The 19" LCD Question

Renesis

Lazier than Viper
Joined
Nov 27, 2003
Messages
9,680
Location
Quebec, Canada
Car(s)
2007 BMW Z4 3.0 SI
Okay, so it's time for a change, I'll keep this short

Basically I want your suggestions/opinions

Things to consider:

-Price should be in the 350-450$ CAN
-I'll use it mainly for Internet, Videos/TV and Gaming so a fast screen with good viewing angle is a must

Another subquestion would be, what do you guys think of the 16:10 screens? Practical or not? a good idea?

Here's a list of the screens that I'm considering (in order of consideration)

Samsung 930B
Viewsonic VA1912wb (16:10)
Acer AL1916ASD
Benq FP91G+
Samsung 940B (price explains why it's that low)
Viewsonic VX924


Suggestions, comments, opinions on those?

Would a pixel pitch of 0.264mm be noticeably better than a 0.294 one?


Thanks for your time
 
Edited with more screen shots.

Edited with more screen shots.

Renesis,

Although I cannot comment specifically about those LCDs you've listed, I can provide you with some personal experiences with both 16:10 and a regular 4:3 LCD.

http://img312.imageshack.**/img312/4752/img4381a1ec.jpg
Dell 2005FPW, 20" 16:10 lcd with max res @ 1680x1050.
This LCD is rated at 12ms I believe but for games, it rocks. Another thing is widescreen is better for gaming in my opinion. I play bf2, cs, and toca race driver3. This widescreen gives me more peripheral view. If you're going to watch videos like Top Gear and dvdrips, 16:10 gives you a much bigger picture than the 19" 4:3 LCD because of black bars.

Widescreen does look odd, it does shrink all your icons and text, but you get so much more desktop space due to the higher resolution. You can treat the left 4:3 of your screen as regular screen, while the right side of your screen is used for winamp, AIM/msn, and other trinkets.

http://img311.imageshack.**/img311/2079/lcd2ao.jpg
Video7 brand 19" 4:3 LCD(crappy brand)
16ms, 250cd/m2 brightness.
This was the first LCD i own and it was cheap, $200 USD. I switched from a 17" CRT to this 19" LCD and immediately i noticed the ghosting effects of LCDs. But after a week of playing CS on LCD, I didn't notice it at all. For the 19" LCD, it is very bright, more so than I wanted it to be even at lowest brightness level. the 19" desktop seems more crowded because most 19" lcd max res is about 1280x1024. For typical computing stuff like internet, word processing, and porn(most are 4:3), then 19" is perfect for that.

I'm sure those 19" lcds you've listed are more pricey, with better response time but on the 16ms 19" lcd, i didn't notice any ghosting effects when playing Counterstrike or bf2 now. I think my eyes/brain just adapted to it.

Widescreen is the Future
In conclusion, a Widescreen LCD will provide you with more comfort when you watch WS movies and also play games that support WS. The only reason why you should buy a 4:3 19" lcd or a 20" LCD is if it's cheaper by $100 USD, or however much canucks you want to save. Here are some math I just remember from Trigonometry:

pythagorean theorem: a^2 + b^2 = c^2.

20" using 4:3 ratio: (4x)^2 + (3x)^2 = 20^2
x = 4
implies; 4(4) * 3(4) = 192 square inch

Now apply the same equation to 20" 16:10 LCD;
(16y)^2 + (10y)^2 = 400
y = 1.06
16(1.06)*10(1.06) = 179.776 square inch

Here's a bit for comparison. I put the height as exactly the same so you can see what I mean.

http://img307.imageshack.**/img307/7813/renesis16103oj.jpg
http://img307.imageshack.**/img307/2986/renesis439uc.jpg

http://img307.imageshack.**/img307/375/renesis1610cs6kl.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.**/img515/2444/renesis43cs2ss.jpg
 
Very interesting read!

Now, I'm quite interested in the widescreens but..

Could you post a screenshot of that "streching" effect?

How do I know if my graphic card will support that resolution? cause ATM it doesn't show up in the list of choices.. I have an ATi 9800 PRO

Also, for games, I bet everything is streched too since games run on "Normal" resolutions?

I also plan to watch TV and play PS2 with a TV Tuner card, would it fuck it up too or I'll only get black bars?


