School me on monitors

[otterman]

I need a new monitor. Mine is seriously hampering the prettiness of peoples heads getting blown off.

All I know is you want a low ms. That's it. I havn't bought a monitor in a loooong time, which is actually pretty dumb considering how often I upgrade my tower.

I want to spend less then $300, preferably more like $200.

Annnnnnnnnnd... go.

[Rex]

I don't know how this one "performs", but the price seems right

Samsung 20"

Dell SB has Samsung 2033SW 20" Widescreen Black Flat Panel LCD Monitor for $119 (see lower price in cart) - 10% code XTHR0RQRXJHQ12 - $20 Rebate = $87 with free shipping. Next lowest price on Google Products is $137. Thanks Lila

Specs

* Resolution 1600x900 * Response time: 5ms * Contrast ratio: 15,000:1 (Dynamic), 1,000:1 (Native) * Inputs: o DVI o VGA

I haven't "tried" the slick deals process.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Should have lots of options in that price range. LCDs have gotten cheap. For $200 you should be able to pick up something in the 22'' range.

The major things to look for areRefresh rateContrast ratioBlack level

Cheap monitors often have crappy black levels, which can have a real negative impact while watching movies or playing games. For best image quality you want the blackest black you can get...but then you need a high contrast ratio to still be able to display sharp colors.Refresh rate is the ms you mention...pixel refresh time between frames. Faster it is, the less ghosting you get. 5-8ms is a good range to look for for gaming. I'd rather have an 8ms monitor with good a black level than a 5ms monitor with a poor black level.

[otterman]

What about those HD monitors? I've seen a bunch of monitors advertising 1080p. Is that going to help gaming at all or is it more for just watching movies?

[nnorton44]

Acer X233Hbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 40000:1

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...09163

$170 shipped

[MinisterofDOOM]

What about those HD monitors? I've seen a bunch of monitors advertising 1080p. Is that going to help gaming at all or is it more for just watching movies?

HD is a TV term that really shouldn't be used for monitors. Marketing people will use it but it annoys the hell out of me. 1080p is just a consumer-friendly way of saying 1920x1080. But since the latter has always historically been used with monitors anyway, I don't know why marketing morons feel the need to dumb things down or change how they refer to things.

Anyway, rant aside, 720p is 1280x720. If you get a monitor with higher resolution than that, you're better than 720p. If you go 1920x1080 or higher, your're technically 1080p (or better).

Most monitors in the 22-24 inch range will be 1920x1080 or higher.If you step down to 19 inch monitors, you're looking at something like 1440x900 (still significantly better than 720p but not quite 1080p).

But don't get TOO caught up in comparing different size monitors' resolutions, because really 1440x900 is perfectly adequate for a 19'' monitor. But since you're working with $200-$300 you should be able to get a true 1080p 22 or 24 inch monitor anyway, so that may not matter in the end.

Oh, and one more thing to keep in mind with LCD resolutions:LCDs, unlike CRTs (tube monitors), have fixed permanent physical pixel counts. CRTs can vary the amount of pixels to look sharp at any resolution supported. LCDs ONLY look right at their "native" resolution. If you get a 1920x1080 monitor and try to, for instance, run a game at only 1440x900, it will look fuzzy due to physical pixels trying to represent more or less than one single digital pixel. So you need to be able to run your games at whatever your monitor's native resolution is, or they'll end up looking horrible and fuzzy. So don't go overboard with some 30'' monitor if you're still rocking a P4 and Geforce FX or something like that.

[otterman]

HD is a TV term that really shouldn't be used for monitors. Marketing people will use it but it annoys the hell out of me. 1080p is just a consumer-friendly way of saying 1920x1080. But since the latter has always historically been used with monitors anyway, I don't know why marketing morons feel the need to dumb things down or change how they refer to things.

Anyway, rant aside, 720p is 1280x720. If you get a monitor with higher resolution than that, you're better than 720p. If you go 1920x1080 or higher, your're technically 1080p (or better).

Most monitors in the 22-24 inch range will be 1920x1080 or higher.If you step down to 19 inch monitors, you're looking at something like 1440x900 (still significantly better than 720p but not quite 1080p).

But don't get TOO caught up in comparing different size monitors' resolutions, because really 1440x900 is perfectly adequate for a 19'' monitor. But since you're working with $200-$300 you should be able to get a true 1080p 22 or 24 inch monitor anyway, so that may not matter in the end.

Oh, and one more thing to keep in mind with LCD resolutions:LCDs, unlike CRTs (tube monitors), have fixed permanent physical pixel counts. CRTs can vary the amount of pixels to look sharp at any resolution supported. LCDs ONLY look right at their "native" resolution. If you get a 1920x1080 monitor and try to, for instance, run a game at only 1440x900, it will look fuzzy due to physical pixels trying to represent more or less than one single digital pixel. So you need to be able to run your games at whatever your monitor's native resolution is, or they'll end up looking horrible and fuzzy. So don't go overboard with some 30'' monitor if you're still rocking a P4 and Geforce FX or something like that.

Awesome man. Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Thanks

[Looneybomber]

It's worth mentioning.1920x1080 = TV friendly 16:91920x1200 = PC friendly 16:10

Techincally 1920x1200 is superior to 1080p, but it'll come down to a person's preference. For a PC, I'd pick a 1920x1200 monitor over a 1920x1080 one.