Two things to note from experience:
Regarding 22" monitors, they will NEVER be as bright or sharp as a 19" monitor - how do I know? Because I ordered a 22" Mitsubishi 2070SB 3 weeks ago - brand new monitor from TigerDirect warehouse. Here's the issues I had with the 2070SB taken right from my email to Mitsubishi:
1) The "auto" geometry function of the monitor still does not work. This
means that it's not a graphics card issue. The monitor is having problems
synching to the 1600X1200 85Hz signal. Manual adjustment takes FOREVER to
adjust and seemingly requires a degree in CRT geometry.
2) The 1/16" geometric dip at the top of the screen is still there. This
means that it's not a graphics card issue.
3) The clarity of text DID improve using the ATI graphics card. This means
that my Nvidia Ti4200 has a noisier output than the ATI card. HOWEVER, and
this is a very important point, I also borrowed a Dell 17" non-flat monitor
(value of less than $150) and was quite shocked to find that the text on the
cheap Dell monitor was incredibably sharp even when cranked up to 1600X1200
resolution.
To keep a long story short, I had to practically beg TigerDirect to substitute the 22" 2070SB with a 19" 930SB. Anyway, they did the exchange but wouldn't refund my money, so I had to buy "extra" junk I didn't need to make up for the price difference. So now I'm sitting here with a Mitsubishi 19" 930SB and here are my observations of the first one that I received from Tigerdirect (again, taken from my emails to Mitsubishi)
BEFORE MONITOR POWERUP:
1) Two pieces of Styrofoam packaging show cracking and are being held together by clear tape.
2) Upon close inspection of the monitor screen, I noticed many "spit" marks as I call them and many finger prints. I should not have to clean the screen of a brand new monitor. The "dirt" on the screen was difficult to remove.
AFTER MONITOR POWERUP:
3) The monitor was not able to sync to the video signal. The screen was WAY off to the left and down (couldn't see the Windows XP start menu)
4) Using the OSM, I set the monitor to "Factory Default". This improved problem #3, but resulted in a screen "Rotation" issue. The screen rotation was now off by a few degrees.
5) There is a noticible concave pincushioning in the upper third left side of the screen. This pincushioning does not appear on the right side of the screen, so it is not symmetrical. There are no OSM controls to adjust this.
Issues #1, #3, and #5 were ALSO present on the 2070SB monitor I used to have. I can only conclude that these problems are a result of poor quality control at Mitsubishi, TigerDirect selling used goods, or shipping damage.
For the record, and to be quite fair, I have to say that Mitsubishi has been very good to me. Customer support is top notch, because they seem to listen to what I have to say. Also, since 9/10 of their monitors for 30 day warranty replacement are refurbished, I specifically asked them to NOT send me a refurbished unit, but rather send me a NEW one. I should get the new monitor on Tuesday. And this time, folks, I will record the entire episode with my DV camera, right from unpacking, to examining the styrofoam packaging, to examining the screen, and powering up.
So there you go. Now I know I'm not the only one having problems with blurry text issues, geometry issues and dirt on the screen.
And thats not the end of the lesson here. I tested out an Nvidia Ti4200 card made by Asus, and the sharpness of text was horrible. I then tested with an ATI AIW 9000 Pro, and the text quality improved a little, but the screen image began to go "wavy" at 85Hz. So then I go fricken' nuts and decide that I need to spend $600 on a 3DLabs VP880 Pro card, assuming this would eliminate the blurry text at refresh rates higher than 60Hz. Well, today I can say I was wrong. Even the $600 3DLabs VP880 Pro shows blurry text at 85Hz. This is driving me up the F***** wall, and the last thing I can do now is to test the VP880 Pro on a spare DELL monitor that I have. If I get the same text blurriness, then I KNOW it's the graphics cards, and that they are ALL JUNK for reading fine text.
The only card left to try now is a Matrox Parehlia.... at this point, I don't care what is the cost, because my eyes are worth it...
I've been spoiled looking at my Viewsonic VG151. I bought it 2 years ago when 15" LCD's were going for $1200, and it was worth every penny. I cannot believe that it's so damn hard to make a graphics card that can output a noise-free 85Hz video signal. Unreal.