monitor selection and color Managed workflow

[cjanson]

I am looking for some feedback on a few questions that I have in regards to recommended equipment and color managing questions I would like some feedback on. I will start with some details as far as what I do and my current equipment so the suggestions can be as detailed as possible.
I am what I would describe as a semi pro designer and photographer. I began my interest in photography as a hobbyist years ago. Now, I am taking jobs both for photography and with graphic design. I mostly design websites, logos, and other common design work but that is really as far as my designs have gone thus far...
The equipment and software I am currently using are as followed:

Asus G74SX laptop (Modifications and specks bellow)

1. Upgraded to 16GB of ram and soon a SSD
2. Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M
3. I7 2670Q 220GHz CPU
4. Other specs Asus G74SX-BBK7 Specs | PCMag.com

External displays (IPS)

1. Asus PA 248Q (new)
2. HP 2311XI

SpyderPRO4
Wacom Intuos4
Adobe CS5.5 masters collection (Possible Upgrade 6mo-1year)
Lightroom 3(Possible Upgrade 6mo-1year)
Nikon Cameras D3100 & D7000
Although I am using a laptop as a workstation currently, I am thinking of investing in building a Desktop configuration in the future. So in regards to your recommendations, keep this in mind.

Now I’ll get to my questions.
I just got myself a PA248Q ASUS - - ASUS PA248Q . I am thinking of returning this monitor in for the earlier monitor model PA246Q ASUS - - ASUS PA246Q the major difference with these two models as far as I see is the PA246Q has a 10bit P-IPS Panel and works with a wide gamut (98% aRGB) the PA248 has a cheaper panel and only 98% sRGB coverage
The color does look good on the PA248 even before calibration. But I was wondering if the PA246 is the better monitor for my needs? I am shooting raw photos and am currently shooting and working in sRGB but would shoot aRGB if I had the correct monitor. Am I missing out shooting in sRGB? Is it best for me to switch color spaces? Any reasons for having a 10bit monitor if I only output 8bits from laptop? I am using a HDMI now to run my external monitor. I figure that is better than the VGA output (my only options) will HDMI be my best bet?
I also heard that even if you only output 8bit the 10bit with wide gamut calibrates more accurately, is this true?
Any other benefits or suggestions that I did not touch on would be helpful as well. I just want to be sure as to what my best option is. I thank everyone ahead of time for your help and taking your time to give me some guidance. Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[KmH]

Many image editing experts recommend editing in the widest color space gamut available, which pretty much means ProPhoto RGB. As a last editing step, set the output color space that is appropriate for the image usage.
Lightroom's Develop module is set (it can't be changed) to a wide gamut native working color space that is close to the chromaticities of ProPhoto RGB.

One of the reasons I prefer using ACR in Camera Raw over the ACR that is Lightroom's Develop module is because I can choose the working color space in the Camera Raw ACR Preferences:

 

[Garbz]

But I was wondering if the PA246 is the better monitor for my needs? I am shooting raw photos and am currently shooting and working in sRGB but would shoot aRGB if I had the correct monitor. Am I missing out shooting in sRGB?

This is only a question you can answer and it depends on what you do with the pictures. If all you ever do is publish online then there's very little point to do anything other than work in sRGB. If you print your photos with a suitably high quality print process (i.e. not wallmart) then you can gain some benefit in shooting wider colour gamuts if your image takes advantages of that. Some images which do are things like sunsets, vegas lights and deep cyans in a shallow clear ocean. If you take photos of people, forrests, and houses you'll not see any difference.

One thing to note though is a colour managed workflow needs to be ... well ... colour managed. You need to remember to convert images before you upload them or send them to friends. You also shouldn't store them in 8bit formats or you risk posterisation as 8bits per channel is not sufficient to record all possible combinations in larger colour gamuts.

Any reasons for having a 10bit monitor if I only output 8bits from laptop?

I also heard that even if you only output 8bit the 10bit with wide gamut calibrates more accurately, is this true?

The key is that these bits are advertising the size of the lookup table in the monitor. Your computer will only ever send 8bit outputs to the monitor. However calibration targets are uploaded to the monitor's firmware rather than to the video card's firmware. The former means your monitor is capable of processing all 8bits per channel after calibration, the latter will retard your video card output in favour of making the remaining displayable colours display correctly, i.e. you can't output pure white if you're trying to make it more blue to correct a colour temperature of your monitor.

I am using a HDMI now to run my external monitor. I figure that is better than the VGA output (my only options) will HDMI be my best bet?

VGA = analogue. Don't bother.