I wanted to start by saying thanks to everyone for this thread (just finished reading through it all)...
Now to the topic at hand = my old NEC MultiSync XV17+ CRT just died a few days ago so I have been shopping for a replacement (LCD) and found this thread to be extremely informative and helpful in narrowing down my decision...
But before going out there and spending my fortune I wanted to run my situation by you guys and see what feedback I could get...
I use my monitor at home (with a window to my right side and a lamp hovering above) mostly for (in order): reading (coding/browsing - 50% of my time), watching (movies, anime, etc.. at a close distance - 45% of my time), and finally gaming (5% of my time)...
So - unless I am mistaken - I fall within the IPS-class of panels (at least not TN, bad viewing angles, colors, etc...) - or maybe PVA (am I way off?)... what I am looking for is good colors and imagine quality as opposed to minimal response times... I need to be able to stare at this thing for hours and not be damned with issues...
Some of what I think are my requirements:
- 20" Widescreen (more then that and my video card [AGP ATI 9800pro 128megs] won't be able to handle the resolution)
- Good on my eyes, sharp text, colors, etc... (as I spend a LOT of time reading/writing & watching - I was expecting 8-bit 16.7M colors)
- Good viewing angles (I watch a lot of stuff, sometimes with my wife and friends all around my monitor so...)
- Not bad response times (as I do game and would hate to spend all this money and not be able to play my UT2004/UT2007 comfortably...)
And of course - if possible - minimize (none is impossible) some of the more common LCD issues such as black-bleeding, ghosting, etc....
From my investigation (and give what big-name stores such as Futureshop and Bestbuy offer here in Canada - for easy return/exchange if ever I have issues/dead pixels) I came up with the following 3 options:
- NEC 20WMGX2 (my top choice, only down seems to be the 'glossy screen' which I am not sure about & the price - $700CDN)
- Samsung 215TW (initially what I wanted until I started to read about a lot of input lag issues - $600CDN)
- LG 204WT (looks like a great screen for the price but it is still just a TN screen with emulated 16.7M colors - $400CDN)
(of course - if you have any other suggestions I am all ears)....
So - my top contender is the NEC (funny - I have been using my NEC CRT for 8+ years now - would be cool to keep with them ehhehe)
I believe, for the high price, it is the best to meet my needs as reading/writing (colors, text sharpness, etc...) seem to be really amazing AND the additional 6ms response time should allow me to play any game I want almost blur/ghost free (I would imagine)...
The only consitent negatvie I found was people mentioned issues with the 'glossy screen' and I am hoping it isn't to much of a deal - I was wondering if my current CRT had the same type of 'glossy panel' as it is also NEC - if so I am already accustomed to it - or is it really not at all the same thing?
Aside from that - some speak of odd red'ish colors, bad blacks, etc... but these are not as consitent so I pray I'll get lucky
Anyways - any feedback would be greatly appreciated before I go out and spend a fortune (on a screen I hope to keep for 5+ years)... if you think this is a BAD choice, or if you can help assure me that I did my research properly...
Thank you for you time....