24" for reading and work matte $200 max

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xxtraloud

Limp Gawd
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Feb 27, 2011
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Last time I came here for advice I ended up with a really nice samsung 2333t, so I hope this time to find a decent 24" because I want a slightly larger screen.
I will be using this screen mainly for work (spreadsheet, GIS, coding, writing paper, pdf), internet browsing, and the occasional movie/photographs.

- 16:9 or 16:10 resolution
- matte or with little/no AG coating, I don't like glossy
- sub $200, I can buy a used monitor, but I prefer something that it has some warranty left
- would be nice to have hdmi but not necessary
- sharp text and good contrast I think are necessary for reading text
- I use it a low brightness so pwm-free would be great but I have noticed that most 24" pwm-free monitors are way above my price range.

Do you guys suggest a TN,PVA,IPS, etc? I was looking at BenQ GW2450 or the ASUS VS24AH-P but I don't know if IPS is better for reading/text.

thanks!
 
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- matte or with little/no AG coating
- sub $200
- sharp text=AG & pixel pitch related
- pwm-free

Eizo EV2336 (PWM used below 20% brightness)
BenQ BL2411PT
BenQ GW2760HS
Samsung S24A850D
Samsung S27C750

These are the cheapest name brand PWM free models with light matte coatings.
 
As I mentioned, I could do without the PWM-free feature. I am looking for an advice on which panel type might be better suited for what I will be doing, IPS, TN,etc
 
At that price range, I guess the ASUS VS24AH-P would be considered one of the better options. I haven't read any proper reviews on it yet though. I don't think it has a height adjustable stand, if that matters to you.

If you use your monitors at low brightness, I'd probably suggest just saving up for a PWM free monitor.

As for panel types....

TN has best response times, so if a big gamer and motion bothers you, get Lightboost TN... but you aren't a gamer.
VA is best for movies and if you want deep blacks.
IPS is best for color accuracy and angles.
 
Namelessme said:
At that price range, I guess the ASUS VS24AH-P would be considered one of the better options. I haven't read any proper reviews on it yet though. I don't think it has a height adjustable stand, if that matters to you.

If you use your monitors at low brightness, I'd probably suggest just saving up for a PWM free monitor.

As for panel types....

TN has best response times, so if a big gamer and motion bothers you, get Lightboost TN... but you aren't a gamer.
VA is best for movies and if you want deep blacks.
IPS is best for color accuracy and angles.
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Thank you for the feedback, so I guess the panel type doesn't matter as much for text? I read somewhere that TN might be better for text.
 
With similar requirements, I've decided on a Dell U2410. They're about $200 refurbished with 30-day return and about as good as a 24" screen can be, save for contrast ratio.

I've had a 2408WFP that's just now showing some age (a line of vertical yellow pixels that appears every blue moon for a few minutes) after five years. Not terribly worried about the failure rate.
 
Alexdi said:
With similar requirements, I've decided on a Dell U2410. They're about $200 refurbished with 30-day return and about as good as a 24" screen can be, save for contrast ratio.

I've had a 2408WFP that's just now showing some age (a line of vertical yellow pixels that appears every blue moon for a few minutes) after five years. Not terribly worried about the failure rate.
Click to expand...

If it's not too late, I'd seriously rethink the 2410. It's actually quite terrible for text, as it has a very grainy antiglare coating. Even as IPS panels go, it's not particularly good either, with so-so contrast and poor blacks. It's also wide gamut, which is a problem unless you require adobe color. And if that is the case, I'd strongly suggest a pro model NEC or Eizo instead. To top it off, it's refurbished, not even new.

And although some people aren't as bothered by the coating as much as others, I can state my own experience with the 2412. I found it unusable ... text hurt my eyes, white screens were all grainy/sparkly... not exactly what you want when primarily using a monitor for text work.
 
xxtraloud said:
Thank you for the feedback, so I guess the panel type doesn't matter as much for text? I read somewhere that TN might be better for text.
Click to expand...

Well, TN may be fine for text, so long as you never move your head or tilt your body in any way. TNs are terrible with vertical angles; color shift is very prominent. There is no real reason to go for a TN outside of gaming purposes.

In theory, I guess VAs could be better for text, due to the higher contrast. But even if that is the case, I don't believe it's a big enough difference to really matter. Exception being older S-PVA which may not be ideal for text + cleartype due to the pixel structure (never found it a big issue myself). VAs will be better with color shift than TNs, but will be worse than IPS.

And the flaw with IPS is IPS glow, slower response rates than TN (won't matter unless a big gamer) and so-so blacks. There are some older IPS models from NEC that have the A-TW polarizer that gets around the glow problem, a super expensive Eizo appears to use something similar, as well. And the newer 27" PLS (Viewsonic 2770, Eizo 2736, etc) models seem to have less glow than IPS typically does.
 
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The U2410 is one of the worst monitors for text due to the grainy matte coating.

@xxtraloud

There's no reason to buy a TN over IPS/PLS/AHVA & VA panels except for Lightboost PC gaming since you don't want a glossy monitor & there are no TN panels with light matte coatings.

I would not buy another 1080p monitor, especially an LED back-lit model if the Samsung does not bother you.
 
It's not 24" or $200 but I love my investment in the U2713HM
and let me tell you, I am hyper-picky about text quality

The light AG coat is perfect to me. But note I am not a gamer at all, only text/browse (development stuff).

I am curious how the coat on the VS24AH-P compares to the U2713HM because I am also considering it as a portrait monitor on the side and from what I have read the U2412M is a non-starter because of its bad coat.
 
That Asus screen is literally over twice the price of the Dell. Almost every review of the later revisions of U2410 is complimentary, along with most professional reviews. I'm not sure what to make of it. Do all of those people have bad eyes?

On gamut: my 2408 is wide-gamut and I have a colorimeter. There's some sort of clever profiling going on with Photoshop. Colors automatically desaturate themselves when I move them from my regular gamut screen to the Dell. The gamut hasn't been a problem. The U2410 also has a excellent sRGB mode.
 
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2410 = grainy image, poor text, bad contrast and poor blacks. And no, everyone doesn't have bad eyes. It's simply a lot of reviews don't mention the grainy coating, as back when the 2410 was first introduced, almost all IPS monitors had very grainy coatings. They bothered some people back then, but it doesn't mean every review mentioned it.

And the Asus, assuming you mean the ASUS VS24AH-P, is currently $229 ... new.
 
Alexdi said:
That Asus screen is literally over twice the price of the Dell. Almost every review of the later revisions of U2410 is complimentary, along with most professional reviews. I'm not sure what to make of it. Do all of those people have bad eyes?

On gamut: my 2408 is wide-gamut and I have a colorimeter. There's some sort of clever profiling going on with Photoshop. Colors automatically desaturate themselves when I move them from my regular gamut screen to the Dell. The gamut hasn't been a problem. The U2410 also has a excellent sRGB mode.
Click to expand...

Which Asus costs twice as much?
 
Nevermind, I pulled the model number from another post. It was the the PA249Q.
 
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