Choosing a TFT monitor

[new_rez]

After a lot of searching I think I have found the monitor.

http://mediaatlantic.com/product.php?xProd=125907

Looking at the specs this monitor should be pretty good. It got a 2ms response time, 800:1 contrast rate, 16.7 million colours, DVI connection, 75hz refresh rate and a reasonable viewing angle. All for £200 (pounds not euros) thats around $400ish dollars

Anyone come across this before? Any good?

Anyway Id like your opinions and if you have a different monitor you could recommend then do

 

[randomperson21]

$400us sounds a bit expensive for a 19" monitor (idk if things are just more expensive on the other side of the atlantic or sommat).

i got my samsung 19" widescreen for $180us after rebate. just as a ref point.

 

[magibeg]

You may want to consider a bigger monitor if possible, and realistically speaking you dont really need a 2ms monitor. The only point of that is to reduce ghosting but fact of the matter is its doubtful that you'll see any ghosting even with 10ms while spinning in circles playing doom 3 . The contrast ratio is pretty good though, you probably wont want any less than 700:1. Overall i think you can do better than that monitor.

 

[new_rez]

There is not point in me getting anything larger than 19" its going to be mainly for gaming and I run at 1280x1024.
I have looked about but this monitor seems to be the best deal.
Also most of 20"+ monitors I find are fairly expensive and don't have the features I want.
I'm not going to go for anything less than 800:1, 16.7mil colour and anything more than 6ms.

Everything i've read talks about how anything over 6ms produces ghosting. I suppose im just going to extremes to make 100% sure my monitor won't ghost

 

[magibeg]

It still seems a bit pricey to me, however i hear the prices in europe are a little higher than they are in north america. I have to admit the monitor does look pretty stylish and the stats on it are infact really good. I just personally think your going a bit overkill on it and it would be worth your time to go for something a little cheaper if possible. If you have the extra money though it is a really nice monitor to its credit.

-edit- my LCD is 12ms i believe and i haven't had any ghosting problems personally. It was the first thing i checked for when i got my system (boo dell )

 

[new_rez]

I had found some cheaper alternatives but they were only 16.2 million colours rather than 16.7. But then again it might not make that much difference.

Prices for tft in the UK are pretty stupid imo. You need to spend at least £180 for something half decent and monitors with DVI are fairly pricey. Im not sure if the gains warrant the extra cash though

 

[magibeg]

Did the cheaper alternatives have the same contrast ratio as well? It sucks europe has to pay so much. The monitor you picked out originally though is pretty nice... its just so damn expensive :-O


http://www.mediaatlantic.com/product.php/130337/1368/ that one is pretty nice but its out of stock

or this one http://www.mediaatlantic.com/product.php/130338/1368/

 

[new_rez]

there was this one

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...gationKey=11109,379260000,42940000,4294956336

and this one

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...0,4294956336,44530000,4294960273&v=2#infoarea

Second has a pretty shoddy contrast ratio

Do you know any sites that talk about tft features? Id like to understand the contrast ratio and various other bits better.

 

[magibeg]

Well the contrast ratio is the difference between the lightest spot possible on the monitor and the darkest spot.

For more general information just look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD

 

[new_rez]

Well the contrast ratio is the difference between the lightest spot possible on the monitor and the darkest spot.

For more general information just look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD

Thanks

I just remembered why i didn't choose anything over 19"... its all widescreen...well most of it anyway. I personally don't like widescreen, i think it makes everyone look fat(ter)

 

[magibeg]

Yea unless you get a widescreen resolution then thats not always the case. And on a personal sidenote i feel that having a high contrast ratio is sometimes more important than having fast response times. A greater range of brightness will helps with games that contain shadows. On a monitor with a bad contrast ratio the shadows are more of a grey than a black.... really kills the mood

 

[new_rez]

I'll keep searching. The monitor im going to buy will be around the £200 mark (my parents are buying it for my birthday.)

The first monitor seemed to have the best specs you can get for the cheapest price. I did find some really good ones but couldn't find any sellers

Everything in the UK is far to expensive!

 

[new_rez]

Think I found a contender! and only £8 more

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/104511

Its going to be between the first one and this.

 

[magibeg]

The philips one you picked originally is much better. It uses around half the power and has a much faster response time and is more pleasing to the eye. I'm not a big fan of acers either

 

[new_rez]

Ill stick with the first one then. Im hoping the image quality on DVI will be better than my CRT. Isn't it like only a small difference?

