Good Deal?: open box Sony sdm-232w/b for $875 ???

[mule_x]

Been lurking for a while...

I'm looking for a display for home. Mostly for computer usage, under FreeBSD, browsing, xterms, mplayer (movies), etc. May use for some sporadic HDTV.

I found an open box/demo Sony SDM-232W/B at Circuit City for $875. The original price was ~1900. The newer model, the SDM-234W can be found for as little as $1500 online. The panel has a few stuck pixels (green), but they are not noticeable. The full 3 year warranty, and 30day return policy are in effect, and begin now.

The manufacture date on the back is listed as September 2002.

The panel is not as bright as smaller, newer LCD panels I've seen, but it was listed at only 200 nits to begin with. Contrast, OTOH, is listed at 350:1, but it has better black levels than almost any panel I've seen in person. (When viewing movies or HDTV thru DVI)

Is this a good deal? Or is it too old/used? Is it possible it looks dimmer because of age (and will it get dimmer?), or is this just the nature of the old tech?

Ghosting is not a problem, and the color balance is excellent, altho' the panel is not as vibrant at HDTV as, well, HDTV LCDs.

Anyone compare this display with modern LCDs?

Thanks in advance!

Mule

 

[Clank]

Ghosting is not a problem, and the color balance is excellent, altho' the panel is not as vibrant at HDTV as, well, HDTV LCDs.

*uh* I'd go back and take a second look at that monitor, its response time is 40ms. To give you an idea, that's roughly equivalent to a 25 Hz refresh rate on a CRT. With the new Dell 24" panel announced yesterday priced at $1,200 you get an extra inch on the screen, a refresh rate that's more than 3 times faster, a zero dead pixel policy,... In a month or two you'll be able to pick that monitor up for $1,000, maybe less.

Long story short, no this isn't a good deal.