Up-sizing LCD monitor: Advice Please?

[David Pineau]

I'm having difficulty selecting an LCD monitor to replace my current one - a
15" Samsung 150s LCD. I seriously want a 19" LCD, partly for the larger
size, and partly for the higher (1280 x 1024) resolution. I use my PC a
fair bit, mostly web and email, with some programming and digital photo
viewing, and some games - mostly MAME and C-64 stuff.

I have however had difficulty finding one I really like - I've tried a few
LCD's as detailed below with disappointing results. I guess I expected to
be 'blown away' by a 19" LCD, but that hasn't been the case. The image
quality just doesn't seem to measure up to my current 15" LCD.

I tried a ViewSonic VG900b for a few days, but I was disappointed with the
image quality (although digital photos looked awesome on this one). I'm
sure this is an excellent quality monitor in its own right, but beside my
150s I found it appeared to be lacking brightness and contrast and color
vividness.

I then tried a Samsung 912N, which I was more impressed with, but it still
didn't seem to measure up to my 150s. I traded down to a 17" 712N on advice
from the good people at Staples. Although I am much more impressed with the
image, it is a bit smaller than my 150s (the 712N is 2 inches bigger, but at
a higher resolution, so icons and text appear smaller - I don't want to use
any resolution other than the native one).

I'm seriously considering giving up, and returning the 712N and going back
to my 15" LCD. Can anyone can offer some words of advice? Has anyone been
through similar circumstances? I also have a few questions below:

1 - I've been using analog connections to my monitors so far - is there a
marked difference in image quality from analog to digital?

2 - I've heard new technologies will be available in the next 12 to 24
months, including organic LCD and flat CRT's - should I wait for these?

3 - Is it expecting too much that a 19" monitor be 'nicer looking' than a
15" monitor (ie similar idea to a 14" color TV image looking better than a
27" one)

4 - The 20 and 21" ones appear to be dropping slightly in price - has anone
moved from a 15" to one of these?

5 - The monitors I've looked at are on the 'value end' of the price scale -
should I expect a big difference if I move to the higher priced 19" models?

My apologies for the long posting - any advice would be appreciated.

Many Thanks,
David

 

[Mxsmanic]

5 - The monitors I've looked at are on the 'value end' of the price scale -
should I expect a big difference if I move to the higher priced 19" models?

The new Eizo I use for my main desktop blows away the older "value-end"
Samsung and Synco monitors sitting next to it. In particular, the Synco
monitor has faded a lot after several years of continuous use. The
Samsung is still performing well, although it doesn't look nearly as
good as the Eizo. The differences are in brightness, contrast, color
rendering, and saturation, mainly.

 

[DaveW]

You're looking at the inexpensive 19" LCD's and using an analog connection?
Ya, I can see why you have been unimpressed. In life, more often than not
you get what you pay for.

 

[Mxsmanic]

You're looking at the inexpensive 19" LCD's and using an analog connection?
Ya, I can see why you have been unimpressed. In life, more often than not
you get what you pay for.

I haven't been able to see any clear disadvantage to an analog
connection. Even under a loupe, individual pixels are very sharply
defined. It depends on the monitor, the resolution, and the video card,
but in general anything that can be achieved with a digital connection
can also be achieved with an analog connection.