Widescreen Monitor

Kiith

Ok, so i want to get a new LCD Widescreen (around a 22") and i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. I was looking at one of these two...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-045-LG&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=
http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=ie&l=en&s=dhs&cs=iedhs1&sku=88221
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=325763
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327183

I know Dell have a good rep with monitors, but what about LG or Acer? Looking to spend around 300-400 euro.

ParisInFlames

Having not owned an LG or Acer I can't comment on their quality. But I do own two Dell Widscreens and have had them for over a year and a half. They've worked very well for me. Good light to dark contrast and decent refress rate. A nice perk for dell is you can often times find coupons online which you can redeem for a cheeper price or free shipping etc.

That Acer sounds a little too good to be true though. 3000:1 contrast? 2ms response time? £163.99? If that's all the real specs of the machine I'd say go for it though.

taliosfalcon

Generally you won't notice much of a difference between different brands. The actual panels all come from the same manufacturers, so if the specs are all fairly close just go with whatevers cheapest.

Senjutsu

Kiith wrote: »

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327183

I've got this one. It's quite nice. Paid way less than that, though (~$270 Canadian, which is only like 190 euros).

CrashHollywood

I have a Dell 21in and a Dell 24in and I love them, truthfully the 24in is amazing. The display is incredibly bright and detailed. I've seen a variety of lcd's and its the best. Before you buy, you might want to take a good look at the Dell outlet, everything is refurbished, and excellent quality. Either Google Dell Refurbished or go to http://www.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh I'm sure you'll be exceedingly satisfied with one of the Dells.

Ledneh

Just buy the Gateway FPD2185W

21" of widescreen, 1080p-supporting goodness and like fifty million inputs (no HDMI though )

Kiith

Has anyone owned an LG in the past? I think i might go for that one, as its quite cheap atm (weakly special). But after looking at this picture...http://img5.pcpop.com/ProductImages/500x375/0/251/000251056.jpg...can anyone tell me if that border is always there, or is that just the resolution that was selected?

Senjutsu wrote: »

Kiith wrote: »

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327183

I've got this one. It's quite nice. Paid way less than that, though (~$270 Canadian, which is only like 190 euros).

Ah, but i live in Ireland, so you basically add about 20-30% for anything you buy. Does the place you bought it ship to Europe?

JCRooks

Interestingly enough, I just bought a 22" Widescreen LCD at Costco today, for just under $300. It's a ViewSonic, I don't know the exact brand. It's amazing. No dead pixels, 5 ms response rate, very bright, and responsive. I just played some WoW with it and it's like a brand new game. Awesome.

Sadly, there was also a Wii bundle sitting on the shelf (first time literally that I've seen a Wii in a store), but I didn't want to make two ~$300 purchases on the same day. (The LCD was to replace my 19" CRT which was just about to die) But I don't regret the purchase one bit. And if I ever do, Costco's return policy is fairly liberal anyway.

So yeah, I would suggest finding someone with a Costco membership and puruse their. You won't have to worry about shipping costs, and you can actually see the monitor in action.

gneGne

Check this out. There seem to be some problems with the LG 226wtQ. According to this site the wtQ has ghosting issues opposed to the LG 226wt.

krl

The Dell 24" is awesome. It has multiple inputs, so I have my Mac, PS3 and 360 all connected.

TxdoHawk

I need to hijack this thread for a semi-related question.

I own a 32-inch CRT HDTV. I ultimately went 4:3 with it though, since I still watch quite a bit of TV, don't watch a lot of movies, and play a lot of older games.

That said, I've often thought about getting a large widescreen LCD monitor / LCD HDTV, and using that as double-duty for a PC monitor and widescreen gaming on my 360. However, from reading threads and gathering my own information I have determined that:

- If I buy an LCD HDTV, I'll have to mess around with third party applications just to get Windows to output at the TV's native resolution, with games being even more troublesome if not impossible to do this with, depending on the game.

- If I buy an LCD monitor, I won't be able to get my 360 to output to that monitor's native resolution, since MS doesn't output at the typical native resolutions widescreen LCD monitors have, even with the VGA cable.

I have an older LCD monitor with an absolutely terrible scaler, so I know full well that not running at native res can have a significant impact on graphical quality. Is "buy an LCD with a decent scaler and/or deal with it" really the only option I have, unless MS ever decides to add the much-asked support for monitor resolutions over VGA?

