LCD Buyer's Guide

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: mallow005
I took the plunge! My NEC 20WMGX2 shall come in next Wednesday! I will be sure to post my thoughts and a comparison to my Viewsonic PF795.

w00t! Did you get it Open Box or New?

 

[mallow005]

I got the new, hopefully everything turns out alright.

 

[JM Aggie08]

im new to LCD's and really really really want to buy one.

someone push me in the right direction please.

i want something nice, but not the best, in the $200-300 range.

*i game
*i video edit
*i photoshop

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: JM Aggie08
im new to LCD's and really really really want to buy one.

someone push me in the right direction please.

i want something nice, but not the best, in the $200-300 range.

*i game
*i video edit
*i photoshop

If you're feeling lucky, give this a try. Samsung 931C

The 931C has a high color gamut, great for Photoshop/video. Response time should be awesome since it's marketed toward gamers.

 

[PepperBreath]

Got my Dell 2007WFP Monday last week. I like it so far although I've noticed on really dark scenes there is some light leaking from the bottom left and top right corners and a little on the top left.

If light leakage is common on the 2007WFP, I'll just leave it be. However, if I could get a better monitor, I might call them back. Can anyone tell me if that's a common issue or not?

 

[JM Aggie08]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: JM Aggie08
im new to LCD's and really really really want to buy one.

someone push me in the right direction please.

i want something nice, but not the best, in the $200-300 range.

*i game
*i video edit
*i photoshop

If you're feeling lucky, give this a try. Samsung 931C

The 931C has a high color gamut, great for Photoshop/video. Response time should be awesome since it's marketed toward gamers.

what would you suggest for wide screen?

 

[tw33ter]

SAMSUNG 931C High glossy black 19" 2ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 2000: 1 0.294mm Pixel Pitch $270

The Samsung 931C is on newegg for $270

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: PepperBreath
Got my Dell 2007WFP Monday last week. I like it so far although I've noticed on really dark scenes there is some light leaking from the bottom left and top right corners and a little on the top left.

If light leakage is common on the 2007WFP, I'll just leave it be. However, if I could get a better monitor, I might call them back. Can anyone tell me if that's a common issue or not?

Yeah it's certainly common. Many people just return it to Dell until they get one with backlight uniformity they like.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: JM Aggie08

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: JM Aggie08
im new to LCD's and really really really want to buy one.

someone push me in the right direction please.

i want something nice, but not the best, in the $200-300 range.

*i game
*i video edit
*i photoshop

If you're feeling lucky, give this a try. Samsung 931C

The 931C has a high color gamut, great for Photoshop/video. Response time should be awesome since it's marketed toward gamers.

what would you suggest for wide screen?

19" widescreen? SAMSUNG 940MW-SV $299.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate

Other than that I'm not sure. I don't recommend 19" widescreen in general.

For 20" widescreen, you don't have many choices under $300.

This is the best you can do: Samsung 205BW

I'd strongly recommend you go with the 19" regular aspect 931C instead since the response time is lower (pixel density is lower also though) and it has a higher color gamut. It comes down to quality OR price at <$300 so why not go with quality now and then maybe when affordable LED-backlit 20" widescreens come out, sell your current one and grab one of those.

 

[tw33ter]

Are there any of the higher color gamut lcd's that have a 1600x1200 res instread of 1280x1024, or is the 931c the only one out currently?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: tw33ter
Are there any of the higher color gamut lcd's that have a 1600x1200 res instread of 1280x1024, or is the 931c the only one out currently?

Nope, the 931C is the only LCD on the market with the new CCFLs. Beyond that you have the $6000 NEC that uses LED backlights. But there definitely will be some new-CCFL 20"+ LCDs coming.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: JM Aggie08

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: JM Aggie08
im new to LCD's and really really really want to buy one.

someone push me in the right direction please.

i want something nice, but not the best, in the $200-300 range.

*i game
*i video edit
*i photoshop

If you're feeling lucky, give this a try. Samsung 931C

The 931C has a high color gamut, great for Photoshop/video. Response time should be awesome since it's marketed toward gamers.

what would you suggest for wide screen?

19" widescreen? SAMSUNG 940MW-SV $299.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate

Other than that I'm not sure. I don't recommend 19" widescreen in general.

For 20" widescreen, you don't have many choices under $300.

