Originally posted by: xtknight
( by the way, Westinghouse L2410NM is actually a TN (viewing angle was falsely represented by manufacturer). So you should probably remove it from the "non TN" list )
xtknight:
I have recently viewed the Westinghouse L2410NM at several different Best Buys, and none of them were TN panels. Maybe, like the Acer X241WSD, they came with a TN in an earlier version, and switched to a VA panel without changing the model number.
I spent a fair bit of time playing with both of those monitors, so I may as well share my subjective impressions of them.
I was able to get a more vivid picture on the Westinghouse than on the Acer. They were side-by-side in this case.
The buttons on the Westinghouse are a pain in the @ss to use. Non-intuitive layout, not labeled in any readable way, and you have to press and hold one of the buttons to get into the menus. Before I read that somewhere, I couldn't figure out how to get into the menus at all.
The Acer's buttons are more accessible and well labeled, but ergonomics are marred by the unfortunate placement of the power button in the center of the row of buttons, between the menu and scroll buttons. This means you'll be hitting the power button when you meant to scroll through the menus or adjust a setting.
I prefer the black bezel and aesthetic style of the Westinghouse over the busy silver bezel on the Acer.
A strong point in favor of Acer is their 3 year warranty vs. 1 year for Westinghouse.
Of these two, I'd prefer to have the Westinghouse on my desk. But when it came time to part with real money, I bought the $300 24" Soyo from OfficeMax. I bought it to use at work, to replace a 17" CRT.
Xtknight, thanks for your response to my first post. You said my aversion to VA panels may be overblown, and if not, the only alternative is to save up for an IPS. I've always been sensitive to viewing angle anomalies, and avoided buying an LCD until the Soyo. When the Acer X241WSD went on sale for the same price as the Soyo, I tried
really hard to like it enough to replace my 21" Panasonic CRT for my home system. But I just couldn't do it. As I said before, my ideal is to find a 24" (or more!) IPS which costs less than 1% of my gross annual income. :shocked: The price point of the NEC MultiSync LCD2490WUXi would only be justifiable if I could generate income with it, so it seems I will have to be realistic and compromise if I am buying a monitor in the near future. I am considering the HP LP2065 as the only affordable IPS panel out there. Here are my reservations: I haven't seen one in person, and I am afraid that 1600x1200 on a 20" monitor makes a dot pitch too fine for legible text. That's my experience when I run that resolution on my CRT, which has roughly the same viewable screen size. I am happy with the dot pitch of a 24" monitor. Plus, I'd have to order online and accept the risk of panel lottery and/or defective return shipping cost and downtime. Its almost enough to send me back to OfficeMax for a second Soyo to tide me over until the market for 24" IPS panels improves! But then I look at that viewing angle/color/detail shift, and I know that this can never be my primary monitor.
I am still searching for a better choice...
You might wonder why I don't get another CRT. My primary reason is I have a couple of audiophile speakers next to the monitor, and the magnetic fields mess up the picture unless I align everything at funky angles. Its funny when someone comes over and tries to straighten things out. I'm usually the one who annoys people by doing that! :roll: Shielded speakers of this quality would cost more than two monitors. Second, my desk is built-in and the CRT is too deep. I didn't have those problems in the past, but I've recently moved.