Do I want an IPS monitor?

[user25745]

I'm coming from a 9 year old laptop looking to buy a new computer and have only heard a little about IPS monitors. I was strongly considering one until a quick internet search yielded a mention of them not really being for games and movie watching.

I'm not a gamer, outside of some casual types though perhaps that would expand to some degree into some in the future, but the new computer would be used for movie and online streaming content.

I was under the impression IPS monitors were fairly superior across the board except perhaps for serious FPS gamers. Mistaken?

Hoping to find something that will suit my needs (fairly basic use of internet, photos, movies/tv/sports watching) for a long time. Preferably around $150-$200 max. Not difficult to setup (don't know how to calibrate other than just changing thing like brightness/contrast/color). ~23"

Stumbled upon the review here for the HP 2311xi and the Viewsonic VX2370Smh. Would an IPS monitor suit me or should I look elsewhere? Any other recommended IPS monitors in that range I should consider?

Thank you.

 

[Ferzerp]

You aren't getting a quality S-IPS for that price, so the point is somewhat moot.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I was under the impression IPS monitors were fairly superior across the board except perhaps for serious FPS gamers. Mistaken?

Pretty much yes. TNs are faster, without a doubt, but they have terrible viewing angles and atrocious colors. For the most part, any decent TV you see is going to have either an IPS display or PVA. If you look at LG TVs, they are IPS, Samsung are PVA, noone worth looking at makes a TN TV.

If you were a competitive FPS gamer then a TN panel would be better, but to be perfectly honest *any* LCD sucks compared to a CRT for response time anyway, so even then it isn't a big deal to most people. Given that you are coming from a 9 year old laptop, I feel pretty safe in saying that any IPS display you get is going to be faster then what your laptop had(barring you having some extremely high end display in your laptop).

 

[user25745]

You aren't getting a quality S-IPS for that price, so the point is somewhat moot.

But are the e-IPS? ones in that range better choices versus a TN panel, or whatever else there are?

Pretty much yes. TNs are faster, without a doubt, but they have terrible viewing angles and atrocious colors. For the most part, any decent TV you see is going to have either an IPS display or PVA. If you look at LG TVs, they are IPS, Samsung are PVA, noone worth looking at makes a TN TV.

If you were a competitive FPS gamer then a TN panel would be better, but to be perfectly honest *any* LCD sucks compared to a CRT for response time anyway, so even then it isn't a big deal to most people. Given that you are coming from a 9 year old laptop, I feel pretty safe in saying that any IPS display you get is going to be faster then what your laptop had(barring you having some extremely high end display in your laptop).

Outside of a serious FPS gamer, is there any other reason why I shouldn't consider an IPS monitor versus a typical TN? monitor? The mention I read about movies also is what concerned me and sparked my wanting to ask.

The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite 1905 so nothing special. Surprisingly, I like the monitor on this quite better than a year old laptop I purchased for a gift.

Thanks again.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Price and quality tends to stick together. So with the limited price there is limited options.

 

[gpse]

Dell U2312HM
IPS, fast, low input lag, etc. Best monitor I've owned, I'll never go back to TN.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2312hm.htm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824260055

 

[KentState]

The one factor that I heavily considered was input lag.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6308/dell-u2713hm-unbeatable-performance-out-of-the-box/5

As you can see, the lag varies even with Dell monitors. This was the main reason I went with the 27" HP over the Dell. The 2311xi seems to do very well as well as the Dell U2412HM.

 

[kache]

No IPS. Get a 144hz asus and use the lightboost trick for zero motion blur. Well worth losing the IPS colours fidelity on.

 

[KentState]

No IPS. Get a 144hz asus and use the lightboost trick for zero motion blur. Well worth losing the IPS colours fidelity on.

Why? The OP is not using this for gaming. How much motion blur do you get from browsing the web?

 

[kache]

Why? The OP is not using this for gaming. How much motion blur do you get from browsing the web?

A lot when scrolling for example. But even in normal use the subtle advantages make the experience much more enjoyable.

