Good quality LCD monitor ~$300?

[rockyrococo]

I am becoming frustrated in my search for a new LCD monitor. I read many reviews on Newegg. It seems like every manufacturer in the industry sends out loads of garbage monitors with dead pixels, backlight problems, etc. My goal is to not be screwed with a piece of garbage and also get a monitor that is affordable and has good features. I understand that high-quality panels are expensive, but I am desperate to find a good solution around the $300 mark. The best bet I have so far is LG W2453V-PF Black 24", and I am hardly content with this prospect yet.

And a side question: What is the difference between 1920x1200 and 1920x1080 native resolution monitors? Its basically the same resolution...and it seems like many 1920x1200 have trouble displaying 1080p input in the proper proportions. Is one resolution better supported for gaming? Or is there some other significance?

I pray that someone can throw me a rope in this black sea of shit LCD products! Your help will be appreciated more than I can express. I will spread the knowledge you impart to me as much as I can! You are my only hope.

 

[dflynchimp]

It's not as bad as you think. From my experience of LCD purchasing (a 1024, a 1280, a 1650 and a 1920) I've yet to see a dead pixel, nor has most of my friends who buy these things on line.

The only LCD that I've seen with a dead pixel was actually a laptop screen, which Best Buy replaced in a giffy.

The difference in 1920X1200 and 1920X1080 isn't huge, and depends on how you like your media. If you only watch high def 1080p movies than the 1080 has more screen area to devote to the movie (100%) but mathematically speaking the 1920X1200 screen (at 24") will have a 8% area surplus over the 1080 screens. This is good for gaming, but for 1080 movies the top and bottom of the 1200 screens are cropped which actualyl nets you a smaller viewing area for the movie.

Bottom line, 1200 is better for gaming, 1080 is better for 1080p media.

Look at the anandtech monitor reviews. I made my purchases based off of them and I have to say I couldn't be happier, and my monitor (Samsung 2493HM 24" 1920X1200) gets my personal vote of confidence.

Edit: and there are numerous options for media display on the PC. Usually you want to go with native resolution (cropped if necessary) over the fit-screen resolution, which stretches or squashes things. This is why if you mainly do 1080p movies you should go with a 1080 screen, since despite its mathematically smaller area it doesn't waste any space, unlike the 1200 which loses screen real estate to cropping.

 

[blyndy]

Dell ultrasharp 2209WA. 22 inches, 1680x1050. It has an IPS. IPS LCDs are far superier to the cheap twisted nematic (TN) LCDs that swamp the market. See the Anantech LCD thread for a comparison of TN, VA and IPS panels if you haven't already: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=31&threadid=2049206

What makes the 2209WA so good is the fact that it has all the benefits of an IPS panel at about half the price of what IPS generally cost on the market. Technically that's because it uses a new generation of IPS developed by LG called 'e-IPS' that is cheaper to produce, so the 'e' either stands for 'economic' or 'enhanced'. The 2209WA was the first e-IPS LCD on the market, released in Jan '09 2209WA, and it is still the only one of it's kind.

search around for some reviews, most are highly favourable, see this cnet review for starters: http://www.cnet.com.au/dell-2209wa_specs-339294389.htm