So What Monitor do you Use?

WMain00

I'm thinking about getting a monitor, despite my parents grumbling of "Why?" The reason why is because my current monitor, a Viewsonic VP930, is getting on, and i'm wondering whether I should fork out money for a swish new widescreen monitor.

Of course there's a catch to this, since unless I spend mega amounts of money, the likelyhood is i'll not find a widescreen monitor that matches the sheer superiority of my current one, even if it is only 20" and it's resolution is 1280x1024 (if you look up the Internet you'll see this was a top range monitor of its time). So i'm sort of in a catch-22 of getting a new widescreen monitor that's likely to be a TN panel and losing the excellent colour clarity that this one has.

Either way, convince me otherwise, or don't! The one i'm currently looking at is:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151775

A reasonable enough monitor it seems. Other ones i'm looking at are:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-099-SA&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

Of course I don't know whether I want to go and spend money really. I'm not an impulse buyer. ^_^

So what do you lot use for monitors? And any suggestions on what I should do? :P

theSquid

This isn't helpful at all, but for my gaming PC I use a 28" HDTV as my monitor. Seems to work pretty well.

DekuStick

Samsung T240HD - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-T240HD-Widescreen-Multimedia-Monitor/dp/B0019UP0A0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255785406&sr=8-1

I like it a lot. Perfect size for everyday computer use, games and 360.

HDMI, DVI, TV Tuner, Component, Headphone jack and so on.


For what you should do - shop around for some sales on good brands. Find a sale, go check it out in store, and see if it has what you need.

Daedalus

theSquid wrote: »

This isn't helpful at all, but for my gaming PC I use a 28" HDTV as my monitor. Seems to work pretty well.

Same for me, except it's a 46" TV. Got it relatively cheap, too; there's been lots of good deals lately.

Mr_Rose

Samsung SyncMaster 2343BW
Finding 2048*1152 wallpapers is a pain, but it's a fantastic screen for that price.

Lord Jezo

If you can find one try to get a non TN based monitor. Shame that hardly anyone makes them, at least not in the US.

zeeny

I'm getting two of those next week:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-032-DE

Dell Ultrasharp 2209WA, IPS panels.

Edit: I just saw the link in the OP, I believe those are TN panels, if you're going for Dell, it's worth it going for the 2209 for slightly more.(assuming you're fine with 1680x1050)

Zell

Stay far away from TN panels. I'm sure there are good non-TN 22-23" monitors and that's what I would go for (if I wasn't too used to 1920x1200).

Find out what you must have, read through reviews, never trust any number you see in the specifications provided by the manufacturer.

WMain00

zeeny wrote: »

I'm getting two of those next week:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-032-DE

Dell Ultrasharp 2209WA, IPS panels.

Edit: I just saw the link in the OP, I believe those are TN panels, if you're going for Dell, it's worth it going for the 2209 for slightly more.(assuming you're fine with 1680x1050)

You see, you're the third person to mention this monitor, but there's some things that put me off it:

A: In inches is it really worth upgrading my 19-20" monitor by 2 inches? Would I really notice the difference?
B: It's not 1080p like the one I've linked, but rather 1050 pixels which misses the true HD mark. Now sure I don't watch alot of movies on my PC, but given the price between both this one and the one I mentioned, would it not be worth going for the one I mentioned even if it's a TN panel?
C: I know TN panels are bad, but there doesn't seem to be any way to get around this unless I spend a hell of alot of money.

It's all difficult really. It makes me wonder whether I should bother or just leave it.

zeeny

WMain00 wrote: »

A: In inches is it really worth upgrading my 19-20" monitor by 2 inches? Would I really notice the difference?

That's for you to decide, initially I had decided to get 2x24"(Asus VW246H) and then after seeing the actual set up I felt uncomfortable as they were simply too...huge. My desk is pretty shallow, so it may be different for you.
As for the rest, I honestly can not care about full HD in a pc monitor at this point. I don't play much games(none where graphics matter, anyway) and if I watch something it will be from a pretty close viewing distance.
If the display in the OP suits you and you wish to upgrade, go for it. I'm yet to hear from somebody saying "This new monitor I got is total crap.".

