Originally posted by: xtknight
Originally posted by: muppet22
nice posts xtknight. i have a question on what monitor i should buy.
currently i have a Samsung 906BW (19" wide) and it just isn't big enough. i'm looking to get something in the range of 24" to 30", and i'll be using this monitor for gaming and watching movies. i noticed there was no "hardcore gamer and movie watcher" category..so i was wondering what you would recommend.
i really dislike backlight bleeding, because it really ruins the movie-watching experience for me. i also dislike how the image loses contrast if i move my head a little to the left or right. so far it seems the 3007WFP-HC is my best option. however, i am a bit concerned that you can only adjust the brightness on the monitor. is this a problem though? i can use an external program (ie powerstrip) to adjust the RGB, temperature, gamma, brightness and contrast. i am content with only a DVI-D input..
Using PowerStrip adjusts your video card and limits your bit depth as a result because it's not adjusting the monitor. It's a poor idea to use, in general.
So I would just get rid of that and use brightness control on the Dell. You shouldn't need much else; the default color quality on S-IPS panels is much better. Further improvement will only come from a colorimeter, which can still be used with the Dell (calibrate for native and it'll adjust your video card carefully).
i was also looking at the NEC WUXi's but they are a bit pricey and unfortunately have a higher response time + lag.
any reason why the Dell 3008WFP isn't on your lists?
Edit: sorry this post seems real jumbled, because I wrote it originally and got almost everything wrong about the 305T/decided to re-write it.
The 3008WFP isn't on there yet because I haven't added it yet.
I read a lot on it and it looks great though. It will be added soon just as soon as I make sure of a few things. That's what I was going to suggest, anyway, but not sure if there's $600+ worth of improvement over 3007WFP-HC if you need a DVI-D input only.
(I haven't read everything on it, like this 6/10:
http://www.extremetech.com/art...0,1697,2244009,00.asp)
I think VA panels make better TVs because of their higher dynamic range (low black, bright white). But this lopsided gradient (high dynamic range) on VA panels makes them a worse choice for more subtle things like photo editing.
The H-IPS NEC LCDs are really good for movies though because of the anti-violet tint polarizer on them, but the regular S-IPS panels aren't blessed with this.
I really should mention, if you are a hardcore gamer (which I didn't pick up at first), then the Dell might be a better option. Although, the Samsung 305T (S-PVA)'s image delay as reported by DigitalVersus certainly looks acceptable too. The Dell might have about 5 ms less of lag at best.
I don't even think the 305T has any more color options or any OSD? So I'd really have to be high to recommend you a more expensive S-PVA with no more features than an S-IPS screen.
The 3007WFP-HC will have more viewing angle stability and color accuracy than the 305T. However, for games/movies, the 305T's better contrast (deeper black) might be beneficial but it probably isn't that much higher than the S-IPS. Apparently uniformity on the S-IPS panel might even be better (check out the ExtremeTech review above vs. Gateway S-PVA).
It's really hard to know what's better for you. Maybe you will end up going with the cheaper Dell anyway, which BTW I think is certainly a better choice given the price. The X-Bit Labs review of the 305T is outdated (they had a std gamut unit) and I don't see many other pro reviews of the 305T so there's not much to go off of.
I don't recommend the Gateway XHD3000 because of quality control issues, and it's not worth the money for most people. I'm starting to think the same with the 3008WFP, but I'll see.