Deciding between a TN, *VA, and IPS?

H

heyyoudvd

n00b
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
4
Hi, my 4 year old Samsung 225BW recently died on me so I'm in the market for a new LCD. My budget is around $200 Canadian and I'm looking for something in the 23"-24" range (preferably 24" but I'll go with a 23" if it's a noticeably better monitor).

I've been conducting some research over the past couple days and I think I've narrowed my selection down to the following candidates:

1. Samsung S24A350H - $199

2. BenQ EW2420H / VW2420 / BL2400PU - $199 to $219

3. Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM - $199


I've done some research so I'm familiar with the general strengths and weakness that are present in TN, *VA, and IPS panels but I'm wondering how these particular models would stack up to one another.

For example, the S24A350H is apparently very good by TN standards, whereas the Dell is a budget IPS (e-IPS). So am I better off with something that is excellent by TN standards or something that is so-so by IPS standards? Which is the better all around monitor?

Also, I'm tempted by the BenQ models because *VA panels apparently have fantastic contrast ratios and deep black levels, plus, they're an inch bigger than the Dell is. But does the Dell IPS offer colour quality and response time that is sufficiently better than that of the BenQ *VA models to compensate for the BenQ's own advantages (contrast/blacks/additional inch)?

Basically, which of those monitors do you think would be my best bet? For reference, I'll be using the monitor to watch movies, play games, and for general computing use.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
The Dell.

I owned the EW2420H for about a day, and alongside my HP ZR24w (IPS), the horizontal color-shift was awful compared to the IPS panel. On top of that, it was unsuitable for gaming as the ghosting/blur seemed about two or three times as bad.

While the ZR24W doesn't have the great contrast/black levels the EW2420H had, the horizontal color shift offset any of those benefits to me, and even when looking straight on I still wasn't very impressed with the black levels. It just never had that crisp, uniform, almost CRT-like static image like IPS panels have.
 
I have the same problem although I also have the Dell U2412M and LG IPS235V on my list.
First I wanted the 23" DELL, then I was about to buy the Samsung, now the 24" Dell is available for a pretty good price but in the store the LG had the best picture quality, IMHO.
What a kerfuffle...
 
Bonovski said:
I have the same problem although I also have the Dell U2412M and LG IPS235V on my list.
First I wanted the 23" DELL, then I was about to buy the Samsung, now the 24" Dell is available for a pretty good price but in the store the LG had the best picture quality, IMHO.
What a kerfuffle...
Click to expand...

I was also looking at the IPS236V (is that the same as the 235?) but I ended up taking it off my list of candidates because I read that it has significant backlight bleeding, a horribly wobbly stand with no adjustability, and that it was less responsive for gaming than the Dell is. From the impressions I've gotten, it sounds like the LG has very nice picture quality but that they had to skimp in all other areas to bring it down to that price point.
 
heyyoudvd said:
I was also looking at the IPS236V (is that the same as the 235?) but I ended up taking it off my list of candidates because I read that it has significant backlight bleeding, a horribly wobbly stand with no adjustability, and that it was less responsive for gaming than the Dell is. From the impressions I've gotten, it sounds like the LG has very nice picture quality but that they had to skimp in all other areas to bring it down to that price point.
Click to expand...

I actually have the IPS236V and it has been fine for gaming. From what I read it has no scaler and the input lag is very low. It uses the same panel as the Dell 2312 so, yeah, ghosting and such would be identical between the two. All I know is that it has far less ghosting than my 2407WFP-HC (S-PVA slow as butts panel). The antiglare coating is not distracting or annoying to me either. And, yes, the stand is utterly horrible and has a very mild tilt adjustability. I got it at Best Buy (shame, shame, I know) but with some gift cards and such I got it for somewhere around $200. There are no dead pixels and backlight bleed is only appreciable if I have the brightness and contrast both set to 100 which honestly melts my retinas anyway. In my case the backlight bleed was only in the upper right corner and once calibrated it became so faint that I couldn't tell a difference. I used a Spyder 3 Pro to calibrate it and was able to set it up to 120 nits (down from around 255 at 100/100) by setting it to 54/54. Colors are noticeably blue at default though the RGB mode helps a bit if you don't have something for calibrating it and of course you can always calibrate it as it does have full RGB sliders. Honestly? I'm impressed with it given the price I paid. It works great for gaming and puts my old 2407 to shame with viewing angles and black levels. It does 'suffer' from the usual IPS red glow but you have to get to some pretty extreme angles for it to become noticeable.

All of that said, the Dell U2312HM at $199 is definitely a better deal. In my case, because I purchased it in late October, it would've been around $300 for the Dell or as I said around $100 less for the LG and I went with it. But, the Dell does have a better stand and the USB hub may or may not be important to you. Because they are very similar monitors, both using LG LM230WF3 panels, it really gets down to whichever has the lower cost or better feature set for your needs. Oh, and most people find the LG pretty aesthetically displeasing. I'm indifferent to that as I'm more concerned about the screen which has been great. One final little detail that I absolutely love about it is that you can configure the monitor to turn off the power LED. Given that it has one of those annoyingly bright blue LEDs that are in seemingly everything that was both unexpected and appreciated.

So, if you don't want to read all of that: The Dell is the best on your list and avoid *VA panels like the plague if you game as they tend to be very slow in comparison to TN and newer IPS panels and their viewing angles aren't as good as IPS either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top