Zell

Personally I think all LCDs available today are total crap

Bionic Monkey

Primary - Gateway FHD2401 24"
Secondary - Dell Ultrasharp 1909W 19"

The secondary was primarily for the ability to pivot vertically, as that's damn hard to find for a reasonable price anymore. Display wise, it's not that great, but I don't use it for anything but secondary apps and monitoring stuff. The Gateway though is fantastic.

Fats

The problem with big, widescreen TN panels is that, given the usual distance you sit from a monitor, you're always going to have some TN color shifting at the edges. There are the usual color accuracy and black level issues as well, but the shifting is something almost everyone will notice. If that doesn't bother you, great.

I've had a 2209WA for a while and just picked up a U2410, they're both really great monitors. I've got the 2209WA in portrait mode which can be pretty useful.

Icey

I have that Gateway as well, and it really is fantastic.

WMain00

Fats wrote: »

The problem with big, widescreen TN panels is that, given the usual distance you sit from a monitor, you're always going to have some TN color shifting at the edges. There are the usual color accuracy and black level issues as well, but the shifting is something almost everyone will notice. If that doesn't bother you, great.

I've had a 2209WA for a while and just picked up a U2410, they're both really great monitors. I've got the 2209WA in portrait mode which can be pretty useful.

Size did occur to me actually last night when I popped down to my local store and looked at a Dell 24" monitor, which was rather large. I'm now wondering whether it would be effectively too large and If I should go for a 22" instead.

theSquid

Daedalus wrote: »

theSquid wrote: »

This isn't helpful at all, but for my gaming PC I use a 28" HDTV as my monitor. Seems to work pretty well.

Same for me, except it's a 46" TV. Got it relatively cheap, too; there's been lots of good deals lately.

... I will DEFEAT you.

RuddurBall

Mr_Rose wrote: »

Samsung SyncMaster 2343BW
Finding 2048*1152 wallpapers is a pain, but it's a fantastic screen for that price.

Do you have any other issues with that weird resolution other than the wallpapers (older games etc.)? I have been looking at the Dell SP2309W and it also has a non-standard resolution.

xzzy

Zell wrote: »

Personally I think all LCDs available today are total crap

Remember when Dell screens came with like 10 different inputs? Good times.

I will be using my 2005FPW until it dies!

Folken Fanel

DekuStick wrote: »

Samsung T240HD - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-T240HD-Widescreen-Multimedia-Monitor/dp/B0019UP0A0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255785406&sr=8-1

I like it a lot. Perfect size for everyday computer use, games and 360.

HDMI, DVI, TV Tuner, Component, Headphone jack and so on.


For what you should do - shop around for some sales on good brands. Find a sale, go check it out in store, and see if it has what you need.

This is the exact monitor I have. If you want to build a gaming nexus on a desk space it is the perfect monitor.

Mr_Rose

RuddurBall wrote: »

Mr_Rose wrote: »

Samsung SyncMaster 2343BW
Finding 2048*1152 wallpapers is a pain, but it's a fantastic screen for that price.

Do you have any other issues with that weird resolution other than the wallpapers (older games etc.)? I have been looking at the Dell SP2309W and it also has a non-standard resolution.

I uh...I don't play much in the way of games. :oops: And most of my older ones have problems with Windows 7 long before I get to try them with the monitor...

Dehumanized

I have the 2343BWX (2048x1152 resolution, etc) and it's not a big deal with most games. Old games sometimes require a bit of effort to get into native resolution, but most of those you'd also have to spend quite a bit of effort to get them into any widescreen resolution. For example, Knights of the Old Republic required extra work to get into widescreen... but even then, the game UI just isn't designed for greater resolutions than 1200x1024 or whatever. I ended up just running it in windowed mode.

