[Feanor]

I'd like to buy an lcd monitor in the 300-500$ range. 15" or 17" would be good. I mostly browse the web on my comp., but I need good gaming performance. Any tips? I'm looking at the samsung 710T, but it's a bit costy for me.

 

[stevesurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feanor I'd like to buy an lcd monitor in the 300-500$ range. 15" or 17" would be good. I mostly browse the web on my comp., but I need good gaming performance. Any tips? I'm looking at the samsung 710T, but it's a bit costy for me.

Start with Viewsonic, and just search for the most affordable one. Try the VE510b also at Shopper.com

 

[john_jcb]

I have a Samsung 912N in Black and it cost about $500. It is an excellent monitor and worth the money.

 

[Wodgy]

It's worth paying the little extra money for a pivoting monitor. Being able to read web pages and PDF documents in portrait mode is very nice.

 

[wallijonn]

Both www.anandtech.com and www.tomshardware.com just finished LCD writeups on what to look for in LCD screens.

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/dis...123/index.html
http://www.anandtech.com/displays/showdoc.aspx?i=2289


.

 

[Feanor]

Thank you for the responses.

I have read the tomshardware review, thats where I saw the samsung 710T.
The anandtech link was new to me. Does anybody know where to find recent reviews of 15" monitors?

I am lusting for a samsung 193p, but it's a bit over my limit.

Is the picture rotating opion that good? I have been using crt till now, so I don't know how often I'd use it.

How important is DVI? I've read contradicting statements about it.

 

[mahkook]

I have had some luck with LCDs through ecost.com. I just bought a Princeton 19 inch LCD for $400 and since then I have seen it even cheaper on the site. They now have some 17 inch for $200 I think. Shipping is free.

I bought the Princeton to get the DVI input and wasn't blown away with the difference in quality over analog input.. hardly notice a difference. If there was something else to consider in the purchase that was important to you, I would put the DVI ability lower on the list of considerations.

Later, if I get to do a home theater projection unit, I will probably opt for one with DVI input due to the hopefull 100 inch size where the difference will be noticeable I assume. Then I will just connect my LCD monitor with the analog cable to run both at the same time...

 

[ReasonablyLucid]

I sugguest the Dell 2001FP
You can get it for $500 on ebay

20.1" with a 16ms responce. Excelent for everything, games included

 

[JeffL]

I have the Samsung 712N monitor and it is just absolutely gorgeous.

It does 1280*1024 @ 75hz /w *12ms* response time. It does not ghost, at all.

I would say, you don't necessarily NEED DVI, however, if you want to get the best picture possible, go with DVI. However, DVI presents certain limitations as well. Like for instance, DVI style KVM switches aren't very common (AFAIK).

 

[ReasonablyLucid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL I have the Samsung 712N monitor and it is just absolutely gorgeous. It does 1280*1024 @ 75hz /w *12ms* response time. It does not ghost, at all. I would say, you don't necessarily NEED DVI, however, if you want to get the best picture possible, go with DVI. However, DVI presents certain limitations as well. Like for instance, DVI style KVM switches aren't very common (AFAIK).

I sugguest avoiding 12ms pannels. They use a lower color count to acheive the lower refresh than the 16ms pannels.

Ive compared the Dell 2001FP (20.1" 16ms) screen to the dell 2005 (20 widescreen 12ms) and everything looks slightly washed out on the 12ms pannels

You do need DVI for higher resolutions. Once you go over 1280x1024 (and even at that) dsub starts looking like crap.
There are actually a few quality DVI KVM's out now.

Just a side note, you dont need to fiddle with the refresh rate on an LCD.
Refresh on LCD's works differently than CRT's.
On an LCD the pixel stays the same color unless its ordered to change.
On a CRT the picture is constantly fired onto the screen by the picture tube.
LCD's by default have no flicker.

 

[GoRedwings19]

I am also interested getting an new monitor. I was looking at a iiyama 430 does anyone have one of these so that they can offer impressions? At the moment my laptop screen is staring to get intermittent fuzzing so it looks like its on its way out.

 

[ls20]

lg 1712s 17" 16ms for <300$ at newegg worked wonderfully for me

 

[JeffL]

Quote:

I sugguest avoiding 12ms pannels. They use a lower color count to acheive the lower refresh than the 16ms pannels.

Well I didn't know that, but quite frankly, I never noticed it either, so I put it off as moot. This display looks great, no matter what, and the color is MILES better than my crappy old CRTs were...

This display looks awesome compared to any I've seen, and it makes the 15.4" widescreen on my laptop look outright horrible. I would call this anything but washed out.

No, there is far worse. This Samsung rocks, no matter what anyone says...

 

[ReasonablyLucid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL Well I didn't know that, but quite frankly, I never noticed it either, so I put it off as moot. This display looks great, no matter what, and the color is MILES better than my crappy old CRTs were... This display looks awesome compared to any I've seen, and it makes the 15.4" widescreen on my laptop look outright horrible. I would call this anything but washed out. No, there is far worse. This Samsung rocks, no matter what anyone says...

You should compare it to another simlair samsung monitor that uses a 16ms before you start making such claims.

 

[Imyourzero]

I second the suggestion for the 2001FP. 20.1" of real estate, 16ms, and no ghosting at all in Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 or any other game that I've tried. I owned 2 recently but sold one...I didn't have use for dual displays like I thought I would. It was neat to be playing a game on one display and have the Windows desktop on the other, but I decided I'd rather have the $600 in my pocket.

I didn't know that 12ms panels had inferior color reproduction, but if that's true then I guess I'm no longer excited about the 8-10ms panels that will be coming out...it will be interesting to read the reviews and see how they rate the color accuracy.