LCD Monitors, what to look for...

I have two Samsung SyncMasters. One is the 213T (21") and the other is the 940T (19"). I think they're both great and have no complaints whatsoever (aside from the fact that I wish they were both

21"...thanks, boss.).

response time, actual resolution where it is most happy and contrast ratio.

bob z. has a Rosewill 19" at home. it is really nice considering the price. the rosewill generally gets pretty good reviews:

bob z. p.s.

Too great a response time will drive you nuts. 20 ms is far too long.

8-12 is acceptable. 4 ( my home monitor ) is an un-noticable delay. You can get faster, but you'll pay a huge price for it.

You might be wary of marketed response times. I can't remember the details but I know that manufacturers misrepresent response times. I'm sure you could find more about this on a monitor/lcd newsgroup.

-john

Brian wrote:

Really, faster than 4 ms! I thought 4 ms was as low as they got, at least from a white to black state, with gray to gray state being typically 2 to 3 times that.

not sure if its available stateside or not yet

We've been buying lower priced 19" units for about $186. We set them up as dual monitor systems. The guys really like them because you can have SW on one side and ERP, eDrawings, etc. on the other. We have good quality NVidia cards in all machines so this works out great.

if unreasonable was an option, this might be perfect.

;/

I don't believe any of this response time stuff. If response time is the time to go from a black pixel to a white pixel that would be usefull if I was strobing my monitors with white and black squares all day!

I have 2 ag neovo 19 inch lcd's, they are both digital and are well reviewed. I bought them 3 months apart - the first is 25ms and the second is 12 ms and the only way to tell the difference is to look at the back where the sticker says it.

I would pay more attention to resolution, bad pixel policy, nits (brightness), bezel width, and warranty....

Response time would not be an issue if cursor position were a closed loop and the monitor were somehow telling the cpu where the cursor was.

Lets say you move your mouse at a rate that traverses the screen corner-to-corner in a 1/2 second ( thats pretty slow ). My current monitor is a 21". Thats moving at .0105"/ms. A 4ms response time gives a possible error of .042", 25ms possible of .2625". If you are zinging the cursor back and forth across the screen mashing buttons, with hardly a pause inbetween ( something SW likes to have you do ), that translates into missed mouse clicks. Where you thought the cursor was when you clicked, is not the same as where the CPU thinks it is. Perhaps you don't notice the delay, I deffinately do.

The other specs you mention are absolutely important. But those are specs that are obvious. I only mention response time because its not a spec that everyone would think to consider. Its not something you notice on the showroom floor. The higher response times ( within reason ) would not normally effect the average user.

Am I correct in also thinking that a slower response time will show itself when rotating a model? I have seen some cheap LCD monitors and even changing text is fuzzy until it catches up.

WT

Have you considered two 19" monitors as opposed to one 21"+ monitor? I have found that my productivity is greatly increased by having two separate monitors.

It is easier to manage windows, especially because I always work with "maximized" windows. If you really only work with one application at a time then just one larger monitor would probably be best for you.

As far as response times go - there is so much disinformation out there it will make your head spin. There is no standardized method for measuring response times. There is g2g - gray to gray. b2w - black to white. Some companys advertise the time from b2w2b.

Really any monitor manufactured within the last two years or so from a reputable manufacturer will be fine. Dell periodically has great deals posted at techbargains.com. Just last week they had a 20.1" widescreen for $230 shipped.

As far as measuring mouse accuracy based on ms response time - it doesn't add up. I've been using lcd's for both work and play (first person shooters) since they first became popular about 5 years ago and have never had a problem with mouse accuracy. And the response times on those old lcd's were definitely slow! I can be described as a computer nerd whose fingers can move faster than most people think ;).

Good luck buy> My old CRT is starting to act up, I'm looking at getting an LCD flat