Monitor Comparison

B

Bruce

Hi,

I'm considering getting my daughter a Dell 4600 Dimension for college.
It's tempting to build, but she needs it to be a standard machine since I
won't be around to tweak/maintain.

The 4600 will have an NVidia FX5200 (128MB DDR) TV-out/DVI graphics card.
She doesn't play video games, buts will watch DVDs.

I'd like to get her a 17" digital LCD to save space.

Dell will include their 17" 1703FP Ultrasharp Digital FP for $459, or a
17" Samsung 173T Digital FP for $469. Both have a 3-year warranty, and
reviews rate them near equal.

Some specs:

Dell Samsung
Resolution: 1280x1024 1280x1024
Brightness: 250 270
Contrast: 600:1 450:1
View Angle: 170H/170V 150H/120V
Sync: 80H/75V 81H/75V

I belive the Dell's height is adjustable; don't know yet about the
Samsung.

I've got a 20" Ultrasharp at work, and it's ok. I'm not familiar with
the Samsung. Should the lower contrast ratio and viewing angle be of a
concern? Anyone know who makes the Dell Ultrasharp monitors?

Other comments?

Thanks a lot,
Bruce
 
D

Dave C.

Dell Samsung
Resolution: 1280x1024 1280x1024
Brightness: 250 270
Contrast: 600:1 450:1
View Angle: 170H/170V 150H/120V
Sync: 80H/75V 81H/75V

I belive the Dell's height is adjustable; don't know yet about the
Samsung.

I've got a 20" Ultrasharp at work, and it's ok. I'm not familiar with
the Samsung. Should the lower contrast ratio and viewing angle be of a
concern? Anyone know who makes the Dell Ultrasharp monitors?

Other comments?

Thanks a lot,
Bruce

If you must choose between those two, go for the Samsung. But I'd suggest
you consider the NEC 1760NX (black or silver) instead, as that one has
picture quality that blows away both Samsung and Dell. In fact, you should
be able to get a really good deal on a NEC 1760V (black) right now, as that
is the older model. Just be aware that the 1760v is a analog monitor, so
you'd need to confirm that your video card has analog connection as well as
DVI.

Pay no attention to manufacturer listed specs. for brightness, contrast or
viewing angle. These numbers are fudged so much, they are meaningless.
Trust your eyes to pick a good monitor. Or just take the word of a
professional who has seen all three in action . . . go for the NEC, the
Samsung or the Dell, in that order. In fact, anything on the market right
now runs a DISTANT second to the NEC (as far as picture quality goes), but
the Samsungs aren't too shabby for a low-end model. -Dave
 
A

ancra

If you must choose between those two, go for the Samsung. But I'd suggest
you consider the NEC 1760NX (black or silver) instead, as that one has
picture quality that blows away both Samsung and Dell. In fact, you should
be able to get a really good deal on a NEC 1760V (black) right now, as that
is the older model. Just be aware that the 1760v is a analog monitor, so
you'd need to confirm that your video card has analog connection as well as
DVI.

Pay no attention to manufacturer listed specs. for brightness, contrast or
viewing angle. These numbers are fudged so much, they are meaningless.
Trust your eyes to pick a good monitor. Or just take the word of a
professional who has seen all three in action . . . go for the NEC, the
Samsung or the Dell, in that order. In fact, anything on the market right
now runs a DISTANT second to the NEC (as far as picture quality goes), but
the Samsungs aren't too shabby for a low-end model. -Dave

Thanks for the tip Dave. I must admit I haven't had a real peek at
NEC. Do you happen to know the bit width of the color channels?

ancra
 
D

Dave C.

Thanks for the tip Dave. I must admit I haven't had a real peek at
NEC. Do you happen to know the bit width of the color channels?

ancra

It's 24 bit. My wife has one, we run it in 16 bit mode. AWESOME, realistic
color. -Dave
 
M

me6

Thanks for the tip Dave. I must admit I haven't had a real peek at
NEC. Do you happen to know the bit width of the color channels?

I also thank him for the tip on NEC. I haven't ever really looked at
NEC lcd monitors either.....and I also believe that Costco sells them
 
M

me6

I'm considering getting my daughter a Dell 4600 Dimension for college.
It's tempting to build,

Im curious why you aren't just considering getting her a good
laptop.... instead of desktop?
 
D

Dave C.