I'm a person who usually sets up his creen quite dark, so would you go as far as recommending me a screen with a LOWER brightness rating?

The area is smaller too as you just demonstrated.. that's a concern if I want the screen to be as big as possible..

Thanks for your input!
 
Img quality degraded because i use smaller file size.

You see how much more stuff you can "fit" onto the widescreen ones? Seriously, I dont even consider regular size anymore unless it's cheap like less than $200 usd.
 
Not sure if it's the same 'widescreen' in terms of ratios, but I've been exclusively on widescreen laptops for the past year and the widescreen is just amazing. You'd be surprised how big it makes the screen feel. I had a 17" widescreen desktop replacement HP, thing felt like a 19-20".

Hope that helps in the widescreen debate.
 
I wouldn't worry about your video card handling it. I have a Radeon 9700 Pro driving a Dell 2405FPW (24 inch widescreen flat panel) and it can do most games at least medium settings and full resolution.

I'd really suggest the Dell branded monitors, they are actually very good. I'm considering picking up a 2005FPW to use as a second monitor. They also support multiple types of connections. My 2405FPW has VGA, DVI, Component, Composite, and Svideo built in, along with a media card reader and USB ports. The 2405 is pretty expensive though, but Dell sometimes has some really good sales on their monitors, which brings them down into the price range you are looking for. I'd also suggest widescreen, as it makes doing a lot of things at once much easier.
 
My brand of choice for LCD's is always Viewsonic. And widescreen is just amazing, my next LCD will definately be a widescreen one, many games support it, and its just so much more useful than a large 4:3 regular sized monitor.

Those Dell's are very good as well, the internals are Samsung afaik, you could just go for a Samsung directly, noting the difference in price.

Acer/Benq I'd consider mid-range, they arent bad, we have a few 100 at uni, and all are running perfect since we got them 3yrs ago.
 
I say if you can, score a dell 2005fpw for a decent price. I love mine so much i want to make love to it!

I bought mine for a really good price, one of those "deals." It was 360 + tax so it came out to 390 for me.

The 24" LCD is out of the question price wise... it's $800. That's enough to buy 4 19" LCD and set up your own quad monitors!
 
AxlxA said:
I say if you can, score a dell 2005fpw for a decent price. I love mine so much i want to make love to it!

I bought mine for a really good price, one of those "deals." It was 360 + tax so it came out to 390 for me.

The 24" LCD is out of the question price wise... it's $800. That's enough to buy 4 19" LCD and set up your own quad monitors!

Yeah the 2005FPWs are on sale fairly frequently, it was just on sale for $398 USD last week, and I almost bought one so I could have a dual monitor setup (even though 2 2405s would be more awesome). They are really nice monitors, I'm very happy with my 2405 and the ones I use at work (many different types of dell flat panel)
 
My friend bought the 2405fpw because of those dual core computer deals dell had. So he paid like $1200 for a 3.0ghz dual core + loaded everything + the 24" ws lcd turned out to be an EXCELLENT deal.
 
I'm looking for a 19" LCD too right now, but I can't find one that has minimam ghosting. I want to be able to play my games without a hint of any ghosting, bleeding, or anything. Such a hard decision.
 
Another vote for Dell 2005/2405FPW. Got them both (well 2 2005's and a 2405) and they are absolutely awesome. Don't do gaming much but what little I do, nothing like a widescreen. Pretty fast, deep blacks are not best but it still ok. So much more crap fits on screen better too. Also, Dell's got a multitude of inputs so you can hook a lot of devices to it, I've got a computer (DVI), DVD (Component), PS2 (S-Video) and CCTV cam (Composite) hooked up to a single 2405. Tits. Video off of TV/DVD is ok, by no means spectacular but 2005/2405 can easily fulfill those duties acceptably.

In the past I was driving a 2005FPW @ 1680x1050 on a Radeon 9250. This resolution became available as soon as DVI detected the WS panel. ATI also has updated drivers that likely address the issue if need be.

Second choice, I like Viewsonics. Used 15 & 17" LCD's for several years w/o any issues whatsoever, but for the price, size and flexibility, Dell's got my money for the LCD.
 
Ren, might want to wait.

Dell's 12 days of deals are on again

www.dell.ca/12days

Tomorrow is the 2nd day. They didn't have anything of importance today.
 
I might pick up the 2005 if the price is right :).
 
Top