LCD Monitor buying guide

[Rob]

Hey all,

Can anyone suggest a great resource for buying an LCD monitor? Where
it covers what:
1. is a good refresh rate
2. is a good viewing angle
3. is a good dot pitch
4. TFT (thin film transistor) is?
5. what brightness is good
6. what res is good
etc

Maybe even a site that has user-ratings of hundreds of different LCD
monitors, and allows you to sort by the best rated ones?

I've googled a bit, but haven't found a whole lot, so any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks.

Rob

 

[Guest]

newegg.com has great user reviews.

 

[Larry]

Hey all,

Can anyone suggest a great resource for buying an LCD monitor? Where
it covers what:
1. is a good refresh rate
2. is a good viewing angle
3. is a good dot pitch
4. TFT (thin film transistor) is?
5. what brightness is good
6. what res is good
etc

Maybe even a site that has user-ratings of hundreds of different LCD
monitors, and allows you to sort by the best rated ones?

I've googled a bit, but haven't found a whole lot, so any help would
be appreciated.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=monitor+++buying+++guide&meta

Results 1 - 10 of about 7,860,000 for monitor + buying + guide

 

[Mike T.]

Hey all,

Can anyone suggest a great resource for buying an LCD monitor? Where
it covers what:
1. is a good refresh rate
2. is a good viewing angle
3. is a good dot pitch
4. TFT (thin film transistor) is?
5. what brightness is good
6. what res is good
etc

Maybe even a site that has user-ratings of hundreds of different LCD
monitors, and allows you to sort by the best rated ones?

I've googled a bit, but haven't found a whole lot, so any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks.

Rob

The short answer: buy NEC

The longer answer: Ignore ALL published specifications, especially
brightness and contrast. Pick a monitor with your own eyes only, as it's
easy to tell that most user reviews are written by people who are legally
blind. If you compare NEC to any other brand though (and assuming you
aren't legally blind) you will end up buying NEC. -Dave

 

[badgolferman]

Mike T., 11/3/2006, 1:44:44 PM,

The short answer: buy NEC

The longer answer: Ignore ALL published specifications, especially
brightness and contrast. Pick a monitor with your own eyes only, as
it's easy to tell that most user reviews are written by people who
are legally blind. If you compare NEC to any other brand though (and
assuming you aren't legally blind) you will end up buying NEC. -Dave

I like NEC also but Princeton makes good monitors too.

 

[Jeff Heyen]

Hey all,

Can anyone suggest a great resource for buying an LCD monitor? Where
it covers what:
1. is a good refresh rate
2. is a good viewing angle
3. is a good dot pitch
4. TFT (thin film transistor) is?
5. what brightness is good
6. what res is good
etc

Maybe even a site that has user-ratings of hundreds of different LCD
monitors, and allows you to sort by the best rated ones?

I've googled a bit, but haven't found a whole lot, so any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks.

Rob

Rob,

Here's a good guide:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1745344&enterthread=y

 

[antioch]

Hey all,

Can anyone suggest a great resource for buying an LCD monitor? Where
it covers what:
1. is a good refresh rate
2. is a good viewing angle
3. is a good dot pitch
4. TFT (thin film transistor) is?
5. what brightness is good
6. what res is good
etc

Maybe even a site that has user-ratings of hundreds of different LCD
monitors, and allows you to sort by the best rated ones?

I've googled a bit, but haven't found a whole lot, so any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks.

Rob

The best guide/s are your own eyes - if you must waste time in Google then
look for something re 'consumer reviews' or 'comparison' - eg the below
link - that should keep you reading for a few days -

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=lcd+monitor+comparisons&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

OR, note all makes in general, find your nearest dealers and go take a
look - as I said - your own eyes are the ones to satisfy first and your
wallet second.
Happy hunting.
Antioch

 

[Bill Bradshaw]

The short answer: buy NEC

The longer answer: Ignore ALL published specifications, especially
brightness and contrast. Pick a monitor with your own eyes only, as
it's easy to tell that most user reviews are written by people who
are legally blind. If you compare NEC to any other brand though (and
assuming you aren't legally blind) you will end up buying NEC. -Dave

I agree. They just appear much sharper. You go look at LCDs in the stores
and the NECs just standout.

 

[Fidelis K]

I second that. My NEC 19" LCD is the sharpest and clearest monitor I've ever
used. I also love my SONY 23" Wide Screen, too.

 

[Larc]

| I agree. They just appear much sharper. You go look at LCDs in the stores
| and the NECs just standout.

They do, but I have bad history with NEC products I've bought. A TV and VCR
years ago were both crap. A DVD burner I bought early this year turned out to
be the same thing. That kind of experience tends to make one a bit wary.

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

 

[Tomcat (Tom)]

They do, but I have bad history with NEC products I've bought. A TV and VCR
years ago were both crap. A DVD burner I bought early this year turned out to
be the same thing. That kind of experience tends to make one a bit wary.

NEC has always made good monitors, even 20 years ago I remember NEC's
crt's being the standard setting monitors.

Samsung also makes good LCD monitors. Few yrs ago I bought a 19-inch
Viewsonic but wasn't impressed with it so replaced it with a 21-inch
Samsung which is exceptional.

 

[Slackeyed]

You can't go wrong over at AVSFORUM.COM

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=9

 

[Dave]

| I agree. They just appear much sharper. You go look at LCDs in the
stores
| and the NECs just standout.

