Just an observation, this has been a hell of a learning experience trying to pick an LCD and make a well informed decision. It would be nice if the manufactures would just list what kind of panel is in each monitor to save us all the guess work and speculation, also the gimicks 3000:1 contrast ratio, gray to gray magicbright, superbrite, litebrite...cmon, advertise what you sell for what it is. I have to admit I've gotten a little frustrated by this whole shopping experience.
Now being that its been 3 years since i last bought a monitor, I've been following the posts on 24 inch, 22 inch displays and pretty much figured out that I have to go with a 24 inch in order to sidestep the horid viewing angles found on tn panels such as the 226cw. since there is no 22 inch that is not a TN.(at least that I know of)
First off, my first lcd and current lcd is a viewsonic vp930b, which I love the picture and performance of and would gladly buy a 22 or 24 inch version of the same monitor in widescreen, but since i built a new system with a oc'd 8800gtx it was time to upgrade the display as well and viewsonic seems to be putting out monitors that dont interest me at this time, I dont have an Ipod and the docking station is very ugly and unnecessary for me.
not knowing what the difference would be with a tn vs. an MVA panel which was what I had with the viewsonic, I actually went to best buy picked up the 245bw first to see what all this TN bashing was about. So I get home plug in the new monitor and look at the screen and scratch my head, why the hell is the top of the screen a different color and why does it look darker?,I had to make sure I didnt have a setting screwed up or something because the viewing angle was so bad. the whole top 4 to 5 inches was completely different than the rest of the screen i had the monitor set up so when i look forward the center of he screen was just a little lower than eye level at about 2 feet away... strike one, i took the 245bw back to Best buy, fyi, 8800gtx with a e6700 ocd to at least 3.gig will push just about any game at 1900 x 1200 so that was a non issue here.
round 2, figuring maybe a smaller tn panel would be acceptable I picked up a 226cw, same viewing angle problem. I heard that smaller tn panels could have better viewing angles but although this was somewhat true it was a minimal difference and not enough to retain the monitor.
before I list the next three monitors i am considering I feel that I should explain why the dell isnt in the running, as trivial as it seems, I dont want to look at a damn dell logo everytime i look at my monitor, just a personal preference, unless someone knows how to remove it easily and safely. also I dont like the panel lottery thing and I feel the best way to avoid this is to vote with my wallet which is why I'm kind of why I might lean away from samsung after some of the things I've read about samsung monitors here IE the infamous 225bw A S C lottery.
so here I am hoping the third time is the charm, I am going to pick up the 24 inch LG and give it a whirl since it is readily available at a brick and mortar shop, if that doesnt do the trick I am thinking about picking up the BenQ 24 inch FP241W from tiger direct since it is going for around 750 dolars U.S. and from what I can tell is a little better than the samsung 244t and I dont mind paying 50 dollars more than the samsung to make sure I get the panel I paid for.
Now what I'd like to know is out of the three 24 inch monitors I listed in the running which would you get and why? I've only heard positive things about the benq and mixed reviews about the LG and samsung. and I'm not past getting a really good 21 inch monitor if once exists, I use my monitor primarily for gaming (first person shooters and flight sims) and my girlfriend is a photographer so photo editing would be a nice perk but not a determining factor.
Now being that its been 3 years since i last bought a monitor, I've been following the posts on 24 inch, 22 inch displays and pretty much figured out that I have to go with a 24 inch in order to sidestep the horid viewing angles found on tn panels such as the 226cw. since there is no 22 inch that is not a TN.(at least that I know of)
First off, my first lcd and current lcd is a viewsonic vp930b, which I love the picture and performance of and would gladly buy a 22 or 24 inch version of the same monitor in widescreen, but since i built a new system with a oc'd 8800gtx it was time to upgrade the display as well and viewsonic seems to be putting out monitors that dont interest me at this time, I dont have an Ipod and the docking station is very ugly and unnecessary for me.
not knowing what the difference would be with a tn vs. an MVA panel which was what I had with the viewsonic, I actually went to best buy picked up the 245bw first to see what all this TN bashing was about. So I get home plug in the new monitor and look at the screen and scratch my head, why the hell is the top of the screen a different color and why does it look darker?,I had to make sure I didnt have a setting screwed up or something because the viewing angle was so bad. the whole top 4 to 5 inches was completely different than the rest of the screen i had the monitor set up so when i look forward the center of he screen was just a little lower than eye level at about 2 feet away... strike one, i took the 245bw back to Best buy, fyi, 8800gtx with a e6700 ocd to at least 3.gig will push just about any game at 1900 x 1200 so that was a non issue here.
round 2, figuring maybe a smaller tn panel would be acceptable I picked up a 226cw, same viewing angle problem. I heard that smaller tn panels could have better viewing angles but although this was somewhat true it was a minimal difference and not enough to retain the monitor.
before I list the next three monitors i am considering I feel that I should explain why the dell isnt in the running, as trivial as it seems, I dont want to look at a damn dell logo everytime i look at my monitor, just a personal preference, unless someone knows how to remove it easily and safely. also I dont like the panel lottery thing and I feel the best way to avoid this is to vote with my wallet which is why I'm kind of why I might lean away from samsung after some of the things I've read about samsung monitors here IE the infamous 225bw A S C lottery.
so here I am hoping the third time is the charm, I am going to pick up the 24 inch LG and give it a whirl since it is readily available at a brick and mortar shop, if that doesnt do the trick I am thinking about picking up the BenQ 24 inch FP241W from tiger direct since it is going for around 750 dolars U.S. and from what I can tell is a little better than the samsung 244t and I dont mind paying 50 dollars more than the samsung to make sure I get the panel I paid for.
Now what I'd like to know is out of the three 24 inch monitors I listed in the running which would you get and why? I've only heard positive things about the benq and mixed reviews about the LG and samsung. and I'm not past getting a really good 21 inch monitor if once exists, I use my monitor primarily for gaming (first person shooters and flight sims) and my girlfriend is a photographer so photo editing would be a nice perk but not a determining factor.