*help plz* What's a good 19' LCD flat-screen Monitor?

V

valance

CAGiversary!
My old 17' box monitor is finally dying out, and I thought since it's xmas (sale time in stores), I'd get one of those sexy LCD monitors. Probably be nice to upgrade to 19' too. I play a lot of games, so that's what it'll be for. 200-250 is my price range.

I looked around, and saw there are many different brand names, all of which get 4 to 4 1/2 star reviews (out of 5 stars). So are all the brands good? Or is there a certain monitor that is really really nice for games? I'm looking forward to upgrading from the clunky old box to LCD flat screen.

BTW, what exactly is LCD? What advantage does it have over the old box screens? I assume it's better, but how so?

Any advice on this topic would be great! Probably gonna head out in 1-2 weeks to pick out a monitor, or might buy it online if there's a good sale and cheap shipping. I've got a best buy, circuit city, and target nearby in case I want to buy it in person (probably would be better since shipping is likely to be expensive).
 
LCD's advantages are that it takes up much less space, weigh less, and use less electricity/produce less heat. LCDs cause less strain on the eye thanks to their perfectly flat surface (even flat screen CRTs are somewhat curved), minimal screen glare, and higher brightness. LCDs don't flicker- CRTs flicker, which is when you can kinda see the screen rapidly decrease in brightness for split seconds.

CRTs are still better in some areas such as color reproduction, better sharpness retention at multiple resolutions (meaning it can handle more than a one native resolution without a loss in image quality), and higher refresh rates. CRTs are actually better for image editing, video editing, and gaming in most cases because of it's refresh rates and higher image quality at different resolutions.

But in most cases, you won't notice the advantages of a CRT unless you go for a high end one. An LCD's image just looks better because of the flat surface and brightness.

You learn a lot when you try to decide between a $450 19" LCD and a $180 19" CRT only about 2 years ago. I reluctantly picked up the LCD because of the space and weight advantages. After that, I never looked at CRT again.:)

You'll be fine with any brand. Every brand has it's lemons but for $200 you can pick a damn good Samsung or Viewsonic. You might want to consider a widescreen if you haven't thought about it yet.
 
widescreen? What's the advantage of that? It won't force my games to go movie style, will it? With several inches at the top and bottom being pure black. I like that in movies, but not sure about games.

or is widescreen still a full picuture, but just a longer view?

btw, thanks for that info, that helped.
 
[quote name='valance']widescreen? What's the advantage of that? It won't force my games to go movie style, will it? With several inches at the top and bottom being pure black. I like that in movies, but not sure about games.

or is widescreen still a full picuture, but just a longer view?

btw, thanks for that info, that helped.[/QUOTE]

I think the LCD stretches out your screen for games unless your games support that resolution. Some of the older games that I have, like Warcraft 3, doesn't support 1440x900, so I have to find a resolution that allows me to see the screen as good as possible while it still looks relatively high quality.

But now, I think the newer games support widescreen resolution. So it shouldn't be a problem.
 
[quote name='Over easy']I think the LCD stretches out your screen for games unless your games support that resolution. Some of the older games that I have, like Warcraft 3, doesn't support 1440x900, so I have to find a resolution that allows me to see the screen as good as possible while it still looks relatively high quality.

But now, I think the newer games support widescreen resolution. So it shouldn't be a problem.[/QUOTE]

That's what it did for me before I set Half Life 2 to run at 1440x900

I got a 19" widescreen Samsung for 129.99 AR at Staples on BF :cool:
 
19 feet? Wow, that's huge!

Reminds me of Spinal Tap, when Nigel mistakenly says the monuments should be built in inches instead of feet.

Anyway, remember that with LCDs you have to deal with native resolution. Meaning, there is one resolution that the monitor is meant to run at, and if you run your PC at another, the monitor has to fudge the pixels. Unlike a CRT, an LCD cannot change the actual size of the pixel. This can be troubling for those who are into gaming, because if your PC and video card isn't fast enough to run a game well at the native resolution, it won't look optimal. It also bothers those of us who are picky about the way our fonts look if an LCD is running at a resoltuion that's not its optimal one.

I personally still use a 19" CRT for gaming at home, and bring a 17" Samsung 740B (or BF, can't remember which or what the difference is right now) LCD (native resolution of 1280x1024) to LAN parties.

-HM
 
Well i have a NEC Opticlear lcd moniter its works great and has clear view i watch a movie on it and it shows better than on my tv, how should i say this? its Clearer well u should see it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top