two platforms use different gamma settings in their OS.

Thanks, everyone, for your answers!

@Perchik There’s certain shades of gray and green and red that won’t render. Any gradients in those colors tend to turn into chunks. My regular MacBook didn’t have this problem. Sites I made on my MacBook look like crap on my Pro. I know there’s a lawsuit in progress about this.

If you have access to a colour profiling device such as the X-Rite i1 systems then try to calibrate the screen to see if that helps with the colour rendition and gradients. I use the i1 (see link) and it has very much improved my colour accuracy on any given display.
The next step, if you are going to buy a colour accurate screen, is looking for 16bit LUT (Look Up Tables) in screens so that they can actually display 16bit of colour, most common user LCDs only use 12bit here, hence chunky gradients.
I presonally use an EIZO screen and have done so for the last 4 years. It has worked perfectly and still shows great and accurate colour. If you can afford one (i’m not sure what the current prices are for them) then I would highly recommend them. Have a look at their ‘Graphics’ Section for ultimate colour reproduction, but even their ‘standard’ line is pretty damn accurate.

Let me know if you need anything else.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the i1 system also allows you to purchase add-ons to its system, so you could buy a screen only calibrater now for a relatively low price and when you need to produce proofs for print work you can simply purchase the ‘Print module’ for your system. Pretty great if you ask me.