New Monitor Decisions

[ronbo613]

Well, one of my Acer 23" monitors went to the big recycling bin in the sky this morning so I need another monitor.

I use a two monitor setup mainly for photo and video editing, but I also play some games, but I'm not a hardcore gamer and I would really like to keep the cost at $200 or less. I realize that good color, fast response time and cheap is the impossible dream, but I've got to do the best I can. My video card runs two monitors at 1920 x 1080 so I'm not looking for a 4K screen.

Of course I would like as big a monitor as possible. This 27" Acer for $179 would be awesome, but it has a VA panel with a 6ms response time. I recall that the real response time of a VA panel can be much slower than specs, so I'm a little worried about that. I haven't bought a monitor for some time so I'm out of the panel loop. A 27" monitor at 1920 x 1080 is stretching it a bit, but I think I could live with it.

If the 27 incher won't cut it, reckon I'll wade through the many 23.5-25" monitors and pick one of those. Figures the stupid monitor would die right after all the Black Friday sales.

 

[Ichigo]

There's 24" IPS panels for <$200.

 

[Basie]

Take a look at this. Maybe a 24 " IPS Panel like the previous post suggested would be more suited for your requirements.
http://ipslcdpanel.blogspot.com/

 

[ronbo613]

There's 24" IPS panels for <$200.

Yes, if I can't find a bigger monitor that I'm comfortable with, I'll go with a smaller 23.3-25" version.

It seems a lot of information on panels is dated. Are the newer VA panels close to IPS panels in color quality? Both VA and IPS have relatively slow response times; is a 5ms IPS panel faster than a 5ms VA panel? I think the listed response times are the lowest response time measurements. The slowest response times could be much higher and the average response time could easily be two or three times the listed response time. Confusing and a real crap shoot.

 

[jdkick]

Waiting for it to arrive, but I ordered the Dell S2340L to replace my aging Samsung.

I'm on a budget, but wanted IPS and HDMI w/ line out for audio. This fit the bill and on sale at $146 (Canadian), it came in quite a bit less expensive than many inferior monitors. I do realize it's a 6-bit panel and glossy, but the reviews are positive and it seems to handle gaming well despite the published 7 ms response time.

I can't do 27" at 1920x1080 tho -- the pixel pitch is just too darn high for me. Sacrifices too much sharpness and makes things blocky to my eyes.

As for the Acer you linked to, I can't help but think you can do better for $229 US...

 

[Cerb]

VA panels have had nearly equal color accuracy, and far higher contrast, than IPS, for a long time, if not from the start.

The problems with VA have been thus:
1. AG coatings tended to look worse (whether different coatings, or just more noticeable due to LCD properties, I don't know).
2. With a bad AG coat, or any glossy coat, everything might look like the wrong angle (you might get used to that).
3. At different horizontal angles, near blacks will appear as totally black, or the same shade of dark gray (AKA "black crush"). Lighter colors can be affected, too, but you won't notice them in practice, with near-straight-on viewing angles.
4. MVAs looked terrible in motion, due to very low real response times, and thus needing extreme overshoot from RTC to make decent times, which in turn made colors all whacky.
5. PVAs could get HOT.

From tests I've seen, the real response times are now down into 20+ms, which is not bad (what IPS were up to ~7-8 years ago), but not quite suitable for action games, either, unless you can tune out ghosting. There are also a few curved panels, which should help reduce/remove 1-3 above (plus, the panels today are better overall), and would be great for multimonitor, I'm sure. But, none of those I've seen reviews for have been anywhere close to your budget.

Given your budget and prices on those I know are good, right now, I'll leave the models to others. That LG (Dell) S2340L might be just the ticket, though, given the price.

 

[Black Octagon]

VA panels have had nearly equal color accuracy, and far higher contrast, than IPS, for a long time, if not from the start.



The problems with VA have been thus:

1. AG coatings tended to look worse (whether different coatings, or just more noticeable due to LCD properties, I don't know).

2. With a bad AG coat, or any glossy coat, everything might look like the wrong angle (you might get used to that).

3. At different horizontal angles, near blacks will appear as totally black, or the same shade of dark gray (AKA "black crush"). Lighter colors can be affected, too, but you won't notice them in practice, with near-straight-on viewing angles.

4. MVAs looked terrible in motion, due to very low real response times, and thus needing extreme overshoot from RTC to make decent times, which in turn made colors all whacky.

5. PVAs could get HOT.



From tests I've seen, the real response times are now down into 20+ms, which is not bad (what IPS were up to ~7-8 years ago), but not quite suitable for action games, either, unless you can tune out ghosting. There are also a few curved panels, which should help reduce/remove 1-3 above (plus, the panels today are better overall), and would be great for multimonitor, I'm sure. But, none of those I've seen reviews for have been anywhere close to your budget.



Given your budget and prices on those I know are good, right now, I'll leave the models to others. That LG (Dell) S2340L might be just the ticket, though, given the price.

VA does have noticeably worse viewing angles though,albeit not as bad as TN.