I'm thinking about buying a LCD monitor, and I think 20" seems to be the right size/price ratio for me.
Ideally, I'd check it out in person, to see the smearing and what-not, but the stores around me only carry one model in that size, so I can't do any comparisons. I've heard good things about the Viewsonic VP2030b, the Dell Ultrasharp 2001FP, and the Samsung SyncMaster 204T.
They're all within $50 from Dell, so price is a non-issue. Is one of these a clear winner over the others?
Gav
I've been using 2001FP's for over a year. They get the job done. Good image quality, good response time.
But I also just ordered a Samsung, because buy.com had a deal: $490 for the 204T (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...4&dcaid=17654). Same response time as the Dell. Free shipping, too. But since I haven't actually used one yet, I can't comment on how good it would be for gaming.
I just got the Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24-inch Wide Aspect for $800. Terrific monitor!!
What's the benefit of the wide-aspect - do you watch movies on it, or do you actually play games at the wider aspect ratio (are they supported much)?Originally Posted by graller
I've been thinking of picking this one up too though, because it looks cool as hell.
I'm staying away from wide-aspect right now.
A couple of reviews I read said that games don't all support them properly yet, and I don't watch movies on my computer.
Gav
Dell 2001FP here. It is great super response time, bright, clear, and no dead pixels. I give it two thumbs up, 5 out of 5 stars, and a 9.725 out of 10. I just bought a 2nd one for my son for his 18th birthday, got it from Dell for $471 shipped but I think that deal is over. They always come back though.
-- Xaroc
I use a Dell 2405FPW and a 2001FP at home, and a Dell 2005FPW and two 2001FP's at the office. In all cases, I use the widescreen monitor as the main display. It's mentally taxing for me to concentrate on two displays at once. I think making the contextual switch between one monitor to the other tires me for some reason, so I'm glad that I can fit more of my main work on the widescreen display in front of me. I stick open folders, PDF references, IMs, web browsers and the like on the 2ndaries where they don't bother me until I need them.
At home, I also use the wide screen for playing movies and games. It's not a big deal if a game doesn't have a special widescreen mode, although some games I think would benefit from it.
No dead pixels on any of them so far.
Last edited by Lunch of Kong; 02-03-2006 at 08:08 AM.
I've had the Dell 2005fpw for about a year now and I love the heck out of it. The widescreen aspect ratio (it's 16:10) is great for both generic Windows stuff and games. I'd say that between 1/4 and 1/3 of the games coming out these days support widescreen out of the box and probably up to 1/2 can be re-cajiggered to support widescreen. FPS games tend to roxorz your soxorz in widescreen although it probably doesn't make too much difference in Civ4 although I still think it's better.
There's nothing particularly horrible about the 4:3 aspect ratio. I looked into this a while ago and most people seem to agree that the human field of vision is about 140 degrees horizontally and about 90 degrees vertically although this varies from person to person.
Some numbers:
140/90 = 14:9 = 1.555
120/90 = 4:3 = 1.333
16:9 = 1.77
16:10 = 1.6
If I understand this stuff correctly that means that for most people they can comfortably look at a 16:10 image and have some view (partly central, partly peripheral) of the entire screen. A 4:3 screen wastes some of the possible visual area for most people because most people could see more on the sides than is provided.
Personally I do find this to be the case and I much prefer looking at my Dell 2005 than I do looking at my 19" 4:3 monitor at work.
I agree. I have a 19incher and my 20 inch widescreen next to each other and I love the widescreen so much. I dont ever see my self going back to 4:3.Personally I do find this to be the case and I much prefer looking at my Dell 2005 than I do looking at my 19" 4:3 monitor at work.
Yeah, but when you see a game on a 24-inch widescreen that supports wide screen, you'll never go back...
I hate you. I hate you and your glorious 1920x1200.
;)
I've been happy with my Gateway 21" (~ 2 months so far):
http://accessories.gateway.com/Acces...243_ProdDetail
The 1680 x 1050 resolution seems to be a good compromise performance-wise between 19" units and the 23+" widescreens. WoW, HL2, even Simcity 4 look fine in WS. I've found I can force most games, even old ones, to display acceptably. With the DVI connection, movies and games look great.
I have the Samsung 912N. It's a 19" PVA, 25ms, analog only monitor, so it should suck monkeys, but honestly it's got such fantastic colors i almost can't stand using any other monitor. It has some wicked blurring in games but i've gotten used to it, though i wouldn't recommend such a slow monitor to anyone else. As far as analog goes, i can't tell any difference. I've read this particular monitor has unusually good analog quality for some or another reason.
But i can't go back to 6-bit now. I've been eyeing the 970p though; 1000:1 contrast ratio, 6ms (GtG). I can't go backwards in picture quality.
Last edited by Enidigm; 02-03-2006 at 12:29 PM.
But then there is some debate it appears whether or not the 970p is actually a 6-bit or 8-bit panel.
I have the 2005FPW and I lerv it (although, I wouldn't mind being able to move the PiP away from the extreme corner, since Windows typically uses all 4 corners for something important).
Sadly, my 2001FP and Samsung 191T are both 4:3.
So if I want to play in widescreen, I have to slog all the way to the family room to play on the 56-inch DLP...
:)
Hardly a "Trail of Tears," I assume.
Gav, consider this another vote for the 2005. Though you didn't ask for widescreen, we all love it so much that we'll try to convert you, too.
I haven't had any problems with lack of widescreen support being an issue. HL2 and its ilk support it natively, as do WoW, Guild Wars, and Fable. FEAR and BF2 did so easily with a command-line change.
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