LCD Monitor Recommendations

"Sean McCarney" wrote in message
...
Budget no problem (wife's approval obtained!) DVI input wanted, resolution
1025x768 minimum (but all I have is a 15 inch CRT so maybe a higher res
would be better - advice accepted!).

IMHO, if budget is no problem, go for a high-end one. Of course, any
LCD monitor will be an improvement over your current CRT.

What I have been concerned about is
the refresh/update rate which according to the PC Mags is the decideing
factor in order to avoid blurring on games.

Lots of people have said LCD's are terrible for games because of the low
refresh rates and image latency. I guess that's subjective, but LCD's are
pretty good these days, and I think games look great on them. The VS2000
has a response time of 25 ms, which is a little longer than the 17 ms it
takes to show a frame at 60 Hz (the refresh rate of pretty much every LCD
monitor), but whatever blurring is present isn't noticeable to me.

If anything, the smearing is just enough to smooth out the image a bit,
which in MSFS makes the view look a little more realistic.

The VX2000 is 1600x1200 which is, IMHO, much nicer for games than 1024x768.
However, you'll need suitable hardware to get decent framerates at that
resolution. But the latest generation or so of PCs and video cards should
be able to handle that just fine.

Samsung also makes some nice high-res LCD monitors. Some are actually in
their "multi-function" line, which means they also have S-video and
composite inputs, among other things. Their SyncMaster 241MP has a 16:9
aspect ratio, with 1920x1200 resolution. I've always thought a wide-screen
monitor would be good for games. Though, many games don't support
wide-screen formats anyway, so it's kind of hit-and-miss. If you want to go
with the safer 4:3 aspect ratio, their SyncMaster 211MP is basically the
same, but with a 1600x1200 resolution instead. For just a straight computer
monitor, the 240T is their 1920x1200 widescreen monitor, while their 210T
and 213T monitors are 1600x1200.

I haven't actually used the Samsungs, so I can only really recommend the
Viewsonic. Actually, the Viewsonic has slightly better contrast than the
Samsung monitors do, but I don't know how significant that is.

By the way, I did a quick Google search, and came across this article:
http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2...s/index.x?pg=1
It has a really great summary of the various pros and cons for LCD monitors
that I think anyone who hasn't used one yet ought to read before buying one.
In particular, they mention a couple of the big issues with LCD monitors:
running at any resolution other than the monitor's "native" resolution won't
look very good (don't bother with an LCD monitor unless either a) you need
the desktop space, or b) you are prepared to run as much of your software as
possible at just the one resolution; also, there are almost always a handful
of "bad pixels" (monitor manufacturers and/or retailers usually have some
maximum number of bad pixels that they consider acceptable, and unless the
number exceeds that limit, you can't return the monitor simply because of
bad pixels).

Anyway, I hope that general information is useful. I bought the Viewsonic
because of its excellent performance specifications (low response time, high
contrast) and relatively good price (it was the least-expensive 1600x1200
LCD I could find at the time). I'm extremely happy with it, and think games
play great on it (I've played all sorts using it: MSFS of course, Combat
Flight Sim, Neverwinter Nights, Asheron's Call, Rise of Nations,
MechWarrior, Half Life, just to name a few). The only gotcha was that I
live in what might be considered a high-RF-interference area (a block away
from an AM radio station) and it interferes with the touch-sensitive buttons
that control the monitor. But most people wouldn't have to worry about
that.

There are, of course, numerous other manufacturers selling LCD monitors.
Sony, NEC, Gateway, Dell, among others. I recommend 1600x1200 resolution,
but if you're willing to go with a 1280x1024 or 1024x768, those are still
significantly less expensive right now. But since budget's not a problem,
you'll probably want to go with one of the high-resolution displays.

Pete