Originally posted by: ryedizzel
Xtknight,
Thank you for posting such a wealth of information and actually keeping your model lists updated. I hate being another ?which monitor should I buy?? post, but just like everyone one else my situation is unique. I am currently using a 20? widescreen Dell 2005FPW.
Anandtech did a review on this monitor back in April 2005 and at the time this was ?the? monitor that set the standard for all others. As you probably know this monitor has an 8-bit S-IPS display. To this day I absolutely love my monitor and still think the colors are amazing.
My only complaint is that I do see tearing in certain FPS games such as Half-Life2 and Counter-Strike. Meaning that if I am looking at the edge of a wall and quickly move the mouse left-right the edge of that wall gets separated and does not remain straight. I can eliminate this by turning on ?Vertical Sync? in the graphic settings of the game, but then I have a noticeable lag on how fast the screen updates the image when looking around. In FPS games that rely on twitch-reflexes any kind of lag means death, so I play with Vertical Sync turned off and just ignore the tearing. I assume this is related to monitor size since my cheap Rosewill 17? LCD doesn?t seem to do this. So I guess my first question is, have large-screen LCD monitors REALLY progressed in technology enough in the past 2 years to fix this problem? Or will gamers like me have to accept the fact that gaming on LCDs will never be as fast as CRTs?
The NEC 20WMGX2 definitely has tearing even with V-Sync. This is a trade-off for the response time in S-IPS panels, I guess, or maybe it's some other problem. It's still great for gaming IMO but maybe not as good as some butter smooth LCDs like the Samsung 226BW. (Well, I have not thoroughly investigated that the 226BW has no tearing but I am guessing that is the case since it is a TN which generally does not exhibit the problem.)
You should accept the fact that no LCD will ever be as fast as a CRT for at least a couple reasons:
a) crystals are slower than phosphors
b) LCDs are hold-type displays (as opposed to impulse-type CRTs) and your retina will retain the image
LCDs like the FP241WZ that have tried to defeat the second one have only had limited success. It causes a lot of flicker because it inserts black lines to wipe your eyes of the previous image.
My second question is easier. 5 months ago you responded to someone else with a 2005FPW that asked if they would gain anything by moving to a 22? monitor. Your response was:
Originally posted by: xtknight
Oh I think it would be worth it to move to an 8-bit 24" widescreen, but you may be disappointed by a 6-bit 22" display, because your current 2005FPW has great 8-bit color depth already. 8-bit 22" displays do not exist, in addition 22" displays have a lot more viewing angle problems than what you're already used to with the 2005FPW.
Have any new monitors come out in the past 5 months that would change this response?
None in particular. All 22" monitors are still TN.
But, you may see a glimmer of hope in some of the 22" TNs, anyway. Personally I found the colors good but the viewing angles quite lackluster compared to an (A)S-IPS panel.
I believe you should give the 22" panels a try before nixing them off your list completely. I am very picky and even I found some solace in the LG L226WT. I believe I wrote that before I had personal experience with a 22" monitor. But, in a lot of cases upon further inspection you are losing some color depth especially in very dark or light tones. This will either not affect you, or it will drive you nuts. At first sight (and for most people), I believe they are quite decent displays, at least with the proper settings.
I believe that I could have lived with the color issues (well, I do have a calibrator), but the viewing angles destroyed the experience for me.
And finally how come you do not have any Dell monitors listed for gaming in the 20?-22? range? After my great experience with the 2005FPW I swore all my future monitors would be Dell. But has the quality in their products really dropped that much in the past couple years? I was looking at the E207WFP ($243) or the new SP2008WFP ($289) and couldn?t find any posts about them in this thread aside from someone saying the new SP2008WFP is a TN panel. But isn?t the Samsung 206BW and 226BW both shipping with TN panels as well?
Thanks again for such an awesome thread and for any assistance you can provide.
The Dell monitors have gone downhill in quality. The 2005FPW was the apex of their LCD production. The 2007WFP was good until they started using PVA panels. After using an S-IPS it probably is hard to understand why they are no longer that great.
The E series are TN, and I do know the SP is a TN also. Aside from that, the Dell series haven't had good luck with being TN. They are poorly-tuned TNs (especially Dells above 19"), generally.
The 206BW and 226BW are also TNs, but they are tuned very well. I recommend giving them a shot.
If you want to step up, I believe your best hope is a BenQ FP241W. It really is a pretty decent monitor, as good as you'll get for gaming at 24".
Still, even at 22", I can tell you that in most aspects the 22" LCDs will elate you. Viewing angles are just something you need to get used to. The L226WT, overall, was a joy to use for me (especially its high contrast) and it is now my dad's monitor. He loves it yet probably is aware of the problems as much as I. You just have to be happy with what you get sometimes but I believe the well-tuned 22" LCDs are as good a choice for anybody as even some VA or IPS panels when it comes to overall satisfaction.
Many people like TNs because they use less power, are very fast, and do their job very well at a cheap price. And, it is true. You might even get good color reproduction if you find one that is well-tuned by default.
I do experience burn-in with this IPS display and its contrast isn't as good as a decent TN panel. It has some banding too, so again you have downsides with every LCD.
For editing photos though, VA and IPS LCDs are still much better.
Just tried the L226WT for a bit again. In a way I almost find myself missing the dazzling contrast when I go back to the NEC, as a matter of fact. I could pick nits all day long but to be honest with you, the L226WT is one good LCD. Then again, the NEC looks more natural and realistic in many cases. It gives you a much more smooth look, it is less stark, and more CRT-like. (/me makes sacrifice to the S-IPS gods) In the end I feel like I'm losing something by using only one of them. Boy, this ViewSonic VP930b really can't touch either of them.