 

[xylomn]

a few of the monitors you've pointed out have built in speakers... is this something your look for?

monitors with speakers built in are always much more expensive than those without (at the same spec) and the difference in price could be used to get a better quality set of speakers (if you need them) built in ones tend to be pretty lame.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

HOLD OFF,

I know you are on limited budget... but if you can, go for a 1600x1200. You will really appreciate the extra resolution. Do the math 1600x1200 compared to 1280x1024 = 60% more screen real estate.

Your productively will thank you.

You'll be able to read PDFs on screen page by page without scrolling. Read a page then press PGDN.

You can run "large fonts" and cleartype... and the quality of text on screen is 100% better.

I bought a 2nd hand Samsung Syncmaster 213T for about £200 some months back. The refresh isnt great for games, I use it on my "internet" and "work" PC. I also have a 204Ts which is also 1600x1200 with a fast refresh. Fine for gaming. Cost $300 new. This is just one suggestion. There are many brands. Just UP THE RESOLUTION.

 

[new_rez]

a few of the monitors you've pointed out have built in speakers... is this something your look for?

monitors with speakers built in are always much more expensive than those without (at the same spec) and the difference in price could be used to get a better quality set of speakers (if you need them) built in ones tend to be pretty lame.

Nah im not looking for built in speakers. I know they suck they just seem to be on the ones I find that are half decent. As soon as i get the monitor those speakers are going on disable. Id rather listen to my surround sound.

I cant seem to find any other monitors at the same spec as the first I pointed out. The ones I do find as more expensive

 

[new_rez]

HOLD OFF,

I know you are on limited budget... but if you can, go for a 1600x1200. You will really appreciate the extra resolution. Do the math 1600x1200 compared to 1280x1024 = 60% more screen real estate.

Your productively will thank you.

You'll be able to read PDFs on screen page by page without scrolling. Read a page then press PGDN.

You can run "large fonts" and cleartype... and the quality of text on screen is 100% better.

I bought a 2nd hand Samsung Syncmaster 213T for about £200 some months back. The refresh isnt great for games, I use it on my "internet" and "work" PC. I also have a 204Ts which is also 1600x1200 with a fast refresh. Fine for gaming. Cost $300 new. This is just one suggestion. There are many brands. Just UP THE RESOLUTION.

A resolution of 1600 x 1200 would be nice but as im only on an x1950pro 256mb the games I play run best for me at 1280 x 1024 so the higher res would be wasted there and from what ive seen higher res monitors fall way outside of what my parents can afford

Im really picky about the gaming performance. Something like ghosting would seriously do my head in and then the screen would end up breaking.

Edit: I will actually look into higher res. At uni im going to be doing quite a bit of programming and on 1280 x 1024 programming environments seem really cluttered. So it would only be wasted in games. Well only a few...I can probably get fairly acceptable frame rates with the
256mb. Thanks for that!

Edit 2: I've found this. I heard LG are fairly good for tft. The model is the 20" LG L2000C-BF http://www.nextag.co.uk/LG-L2000C-BF-flat-503995158/uk/prices-html

 

[Completely Bonkers]

rez... if you are programming... you MUST get a 1600x1200 or better. You can still run games at 1280x1024 with no quality loss. The TFT will upscale 1280x1024 to 1600x1200 in hardware at no performance cost to you.

 

[new_rez]

I might go for the LG 20" L2000C-BF. Looks like a fairly reasonable monitor.

 

[new_rez]

Yay. Got my new monitor!

Samsung SM205BW 20" widescreen.

Anyone got this monitor? I cant wait to get it plugged in. Its going to be such a massive change from a 17" CRT.

 

[ktr]

Yay. Got my new monitor!

Samsung SM205BW 20" widescreen.

Anyone got this monitor? I cant wait to get it plugged in. Its going to be such a massive change from a 17" CRT.

well wide screen makes the screen shorter in height but longer in width...so think it as having 1.5x 17" crt side by side.

 

[new_rez]

well wide screen makes the screen shorter in height but longer in width...so think it as having 1.5x 17" crt side by side.

It will still be better than my CRT (hopefully)

It would suck if when I got it it suffered from ghosting. It has a 6ms(g2g) response time, 16.7mil colours, 700:1 contrast ration so it should be good.
Im excited....My first TFT monitor ever, lol, I will remember the day I get it forever (Ill remember it even more if its sh*t)

I also couldn't find any half decent standard 20" monitors for around £200 (£400) I was hoping for 1600X1200 but you can have everything.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Three examples for you:

http://geizhals.at/deutschland/a161161.html
http://geizhals.at/deutschland/a181986.html
http://geizhals.at/deutschland/a157340.html

All about £220-£230. 1600x1200

There are others too...