New monitor time, for REALS this time!

[digitalwanderer]

Yeah, my 22" has a red stripe down the left side of the screen that just ain't going away and I am currently searching/debating/arguing with myself over what to replace it with.

So far I'm looking at an "ASUS VS239H-P Black 23" 5ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor 250 cd/m2 ASCR 50,000,000:1, IPS Panel" for $175 and a refurbed Dell UltraSharp U2312HM 23-inch.

I admit I like the Dell's features better, but it's a refurb with a 90 day warranty while the Asus is new with a 3 year warranty. I'm pretty sure I can use my current stand with the Asus too, so I'd at least have good height/tilt control.

Anyone got any advice? I've been looking for a day now and my head hurts from trying to figure everything out, and I'm pretty sure I'm still missing a lot. Any input would be appreciated, I'm gonna order it as soon as I get an actual budget for it from my wife. (I don't actually have a clue yet what my budget will be, so I'm trying to aim low yet get something good)

 

[Malo]

How can you beat 50 MILLION TO ONE contrast ratio!!!!!! It's way way way OVER 9000

 

[digitalwanderer]

Sorry, just a sloppy cut-n-paste on my part. I wasn't too interested/worried about contrast ratio as they all seem to lie.

 

[Tahir2]

Go with the one with the longer warranty.
As to Malo's comment - he was being cheeky.

 

[Blazkowicz]

I'm dumbfounded by that figure, does that mean the monitor is able to blind you? Can't we just declare infinite contrast?

anyway I've read this review and the Asus seems great.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/review-asus-vs239h-p-led-monitor-ips-goodness-you-and-me/performance-i-1
Nice colors it seems, no motion blur, the monitor has to be used in "standard" mode and settings pretty much ignored. One thing that retained my attention is how they say they can drop the brightness without the colors going wrong. I have no idea if it's common on IPS or LED panels but I quite remember a TN luggable laptop that went yellow if I wanted to not be blinded by it.

 

[Arwin]

The 22" (21.5") my wife has cost 99 euro and is already plenty good. I'm not convinced yet by the value of IPS currently versus decent 'other' screens - they can be a bit brighter, but most screens at this point are brighter already than is comfortable, and you have to be careful with lag (not all IPS panels, but some cheaper IPS panels can be much slower).

On the other end of hte scale, I'm currently using an LCD TV from LG that is a full-on TV, 27" inch with built in speakers, 2 HDMI inputs, VGA input, Component input, sound in-out, headphones, etc. and even has passive 3D support, and that only cost me 270 euro, and is perfect for games in my experience. 27" seems about the limit for something that's still useful for PC use.

That's just my two cents - not an expert on this subject in the least, but I did buy two screens this year.

 

[Blazkowicz]

TN displays have always made me mad. I'm sure they're good for looking at them while sitting at the desk but if multiple people watch them, or you use it instead of a television it's not so good.

So it can depend on use. I also saw someone using a lowest end display, about two years ago, it was a 1366x768 18.5". It looks small, esp. compared to a 19" CRT, or even a 19" 5:4 LCD, but smart and tidy, and image quality very good too.
This person had a computer disaster, so I set him up a pentium 3 733 under lubuntu and he could access all his data on firewire drives.. It's funny how modern it looked on the surface.

 

[Otto Dafe]

I've been looking for the same thing in the same price range, actually I was looking at the VS247H-P [Newegg], but now I'm thinking this eIPS sounds good, especially as a second monitor where the viewing angle might be off center in general use. I haven't bought anything yet because I can't make up my mind and there is chatter that eIPS will hit full swing shortly. Two things I have figured out: ASUS lists dynamic contrast ratio instead of static which is how they get their silly number. And, buy from Amazon because they're cool about exchanges whereas last I checked Newegg are nazis about dead pixels.

Edit: Also that one I was looking at had a 2ms (GTG) response time, looking at the IPS model that 5ms is also GTG. Your old monitor, like mine, may actually have a 5ms(BTB) response time, which I guess is faster(?)

 

[digitalwanderer]

And guess who is still thinking of buying a new monitor and is getting REALLY sick of this stupid red stripe.....

 

[Rurouni]

And guess who is still thinking of buying a new monitor and is getting REALLY sick of this stupid red stripe.....