There have been a couple cases where I've been forced to go under native resolution to run games due to a video card that's a little light on vmem. That's not really a monitor problem, though, that's more of a "I got a hueg monitor for a system that I had originally designed to be using a much smaller monitor" problem. I think it'd be pretty important to make sure your video card has a lot of vmem if you want to keep playing the newest games at a really high resolution like 2048x1152.

edit: here is a link to a picture of my desktop from a couple days ago. So you can properly appreciate the hugeness:
http://hdimage.org/images/lfk0903jy4z9cvso6yx.png (kinda NSFW too, the background image is rather bloody...)

WMain00

So i've come to the conclusion a 24" might actually be too larger for me, given how close I am to the computer desk etc. I'm now looking at 22" screens. Of those I've come to this lot:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-032-DE&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

Pros: good panel Cons: can i justify paying that amount when I could get a 24" at the same amount?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-013-AS&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

Pros: supposedly quite a good monitor despite being Asus Cons: Asus?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-071-VS&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

Pros: seems to get favourable user reviews Cons: The "experts" don't like the colour on it.

And this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-108-SA&groupid=17&catid=1425&subcat=

Pros: again favourable reviews both by users and experts Cons: really difficult stand, no HDMI

Mr_Rose

@ Dehumanized: What's that third gadget you've got? Between the weather and the RSS feed?
Also, no Aero Glass FX? Or does it just not SShot properly?

@WMain00: Those all look pretty nice, but they also al seem to have gloss bezels; that might get distracting if you've got a light behind you.

Oh and before I forget: If you get the opportunity to check out a monitor in a store before buying, get them to let you browse to Lagom's LCD panel tests and make sure the colour reproduction and contrast etc. are decent.

Dehumanized

Third gadget is AppLauncher v2. I used it a lot back when I had Vista as my main OS, nowadays I don't really do much with it because pinning programs is simply much easier to keep visible. Aero Glass stuff is on, I think it just didn't screenshot properly.

BTP

Mr_Rose wrote: »

Samsung SyncMaster 2343BW
Finding 2048*1152 wallpapers is a pain, but it's a fantastic screen for that price.

Just to be certain I'm seeing this correctly, that monitor supports component input and can also be set vertically (i.e. rotated 90 degrees)?

DekuStick wrote: »

Samsung T240HD - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-T240HD-Widescreen-Multimedia-Monitor/dp/B0019UP0A0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255785406&sr=8-1

I like it a lot. Perfect size for everyday computer use, games and 360.

HDMI, DVI, TV Tuner, Component, Headphone jack and so on.


For what you should do - shop around for some sales on good brands. Find a sale, go check it out in store, and see if it has what you need.

Okay, well, that one definitely says component. Now can it be rotated 90 degrees?

Fats

Mr_Rose wrote: »

@WMain00: Those all look pretty nice, but they also al seem to have gloss bezels; that might get distracting if you've got a light behind you.

The 2209WA is matte. It's one of the best bright room monitors I've used, actually, just because it's so damn bright. Honestly, even at 0 brightness it's a little much when you're in a dark room.

Mr_Rose

BTP wrote: »

Mr_Rose wrote: »

Samsung SyncMaster 2343BW
Finding 2048*1152 wallpapers is a pain, but it's a fantastic screen for that price.

Just to be certain I'm seeing this correctly, that monitor supports component input and can also be set vertically (i.e. rotated 90 degrees)?

Site says:

Signal Input

• Video Signal: Analog RGB, DVI
• Sync. Signal: Separate H/V, Composite, SOG
• Connector: 15pin D-SUB, DVI-D

It takes old-style VGA and DVI only.
It can be rotated 90° if you want; the rotation even appears to be part of the VESA bracket, so I think it could be wall mounted and rotatable.

Tofystedeth

Fats wrote: »

The problem with big, widescreen TN panels is that, given the usual distance you sit from a monitor, you're always going to have some TN color shifting at the edges. There are the usual color accuracy and black level issues as well, but the shifting is something almost everyone will notice. If that doesn't bother you, great.

Sometimes it's nice to be colorblind.