They do, but I have bad history with NEC products I've bought. A TV and
VCR
years ago were both crap. A DVD burner I bought early this year turned
out to
be the same thing. That kind of experience tends to make one a bit wary.

Larc

You must have really shitty luck then. The best DVD burners on the market
at the moment are NEC brand. I'd be curious what kind of media you were
using with it, as brand of media makes a huge difference, and that is not
just a NEC thing (all brands of DVD burners are at least somewhat picky
about brand of media used). If you use a NEC DVD burner with maxell or
ritek / ridata brand media, you will never burn a coaster. Never. -Dave

 

[Dave]

Samsung also makes good LCD monitors. Few yrs ago I bought a 19-inch
Viewsonic but wasn't impressed with it so replaced it with a 21-inch
Samsung which is exceptional.

I'm not as impressed with samsung. Regardless of published specs (this is
why I said ignore them), the Samsungs tend to look dark and washed out
compared to several other brands. Ironically, viewsonic tends to be better
than average though. -Dave

 

[Larc]

| > They do, but I have bad history with NEC products I've bought. A TV and
| > VCR
| > years ago were both crap. A DVD burner I bought early this year turned
| > out to
| > be the same thing. That kind of experience tends to make one a bit wary.
| >
| > Larc
|
| You must have really shitty luck then. The best DVD burners on the market
| at the moment are NEC brand.

A lot of people would disagree with you on that. My 3550A causes high PIF
spikes when it recalibrates as it burns. Using the same chipset, the Pioneer
111D doesn't have that problem. It doesn't require much looking in the CD
Freaks forum to find other disillusioned NEC burner owners.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86

My main burners are BenQ 1650 and Pioneer 111D now. A Lite-On 160P6S fills in
on certain media. All beat my NEC 3550A hands down, although I did have a 3520A
that did a fairly good job.

| I'd be curious what kind of media you were
| using with it, as brand of media makes a huge difference, and that is not
| just a NEC thing (all brands of DVD burners are at least somewhat picky
| about brand of media used). If you use a NEC DVD burner with maxell or
| ritek / ridata brand media, you will never burn a coaster. Never.

Check your burns with Nero CD-DVD Speed if you have a burner it's compatible
with. Later NECs are somewhat, but not fully. Media brands matter, but the
actual manufacturers matter more.

I've now trimmed DVD media brands mainly down to Taiyo-Yuden and Verbatim, the
latter depending on the manufacturer. Also some RicohJpnR03. Ritek and Ridata
except for RicohJpn varieties aren't very good for archiving since they tend to
degrade rather quickly. I've been able to retain virtually none much past a
year (again excepting RicohJpn varieties), but have been forced to replace a far
larger percentage of Ritek and Ridata discs by reburning than all other brands
I've used combined.

Sorry to stray so far from the main topic of this thread, but there were
questions that seemed to need answering.

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

 

[UCLAN]

NEC has always made good monitors, even 20 years ago I remember NEC's
crt's being the standard setting monitors.

Samsung also makes good LCD monitors. Few yrs ago I bought a 19-inch
Viewsonic but wasn't impressed with it so replaced it with a 21-inch
Samsung which is exceptional.

I've had a 19" Samsung SyncMaster 930B for about 9 months now.
Great LCD monitor. No dead pixels. No problems whatsoever.

 

[UCLAN]

I'm not as impressed with samsung. Regardless of published specs (this is
why I said ignore them), the Samsungs tend to look dark and washed out
compared to several other brands. Ironically, viewsonic tends to be better
than average though. -Dave

Dark? Washed out? I had to turn *down* the brightness on my 930B. Any
monitor requires proper initial setup. Samsung's automated programs
make it a breeze.

 

[kony]

I'm not as impressed with samsung. Regardless of published specs (this is
why I said ignore them), the Samsungs tend to look dark and washed out
compared to several other brands. Ironically, viewsonic tends to be better
than average though. -Dave

To get a good idea of what's accurate versus overly high
saturation and contrast, it can be necessary to compare a
real picture. People tend to think a monitor looks better
when it isn't actually accurately reproducing what it should
have shown onscreen... which is fine, if that's the goal,
but it might not be.

Then there's the issue of cost versus size. Some would
rather a lower resolution or smaller panel with higher
image quality and others a larger panel for similar price.

 

[Gary]

I'm not as impressed with samsung. Regardless of published specs (this is

why I said ignore them), the Samsungs tend to look dark and washed out
compared to several other brands. Ironically, viewsonic tends to be
better
than average though. -Dave

I have a Samsung 970P with a PVA with RTA panel and me tell you I haven't
found a 19 inch LCD monitor that looks better. Samsung makes different
panels and it makes a big difference in viewing. I don't like the TN panel
which I had before. http://www.samsung.com/pdf/lcd_line2005.pdf

 

[Kaoru Saotome]

Hey all,

Can anyone suggest a great resource for buying an LCD monitor? Where
it covers what:
1. is a good refresh rate
2. is a good viewing angle
3. is a good dot pitch
4. TFT (thin film transistor) is?
5. what brightness is good
6. what res is good
etc

Maybe even a site that has user-ratings of hundreds of different LCD
monitors, and allows you to sort by the best rated ones?

I've googled a bit, but haven't found a whole lot, so any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks.

Rob

If you want a really good monitor, then go for Eizo, but expect to pay
a lot. At my place people preffer LG and Samsung (and Phillips
perhaps) among the cheap lcd monitors.