monitor recommendations

[luke]

first my camera broke, then my computer screen

so after the great help i got in picking a new camera, does anyone know anything about monitors?!

i was just going to get another normal screen, but they all seem to be widescreen flat type things now ... my knowledge goes as far as knowing i needed a svga, this flatscreen stuff is a whole new ball game ...

does this look alright? its only £109



or this one? at £111



i'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else breaks

[Mandy]

I recommend you check out ebuyer.com and look for items with 5*s and recent reviews

[faceless]

I think they're all pretty much the same these days - the machines that make the LCd displays are made by only a couple of companies, while the rest just stick a label on them.

I'd definitely go for the 19" though - it's an extra few quid, but it's really worth it.

[11antoniacourt]

I'm with Face, they all serve the same purpose and I don't think you'll go wrong with the Acer. It's a reputable manufacturer. Look for a good price.

Hope nothing else goes wrong.

[Aja]

I have a 20 inch that looks like the second one ......and it cost $120 last xmas and I love it

[luke]

you got a real bargain there aja - $120 is like £60! for a 20"!

one question, with this widescreen stuff, will i need a new video card that can use the widescreen resolution? otherwise will things get stretched out wider than they should be ...

thanks mandy, i'm checking ebuyer now

thanks 11antoniacourt, i'd never really heard of acer, but amazon seem to do loads of them and they get decent reviews

[Mandy]

[luke]

thanks mandy, i'll have to look a bit more into it ...

i just found this on ebuyer, its a 19" but square instead of widescreen, which works at resolutions upto 1280 x 1024 which my video card handles the widescreens go upto 1440x900 which my video card doesn't ...

its only £109.98 including free delivery from this place



http://www.ebuyer.com/product/99962

only one review though, but hewlett packards a good name isn't it? one thing i notice with this though is it has a slower response time (12ms compared to 5ms for the other two )

they've got the same thing on amazon for £199!

[Mandy]

HP (aka Compaq) are a good name.

Amazon is quite expensive for most things (they seem to price $1 = £1).

Ebuyer & Dabs are my favourite.

HINT : http://www.shop.bt.com/ are same as dabs.com with free delivery.

[Bob]

Acer is solid, ViewSonic is solid...but there's really only a handle that make them and rebadge them to be honest as mentioned.

The thing to look out for on LCD's...the warranty - how many dead pixels before they take it back, and how many consecutive pixels before they take it back, because trust me, it'll piss you off big time when you get dead pixels...oh and whats the back light like...apart from that, can't go wrong with them....and you'll save a fortune on the lecky bill with them.

Definitely don't go smaller than 19"....and if you like watching movies on your puter, or playing games, get a widescreen...

[Ash]

Short answer: Samsung's (21+ inches) are really good. As mandy said, Ebuyer is the place to buy.

Long answer:

Try to get one from Samsung, ViewSonic, Sharp, Sony, or NEC. I'd get myself a Samsung as it is not that expensive and doesn't sacrifice too much.

Do not buy Acer. They cut corners way too much. Don't buy Dell as they are usually OEMs with Dell logo- thus the quality of the monitor depends on which company's monitor it is and which manufacturing line (model and version) they are using - so far I couldn't find a way of cross checking Dell's Montior part no with others'. At least, it would have confirmed about the manufacturer and thus making a slightly better informed decision. Also, please make sure the monitor comes with good and long warranty period (both parts and service)

Also check doom9

Two more points (just like in the camera recommendation thread):
o Go to few shops with some big HD 720p files to test the quality of output. Then you can order them from an online retailer. If you don't have them then let me know.
o i think you'll get a far better deal if you wait until the 'end of the year' sale. Needless to say that we shouldn't buy a newly released model without reading users experiences.

Goodluck mate

[luke]

thanks for everyones help, and especially to ash for answering my questions and checking various links out for me

it arrived this morning, i went for a viewsonic in the end. i've only used it for 10 minutes but i'm loving it so far

i'm surprised how little it weighs! its cool having the extra desk space as well, i can fill it up with more crap

i was a bit worried with these flatscreens that it would be a bit weird from different angles, like the old laptops, but this is fine - and no dead pixels. the colours are so nice and bright, my avatar looks way better!

[6ULDV8]

Nice one Luke.

I loved Viewsonic for many years, they used to be the world leaders in pro-monitors for graphics.

It took me a while when I switched from CRT to LCD too... I did find the extra space on the desk meant I could drink more (coffee maybe) & not worry about knocking things over with my mouse.

[faceless]

good stuff - I need to get a new monitor myself, so I'll take a look at Viewsonic. What size and price did you get?

[luke]

its a 19" for £127 from ccl - i've used them quite a bit over the years for bits and pieces and they're usually pretty good on price

i've upped the resolution now, its great having all this extra space and still everything being a nice size, photoshops so much better - less cluttered