Hi, It's time for me to purchase a new LCD Monitor as my current 15" "Daytek" CRT Monitor from around '97, is starting to limit my graphics card. I hope I have a budget of around £180 GBP (Mum's paying ) and have already found 3 monitor's from a retailer near me. Moving on. 19" BenQ FP91GX 4ms DVI Silver TFT Monitor This look's like the perfect monitor for me, I will be using my new monitor for Gaming & Digital art - so no ghosting or low resolutions for me I believe that the higher the contrast ratio the better. That BenQ is 550:1 so I was a bit miffed to whether it is good or not. I also found this 19" Samsung SM940N TFT Monitor 8ms Silver which is sort of stretching the budget, but has high specs. I will also be using the monitor for films (played on PC) and all-round web surfing etc. Then there's this 19" Sony SDM-S95AS 8ms Silver TFT Monitor which looks very nice but has 16 ms response time. Will this matter as it is the cheapest? Hopefully I will be buying the new LCD in under a months time. I only want a 19" monitor (no less, or higher - if in budget). Your view's please. My PC specs are in my signature. Thanks in advance Chris
Take a look at the BenQ FP91G+ from ebuyer :- ebuyer.com - PCs/Displays » Monitors » .TFT LCD Flat Panel 19" » Product details Its the 19" version of the one that I use and £30 cheaper than the one you have chosen. The only difference is that your one is 4ms and the ebuyer one is 4ms. You wont notice the difference and you'll save some dosh. I've used my one for gaming and there is no ghosting at all.
Thanks for your recommendation, I will add it to my list But, I might go for one of the higher contrast ratio monitors such as the Sony or Samsung.
Try to see a flat screen in action before you buy, the look of the screen can be quite subjective (more so than CRT's). Even if you dont buy from ebuyer have a look at the site. A lot of the products have reviews by customers which are probably less biased than magazine or web reviews. X black or glossy screens are better for watching DVD's because the screens can produce much darker black, but they can reflect badly in bright lights. Might not be a problem at home but bear it in mind if you use the monitor in front of a window. This Samsung has plenty of good reviews and comes with 700:1 contrast ratio. ebuyer.com - PCs/Displays » Monitors » .TFT LCD Flat Panel 19" » Product details
Don't buy any monitor you haven't seen in action yourself. For example: I know a lot of people give Viewsonic a lot of praise, but I've never been that impressed with their displays. Specs are good to give a general frame of reference, but since this is something you'll likely be using for a long time, it would be wholly beneficial to check out any units your interested in. Personally, I like Samsung displays, although Sony's are generally pretty good---just a tad on the expensive side.
Thanks LORD & Big B for the advice, I will go down to MicroDirect in Manchester to see if they can show me these monitors and then will take it from there. Will probably end up getting a Samsung 700:1 Ratio monitor. Thanks for ya help.
