Productivity Build + Casual Gaming - LED Monitor or LED TV-Monitor?

[dylricho]

Hello guys; it's been a while! I hope everyone is doing well.

As some of you may know, I'm going to be building a new machine to replace my current laptop (in my specs) as I've found that I don't really need the maneuverability now that college is done. Plus, I'm now getting more serious about web development and graphic design, and the laptop's IGPU and poor RAM limitation are hindering my ability to use certain filters and 3D rendering in Photoshop, while newish (2008+) games are simply not playable (although I did expect this, and it was never intended for gaming). The only 'recent' game that runs well is Minecraft, and even then, that's on the lowest render distance and because my IGPU only supports OpenGL 2.0 on Windows, I can no longer play Minecraft beyond v1.7.2.

Anyway, all of that beside the point, I'm in need of a TV upgrade (a serious upgrade - I have a 15" CRT right now!), but I've also clocked a monitor for my build that sounds good.

Bearing in mind that my intentions are productivity first (web development, graphic design, document creation, YouTube content creation), multimedia second (DVD playback, a few specific games*), I was originally going to opt for the monitor, but like I said, I've been meaning to get a new TV since Christmas!

Being not much of a gamer, ridiculous refresh rates aren't really an interest, but would the TV be as good of a choice as the monitor, with the added benefit of integrated Freeview and the ability to have it sit on my desk without the need to reposition it when I want to watch it (due to the weird method I have my room set out)?

Here are the two products in question. As of right now, the monitor goes for £155, while the TV is on sale for £160, although off-sale, it's £200.

1. LG 24MN43D (23.6", 1080p, 60 Hz, 5 ms, Freeview, HDMI, D-Sub, SCART, USB playback)
2. ASUS VE248H (24", 1080p, 76 Hz, 2 ms, HDMI, VGA, DVI, speakers)

* Specific games are GTA IV, GTA V and Minecraft.

Many thanks!
Dylan

 

[Dent1]

Hello guys; it's been a while! I hope everyone is doing well.

As some of you may know, I'm going to be building a new machine to replace my current laptop (in my specs) as I've found that I don't really need the maneuverability now that college is done. Plus, I'm now getting more serious about web development and graphic design, and the laptop's IGPU and poor RAM limitation are hindering my ability to use certain filters and 3D rendering in Photoshop, while newish (2008+) games are simply not playable (although I did expect this, and it was never intended for gaming). The only 'recent' game that runs well is Minecraft, and even then, that's on the lowest render distance and because my IGPU only supports OpenGL 2.0 on Windows, I can no longer play Minecraft beyond v1.7.2.

Anyway, all of that beside the point, I'm in need of a TV upgrade (a serious upgrade - I have a 15" CRT right now!), but I've also clocked a monitor for my build that sounds good.

Bearing in mind that my intentions are productivity first (web development, graphic design, document creation, YouTube content creation), multimedia second (DVD playback, a few specific games*), I was originally going to opt for the monitor, but like I said, I've been meaning to get a new TV since Christmas!

Being not much of a gamer, ridiculous refresh rates aren't really an interest, but would the TV be as good of a choice as the monitor, with the added benefit of integrated Freeview and the ability to have it sit on my desk without the need to reposition it when I want to watch it (due to the weird method I have my room set out)?

Here are the two products in question. As of right now, the monitor goes for £155, while the TV is on sale for £160, although off-sale, it's £200.

1. LG 24MN43D (23.6", 1080p, 60 Hz, 5 ms, Freeview, HDMI, D-Sub, SCART, USB playback)
2. ASUS VE248H (24", 1080p, 76 Hz, 2 ms, HDMI, VGA, DVI, speakers)

* Specific games are GTA IV, GTA V and Minecraft.

Many thanks!
Dylan

I don't know much about monitors but the ASUS TV has a better response time and refresh rate, but these things are very subjective the image quality could look worst when hooked up.

Unless you absolutely need the space I would avoid using your TV as a monitor. The image quality of a cheap TV would be nowhere close to a bog standard monitor side by side. I've already read stories about the screen not always scaling correctly and input lag etc.