TychoCelchuuu

I can only speak through personal experience, which is that I'm writing this on a Samsung SyncMaster225BW which you should be able to find for less than $400. I dunno how many euros that is. This monitor is perfect except for small to moderate amounts of backlight seepage. That doesn't bother me, but if it bothers you, go for something else.

Raijin Quickfoot

I have a 19" LG and I love it. It's sharp, no problems with refresh rate while gaming, and it was not too expensive.

Bikkstah

I have a Dell 24", 22" and 19". Both the 24" and 22" are amazing.

Monaro

So um, I'm going to be buying a high-end LCD very soon. I'm not too keen on the dirt cheap variety invading everyone's stores these days. I want something that still has has the solid quality before they started stripping down for the sake of price, so this part worries me a bit:

TxdoHawk wrote: »

However, from reading threads and gathering my own information I have determined that:

- If I buy an LCD monitor, I won't be able to get my 360 to output to that monitor's native resolution, since MS doesn't output at the typical native resolutions widescreen LCD monitors have, even with the VGA cable.

I have an older LCD monitor with an absolutely terrible scaler, so I know full well that not running at native res can have a significant impact on graphical quality. Is "buy an LCD with a decent scaler and/or deal with it" really the only option I have, unless MS ever decides to add the much-asked support for monitor resolutions over VGA?

So, I seem to have narrowed it down to either the Samsung 215TW 21" or the Dell 2407WFP 24" based on my criteria (quality, and versatility of inputs for Windows and consoles)

Has anyone here been able to personally compare or experience these two models? They both seem to get good feedback from PA (where I was made aware of both these models), so is there anything that makes one better than the other (apart from size obviously). Anything they're not good at? All products have at least a couple of downsides...?

Rohan

I walked into Soundstore a few weeks ago and came out with a 19" HP TFT. 'Tis a thing of beauty.

flammiebc

I had purchased a Samsung 215tw some months back, but returned it for two reasons:

- input lag. I had significant delay between any kind of input (mouse on pc, ps2 via component hookup), which made playing games rather painful, especially timing-based ones like Guitar Hero 2.

- subpar image quality through s-video / component. Images were rather washed out and grainy, which was disappointing.

Unless you're getting this from a local shop and can test these for yourself (your opinion of said issues may vary), I would go for the Dell. Alternatively, NEC makes a great multi-input panel, but it's only a 20".

Monaro

Excellent, that's the sort of user experience I'm after. Thanks flammiebc.

Anyone else?

Rook

Monaro wrote: »

So um, I'm going to be buying a high-end LCD very soon. I'm not too keen on the dirt cheap variety invading everyone's stores these days. I want something that still has has the solid quality before they started stripping down for the sake of price, so this part worries me a bit:

TxdoHawk wrote: »

However, from reading threads and gathering my own information I have determined that:

- If I buy an LCD monitor, I won't be able to get my 360 to output to that monitor's native resolution, since MS doesn't output at the typical native resolutions widescreen LCD monitors have, even with the VGA cable.

I have an older LCD monitor with an absolutely terrible scaler, so I know full well that not running at native res can have a significant impact on graphical quality. Is "buy an LCD with a decent scaler and/or deal with it" really the only option I have, unless MS ever decides to add the much-asked support for monitor resolutions over VGA?

So, I seem to have narrowed it down to either the Samsung 215TW 21" or the Dell 2407WFP 24" based on my criteria (quality, and versatility of inputs for Windows and consoles)

Has anyone here been able to personally compare or experience these two models? They both seem to get good feedback from PA (where I was made aware of both these models), so is there anything that makes one better than the other (apart from size obviously). Anything they're not good at? All products have at least a couple of downsides...?

If you do go for the 2407WFP. Make sure you get an A04 revision model. Apparently that fixed a lot of the problems with the aspect scaling at 1080p, and also the A03/A04 have better componenent inputs over the previous revisions.

I have a 2407WFP A03, so I'm I a bit bummed that the A04 revision is better, but I have to say it's pretty great. I could have done with a slightly bigger screen (I tend to sit back on my bed, not at a desk but still 1-2 meters).

JWFokker

Viewsonic is famous for their 20" and 22" widescreen LCD monitors, but of the ones you posted, I'd go with the Acer, which are also known to be good quality. Samsung monitors are generally quite good as well, but considerably more expensive.