 

[Leyawiin]

Yes, you want an IPS. Any IPS. If you're not a gamer the $450-500 ASUS VG278H makes no sense. "Subtle" advantages in run-of-the-mill desktop motion blur don't outweigh the much better color of an IPS. Not to mention its a 1080p 27" monitor with a pixel pitch you can drive a truck through. You can get a very good IPS for much less than that.

 

[Bull Dog]

No IPS. Get a 144hz asus and use the lightboost trick for zero motion blur. Well worth losing the IPS colours fidelity on.

I for one, HATE the terrible viewing angles of TN panels. So no, losing the advantages of IPS is not carte-blanche worth losing for "zero motion blur"........something that incidentally doesn't bother me on my Dell U2711.

 

[Robin B]

Still use my old LG W2600Hp-Bf Ips for gaming, its still a great monitor. Next monitor will also be with ips panel if i can find one when the times come.

 

[kache]

You guys haven't tried 120hz+ monitors, have you?

 

[ViRGE]

Outside of a serious FPS gamer, is there any other reason why I shouldn't consider an IPS monitor versus a typical TN? monitor? The mention I read about movies also is what concerned me and sparked my wanting to ask.

I'm not sure who told you that IPS monitors aren't a good match for movies, but they would be wrong. The great viewing angles and color stability make it a great match for movies; in fact there's really nothing about the technology that wouldn't make it good for movies. The only qualms anyone has with IPS are price and response time when it comes to gaming. It's exactly like Ben said: there's a good reason TVs are built with IPS or IPS-like technologies.

You guys haven't tried 120hz+ monitors, have you?

Yes, we have. The viewing angles still suck and the color accuracy is still atrocious. For the hardcore gamers it can make sense, but 120Hz isn't nearly as useful for desktop work as being able to lean back and not have the colors towards the top of your screen invert.

 

[lehtv]

I have a 27" 1080p TN panel without LED backlight and the viewing angles and colors all look fine to me. It's also 60hz and all the games look great. I hardly see what the fuss is all about

 

[brianmanahan]

A lot when scrolling for example. But even in normal use the subtle advantages make the experience much more enjoyable.

i cant get over the bad colors and viewing angles

 

[KentState]

You guys haven't tried 120hz+ monitors, have you?

I really don't care about 120hz+ when looking at a static or slow moving image. IPS is far superior when image quality matters.

 

[dagamer34]

You guys haven't tried 120hz+ monitors, have you?

If you have to "recommend" someone a 120Hz monitor, I'd argue they aren't good enough to use it. Just like how a $5000 Canon 1Ds isn't going to make a newbie a better photographer if they have no idea why they are using the equipment they have.

 

[Makaveli]

I have a 27" 1080p TN panel without LED backlight and the viewing angles and colors all look fine to me. It's also 60hz and all the games look great. I hardly see what the fuss is all about

hehe when I see someone post this the next question is and how old are you and how good is your eye sight?

Its always subjective and there will be a major difference in the eye sight of a 20 year old vs someone that is say 45.

Not saying you have bad sight just that information is important when dealing with this topic also.

I'm coming from a 9 year old laptop looking to buy a new computer and have only heard a little about IPS monitors. I was strongly considering one until a quick internet search yielded a mention of them not really being for games and movie watching.

I'm not a gamer, outside of some casual types though perhaps that would expand to some degree into some in the future, but the new computer would be used for movie and online streaming content.

I was under the impression IPS monitors were fairly superior across the board except perhaps for serious FPS gamers. Mistaken?

Hoping to find something that will suit my needs (fairly basic use of internet, photos, movies/tv/sports watching) for a long time. Preferably around $150-$200 max. Not difficult to setup (don't know how to calibrate other than just changing thing like brightness/contrast/color). ~23"

Stumbled upon the review here for the HP 2311xi and the Viewsonic VX2370Smh. Would an IPS monitor suit me or should I look elsewhere? Any other recommended IPS monitors in that range I should consider?