I also thank him for the tip on NEC. I haven't ever really looked at
NEC lcd monitors either.....and I also believe that Costco sells them

Yeah, NEC lcd monitors are darned near perfect as far as performance and
PICTURE QUALITY goes. Just be aware that the factory settings have
brightness maxed, probably so they will look good if used as display models
in a brightly lit store. This isn't good for home or office use, as colors
will be a bit washed out and the picture will be hard on your eyes. But if
you buy a NEC lcd monitor, you just need to set brightness and contrast both
near the mid-range, then change your video card setting to 1280 X 1024 or
whatever the NATIVE resolution of your monitor is. That's about it. Plug
it in, adjust two settings on the monitor, crank up resolution on the video
card, DONE!!! Windows XP even recognized the NEC as a plug and play, so no
driver is required, and picture quality is awesome with the default driver
that Windows XP chooses. -Dave
 
B

Bruce

Im curious why you aren't just considering getting her a good
laptop.... instead of desktop?

Good question, I know what you mean, and we may still go to laptop route.

The primary reason for the desktop is she likes the larger screen (she's
use to an 18" viewable crt) and the larger typing surface.
Unfortunately, theft is another issue.

She's used my older son's Inspirion 8200 (?) that he uses in college, but
she just didn't like the 'ergonomics'. I think she could use to it. I
also think the laptop is a better way to go since it can go to the
library, where she'll be spending a lot of time.

When my son went to college, he took along his PII desktop, but
eventually bought himself the laptop, and rarely uses the desktop.

Any laptops you'd suggest for $1500 and under?

Thanks,
Bruce
 
B

Bruce

If you must choose between those two, go for the Samsung. But I'd
suggest you consider the NEC 1760NX (black or silver) instead, as that
one has picture quality that blows away both Samsung and Dell. In
fact, you should be able to get a really good deal on a NEC 1760V
(black) right now, as that is the older model. Just be aware that the
1760v is a analog monitor, so you'd need to confirm that your video
card has analog connection as well as DVI.

Pay no attention to manufacturer listed specs. for brightness,
contrast or viewing angle. These numbers are fudged so much, they are
meaningless. Trust your eyes to pick a good monitor. Or just take the
word of a professional who has seen all three in action . . . go for
the NEC, the Samsung or the Dell, in that order. In fact, anything on
the market right now runs a DISTANT second to the NEC (as far as
picture quality goes), but the Samsungs aren't too shabby for a
low-end model. -Dave

Thanks for the tip.

I just checked out the reviews and prices on the NEC 1760NX and the
1760V. Thanks for the tip.

Dell sells them for $546 and $515, but of course I wouldn't go there.
Office Depot has the V for $530; they've discontinued the NX that was
$500.
Amazon has the NX for $488, 1-2 weeks, and the V for $440, 2 days, no tax
and free shipping on both.

Now, from what I can tell, the NVidia card supports both analog and DVI,
and from reviews I've read, analog is now as good as DVI. If that's the
case, is there any benefit other than cost, to using an analog FPD when
you have a card that will support both?

I guess what I'm asking is it true that an analog FPD with an analog
signal is as good as a digital FPD with a digital signal?

One other thing, regardles of type of FPD (analog or digital), they must
run in native resolution or else they have to interpolate?

I guess it's time for me to push myself away form the keyboard and go
look at these monitors.

Thanks again,
Bruce
 
D

Dave C.

Thanks for the tip.
I just checked out the reviews and prices on the NEC 1760NX and the
1760V. Thanks for the tip.

Dell sells them for $546 and $515, but of course I wouldn't go there.
Office Depot has the V for $530; they've discontinued the NX that was
$500.
Amazon has the NX for $488, 1-2 weeks, and the V for $440, 2 days, no tax
and free shipping on both.

Now, from what I can tell, the NVidia card supports both analog and DVI,
and from reviews I've read, analog is now as good as DVI. If that's the
case, is there any benefit other than cost, to using an analog FPD when
you have a card that will support both?

I guess what I'm asking is it true that an analog FPD with an analog
signal is as good as a digital FPD with a digital signal?

One other thing, regardles of type of FPD (analog or digital), they must
run in native resolution or else they have to interpolate?

I guess it's time for me to push myself away form the keyboard and go
look at these monitors.

