DVI worth it?

J

JimmiG

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I'm looking at replacing my old 19" LCD (1280x1024, 25ms) with something a little bigger and better.

22" seems to be the sweet spot, while you still pay a premium for 24".

However, it seems you also pay a premium to get a monitor with DVI, which doesn't make sense - it should be cheaper to manufacture since there's one less conversion involved (analog to digital at the monitor input). The cheaper 22" displays with VGA are in fact over $85 cheaper than the cheapest displays with DVI, in my country.

Since my current display has DVI, it feels like I'm downgrading in a way. Still, I suppose the image quality is decent at 1600x1050 and 60Hz with a modern videocard like the 4850? I have horrible memories from the CRT days using various videocards such as the Geforce256, Geforce3 etc. - ghosting, noise, saturated or pale colors.. :(

Is the image quality still horrible when using VGA? Is DVI worth an extra $85 - $100 or a downgrade to 20" or even 19"?
 
As you know, you should not be driving a digital panel with VGA.

However, in practical terms, with regard to text, it might be a little less sharp. Or it might be quite bad, you'd probably have to see it...
 
So why do panels with DVI carry such a premium? You think it's worth the extra cost for a panel with DVI, then?
 
They command a premium as they are better, and hence something that the consumer can be "nickled and dimed on". It's all about increasing profit margins. There's also a licensing fee to be paid for including a DVI connector, but that's very small (~ $2 per unit).
 
Well, normally you're not just paying for the connector. Check out the specs. You'll typically find other cool improvements, like better contrast ratio, pixel response time, brightness, viewing angles, etc. Not to mention the actual image will always look better on a DVI connection vs. VGA. Especially with larger and widescreen monitor.

In either case, I wouldn't waste time with a non-DVI flat panel. Digital or nothing!
 
DVI is more relevant for monitors featuring large resolution (>= 1680*1050).
The difference at 1280*1024 ibetween DVI and VGA s very subtle.

However, I would still prefer to use a DVI connection over VGA at any resolution.
 
In my use I have found no difference between using a Analog or Digital connection... at least on my 19"

Text sharpness and color etc remains visually same.
 
lifanus said:
In my use I have found no difference between using a Analog or Digital connection... at least on my 19"

Text sharpness and color etc remains visually same.
Click to expand...

Then be happy that your 19" has a good AD converter - a lot don't and the PQ suffers.
 
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