I really do feel for you, it's very hard to be honest and not get flamed even when you specify that it's a personal opnion. This is one of the things we are supposed to given in the united states and most other countries except maybe china and some other places with crazy leaders. It seems some people would be more happy in a dictatorship where the only one with freedom to give a personal thought is the dictator and no one else. Go ahead, give your thoughts on what you think is the best monitor and if people don't like it then they are the ones who end up loosing information that may help them sometime. I don't like KDS monitors. I don't like the trinitron tubes because they can show a line down the screen in certain situations. They are a great tube just the same and for games where it's not noticed they look good. But a tube is not all that makes up a monitor. KDS is cheaper, they don't have the same quality in the makeup of the parts that control the tube. If they did they couldn't be that cheap. So they may use resistors and caps with a 10% tolerance where the sony's and viewsonics use a 5% or a 1% and have much tighter calibrations that hold better with less deviation over time. You see lower power trasformers and other parts that can be running closer to their max than in good quality monitors and it is the same in other parts as well such as power supplies, sound/video cards, refrigs, home stereo and many many other things you buy. You get what you pay for and that isn't a guess. It's a fact. I've matched KDS with Viewsonic's at the Office Depot store and the Viewsonic's put the KDS to shame. Just because they don't use the heavenly built sony tube doesn't mean they don't look good. In fact they look great and really the video card has just as much to do with overall picture clarity and color as the tube and monitor as a whole. When using the Matrox cards most monitors look great but then you put a ATI or Voodoo2 into the mix and even good monitors can look noticeably worse. You have to take everything into account with computers, not one part is the all important part. They effect each other in many areas.
I prefer Viewsonics for 3 reasons. I've never had one fail on me. When I called about the rebate and general questions they were very quick to answer and helpful in general, very nice to talk with. And last but not least they do look great. I play games mainly and really like the picture. I do have to admit with their older monitors they had a problem with being darker but with their new models that isn't a problem at all. They look very good. They have a very stable picture and have very good refresh rates. I have 3 friends who after seeing this model I have went and bought the same one. 2 others have the 21" 815 model and love them. I have another friend who has a Panasonic monitor, they are also a very good monitor, reliable and have a good picture. Sony's are very good also, I'm def. not knocking them or Mit. monitors. I just don't like the tube. And this is a PERSONAL PREFERENCE. Got it! I'm just speaking from PERSONAL experience with viewsonics. I've used them from my first 386/40mhz AMD cpu based computer. I've been using computers for a very long time and have seen many different brands of monitors. I've seen CTX models fail time and time agian. I've seen the Mag monitors picture go bad very quickly after being bought. I've never seen these problems over the many years of computer use with viewsonics. I've seen Sony's fail but that was more a shipping problem than the monitor, the guy's replaement lasted around 3 years and started to distort and needed to be repaird. After that it worked another 2 years before he sold it still working.
The 19" PS790 I have (I prefer the PS line of viewsonics) has a small footprint, it doesn't use much desk space because of the new short neck tubes. It's easy to configure and has a lot of controls for adjustment. It's price is very reasonable. I really think though you need to save a bit of money and don't buy a cheap monitor. If you get a good quality one it will last you and it will also be more pleasing to the eyes. You do spend all your computer use looking at it so it's really in your best interest to buy a quality one. If you don't you may end up paying more money in the long run replaceing it or on shipping charges getting it fixed. If you buy a good one the first time chances are you will save money in the long run. That is if you plan on keeping it and not selling it off over the first few years. I buy mine to last at least 5 years min.
Good hunting and I hope you find a good monitor. I suggest you go to stores like the office depot or other stores that show many different monitors, look them over, play with them and see how easy they are to work with. Make up your own mind. You are the one who is going to be using it so look at things that are important to your preferences. That is the most important thing in the end. I wish you well in your search.