LCD monitor shopping opinions.

[hool10]

Well my dad has finally decided to put his old, bulky CRT monitor out to pasture. He really has liked how my monitor has performed in the last 5 years. He also likes how thin and light the monitor is compared to his bulky CRT. Its a Sony SDM-S71 and the only problem I have had is if the sun shines through my window on my screen, it gets too light. But thats with any LCD. So I'm asking what monitors you guys have found best to use. Also he wants to get a whole new computer in the future because the Pentium 2 is really starting to suck. So this monitor is part of his computer overhaul. Also he wants the monitor to be at least 18"-20". So any opinions on monitors? Thanks!

 

[Revisedsoul]

viewsonic,samsung,lg are all brands i recomned.

from what ive seen,
viewsonic has a nice series for gaming, and some decent photography
samsung is great with photography(good color represention off the bat) and decent with games.
lg tends to be a good all around monitor

of course each manufacutre will have certian series that preform better in areas then others.

also there are no 18" so you would be looking at 19" or 20"then
sont is good as well but they have a glossy screen(like most laptops) so any back lighting and you get a pretty bad reflection.

 

[Barney Fife]

Love my Samsung (Check My Sig) just a little ghosting when playing games, despite that, I wouldn't trade it for another, OK maybe I would, but you got my point, I hope.

Good Luck.

 

[hungryduck]

make sure the video card (or lack of one) in that pentium 2 is going to support a 19/20inch monitor at native resolution.

 

[Asus]

Your Sony LCD probably has a glossy glass cover which gives it increased contrast but more glare in a bright room. Most Sony LCDs do but most other screens don't.

For a 19" LCD expect to pay about $250-400. For general use I'd recommend a Viewsonic screen. Make sure the LCD comes with a DVI cable and that your PC has a DVI port. Buying a DVI cable at your local store can be expensive! (compusa sells them for 75$) While newegg has one for $16. You'll get a clearer image since it is all digital. VGA is analog and gives a more blury picture so that is why you use DVI if possible. Thats partly why LCDs are sharper than CRTs.

Viewsonic uses AU Optronics panels and they do an awesome job them all. They have 3 series, their VX gaming series (fast response time), VA series for general use and VP are their professional LCDs (better color).
You pay more for Samsung but they excell with their higher end screens. Most accurate color probably closer to CRT than any other LCD.

If the LCD has the proper 4 mounts on the back you can remove the stand it came with and buy a stand that has better options. To raise, lower or tilt the screen or even a wall mount.

LCD quality can be linked to price. Going for cheap deals means it could be a screen with a low quality grade screen and higher chance of getting dead pixels etc. With that said, doing average computer stuff (email, office apps, basic media viewing) does not require an expensive LCD either.

 

[hool10]

Wow thanks for the info guys! My dad is actually gonna trash or do something with his current computer and start from scratch. But we were thinking about getting a printer first because we need that more right now. Anyways thanks for your support people!

 

[BarnyMiler]

Widescreen LCDs

Wanted to drop a line about LCDs in case anyone else may catch this thread later on. I did quite a bit of shopping around recently for a new 20" and up Widescreen LCD and came up with the following recommendations:

First of all, getting anything other than a 'widescreen' was out of the question. We've spent our lives looking at virtually square computer screens, having a wider option just seems natural - and everything is going that way these days anyway. So I would highly recommend getting a widescreen vs. a normal 4:3 aspect monitor.

Dell's 21" widescreen was one of my first choices, but many users complained of color banding(?) issues - so I steered clear. Check Dell's support forum for more info on the fix coming soon.

Gateway's 21" widescreen was the default choice after the Dell. It goes or $599 firm - hard to find much cheaper, but should be well worth it.

I ended up going with the Viewsonic 20.1" widescreen - VX2025wm which was a close 4th after the Samsung.

Compusa had it listed for $399.99 this past weekend. That's well cheaper than the other 3 options - and you get basically the same specs.

I was a little worried about going with Viewsonic (brand), but I'm very happy so far.

Long story short, this was my first LCD - upgraded from any number of old 17" and 19" CRTs and I was very afraid that my gaming would suffer, but quite the contrary. I tend to be very particular about the way a game looks and I can say that I have seen minimal image quality decrease, but that is a small price to pay for the increase in screen size, new found desk space and ability to break free from 1280 x 1024 screen rez I've been stuck with for what seems like an eternity.

One thing that I found neat was that you actually do get more screen real estate with a widescreen. What I mean is that games like HL2 that have Widescreen options, will show you more content on the sides of the screen than those at a different aspect ratio.

I am running nearly all games now at the recommended 1600 x 1050 since anything other than that looks fuzzy, but that's fine because my system can handle it. So keep that in mind though if you have an older machine and maybe not a very beefy video card.

I'm running a P4 3.0 Ghz, 1Gb RAM, and an ATI X1600 Pro and I get about 45 fps in the Lost Coast video stress test with everything set to High, no AA and no AF.

Far Cry scaled great as well did Tomb Raider - Legend (via it's Widescreen option) - and look for most new games to support a widescreen option.

The cons:
Decrease in colors. In dark areas and some of the menu backgrounds in HL2 (specifically the last one, with the Citadel) have so many colors in gradient that the monitor can not see them all and therefore it has to substitute the next closest color it has and you can see lines between the color levels. But it's not very noticeable.

Other than that, I can't say anything bad about it!