SageinaRage

I've got an Acer 22" (don't remember the exact model, I bought it off newegg), and it works pretty damn perfectly. Only downside is something about it messes with my ubuntu install, I guess the weird resolution. I have to edit the boot sequence to boot into it.

SphericalCrusher

I bought this 20" Samsung 2ms widescreen monitor last month and I'm enjoying it so far. I was using a 22" CRT... so I'm getting used to this. I love the contrast ratio... but I don't know... it seems like I stare too much at games I'm used to not being widescreen (World of WarCraft, NWN2, etc) and it seems odd. But I'm sure it's just me and that I need to get over it. It really does make a big difference though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001095 even though I bought it from Circuit City.

Grudge

I have a Benq FP222W 22", and it works great. No input lag, no ghosting, and I do like the large dot pitch of a 22" 1680x1050 monitor.

The backlighting could be a bit more uniform, there are slight light bleeding from the top and bottom edges, but that's only noticeable if you are watching very dark movies or similar. I've never actually noticed in standard Windows use or when playing games.

All (I think?) 22" screens use the same Chimei panel, so the issues are basically the same for every 22" screen, regardless of manufacturer. Some manufacturers like Acer use a different backlight though, but if they up the contrast, most likely they will up the light bleeding too.

All in all, I'm very satisfied, and you get a lot of bang for your buck with a $300 22".

Bob The Monkey

If you want to play games on a 22" widescreen monitor and have them look in any way good, you're going to need a beast of a graphics card, aren't you?

By which I mean 'not a 9800 pro'.

Grudge

I have a 7800GT, and the only game I've played that required me to turn down any graphics settings is Oblivion. But that game can probably kick the shit out of any graphics card at that resolution with everything turned up to max.

But yea, if I had a slower graphics card, I probably wouldn't have bought the 22". On the other hand, a 8800GTS 320MB is around $260 right now, and that card is probably twice as fast as my 7800GT and at almost half the price I paid for my card.

Bob The Monkey

Unfortunately, an upgrade for me would require upgrading from an AGP rig to a PCI Express rig, from a socket A rig to a... what socket is even popular now? Jesus I have no idea.

Also, can you use DDR1 RAM in a DDR2 motherboard? I forget if it's backwards compatible.

Deusfaux

Bob The Monkey wrote: »

If you want to play games on a 22" widescreen monitor and have them look in any way good, you're going to need a beast of a graphics card, aren't you?

By which I mean 'not a 9800 pro'.

Not really?

19" LCD 1280x1024 =
[SIZE=+1]1 310 720[/SIZE]


20/22" wide LCD 1680x1050 =
[SIZE=+1]1 764 000[/SIZE]


15" CRT 1280 x 960 =
[SIZE=+1]1 228 800[/SIZE]


19" CRT 1600x1200 =
[SIZE=+1]1 920 000[/SIZE]


24/27" wide LCD 1920x1200 =

[SIZE=+1]2 304 000[/SIZE]


30" wide LCD 2560x1600 =

[SIZE=+1]4 096 000[/SIZE]

Caedere

I bought myself an HPw2007 - it was that or a Viewsonic.

I am VERY happy with my choice... the screen is sleek and sexy. It seems to be constructed differently than the other LCD monitors or something - the screen is almost made of a different material.

It has no ghosting and the brightest, sharpest, highest-contrast picture I've ever seen on a screen. It's HOT.

JWFokker

Bob The Monkey wrote: »

If you want to play games on a 22" widescreen monitor and have them look in any way good, you're going to need a beast of a graphics card, aren't you?

By which I mean 'not a 9800 pro'.

Unfortunately, an upgrade for me would require upgrading from an AGP rig to a PCI Express rig, from a socket A rig to a... what socket is even popular now? Jesus I have no idea.

Also, can you use DDR1 RAM in a DDR2 motherboard? I forget if it's backwards compatible.

I'm not sure what the previous response by Deusfaux posting the number of pixels for each resolution was supposed to mean. Especially considering that the memory interface plays a large roll in what your max playable resolution is, the number of pixels per frame alone doesn't tell you at all how a card is going to perform.