Considering you can buy 27" Monitors from £155 it would seem like the route I would go. I would do it the other way around and find a Freeview box with HDMI and hook it to the monitor.


http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Monitors/subcat/27" -Monitors?limit=30&sort=price ascending&page=1

 

[LaytonJnr]

Hello,

I have heard many positive reviews about the ASUS monitor, and I've even heard some suggest its among the best budget monitors. However, if you do have the money to spare, I'd look out for an IPS monitor, due to their better colour calibration, which is extremely useful for graphic design and Photoshop. The only downside of this is that they are fairly expensive. I'm sure someone else can suggest a good budget IPS monitor.

Layton

 

[dylricho]

Hello,

I have heard many positive reviews about the ASUS monitor, and I've even heard some suggest its among the best budget monitors. However, if you do have the money to spare, I'd look out for an IPS monitor, due to their better colour calibration, which is extremely useful for graphic design and Photoshop. The only downside of this is that they are fairly expensive. I'm sure someone else can suggest a good budget IPS monitor.

Layton

Thank you, I appreciate the input, buddy. An IPS monitor would have been ideal but I'm not aware of any that fit within the £200 price bracket. That ASUS monitor is simply the cheapest one I could find on PC Part Picker with a 24" display and a 1080p resolution; that's mainly what I was looking for.

 

[LaytonJnr]

Thank you, I appreciate the input, buddy. An IPS monitor would have been ideal but I'm not aware of any that fit within the £200 price bracket. That ASUS monitor is simply the cheapest one I could find on PC Part Picker with a 24" display and a 1080p resolution; that's mainly what I was looking for.

Sometimes PC Partpicker goes a bit funny. There are a number of 23" 1080p IPS panels to be found, but not so many 24" ones. However, I did find this one (classed under 23.8"):

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vn248h
http://www.asus.com/Monitors_Projectors/VN248H/specifications/

The specs on this look good. Haven't quite had a chance to check out the reviews on it yet.

Hope this helps,

Layton

EDIT: The one downside I've found with budget IPS panels is that they tend not to have any DVI ports, rather HDMI ports instead. Have a look at this review article about affordable IPS monitors:

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4798/20-affordable-ips-monitors-group-test-ips-to-the-people

 

[Aquinus]

Don't get a 1080p display over 24". I didn't like the pixel density and you might not either. It was a concern when I had a 28" HannsG display that I had to RMA 4 times, it still pisses me off when I think about it... but that's a different story. (Three of the 4 issues were capacitor related IIRC.)

I personally got myself three of these as replacements for that display plus a 22" I had: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260109

I mainly use them for development but I'll occasionally play a game on one or even more rarely, across all three. If you want to go with 27-inch or more, you should focus on 1440p IMHO, otherwise try to stick with 23/24-inch for 1080p. The image will look better. I also didn't think IPS panels would look so nice, but they do.

The picture quality isn't great, but I'm pretty happy with my setup.

 

[NationsAnarchy]

Hey there ! After reading your post for a while, I came up with this monitor, see if it suites you dude
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/dell-monitor-u2414h
I would take this since it's IPS and not that expensive.

 

[caleb]

I just got the u2414h, I love the screen so far but I'm starting to be annoyed by the IPS glow thats messing up the blacks.

http://www.techpowerup.org/uploaded.php?file=140511/IMG_1665.jpg

 

[NationsAnarchy]

I just got the u2414h, I love the screen so far but I'm starting to be annoyed by the IPS glow thats messing up the blacks.

http://www.techpowerup.org/uploaded.php?file=140511/IMG_1665.jpg

Personally I'm fine with that. Would be nice if you can upload more pics of your newly picked U2414H

 

[Aquinus]

I just got the u2414h, I love the screen so far but I'm starting to be annoyed by the IPS glow thats messing up the blacks.

http://www.techpowerup.org/uploaded.php?file=140511/IMG_1665.jpg

That's too bad. My S2340M don't have that backlight bleed that your picture shows. It's pretty consistently dark on mine. I don't think that's a quality of IPS panels but rather how the back-lighting is implemented.