Help me shop for a new monitor!

Steel Angel

So with all the Black Friday sales and whatnot, I figured it was time to replace my old CRT at long last. Of course, it appears that LCD technology has gone through some updates since the last time I looked into things.

I mostly use my computer for gaming and browsing websites. Comparitively little video and movie viewing. I would also like to try to keep things under $400. What should I look for in specifications and what should I expect to be able to afford?

defreak

Do you have a size in mind?

I just bought this this morning at Office Depot for $299.

24" seems to be the most popular size right now, Office Depot has a 23" version of the above monitor for $199. It was part of their black friday sale though, so it might be too late.

However, since you don't really use it to watch movies, and I assume you're not hooking up cable or a xbox/ps3 to it. You can't go wrong with any of these Asus monitors, VH242H, VH236H, VW246H.


If you're wanting to spend closer to $400, then I would consider 27", and really, after hours of research, the only thing better than the one I got is the Dell U2711, which is $1000. You have more options here, but again, for me, the Samsung came out on top, and it was the cheapest.

You really didn't miss out on any new LCD technology, it's still down to resolution, response time, color accuracy, and if it has the inputs you need. Only thing new is LED vs LCD, which at the moment, other than LED being slightly more expensive and for some models, slimmer, not much difference performance wise.

Muriden

$400 will get you a very nice monitor. LCDs have drastically dropped in price since the point where I believe you last left off. I'm currently using two samsung 24" monitors that I picked up on sale for $170 each.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001431
Is a 27" for $279.99 on sale for newegg's black friday deals.

I've never had an issue with Samsung but everyone has their own brand loyalties.

AxleMoore

I went out and bought myself this a couple of days ago, and while I can't really recommend which monitor to buy I can say to shy away from this particular one.

While it's a great monitor, big, nice picture, color is good. It's just over all not designed very well. The stand is cheap and so far I haven't been able to adjust the monitor out of the position it shipped it. It's a very bad pivot built into the stand and even then it can only tilt back slightly. You're also stuck with the stand because Samsung hasn't given you anyway to mount an arm or a bracket onto the back.

TelMarine

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001311&cm_re=2233rz-_-24-001-311-_-Product big fan of this (Samsung 2233RZ)

120hz refresh rate any resolution is beautiful. 120hz @ 1680x1050 is just so freaking awesome. Highly recommend this one.

Thanatos

Acer sells great value monitors; I think you can get their 24" models for $220ish these days.