At my office, I use that Dell monitor, which is very nice compared to the previous non IPS Dell monitor. Better contrast and color reproduction. Can't speak for the response time since I'm working on stills only, but it is definitely faster than my old BenQ monitor. At home, I use Toshiba 23" TV which is also nice. Don't know what kind of panel it used, but the viewing angle is great, definitely better than the BenQ and that non IPS Dell. The bonus is that in my country most TV are cheaper compared to monitor and they come with speaker. The sound isn't great, but serviceable... better that my crappy genius speaker. The most noticeable annoyance with this TV is that every time it turns on, it display an OSD that last a bit too long. Other small annoyances are it can't be tilted (no swivel on any axis), fixed height, when the PC turn off the display, it didn't shut down by itself and displaying black screen (it did eventually turn off by itself), and it can't wake up by itself when the signal from PC came back on (resuming from sleep).... Essentially, the TV behaves like a TV instead of a monitor. Great image and response time though.
My current (and rather old.. still using FL backlight) main TV, which is a series 5 (or 6? I forgot) 32" Samsung TV, is still better than this Toshiba TV (I think it got better real contrast ratio).

 

[MrGaribaldi]

We've got quite a few of the DELL U2410 and love them, and guessing the U2312 should be at least equal to if not better.

Personally I would probably try for a 24", but since the 23" has the same resolution you probably get a bit better pixel density on those.

As a ps I'll add I am writing this from a HP LA2405wg which I've been quite happy with

 

[digitalwanderer]

I've been using a 22" for years, so 24" actually feels a bit too big to me.

Giving it a bit more time, had to upgrade my phone so I'm gonna put off the monitor a few more pay cycles. <sigh>

 

[Babel-17]

My current HDTV, and my previous one, have also been my monitor. Or more accurately, my monitor is also a HDTV.

I'm still rocking a 32" Sony XBR6. Prior to this I had a Best Buy Insignia 23".

Each was over a thousand bucks when purchased.

The good news, today, is that prices have totally crumbled and that I could get a solid replacement/substitute for my Sony for just a few hundred dollars.

The bad news, imo, is that we are seeing a sharper differentiation today between the technology that goes into smaller HDTV's vs. what goes into the largest ones.

Afaik it doesn't seem to matter what your budget is if you want a HDTV at around 32" in size. At 40" and below the main manufacturers don't make enthusiast quality HDTV's.

Everything is relative. So by enthusiast quality I'm referring to today's standards. Today's budget panel would be a dream come true for an enthusiast, on a budget, from just five years ago.

Sony in particular seems to have bailed on us 32" users who crave high quality.

https://store.sony.com/c/TVs-LED-LCD-3D-TV/en/c/S_Televisions

Well, as Louis CK would say, paraphrasing, these are the problems of someone who is stretching for something to complain about.

Still ....

 

[BRiT]

Go for 27" monitor.

 

[nutball]

I am quite partial to Dells Ultrasharps. I've had many over the years at home and at work, I've only had one that I felt was a bit meh (ironically it was the most expensive, a 30"-er). I've never felt that they've limited me when playing games (I suck more than the monitor response time does), and for desktop work they're cracking.

 

[Babel-17]

Yeah, Dell seems like a safe choice and I can get a monitor that exceeds 1080p.

I could have edited my previous post but instead I'll just say here that I'd forgotten that Samsung has some interesting smaller HDTV's.

I don't want to pimp them with links, and besides, I'm trying to hold out for back lighting LED's with local dimming.

Even though these edge lit sets are coming along.

 

[MrGaribaldi]

I've been using a 22" for years, so 24" actually feels a bit too big to me.

Giving it a bit more time, had to upgrade my phone so I'm gonna put off the monitor a few more pay cycles. <sigh>

Hehe, that's fair.
After getting a couple of new monitors at work, my vote for Dell just got stronger.

And by waiting a bit, you might just get an even better offer

 

[Blazkowicz]

I've been using a 22" for years, so 24" actually feels a bit too big to me.

Giving it a bit more time, had to upgrade my phone so I'm gonna put off the monitor a few more pay cycles. <sigh>

I get this from my 20" visble CRT sometimes. If it were extended to the sides to become a widescreen it be would really fill my vision.

So, at last, I've worked out the pythagorean math , this was bugging me. I've found out with the math that my width and height were 16" and 12". I've used paper and a web hypothenuse calculator.
If I keep height at 12 and make it 16:9, it becomes 21.333".. wide and the diagonal is, 24.48". If I make it 16:10, it's 19.2" wide and the diagonal is 22.64".

 

[digitalwanderer]

Ugh! You think about this even harder than I do!

I found out when I'm finally getting my monitor, March 15th. No later than that, honest. Got a big bonus coming in and I get a couple hunge to spend on a monitor. Right now I got two in mind:

Asus PB238Q, a 23" IPS with swivel, height, and angle adjustment. $240

or

Dell Ultrasharp 24", a 24" IPS with swivel, height, and angle adjustment. $310

The dell is a bit pricier, but I'm more worried about it's antiglare coating than the price. I've heard scary things about it...anyone have one who can tell me it's not bad/it's fantastic?

 

[digitalwanderer]

Oh, this is why I'm so hung up on a new montior:

Note the red line on the left?