20" and 22" widescreen monitors have the same native resolution (1680x1050), so a 22" isn't especially demanding. You can definitely get equally very good results at that resolution in most games from a 7900GS AGP or X1950Pro AGP card ($200 for either). The big difference is that they've each got a 256-bit bus unlike most midrange cards with a 128-bit interface. Even next gen midrange cards are getting stuck with 128-bit buses. Though the speed of memory has increased, it hasn't doubled so it's an even worse bottleneck as GPU architecture continues to advance.

If you don't get a 7900GS or X1950Pro AGP card, you'd be looking at an Intel LGA775 (aka Socket T) based system (Core2Duo), you'd need a PCI-E video card (which are a bit cheaper than their AGP variants), but you would definitely need DDR2. There's no backwards compatibility (wrong number of pins). It would be a full system overhaul. And I'd hold off doing that just yet. The first DDR3 motherboards are coming out right now and quad core processors will be available for not-as-exorbitant prices later this year. Also, PCI-E 2.0 is being demoed by Intel right now and will be available very soon too.

Deusfaux

JWFokker wrote: »

20" and 22" widescreen monitors have the same native resolution (1680x1050), so a 22" isn't especially demanding.

that's what I was showing

victor_c26

Rook wrote: »

Monaro wrote: »

So um, I'm going to be buying a high-end LCD very soon. I'm not too keen on the dirt cheap variety invading everyone's stores these days. I want something that still has has the solid quality before they started stripping down for the sake of price, so this part worries me a bit:

TxdoHawk wrote: »

However, from reading threads and gathering my own information I have determined that:

- If I buy an LCD monitor, I won't be able to get my 360 to output to that monitor's native resolution, since MS doesn't output at the typical native resolutions widescreen LCD monitors have, even with the VGA cable.

I have an older LCD monitor with an absolutely terrible scaler, so I know full well that not running at native res can have a significant impact on graphical quality. Is "buy an LCD with a decent scaler and/or deal with it" really the only option I have, unless MS ever decides to add the much-asked support for monitor resolutions over VGA?

So, I seem to have narrowed it down to either the Samsung 215TW 21" or the Dell 2407WFP 24" based on my criteria (quality, and versatility of inputs for Windows and consoles)

Has anyone here been able to personally compare or experience these two models? They both seem to get good feedback from PA (where I was made aware of both these models), so is there anything that makes one better than the other (apart from size obviously). Anything they're not good at? All products have at least a couple of downsides...?

If you do go for the 2407WFP. Make sure you get an A04 revision model. Apparently that fixed a lot of the problems with the aspect scaling at 1080p, and also the A03/A04 have better componenent inputs over the previous revisions.

I have a 2407WFP A03, so I'm I a bit bummed that the A04 revision is better, but I have to say it's pretty great. I could have done with a slightly bigger screen (I tend to sit back on my bed, not at a desk but still 1-2 meters).

I'm still waiting to purchase the 2407WFP since apparently there's an HC version coming out.

$569 A04 2407WFP, or an HC model. Gah!

Deusfaux

HC model would cost more and not be any difference to the vast majority of people

Dratatoo

Just one word of advice. Be carefull when buying Samsungs latest 22'' 226BW model (or if somebody considers it) Apparently Samsung used low(er) quality TFT panels from a sub-contractor in most of them in order to satisfy demand.

One methode to distinguish the use of other panels in previous modesl was to look close at the back of the monitor.
If other panels were used, it is indicated by an [A], if it is a Samsung display it is indicated by a . Samsung got around this by not including this info on the 226BW.

In order to make a slippery slope comment: Imagine buying a Ferrari and after trying it out - and not getting past 100 MPH- you discover that there is actually a Honda engine in there. The manufactorer just says: "Well at least you got the nifty enclosure and the Ferrari logo". If I buy a Samsung screen I want a Samsung panel/ or something with a similar quality otherwise i would get another brand. (I am aware that other manufactorers use the panels from other companies, but at least most of them are more consistant in their choise - you most likley get the same model with the same properties, other people have reviewed. In the case of Samsung 226BW, they use three different panels in the same line)

So whats the big deal or the disadvantage:
- you get a screen which has more problems regarding uneven backlight distribution
- the screen has a undeniable blue dominance (fortunatley I got around that after fiddling with the color settings. IMO the picture quality should be good while using the factory setting.)
- the viewangle is smaller compared to other Samsung screens. The 215TW white remains "white" even at "extreme" angles, so does the Samsung model of the 226BW.

