Flat screen monitor recommendations?

[Lotus49]

It is the year 2006... and I'm finally going to buy my first flat screen monitor. Well, I'm shopping online, and there are a good number of models to choose from.

I don't want to go below the 19" I'm used to with my archaic, flickering, cancer-causing CRT, so I think I'd like to keep to the 19-20" range.

Game-friendly LCD monitors... what recommendations do you suggest?

 

[AlanH]

If you want the same screen area as your 19" bottle, a 17" flat screen will do it, as it's a true 17" corner to corner. Your existing 19" loses over 1/2" all round behind the bezel.

Also, you get 1280 x 1024 resolution on either 17" or 19", so it seems a bad deal to pay the extra for 19" - you just get 10% bigger pixels. If you want *more* pixels you have to go bigger than 19", or widescreen, with correspondingly higher cost.

I have two 17" TFTs giving me 2.5 Mpixels. One's a no-name, cheap screen that's OK, but looks pretty poor against the second one. The second is an Iiyama Prolite with high contrast (600:1) and a beautiful sharp picture. However, I don't play games much, so I can't advise on its responsiveness, and it's already over a year old, so there are no doubt better units and better deals around now.

PS We have a lot of Samsung 17" screens at my workplace, and they are very good screens as well.

 

[damunzy]

Here is a good review:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/19_lcd_roundup_0605/default.asp

 

[Speedo]

If your computer has the horsepower to drive everything at 1600x1200, I highly recommend the Samsung 204T. 20.1", 1600x1200 native res. It's what I use.

 

[Comraddict]

204B is cheaper but better for games, slightly less good color reproduction. There's no way to play state-of-the-art games on that resolution.

Problem with 17" or 19" is 5:4 aspect ratio which is not really useful for anything. Rather a bad choice for multi-tasking or movies.

 

[Speedo]

204B is cheaper but better for games, slightly less good color reproduction.

The 204T is superior in many aspects. If someone is telling you that you have to have a 5ms response times to play games, they're smoking something good.

There's no way to play state-of-the-art games on that resolution.

Darn, wish I'd known that for the last 9 months

 

[Comraddict]

Some you can play, some you can't..depends whaty you play. Civ IV looks great on high resolutions!

Your 204T is better in some aspects, but it has high latency of 16ms (we knwo that is a lie, so it is even worse). It costs significantly more ($550 vs $420 for 200B), and is 2 years old design. I understand that you're happy with it, but really makes no sense to pay that premium for thing that is questionably better and mostly same thing.

 

[Lotus49]

Thanks for thine input. Yeah - I think I'll just have to go the 20.1-incher route.

(Btw, I'm still going for the big projector setup, this is just an auxiliary viewing device, so, no need to go widescreen for watching movies here)

This is mainly going to be used as part of a docking station for a laptop (a whole 'nother can of worms I haven't even asked about yet), as well as the secondary video display device for the new desktop, since you don't really need a sweet DLP projector to surf the 'net, email, etc.

It'll also be the primary display device for my current desktop, which I'll have on the side, doing it's own independent thing, when I get my "Stock Trading Operations Center" (STOC) up and running. You know - screens, charts, etc. Plus a couple of various TV's going, tuned to financial news, blah blah. I'm thinking the older PC can just watch the news/business wires, track other stuff, while the new high-horsepower desktop computer will do the heavy number-crunching with the various trading platforms, etc. up there on the big screen.

-But, that's all boring, and off the point.

I do want this to be a good solid, gaming monitor as well. Man, these prices have really come down, in recent years. I want to go ahead and knock this out real soon, like this week I'm thinkin'.

I'm taking a look at the models suggested, and I may come back to offer others for scrutineering in the near future...

But for now, the T Vs. B (which it seems I can get for about the same price (~429 USD) Here's what I note:

B in favor of T, for following reasons:

1.) 800:1 contrast ratio better than 700:1
2.) Response time 5 ms better than 16
3.) 36 Watt (2 on stby) better than 63 Watt (stby mode not avail?)
4.) B model physically smaller on all dimensions by about 1" (yet still same 20.1 viewable)

Also, what the heck is "MagicTune"(B), and...
"MagicColor, MagicBright" (T)
-in terms of 'features'.

 

[Comraddict]

basically, 204T has better color reproduction than 200B, although 204B color reproduction is decent. Magic this, magic that is just software that adjusts contrast and brightness in general, or for certain purposes (movies, movies, text, internet, etc.)

 

[Lotus49]

Hey, what about "dead pixels"? How much of a real issue is this?

 

[p dandy]

Question: Let's say that the flat screen I buy has a native resolution of 1280x1024.

Now let's say I have a game that I have set to 1280x1024 resolution and I notice that it plays rather slow so I'm going to move it down to 1024-768. On my company monitor I noticed that when I move to a lower resolution, I get this kind of blurry/smearing effect. I was wondering will this happen in game as well so therefore, I'm pretty much forced to play at native resolution even though my cpu might not be able to handle it?

 

[Comraddict]

yes, LCDs are limited to one decent resolution. They emulate all others.

 

[Speedo]

Depends on the LCD and its native res. My 204T looks fine at 1280x960 in Oblivion (you can tell a difference though, if you look closely and have seen it running at 1600x1200), but the best quality is at the native res.

 

[zulu9812]

Be careful when buying LCD monitors. The warranty doesn't cover dead pixels, which is the single thing most likely to go wrong with the thing - it could even happen in transit, ruining your expensive monitor before you even use it.

 

[Comraddict]

Not anymore as it was before. Samsung for example has 0 dead pixel policy, and few others. If you buy monitor in local store, you can always return it for another. It is still somewhat risky, especially if you buy it online. But in local you should be fine: test the monitor as soon as you get it.

 

[Speedo]

Be careful when buying LCD monitors. The warranty doesn't cover dead pixels, which is the single thing most likely to go wrong with the thing - it could even happen in transit, ruining your expensive monitor before you even use it.

No reputable store or online retailer is without a dead pixel policy, not to mention the policies of the manufacturers themselves.

 

[Lotus49]

Well, I bought the Samsung 204B, and I'm really impressed. For one thing, no deal pixels (and even if there were any, the pixels are so small...)

It has a native resoltion of 1600x1200, but I'd take it -running 1024x768- any day over the CRT. Contrast is amazing, all in all I should have done this long ago.

Now, my only question is, what's the best product to use, for cleaning the screen? Just regular 409 glass & surface, or should I get something special...

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Now, my only question is, what's the best product to use, for cleaning the screen? Just regular 409 glass & surface, or should I get something special...

PC magazine - Clean Your PC

Monitors
A CRT's glass face may be coated, and LCD faces are plastic, so they can be delicate. Clean first with a dry microfiber cloth. (A monitor-cleaning brush works for dust.) For persistent grime use a microfiber cloth dampened with water, followed by a dry one. Avoid ammonia-based cleaners such as Windex. Antistatic wipes can help with CRT displays, though today's CRTs have much less static than those sold a decade ago. Vacuum the vents to remove dust; don't use compressed gas to blow dust in.

Be wary of display-cleaner sprays and wipes. Some are not safe for certain monitors, but unfortunately manufacturers don't give model-specific cleaning instructions.

 

[Lotus49]

Hmmm, so I can't go wrong w/ a dampened (from water), soft 100% cotton t-shirt I presume...?