Choosing a 26" panel. ASUS VK266H vs Samsung T260?

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Hellbilly

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I'm looking at getting a 26" panel with 1920x1200 (dont like 16:9) and have been looking at these two monitors and would like some opinion...

Asus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16824236046

Samsung

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001276

They both seem to get good reviews but where i live the ASUS is a bit cheaper. I will mostly be using it for gaming and photoshop editing and of course the interweb. :)

Is one better then the other or could i choose based on looks and price?
 
You might want to try an Acer x263w if you can still find them. It was clearly better than the Samsung T260 I had (I returned that one). Text clarity is superior.
 
I was not too fond of the text quality on the Asus VW266H. I think the Vk266H is the same panel.
I think 25.5" is too much stretch for 1920x1200 and the large size of the dot pitch was detrimental to the picture (especially text) quality.

Vw266H: 1920x1200 (25.5"): 0.287mm
NEC 20WMGX2: 1680x1050 (20.1"): 0.258 mm

Obviously the NEC would look better since it's IPS, but even comparing the vw266H to my cheapo Acer 24" 1920x1200, I prefer the sharpness on the Acer. Out of all the LCDs I have, I am least happy with the Asus vw266H. It cost too much money for the low picture quality. (I even own a 22" V7 generic brand from Staples for $130 bought in Nov. 08)
 
I got my Asus open box from the egg for 220, everything was still factory sealed great deal I have to say.. I'll admit the dot pitch isn't the best. but I can also lean back in my chair and read comfortably which was much harder with my 22". This monitor really shines in gaming though especially for the price, It's not photo editing grade but for casual internet/gaming its a great deal.
 
i also got my vk266h yesterday. was only able to use it for about 30 mins, and had it laying ontop of the box on the floor. for the little bit of gameing and movie viewing i tried, i have nothing but good things to say. i was sitting about 3 feet away from the monitor and found reading text was very easy on the eyes.

so far no complaints with it.
 
Thanks for the replies.

The reason i'm looking at these two is that i really want a 24" LCD with 1920x1200 but where i live (Iceland) all the affordable 24" have 1920x1080. The only 24" with 16:10 still available is a Dell 2408WFP and it costs more then the two 25.5" i mentioned in my original post.

So really, my only 2 choices right now is to accept 16:9 res on a 24" (which i really dont want to) or get one of two 25.5"'s.
 
I used a single Asus VW266H for a year and finally broke down and ordered a second. Its tough to find a nicer looking screen for the money.

I never noticed any issues reading text but that may be due to my 20/10 vision, or the fact that my desk isn't deep enough and the monitors are pretty close.
 
I just got a pair of VW266H's yesterday. Coming from a single Dell 2005FPW, I can see the difference in quality between the 5 year old Dell and the VW266H. As J_Macker was mentioning, the dot pitch is a bit higher so sitting up close (I sit about 2-3 ft away from my monitor) you can notice text doesn't have that smooth look to it. Also, the monitor is blindingly bright out of the box. I've dropped the brightness down to 0 on both the monitors because of that.

That being said, a bit over $500 for two 26.5" monitors was too good a deal to pass up. Most of my viewing is just web pages, documentation, e-mails and a few VM's for lab testing, so I needed the desk real estate more than great color reproduction and viewing angles. Speaking of which, viewing angles seem to be a lot better than the Samsung I have in the basement.

No dead pixels on either of my monitors either.
 
Since the T260 is sort of rare these days (seems like it's been replaced by its HD counterpart), you're better off with the Asus. It also has support for VESA mounting in case you would do multi-monitor setups in the future.

Edit: Forgot to mention, if you can find the Samsung 2693hm, that would be a better choice as it allows for height/pivot adjustments.
 
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If you're willing to spend more and buy used, look for the Doublesight or Planar 26". 1920x1200, H-IPS. A far better monitor, but a pretty big price hike. If you're needing something color correct I wouldn't recommend either you linked -- fairly sure they are both TN panels.
 
I would highly suggest looking at the new NEC EA231wmi. It's a 23.5" e-IPS panel with displayport. It can be purchased in the USA for ~$300-$330. At that price, I would definitely purchase it over the Asus or Samsung TN panels. The only drawback is the 16:9 resolution 1920x1080.

Having a native displayport, ips and pivot to portrait gives the ea231wmi top place for Eyefinity in my book.
 
Yes, but the nec is going to be quite a bit smaller than a 26 inch 16:10, as soon as there is a non-tn 16:9 panel a little bigger that is less than 600 or so, I'd be all over it. Not much to choose from right now. I don't need top of the line ips, but anything is better than tn as far as viewing angles. I wish there were more models in the mva/e-ips price range.
 
Wow, it's amazing that people still want to push the marginally better IPS monitors when the budget is around $200, like a fanboy convention.

"You know if you spend a little more ($500) you can get it in IPS" wow stfu

I would go with the Asus hands down.
 
WildMonkey said:
Wow, it's amazing that people still want to push the marginally better IPS monitors when the budget is around $200, like a fanboy convention.

"You know if you spend a little more ($500) you can get it in IPS" wow stfu

I would go with the Asus hands down.
Click to expand...

It's not a marginal difference, and there are E-IPS panels now that have prices down to $300 or so. Great job with the overstatement and understatement, there.
 
I tried them both, the Samsung T260 and the Asus VK266H, and I thought they were both rubbish.
 
The Dell 2209WA e-IPS can still be purchased for $212. I see no reason to purchase a TN panel with that option available at that price.
 
Yeah after reading more about these montiors i'v decided to just go for a 24" 16:9 TN until i can afford a proper large IPS with 16:10 for my photo editing.

I'm going for the Samsung 2494SW which will replace my 22" Benq G2200.

Thanks for all the input.
 
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