This is the best you can do: Samsung 205BW

I'd strongly recommend you go with the 19" regular aspect 931C instead since the response time is lower (pixel density is lower also though) and it has a higher color gamut. It comes down to quality OR price at <$300 so why not go with quality now and then maybe when affordable LED-backlit 20" widescreens come out, sell your current one and grab one of those.

I've been thinking the same thing as of late. That 931C might make an acceptable stand-in while I wait for the 20" WS variants to arrive and/or the 20WMGX2 to fall in price. It's relatively inexpensive and I'll probably be able to re-sell at a decent price when the time comes. The pixel pitch is huge indeed, but at that resolution, I should be able to throw 4xAA on top. It probably makes more sense than spending $150-200 on a refurbished CRT which has no resell value.

Any decent reviews out yet on the 931C?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
I've been thinking the same thing as of late. That 931C might make an acceptable stand-in while I wait for the 20" WS variants to arrive and/or the 20WMGX2 to fall in price. It's relatively inexpensive and I'll probably be able to re-sell at a decent price when the time comes. The pixel pitch is huge indeed, but at that resolution, I should be able to throw 4xAA on top. It probably makes more sense than spending $150-200 on a refurbished CRT which has no resell value.

Sounds like the perfect plan to me.

Any decent reviews out yet on the 931C?

Nope, not even any Engrish ones.

 

[cbreathe]

Originally posted by: xtknight
I would recommend an NEC 20WMGX2, or wait for the Samsung 931C to become available. The 931C will probably be faster, but the NEC is also close though still behind the fastest TNs. I would say the NEC is half as fast as the fastest TN today, that half being seven milliseconds (NEC is roughly 14 while TNs are <7 ms). No, it's not faster than a CRT except in very subtle/white on black transitions.

What do you like about the 931C? I couldn't find too much information on it. From what I can tell, it's also available now. Am I looking at the wrong panel?

Originally posted by: xtknight
Unless you are focusing on very small enemies in the distance in high quantities in a dark environment, I don't see how response time could bother anyone at 7-14 ms. Could you see it? Probably, but it's really easy to ignore unless you're stuck in a situation where it's absolutely critical that you focus on very small objects in slow color transition areas. Of all the games I've played, Battlefield 2 seems to be the most sensitive to response time (enemies in the distance, etc), but with the rest of the games I might as well just have been using a CRT. It made no difference. It's easiest to notice in BF2 while flying. Hardly a problem still, and worth the sacrifice for everything else that's awesome about this LCD (NEC 20WMGX2).

I agree that 7-14ms is fast enough for me. Motion blur is much less of an issue for me than backlight leaking / uniformity and other related artifacts.

 

[cbreathe]

Originally posted by: cbreathe
What do you like about the 931C? I couldn't find too much information on it. From what I can tell, it's also available now. Am I looking at the wrong panel?

Woops. Looks like you explained it above.

 

[Shiymmas]

Well, I finally pulled the trigger last week, and got a Dell 2007WFP. It arrived today with 0 dead pixels, and the slightest of backlight bleed at the top left corner. However, until my new PC arrives tomorrow, I'm only able to hook up via VGA to my laptop. My question is, how much better will things be once I'm able to use DVI? The one game this laptop can really handle seems to have a fairly significant amount of blur/ghosting so I'm just wondering how much, if at all, that'll improve with DVI.

Thanks for the advice, xtknight. I'm pretty satisfied so far. I'm sure by the time this thing's hooked up to some decent hardware, it'll be better. Just looking for reassurance.

Edit: It will be hooked up to a 7950GX2, if that makes any difference at all.

 

[leglez]

What is the difference in these two monitors?

Hanns·G JW-199DPB

Hanns-G HW-191DPB

The are both the same price but I don't see a difference. I am ordering one of them tonight. Which should I get?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Shiymmas
Well, I finally pulled the trigger last week, and got a Dell 2007WFP. It arrived today with 0 dead pixels, and the slightest of backlight bleed at the top left corner. However, until my new PC arrives tomorrow, I'm only able to hook up via VGA to my laptop. My question is, how much better will things be once I'm able to use DVI? The one game this laptop can really handle seems to have a fairly significant amount of blur/ghosting so I'm just wondering how much, if at all, that'll improve with DVI.

If you have a modern GPU/TMDS on your graphics card then there probably won't be much difference, except in text sharpness. Old graphics cards I've had made VGA look really low in contrast. If you have a ti4200 or something like it right now, I bet there will be a big difference.

Thanks for the advice, xtknight. I'm pretty satisfied so far. I'm sure by the time this thing's hooked up to some decent hardware, it'll be better. Just looking for reassurance.