Conclusion:

Its still a nice screen, but its not as "awesome" as most reviews have stated. You can get natural colors by correcting the color settings. I got mine for a bargain [300 Euros] - i wonder if the vendor knew about this issue. I don't think it is recommended for doing/creating graphic+design work on it. Personally I use it as second screen for movies, games + teh Intertube so it doesn't affect me much - I can still use my primary screen in order to get things done. (Please don't start a for graphic & design you'll need a CRT - argument here)

Addition:

Use following settings in the color control part of the OSD menu - if you got the [A] Model:

Red: 48
Green: 30
Blue: 5

Contrast should be set to 75

This is an great improvement (as close as you get without using a color calibration device). This way you don't have to rely on a custom color profile. (which you can't use if you connect a video game system or which won't work with other operating systems.)

JCRooks

JCRooks wrote: »

Interestingly enough, I just bought a 22" Widescreen LCD at Costco today, for just under $300. It's a ViewSonic, I don't know the exact brand. It's amazing. No dead pixels, 5 ms response rate, very bright, and responsive. I just played some WoW with it and it's like a brand new game. Awesome.

Sadly, there was also a Wii bundle sitting on the shelf (first time literally that I've seen a Wii in a store), but I didn't want to make two ~$300 purchases on the same day. (The LCD was to replace my 19" CRT which was just about to die) But I don't regret the purchase one bit. And if I ever do, Costco's return policy is fairly liberal anyway.

So yeah, I would suggest finding someone with a Costco membership and puruse their. You won't have to worry about shipping costs, and you can actually see the monitor in action.

Ugh, I probably jinxed myself with my own post. A couple of days after I bought this monitor, a stuck pixel showed up in the lower-left part of the screen. I noticed it when playing GalCivII, which naturally has a lot of black in it.

So, I read up on a bunch of tools that apparently can fix stuck pixels from time to time. It does this by repeatedly flashing a given area of the screen with a bunch of different colors. I gave it a shot throughout the day, only to find that two more stuck pixels have shown up. And the original one is still there. Ugh.

Fortunately, Costco is supposed to have a great return policy, so it looks like I get a chance to try it out. I'm just hoping I got a bum monitor, and that it's not common with ViewSonics. :x

Marty81

HC = ?

victor_c26

Marty81 wrote: »

HC = ?

High Color.

HC Dell monitor models have a higher color gamut output percentage. Meaning truer color accuracy.

The NTSC standard is set at 72%, while the HC models will have a 92% complete Color Gamut.

JWFokker

JCRooks wrote: »

Fortunately, Costco is supposed to have a great return policy, so it looks like I get a chance to try it out. I'm just hoping I got a bum monitor, and that it's not common with ViewSonics. :x

ViewSonics are pretty good about not having any dead pixels. My VX2025WM has none and in all the threads about them on HardOCP and that widescreen gaming forum I don't remember the name of, this is the first I've heard of a ViewSonic with any.

arcath

You should buy the Dell 24' and immediately start to have sex with it when it comes in.

After all, it has sooo many inputs, how could you not sex it up?

No really, go out and have sex with this beast......

NOW!

Rook

arcath wrote: »

You should buy the Dell 24' and immediately start to have sex with it when it comes in.

After all, it has sooo many inputs, how could you not sex it up?

No really, go out and have sex with this beast......

NOW!

If you are going to follow this advice, don't forget to put it in portrait mode.

arcath

Rook wrote: »

arcath wrote: »

You should buy the Dell 24' and immediately start to have sex with it when it comes in.

After all, it has sooo many inputs, how could you not sex it up?

No really, go out and have sex with this beast......

NOW!

If you are going to follow this advice, don't forget to put it in portrait mode.

Its only polite.

Gotcha Force

Caedere wrote: »

I bought myself an HPw2007 - it was that or a Viewsonic.

I am VERY happy with my choice... the screen is sleek and sexy. It seems to be constructed differently than the other LCD monitors or something - the screen is almost made of a different material.

It has no ghosting and the brightest, sharpest, highest-contrast picture I've ever seen on a screen. It's HOT.

I would say this is probably better than the 2007fpw simply because its less uglier, and most importantly it has a fucking SWEET glossy screen.

love me some glossy screens