Need help picking an LCD

[Term-X]

I am looking to sidegrade from my current monitor (a sharp AQUOS 32 inch HDTV (720p)). The reasoning being that I want to scale down the actual size, since it's affecting my vision from the distance I am sitting, but I also want to have a higher resolution. Though I generally understand the pluses and minuses of monitor attributes, there is just so many options that it's honestly dizzying. So if anybody has personal experience with any monitors that may match my needs, I'd appreciate it.

I am looking for a monitor with most of the following attributes:

- Performance tailored to gaming (i.e. response times)
- "1080p" resolution (1200 is acceptable; I understand the arguements for or against but personally I'm neutral)
- Decent contrast ratio
- Within the $400 range, give or take
- Aesthetically pleasing (IMO, as long as it doesn't look like a monkey's ass, it's good enough in my book)
- DVI and HDMI connections

Bonus would be DisplayPort but I'm not quite sure it's common at the moment.


I have access to some quality Samsung refurbs (yes, I am open to refurbs), all of which are within my budget range, incase of them would be a good choice

Samsung T240
Samsung SyncMaster 2493HM
Samsung SyncMaster 2463UW
Samsung SyncMaster 2443BW
Samsung SyncMaster 245BW
Samsung 2433BW