Edit: It will be hooked up to a 7950GX2, if that makes any difference at all.

That's a dual DVI card isn't it? It will definitely be the pinnacle of image quality. Both of my 7800GT's DVI-I ports look great even when converted to VGA (not that you'd want to do that with a DVI card).

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: leglez
What is the difference in these two monitors?

Hanns·G JW-199DPB

Hanns-G HW-191DPB

The are both the same price but I don't see a difference. I am ordering one of them tonight. Which should I get?

It looks like the JW has controls and the HW doesn't, from the picture. I don't know. I'd get the JW just to be safe. The JW also has 1.5W speakers vs the 1W speakers of the HW (wow ).

 

[leglez]

Alright thanks just ordered it.

 

[Shiymmas]

Originally posted by: xtknight
If you have a modern GPU/TMDS on your graphics card then there probably won't be much difference, except in text sharpness. Old graphics cards I've had made VGA look really low in contrast. If you have a ti4200 or something like it right now, I bet there will be a big difference.

That's a dual DVI card isn't it? It will definitely be the pinnacle of image quality. Both of my 7800GT's DVI-I ports look great even when converted to VGA (not that you'd want to do that with a DVI card).

The card on this laptop is a Mobility Radeon x300. And yes, the new card does have dual DVI, and is eVGA's 7950 GX2. Glad to know I can look forward to an even better picture on the new setup . I just hope the ghosting is a bit less appearant. It was probably worse because the game I tested didn't support wide-screen, and requires focus on moving targets with text above and below their names, while flying. The game was Space Cowboy if you were wondering. Of course, I also had options set to low, was running at a stretched 1280x1024 (4:3 and 1:1 ratios didn't look right) so it likely only made things worse.

Anyway, thanks again for the help. I'll probably report back tomorrow when I get the new system up and running how things perform. I'll finally be able to run a few games that've just been collecting dust since my last PC burned up (yay Oblivion, finally). Also, it's ironic that you'd mention the Ti4200 - my last vidcard was a Ti4600 Yay upgrades!

 

[JETninja]

Been about a month and I'm still in love with my LG. I mostly as of late have been doing Racing Games, but also some Flying (CFS3), FPS (Red Orchestra, WWIIOL) and Space (Infinity Beta) and I have not found one instance when I wish I still had my 19" Trinitron. I waited for years and I'm glad I did.

 

[mallow005]

So I finally got my 20WMGX2... but it won't turn on . Sigh. Dead pixels, I can understand, but it won't even turn on! I've tried wiggling the cord, plugging into different power strips and the wall, nothing. Yes, the switch on the back is set to On. I am pressing the power button in the front and nothing happens.

So, the slip inside the box says to send it to NEC, but should I just return it for another one at Newegg?

Edit: I have since tried different power cords which I know work.

Edit2: SUCCESS. Some kind of freak of electronics. I went around the house testing all the wall sockets. At one, I kept pressing the power button a few times and it turned on!!

I then brought it back to my desk, plugged it into a power strip, and after a few tries, it turned on! I guess I had to bootstrap the power supply or something. Review later.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Shiymmas
The card on this laptop is a Mobility Radeon x300. And yes, the new card does have dual DVI, and is eVGA's 7950 GX2. Glad to know I can look forward to an even better picture on the new setup . I just hope the ghosting is a bit less appearant.

Not to burst your bubble but unfortunately there won't be any difference in ghosting (unless somehow the DVI is higher contrast which is possible). But being able to run 1680x1050 and high on a 7950 should be awesome.

It was probably worse because the game I tested didn't support wide-screen, and requires focus on moving targets with text above and below their names, while flying. The game was Space Cowboy if you were wondering. Of course, I also had options set to low, was running at a stretched 1280x1024 (4:3 and 1:1 ratios didn't look right) so it likely only made things worse.

Ghosting will look worse in non-native resolutions (more pixels to move). I'll have to try that game sometime. Looks pretty cool.

Anyway, thanks again for the help. I'll probably report back tomorrow when I get the new system up and running how things perform. I'll finally be able to run a few games that've just been collecting dust since my last PC burned up (yay Oblivion, finally). Also, it's ironic that you'd mention the Ti4200 - my last vidcard was a Ti4600 Yay upgrades!

Good deal.

 

[eeric]

*waiting for review on samsung 931c*, don't they usually ship it to big review sites before it becomes available in stores?

maybe i'm just impatient.