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Thinking of buying a flat screen monitor for my computer next week. I want one that's atleast 19 inches and doesn't run too hot or eat too much power. I play games on my computer so good quality picture is important. Anyone have any recommendations? Or tips on what to look out for and where to buy?

There's an awful lot of monitors out there. Personally I wouldn't go less that 22 inches widescreen. As for brands...well, it is my experience that there are so many off brands that are of quality that you should look at size and price more than anything.

I've personally never had an issue with a monitor from any brand.

Viewsonic, Samsung, and NEC monitors tend to be the ones that are re-branded by the other manufacturers like Dell and HP, so you should also look at them.

Also, check out CNET's monitor buying guide. It's pretty comprehensive.

Quite a few good points on this [STRIKE]22in[/STRIKE] 27in model. Shame about the price.

Dell U2711 - Near Professional Quality at a Pro-Am Price

If you're a professional image or video editor, it's possible that the U2711 will fall a bit short. Specifically, we've seen better color accuracy, especially after calibration. For the price, we'd recommend looking at HP's LP3065, or one of the other 30\\\" S-IPS displays. However, the U2711 does win out in quite a few areas. If you want a fine dot pitch, there's no better desktop LCD right now. The U2711 also supports 30-bit deep color with 12-bit internal processing; most displays with 30-bit color output cost twice as much!

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EDIT: It's a 27in, not a 22in. Silly me.

--Patrick

I'm still running on my 6 year old Viewsonic LCD screen. I haven't had any reason to switch monitors. I'd suggest going to NewEgg.com and searching for monitors and then sorting them by ranking and your price range.

I got a Samsung Syncmaster 20" about 4 years back from Sam's club for around 200.00$ Good picture for me, no burnt pixels, does HD well, reduced the heat output from the 19" CRT I had by a LOT plus, DESK SPACE!!!!! Wooo!

Amorous Eyes said:

Personally, I don't care for the shiny / glossy ones. All I see is the damn reflection.

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Yes, a matte finish is a must for me as well. It's a shame it's not a listed spec for most monitors.

I'm very happy with my 21.6" Asus VH222H (1920x1080). I might have gotten a 23" monitor, but it wouldn't have fit on my desk. I also could have gotten a 22", but all of those are only 1680x1050, and I'd rather have more resolution than slightly larger physical size.

Ignore response time specs, all monitors in the size range you're looking at will be fast enough. Ignore contrast ratio claims, they get blown out of proporation easily.

Keep in mind dead-pixel policies. Many shops won't replace a monitor for less than 7 malfunctioning pixels, even if they're right in the middle of the screen. (Mine has a single bright green sub-pixel, but I have trouble finding it even when I look, and it's not near the center of the screen.)


Whatever monitor you choose, make sure you calibrate your monitor when you get it. The difference between the default modes and what I eventually settled on is huge. My monitor went from huge areas of backlight bleed, and kinda washed-out color, to fairly nice blacks (for a sub-$200 monitor) and gorgeous color. Just remember, Contrast controls white levels, while Brightness controls Black levels. You want to set contrast as high as you can, while still being able to distinguish between the brightest whites, and then set the Brightness as low as you can while still being able to make out the difference between dark colors near black. I also had to adjust the colors individually to keep green from overpowering blue.