LCD Monitors

[Serenity]

I'm looking for advice on LCD monitors.

 

I am considering buying a new monitor. My old one is a CRT and is getting dark, requiring heavy-handed driver tweaking to brighten it up, which distorts colors. Not good, since I'd like to see the painted miniatures here in their true colors.

 

I'm looking for a LCD widescreen in the 19" to 22" range. Any larger and the price gets a little outlandish for me. What should I be looking for beyond the basics of resolution, brightness and avoiding dead pixels? Are some brands better than others? Any good or bad experiences to share about your LCD monitor? Any review sites you'd recommend?

 

Thanks everyone.

[Cadaver]

Go to Newegg.com.

They have customer feedbacks which will give you a much better idea of what you are looking for and which brands are best.

Response time is also a big factor, the lower the response time the better.

[fieldarchy]

Yup Newegg.com definitely rocks! I've never gone anywhere else for computer components. In fact my entire computer was built from parts I got from them. They also have very good customer service incase you experience any problems.

[vutpakdi]

What do you want to display on the LCD? What outputs do you have on your graphics card?

 

If you are playing high end games (FPS and such), you'll want a low response time. If you are surfing the web and doing word processing, low response time doesn't matter much.

 

If you have a DVI output on your graphics card, make sure that your LCD has both DVI and VGA inputs. Actually, no matter what your graphics card has, get both DVI and VGA inputs on your monitor if possible. If you use a DVI connection, you'll get crisper graphics.

 

I like LCDs that can rotate so that I can use them in landscape or portrait mode. I've been very happy with my Samsung LCDs. I've got one at home and two at work. All three are more than 3 years old, but are still in great shape. Very crisp and bright with the DVI inputs.

 

Ron

[Lorderl]

my wife not long ago bought the Veiwsonic 21'' or 22''(can't recall atm) wide screen

 

its one loving beautiful thing, she bought it at a local computer store (compusa i believe it was), its was sale and if there's any issues with it its a simple thing to return and get a refund

[dougrob173]

I'll also 2nd the samsung recommendation. I've been using a dual 19" setup for work going on 3 years now and they're still in great shape. Dell also makes a good LCD but they can be pricey.

[Lord Wehrmacht]

Check out the SyncMaster 204bw from Samsung. Its a wonderful Widescreen monitor that doesn't crush your budget. I run it on my dualy and couldn't be happier.

 

 

LW

[mattmcl]

I have a ViewSonic VP2030b at work and it's amazing. It's 22 standard though, and about $350. So sharp it'll cut your eyeballs.

[Joe Kutz]

A lot of what you will want depends on what you do most on it.

 

Some (many) of the LCDs that are out there have odd-ball native resolutions, and that can cause issues when playing some games - as well as using certain software packages. Some graphics cards don't support those odd-ball resolutions, so you may need to upgrade your video card in order to get full use of your new monitor.

 

Before you buy one, figure out what you will be using it for and then look at it from that perspective as opposed to what one ranks best according to bench marks or reviews from people who may not be doing the same stuff as you.

 

I've got a couple Samsungs and a Princeton Graphics. On paper the Samsungs are the better monitors (higher contrast, faster response time, higher brightness)...but I prefer the Princeton Graphics LCD. The colors are better, and even though it is rated lower on a number of the specs...it seems better.

[noctambulist]

I second (or third) the advice that it all depends on what you are using it for. I have a Viewsonic 19" at home that is great for gaming with a really fast response time, but not so good for graphics work. At work, I have the opposite. It's a 21" NEC that has great color reproduction across the panel and good gray scale progression, but not a fast response time for gaming.

 

Sites like Anandtech Tom's Hardware Guide and Ars Technica are great resources for reviews.

 

If you are doing a lot of graphics or photo work, you'll also want to look at the monitor's back lighting. Some monitors wash out around the edges or in an X shape across the monitor because of the back light. This can be a pain when working with dark images and becomes very noticeable. Also, DVI is very important for crisp graphics. And make sure that whatever you get, you set your desktop to the monitor's native resolution. Otherwise everything will look blurry.

 

I purchased a Hanns-G 19" widescreen for my father-in-law for $150 on New Egg. While the construction is a little cheap and flimsy, the image was perfectly fine for browsing the internet and basic everyday kind of stuff - and you can't beat the price. Just make sure your video card can handle it's funky native resolution.