Monitor Sugguestions

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Hey guys, looking into buying a new Flat Screen LCD Monitor, but I cant seem to make my mind up with what I want. Quality vs. Price and all that stuff. My price range is going to be no more than $300 but shooting for $200-250.

I was checking out Newegg.com and looking at their 19" Normal and Widescreen and 20" Normal and Wide. There are some 19" wide for under 200 but when you get into the 20" you hit $240+. Is the one inch difference enough to warrant the price? And what else should I look for when looking for a Flat screen LCD? I know the response time, lower is better, but how bout the contrast ratio? What is that exactly and how important is it? Any of you have a monitor that you can sugguest?

Thanks guys!!:thumbs:
 
I have the Samsung SyncMaster 930BF 19" TFT, and so far I don't have any complaints. I had several people who adviced me to buy this monitor.
 
Make sure the LCD and your video card have DVI port! And the LCD comes with a DVI cable!

There are a few different types of LCD panels.
-TN+Film panels are the most common in the lower price ranges. They will have a lower response time number. But a lot of them do not display full 24bit color. These are good great for gaming screens. Low price, fast responce time.
(But I would not recommend them for color accuracy for Photo or Video work)
-PVA and MVA panel types are also getting lower and lower response times. They don't need as low of a response time to acheive the same 'ghost free' results as TN panels. They have a lot better color accuracy but cost more.

Samsung makes their own panels. Viewsonic, BenQ, and Hyundai get their panels from other manufacturers.
Review

Each model can be different. I would not recommend buying a model from one brand of LCD just because you read a review on a similar model from the same brand. They can be pretty different especially between screen sizes. Look up reviews on that specific model before you buy (seeing it in person at a store helps a lot).
 
Asus said:
Make sure the LCD and your video card have DVI port! And the LCD comes with a DVI cable!

There are a few different types of LCD panels.
-TN+Film panels are the most common in the lower price ranges. They will have a lower response time number. But a lot of them do not display full 24bit color. These are good great for gaming screens. Low price, fast responce time.
(But I would not recommend them for color accuracy for Photo or Video work)
-PVA and MVA panel types are also getting lower and lower response times. They don't need as low of a response time to acheive the same 'ghost free' results as TN panels. They have a lot better color accuracy but cost more.

Samsung makes their own panels. Viewsonic, BenQ, and Hyundai get their panels from other manufacturers.
Review

Each model can be different. I would not recommend buying a model from one brand of LCD just because you read a review on a similar model from the same brand. They can be pretty different especially between screen sizes. Look up reviews on that specific model before you buy (seeing it in person at a store helps a lot).
Click to expand...


i never got the huge difference between dvi and lcd. to me it looks like no change at all but lower refresh rate. i might buy one soon but i was wondering if it was really a difference between vga.
 
To help you out. I recently bought the LG L203WT, its a TN-panel, 20-inch widescreen monitor with a good price tag but it's worthelss for everything except windows use and gaming, not DOOM3 or such dark games because the almost dark colours are really dull. DVD's looked shit, worst quality I've ever seen on a monitor. Today I got my new Viewsonic VX2025wm and I'm really happy with it, its a P-MVA panel that works very well for everything. Colours are alittle weak but with some tweaking you can get it near to perfection. DVD's on this monitor looked 3-4 times better than on the LG, HD episodes of Prison Break are just awesome. Only thing I can complain about is the anti-glare coat over the screen, you'll have to see it for yourself to understand what I mean.

Deciding which TFT is best for you is not easy, it took me 2-3 months to decide whatever I'm getting a TFT or staying with my 17-inch CRT for a couple of years. Then it took me one months research to decide which monitor I wanted and why. Most reviews say completley different things, one can say a specific monitor is perfect, the other it's shit.

The Viewsonic might not be the best 20-inch widescreen monitor but it suits me I guess.

Take a look at this thread.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1026462&highlight=Viewsonic+VX2025
 
I agree with everything you said. I tried one of the other Viewsonic XV series LCDs (6-bit TN panel). It didn't have that great of color and all the dark areas in the game looked poor. I had my CRT side by side so I could compare with screenshots. Got my Samsung 193p (PVA) and it is a lot better for color. Still not the same as my CRT but it is a big improvment, like you said with your MVA panel.

Although somone on that hardocp forum you linked to said that Viewsonic model uses a S-IPS panel (made by phillips). I hear they are good too though. /shrug
Which is it? MVA or S-IPS.
 
giant384 said:
i never got the huge difference between dvi and lcd. to me it looks like no change at all but lower refresh rate. i might buy one soon but i was wondering if it was really a difference between vga.
Click to expand...

dvi allows for greater bandwidth than the traditional vga cable.

with my viewsonic vx724, it provided a sharper, cleaner, brigher image. but it still sucks for alot of the greys and black :( wish i waited a year, could have had the vx922 or the vx2025 for around the same price.
 
I say, if you're using a CRT and have plans to switch to LCD, don't bother checking those TN-panels and go for the better ones, it's defenently worth twice the money if it costs that.

I paid around $650-700 for my VX2025wm, LCD's are sick expensive in sweden and I'm still satisfied with the monitor but it was really expensive.

Also keep in mind that a monitor is something you're going to keep and use for a good 5 years so it's not like buying graphics cards that you need to upgrade every 1-2 years. :)
 
Bastion said:
ViewSonic VX922 Black/Silver 19" 2ms LCD Monitor, for a 19" this monitor can not be beat as far as gaming goes, not to mention toms hardware uses this monitor as his benchmark standard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116375
Click to expand...

Yeah it's awesome for games. And I love the stand (I had tried the VX924 refering to my post above). But just remember it is a 6-bit TN+film panel so it uses dithering to fill in the colors it can't display. D:
When I played WoW at the time with the VX924 screen, I couldn't stand to look at the ceiling because it was a dark blur (at least compared to running the game on my CRT). But ghosting was non-existent!...except when looking at near pitch black areas. Never tried D3 on it though.

Here is an LCD buyer's guide Was last updated on Sept 2nd (2 days ago).
 
The 2ms really helps. Shame that my pc can't produce playable framerates :p
 
Ok, so right now I am torn between the ViewSonic VX922 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116375 and the ViewSonic VX2025WM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116381 Is the Widescreen worth the extra 80 bucks? And the 19" has the 2ms refresh rate as to the 20.1"s 8ms refresh rate?! I am going to use the monitor for heavy gaming and watching DVD's.

I guess right now it just comes down to wether or not the widescreen is really worth the extra cash?! Help! lol:rolling:
 
well.....I used a 15in 4:3 aspect ratio CRT for years and years and years.....and then I got a widescreen LCD, and now I don't think I could ever not have a widescreen LCD....
widescreen rocks....but in the end its just a matter of what works best for your eyes and personal preference....
 
They both run the same I think because they the widescreen one is just exactly the same as the other one apart from the widescreen part :p

It's up to you really.
 
Personally I'd go with the VX2025 because it uses the better panel. The colors should be better than the other model with the TN panel. And widescreen might be nice (Source games have a widescreen display option).
 
I have to admit that Viewsonic widescreen does look sweet.
 
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