Thank you.

I was in this boat back in 2006 when I finally decided to dump my 21' Dell trinitron CRT (2048x1536) and picked up a Samsung 22` TN panel 1680x1050.

First thing I noticed was the response time difference when playing Counter strike, but I adjusted and it was fine after. Granted the CRT is faster, not having to deal with a curve picture due to age of the CRT the radiation and weight of the crt was worth it. And while some see this as a negative with the LCD having on optimal res I liked it. The clicking the CRT use to make while changing resolutions use to annoy the crap out of me. So now onto image quality while I found the colours to be better on the CRT and black being the biggest one I also adjusted there and it was fine. However the first time I watched the Trailer for Gears of war 1 which has alot of black I was not happy with the dark gray plus blocky picture I was getting from the LCD. Then when I cleared some photo's from a long weekend off a camera onto the pc, I had a friend there and she was like the colour in these photo's are off.

Fast forward to 2010 I said i'm going IPS now.

Picked up the HP ZR24w and the difference was huge, the colour accuracy made a big difference in movie watching and even just looking at the desktop background. I was able to pickup little small differences I couldn't see before I think due to 6bit vs 8bit. Everything just looked that much better this model has fairly low input lag so for gaming it was a plus there also. However you have to pay to play and I spent $450 on this monitor before tax, this being a business line monitor tho it came with a 3 year extended warranty with door to door service so it was worth the extra money. If image quality is important you want IPS period! And once you get used to a good IPS monitor you will notice the difference right away on anything else.

 

[Throckmorton]

If you care about image quality, make sure you LOOK at the monitor before you by it. Otherwise you could end up with one of the IPS screens with a nasty antiglare coating (Dell and HP use those horrible LG panels)

 

[BrightCandle]

I don't think you are really the IPS target audience. The price difference isn't really worth it unless you know you would benefit. TN is good enough for most uses and it will happily deal with web browsing and the like.

Unless you need colour accuracy, is professional work its unlikely IPS is necessary. A decent TN with decent colour balance and low input latency is certainly worth finding.

 

[blackened23]

If you care about image quality, make sure you LOOK at the monitor before you by it. Otherwise you could end up with one of the IPS screens with a nasty antiglare coating (Dell and HP use those horrible LG panels)

None of the current model IPS panels use a thick anti glare. The HP2740 was changed to a light coating this year (see tftcentral), as has the U2713HM (replaced the u2711) and all of the samsung PLS screens use a light coating. Furthermore, LG stopped producing 2560x1440 panels with thick matte. They also switched all of their 30" 2560x1600 panels to light coating, although we won't see those models until 2013.

What you're stating is no longer applicable, although i'm not sure of the NEC PA271W. All of the 2012 model IPS panels do -not- have a thick antiglare matte coating.

Also, I would never get a TN panel over a good IPS or PLS. The quality difference is substantial - there really isn't any going back after seeing an excellent IPS display.

 

[Tsavo]

None of the current model IPS panels use a thick anti glare.

My Dell 2312HM has a think AG coating. My Dell 2412M isn't as aggressive as the 2312HM, but it's still there. AG coating only really stands out on white pages...and I'm used to it by now.

 

[blackened23]

My Dell 2312HM has a think AG coating. My Dell 2412M isn't as aggressive as the 2312HM, but it's still there. AG coating only really stands out on white pages...and I'm used to it by now.

I haven't seen the 2412M, but none of the 2012 27 inch IPS models have thick anti glare to my knowledge. I don't deal with 24 inchers but i know the 27" 2713HM has a light coating. It is not matte. You'd have to see a matte coating to know specifically what we're talking about, such as the u2711 - that was a thick matte designed for a business lighted environment. None of the 2560x1440 panels use matte any longer to my knowledge, they were all changed as LG stopped producing thick matte. It generated too many complaints.

Maybe that 23 inch model uses matte? I don't know *shrug* The 27 inch models do not, and the 30 inch 2560x1600 U3014 will also not be using matte.