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I need an LCD

B

broekage

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 21, 2003
Messages
176
I want to get a nice LCD screen, but I have no clue what's good and what I should get.

What's a reasonable price to pay for

- a 15" LCD
- a 17" LCD.

This will be for college, in case it matters (gaming also).

I want something nice, but I don't want to spend a fortune. Is it possible to spend less than $200 on a nice display. I have a 17" CRT, but I'm afraid that I won't have enough room.

Please help me out here :)

Thanks
 
its impossible to spend less than 200 for a quality LCD that you can game on. About the cheapest monitor that I have seen are the KDS monitors that you can pick up for a little over 200 but these things are good for browsing and documents not for gaming. Check out zipzoomfly.com for prices. Make sure that if you have a video card that has dvi that you get a monitor that will do it as well.
 
MonitorsDirect.com is a good site to determine what's out there, prices you can expect, etc. Since you are gaming, I would recommend getting a LCD monitor with no more than a 16ms response time. I personally have the Hitachi 174, and it goes for around $400. There is a new Samsung monitor with 12ms respnse, but that's up to you if you want to spend the extra cash. Can't say too much about the 15" models.
 
Do you think it's going to make a big difference whether I get an LCD or stay with my CRT? The biggest problem I foresee is not having enough desk space.

But if there is no way to get a quality LCD under $200, then I guess I'll just stick with my CRT... :(
 
Have you checked out the dorm rooms? They might just surprise you with the desk space. If I were you though I would start saving up for a good quality LCD or start trying to talk the rents or the grandparents into getting you one. If for nothing else there is a lot less eye strain with looking at text when compared to an CRT.
 
OK so how much is a quality LCD going to cost?

Would it make a big difference if I went down to 15" LCD from 17" CRT?
 
broekage said:
OK so how much is a quality LCD going to cost?

Would it make a big difference if I went down to 15" LCD from 17" CRT?
Click to expand...

A low end 17" lcd will run $400-500, which seems to be a bit over budget. You might be able to find a deal for less than 400, but don't count on it. 15" would be cheaper but smaller.

In terms of size you will not notice a huge difference between a 17" crt and a 15" lcd, but a fairly large difference between a 15" and 17" lcd. If you can find a 17", go for it.

I would definitely check the desk space issue. Maybe wait until you get there to decide (you can always order it from school).
 
ehZn said:
I would definitely check the desk space issue. Maybe wait until you get there to decide (you can always order it from school).
Click to expand...

Right, but another issue I'm trying to avoid is having to bring by CRT over. I'm flying out, so I can't bring lots of heavy and bulky items...

Oh well, I'll keep my eyes open for good deals.

Just so I know, what are some of the things I should pay attention to when looking at LCD's? (stuff like response time, as DyslexicMonkey said)

Thanks
 
Ok I posted this on an old thread some time ago, so I just copied it to here.


Here is a list of what I deem to be the most important features:

Brightness: you want 250 nits (cd/m2) or above (higher the better)

Viewing angle: this is the angle you can look at the screen before it starts to become hard to see (larger the better)

Contrast ratio: probably want 350:1 or better (higher the better)

Response time: most are 25ms, but if you can find a 16ms or 12ms, they are much better for gaming (lower the better)

Native resolution: lcd's run best at a single rez, usually 1280x1024 or 1600x1200. check this and make sure your system can handle anything you might want to do at that rez.

Refresh rate: you want it to be able to run at at least 75Hz at its native rez. a harder to find spec is the DVI max refresh rate, which is very important if you plan on using DVI.

DVI vs VGA: the digital signal, or DVI, far surpasses the analog signal, VGA, in terms of sharpness, color, and quality. you definitely want to buy an lcd with a DVI input.
 
(Probably) Stupid question:

there's no way to use my laptop's screen as an LCD, right?
 
Let me qualify that last question:

I'm just going to use my laptop when I'm not in the dorm, so when I come back to the dorm, can I just plug the desktop into the laptop somewhere and use the laptop's display as my desktop monitor? Probably not, right?
 
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