Cheap Portrait Mode Monitor (For Text)

C

C McCarter

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
Messages
183
Hi,
I am wondering if there are any good ~22inch monitors that can do portrait mode? The only use for this monitor will be text, web, pdf, etc. No gaming or movies. I would like to keep the cost sub $200CND but can get things shipped to the states. I do not care if it is TN or IPS, etc. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.
 
If you can stretch to the above, it'd be a good buy. Otherwise look for a refurb IPS or *VA screen.

TN screens generally will not be pleasant in portrait, as each eye will see a different contrast level giving an odd pseudo-3D effect.
 
According to TFT Central Samsung has fixed the black crush on the Samsung F2380, it is a little more than 200$ in Canada, it has Portrait mode and the lightest AG coating which will be better for text. Color is accurate as well, all you have to do is turn down the brightness and change the Gamma to mode 2

Local stores like future shop/best buy/NClX all sell the LG W2442PA TN which has portrait mode for around 200$ and they should price match BTE Canada who is selling it for 170$ or one of these other stores listed here
 
Thanks for the links. The other way I can go is upgrade my main monitor BenQ FP241 WZ to 27inch or so. This monitor would need to be good for gaming, movies, and photoshop etc.
 
In that case, Dell U2711 or wait for the Samsung SA850 to come out this summer sometime? They're both 27" and 2560x1440, nice real estate bump.

Hopefully you can increase your budget for that route though.. there's no way you'll best an FP241W Z for $200. :)
 
Second question, would my 6870 be able to run the above mentioned monitors maxed out (or close to it) for most games?
 
If you can handle the 1080 resolution, the f2380 is a great option for portrait. I use two, and they are great for text. The contrast ratio really shines, and the slight motion blur and gamma shift are irrelevant.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=f2380&cid=809248311197052780&sa=X#

I bought one f2380 back in the fall of 09, when it was a new panel. I liked it, but wanted more space as I transitioned from web content work to web design and development. A few months back, though, the price fell from ~300 to the low hundreds. I bought 3 more when prices were under 150, and muck around with them in multiple different configurations.

As for the black crush etc., there is no difference between the older panel and the newer. You definitely lose detail on dark images and during dark scenes in movies. If your primary use for the panel was gaming or media, I'd recommend you go with one of the eIPS screens. But if text and general web browsing is your primary use, the f2380 is great.

The ergonomics of the screen are solid, it's very easy to switch between portrait and landscape. There is definitely a bit of wobble in the stand, but if your desk is sturdy it's not an issue. The controls at the bottom of the monitor prevent you from directly aligning the bezel if your portrait screen is to the right of the landscape; usually, you can fix this by removing the stand from the monitor and switching it upside down, but Samsung obnoxiously put in a notch in the stand that prevents you from doing this. It's still fully vesa compliant, so any third party stand should work fine. I've also considered snipping off the notch, but haven't put forth the effort.

Here's a bad pic:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/120724/Hardforum/f2380.jpg
 
C McCarter said:
Second question, would my 6870 be able to run the above mentioned monitors maxed out (or close to it) for most games?
Click to expand...

It shouldn't struggle much on the jump from 1920x1200 -> 2560x1440. The HardOCP review and AnandTech bench scores include 2560x1600 (30" screens) so you can compare frame rates there.. and it'll be somewhere in between.
 
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