Lookin' For a Monitor

Jacastto · **Lookin' For a Monitor -** 04-06-2009, 14:07 | posts: 32 | Location: Australia

Hi everyone,

Im looking for a new monitor at the moment and i was wondering if some of you could help with defining some terms and stuff.

Im planning to go 24" and the one i have been looking at is a BenQ with a 2ms response time 4000:1 dynamic contrast and 250 cd/m2(?).

What i need help with is stuff like what a good contrast ratio is and what cd/m2 (I think that's brightness) means and what is a good value for that.

And if anyone has another good recommendation for a 24" screen up to $350 that would be great too.

Thanks,

Jacastto

bp9801 · 04-06-2009, 19:00 | posts: 1,599 | Location: New Mexico

Hey Jacastto,

I've been helping a buddy of mine get a new monitor. He lives in Finland and had the Samsung 2333HD. He had nothing but problems with it, from inverting colors to backlight bleeding and just everything you can think of.. minus stuck pixels. So I'd be weary of the newer Samsungs, if you can find the Samsung 245bw, I'd highly recommend that one. I'm using it right now and I have had no problems with it at all.

Now, I've heard the ASUS monitors are good.. but some reviews haven't been so kind to them. BenQ is a good brand to get, I know all Dell monitors were just rebadged BenQs but I don't know if thats still the case. They do have a low brightness (thats the 250 cd/m2) but they do have a 1000:1 contrast ratio. I know everyone just cares about the dynamic contrast, but really, no monitor or tv really uses that all the time. Look for the static or actual contrast ratio, which is typically 1000:1 for nearly everything. A contrast of 1000:1 will do just fine, its going to give you great colors and a good, dark black and bright, vibrant white. I always look for the actual/static contrast because a dynamic contrast won't tell you much. Just how bright it is a certain amount of the time... but not all the time. Thats where the static contrast comes in.

As for brightness, 250 to 350 would work just fine. 400 is nice, mine is that I believe, its great for games but for most everything else its going to be too bright and hurt your eyes in a dark room. 250 to 350 is more then ideal and is just enough to portray the colors properly. 250 will work, I've been looking at it and really, 250 is more than enough for most users.

Hope that helps, I can provide more info if you want. I use to sell televisions haha.

John · 04-06-2009, 19:04 | posts: 16,385 | Location: Northern Norway

What's your budget? What do you plan to use it for, and what's important for you in a monitor?

notyou · 04-06-2009, 20:13 | posts: 275

I'm interested as well.
I'm looking for a 24" LCD that has good colors & is fast.
I play a lot of FPS games. I need something that can keep up with my fast pace.
I don't do much camping in games. I'm usually always moving & looking for people to shoot.

Hopefully something that can compare to my current CRT, a Dell P1230.

bp9801 · 04-06-2009, 20:16 | posts: 1,599 | Location: New Mexico

Are you looking to play at 1920x1080 or 1920x1200? I can offer some monitors that are 24" that go to 1080... and then others that go the size bigger and hit 1200. I have a 1920x1200 24", I love it, and I can't go to anything smaller now haha.

Acer, Dell, BenQ, LG, Viewsonic, Samsung are probably the prefered ones to look at. For more money, definitely the HPs and NECs, though Samsung can certainly fall in the more money range as can Dell.

A3D · 04-07-2009, 00:03 | posts: 2 | Location: SW MI

I recently (3 months ago) bought the BenQ E2200HD monitor from NCIX.com and I love it. The 1920 x 1080 is plenty of real estate for me and the 16:9 aspect ratio is native to many games and movies. I don't miss the reduced height compared to the 4:3 monitors, like the 20" Samsung 206BW I used before (and still do on another machine). The BenQ E2400HD is quite similar in performance according to the reviews I read prior to buying the 22" model, but in the end, not being much of a gamer, I decided to go with the great sale price I got ($207.66 delivered).

You can read a review of both the 22" and the 24" BenQ HDs at the AnandTech site HERE. Hard to beat either of these Full 1080P HD monitors, especially for the price.

Jacastto · 04-07-2009, 01:54 | posts: 32 | Location: Australia

Well this BenQ seems pretty good. it has a 1920x1200 Res, the static ratio is 1000:1 and a 2ms response (good for gaming). the only thing I'm a little worried about is the brightness (250 cd/m2). I guess I'm just cautious because its only about $250 US (inc. postage)

Thanks for your help.

live4life · 04-07-2009, 02:02 | posts: 1,501 | Location: Greece/Athens

Samsung t240 is ur babe!!!!!!!!!!xD i have the 26" samsung t260hd and is a wow XpRiece

bp9801 · 04-07-2009, 02:07 | posts: 1,599 | Location: New Mexico

Honestly, a 250 cd/m2 isn't bad at all. Its on the low end, but also a lot of television sets are at that if I remember correct. So really, there isn't much difference if you consider it like that. I really think televisions are at or around that, there isn't too much difference either way. A 250 cd/m2 for the brightness is plenty bright, it won't glow as much as others but if you don't have the lights on much, you won't notice it by much. Its still plenty bright for most eyes.