Looking for a new LCD

[gamefreak94]

As many of you must be knowing, I'm using a 19" CRT atm. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it....other then the fact that it's power rating is 200W. With electricity fast becoming a precious commodity here, it's time to go for something a little bit more efficient (you got it! LCD!).....but this does mean that my gfx card upgrade will have to wait more, oh well.

Anyway, LCDs are pretty expensive here, even a 19" wide-screen can cost $175! I looked on Newegg and saw that the prices are far cheaper there, so I think it's be best to order it via my relatives in the USA. Looked through 4 pages of the LCD stock which Newegg had, and there were only 3 non-widescreen ones in the lower price range, and all were made by Hanns-G (like this one). They're fairly cheap, but many people complained that they died out really quickly. On top of that, Hanns-G doesn't have any official dealers here so if I ever want to RMA it, it'll be a pain in the arse to first send it half-way around the world, have my uncle RMA it, and then bring it back again, aside from being costly as well.

So I'm forced to go with wide-screens it seems. I'm on a pretty tight budget, no more then $140 because the local currency (the Ruppee) is dropping like flies. My mind seems fixed upon this one atm:

Newegg.com - ASUS VH202T-P Glossy black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 Built in Speakers w/ Aspect Control - LCD Monitors

It's ASUS (good quality, efficient RMA service), and its 20" as well (I was looking for 19" ones, but 1 extra inch would still be a good bonus).

There's this one too but I think ASUS will be better plus there are a lot of complains about it:

Newegg.com - Acer X203H bd Black 20" 16:9 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ Swivel Adjustment 300 cd/m2 10000:1 w/ HDCP Support - LCD Monitors

So what do you guys think? Any other products re welcome too.

P.S. If someone can suggest a 19" (or even 18.5") standard LCD (not WD) then that would still be the best.

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[SupaDK]

I'd go with the ASUS by far just for the contrast ratio difference , it also comes with built in speakers which alot of the LCDs out now have pretty decent speakers , If you are going standard LCD and not widescreen go with the ASUS because of the jacked up contrast ratio

I was going to say Happy July 4th but then I read your location is Pakistan and was like eh nm :P

[LoneWolf]

that contrast ration is dynamic.won't make much of a difference.


@GF- I know this evil economy of computers in our countries. I saw a 19" LCD from BenQ for just 126$.

[gamefreak94]

Its not like this with everything, just networking stuff and monitors seem to be expensive (routers are like 2x that of Newegg!). Other components are fairly priced (thankfully).

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[strike105x]

LG have 19" non Wide, (like mine) and picture quality is very good , also i dont know what to say about the Asus, but i hate anything that is named acer :P

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[gamefreak94]

Can you please give me the model name of your monitor and the price you got it for? I'm still a bit hesitant for going for wide-screen, standard 5:4 would be optimum IMHO.

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[Lord Zedeck]

Just note that an LCD monitor that only costs $140 is not going to be a good one. I'd consider ~$200 the bare minimum (and I'd, personally, spend much more if I was buying one now). This is your display, afterall. People go and plunge ~$200 on video cards that they replace sooner, and only have a difference visually that's mostly excluded to games, so why is the monitor something people seem to want to half skimp on?

I know it's your opinion, but what is the reason for considering 5:4? I think 5:4 is a joke. I still think it a waste even inventing that ratio/specific resolution. We were already at 4:3, then suddenly we go narrower, only to immediately shift to widescren. Yeah, that made alot of sense. If you're going away from 4:3, go widescreen. 5:4 is a ratio that only makes sense for internet use/basic PCs. The extra horizontal space is supposed to give you more room to work in that direction (since it's up/down that web pages are usually scrolled). That's the only reason I can come up with for why that ratio/resolution was invented, but honestly, I think it's a joke (along with the fact that most 1280x1024 monitors are TN panel and low grade trash anyway, whereas the widescreen TN ones of higher price are usually half decent).

LCD Panel Technology Explained - S-IPS, S-PVA, MVA and TN

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[Spyhop]

Acer sucks.

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[kingfire]

Mmm, if your uncle is in the USA try buying an used one from eBuy.

[LoneWolf]

you mean eBay, don't you?

Newegg is way better.

[Phil]

Newegg doesn't ship to Pakistan

[Spyhop]

Originally Posted by Phil

Newegg doesn't ship to Pakistan

Read his post.

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[strike105x]

Originally Posted by gamefreak94

Can you please give me the model name of your monitor and the price you got it for? I'm still a bit hesitant for going for wide-screen, standard 5:4 would be optimum IMHO.

Model LG L1953TR it's around 266$ here. IMO wide's are nice if there 24".

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[Phil]

That's a rather expensive way to get a monitor though. And I dont trust shipping monitors over long distances...I ordered a 24" expensive lcd only to have it arrive broken.

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[strike105x]

I worked at a shipping firm believe me at least here i wouldnt trust them to ship a brick. I never order stuff, well actually there was that horned owl through ebay, but that was because i was desperate :P.

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[gamefreak94]

So cheap LCDs aren't any good it seems. How about a decent second-hand one? Is it a wise choice to buy used LCDs?

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[Phil]

I would eyeball it first though before buying.

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[SupaDK]

I'd have to agree with Zedeck about the aspect ratio , non standard aspect ratios are total **** in my opinion , I personally would go with the ASUS just because they tend to make higher quality products and even a cheaper model would out handle a more expensive acer , though I can't judge anyone that buys either , I personally use some 4-5 Acer X183Hs around the house , the only reason being they were 120 dollars , I don't use extremely high resolutions so @ 1366x768 that's perfect for me , I do like the widescreen 16x9s better too , It may just be me but I I find it's better and it fits nicer for alot of the games I play WoW , Dolphin + Wii games it tends to just look alot crisper and you arnt bending the screen, having to adjust your resolution several times for different games , mind you I'll probably get flamed about liking widescreen more and thinkin it's better but it's my opinion only take it whatever way you want , I personally can't say I hate ACER considering the model of LCD I bought in multiples has been wonderful , If you want to run your games at extremely high resolutions with everything maxed out I hope you have a nice video card and nice cpu and ram to handle it because even if your max resolution is is like 1900x chances are you will NEVER play at that resolution and you won't enjoy your game when the text size and item size is so itty bit you have to go closer to the screen , magnify the text or jack all the icon sizes and desktop/browser text size up very high , which then cuts into how nice and enjoyable the game/os ends up being

PS: I agree with Phil , Try out the LCDs at the Store if you have that option , Alot has to do with how it looks to YOU , thus one screen that looks like crap to one person may look awesome to another

[Phil]

If you game, get a monitor thats capable of 2ms GTG, and still, eyeballing is still the way to go, with the panel lottery at many factories still going strong

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[SupaDK]

Man Phil you are right on it today , I was just gonna add that , Cheers m8