Thanks again,
Bruce

OK, an LCD monitor has ONE (and only one) native resolution. You can run it
in other resolutions besides native, but you won't want to, as it will look
like crap if you do. Thus you have to choose a lcd monitor with a NATIVE
resolution that you can live with. There's no benefit of using DVI over
analog at the moment. If you had two identical systems with two identical
monitors side by side, and used the analog connectors on one and the DVI
connectors on the other, you would not be able to guess which was which just
by looking at the picture on the monitors. Video cards are starting to
switch to DVI connectors, but I doubt if you will *need* a DVI monitor
before you wear out whatever monitor you buy today. Having said that, the
DVI monitors are only a little bit more expensive than the analog (only)
monitors, so it's a tough call. If you think there's a possibility you
might *want* to go DVI within the next five years or so, then you might want
to spend the extra money on the DVI monitor. I think you'd be quite happy
with the analog, though. If it was me, I wouldn't hesitate to snap up that
V for $440 from Amazon. I paid more than that for my wife's 1760V, and I've
no regrets at all. -Dave
 
D

Dave C.

Good question, I know what you mean, and we may still go to laptop route.

The primary reason for the desktop is she likes the larger screen (she's
use to an 18" viewable crt) and the larger typing surface.
Unfortunately, theft is another issue.

She's used my older son's Inspirion 8200 (?) that he uses in college, but
she just didn't like the 'ergonomics'. I think she could use to it. I
also think the laptop is a better way to go since it can go to the
library, where she'll be spending a lot of time.

When my son went to college, he took along his PII desktop, but
eventually bought himself the laptop, and rarely uses the desktop.

Any laptops you'd suggest for $1500 and under?

Thanks,
Bruce

Why choose one or the other? Note that most laptops support EXTERNAL
monitors, keyboard and mice. Here's what I'd probably do . . . get your
daughter a decent laptop for about $1000 or so (doesn't need to be high end,
as long as it's not celeron crap), add a cheap 17" CRT monitor and full-size
keyboard and mouse. Maybe a docking station, if you can find one cheap.
(makes it easier to hook up laptop to monitor, keyboard, mouse and printer).
Now she's got the best of both worlds. When she's in her dorm room, she's
got the full-sized monitor, keyboard and mouse. But she can also take the
notebook (and possibly a mouse!) to the library, if she wants. If you're
careful, you should be able to get all hardware including printer for about
$1500.

Dell 1150 with P4 processor and 30Gig hard drive (upgraded from defaults
Celeron crap and 20Gig) is just over a thousand bucks right now, with free
shipping. Then go to www.crucial.com to buy another 256MB stick of RAM for
it (total of 512MB), as Dell memory upgrades are WAY overpriced, and the
crucial RAM will likely be better quality anyway. Just type your laptop
model into the crucial web site, and it will choose ram for you, so you
don't have to worry about compatibility issues. Then you should have at
least $300 (maybe $400?) left in your $1500 budget. Inkjet printers are
practically free now, and CRT monitors are cheap. Of course keyboard and
mouse can be had for about ten bucks a piece, depending on what kind you
want, though you might need USB format input devices for a newer notebook.
$1500??? No problem. :) -Dave
 
J

JWC

SNIP
Other comments?
Somewhat OT

Having put 2 through college, with one still in, the first bit of
advice I have for you is to find out if the college your daughter is
going to attend has a purchase program with a manufacturer. In some
cases individual schools may have specific requirements. Many
undergrad business programs now require a notebook be used in class
for accounting and finance classes. The sciences may also require
notebooks for in lab work. Number one son had to ditch his desktop
for a notebook when he went for his masters in botany.

Number three son is just finishing his Jr year at Virginia Tech. I
was amazed at the specific requirements that individual departments
within the various schools have. One thing I found interesting is
that VT professors no longer accept paper papers. CDR is the
preferred method. Zip cartridges are accepted by some departments.
E-Mail is frown on.
 
M

me6

Any laptops you'd suggest for $1500 and under?

No.....really cant give any advice Bruce. Was just curious on your
thinking as I have a 18 yr old nephew getting ready to go to college
next fall as well.

For some reason he doesn't seem to want a laptop.... but to my way of
thinking a laptop is ideal for a college student. But maybe Im
wrong...who knows? lol

Anyway.... was just curious on your thinking on the subject
 
M

me6

Number one son had to ditch his desktop
for a notebook when he went for his masters in botany.

Good advice

My nephew is hoping to become a dentist and going to Kansas city to
college there to that end.

I wonder if they require laptops vs desktops?
 
J

JAD

Our Son is in 3 rd year now. the problems with a desktop for Us were:

Can't move it around. When the vacation time comes and the
apartments/dorms are left alone, things disappear. Laptop cab go in
the trunk if you had to.

No desk to put a desktop on, limited space when your sharing living
quarters.

The biggest thing is mobility, desktops can't help you with the
playing of a presentation in the class room. Other systems may or may
not have the software to playback your files. These are some of the
things we went through over the last few years.
 

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