Monitors/Screens TFT/LCD blah blah

[leehack]

Im looking for a new screen, i did have my lappy setup with a dual screen to an old 17" CRT. However, my nephew needed a computer for his homework, so he now has my old system and monitor.

Old threads are pretty useless on advice on these things as they soon outdate. I'm looking to spend around £200-250 and get the biggest and best screen i can, anyone offer any suggestion, links or advice on what to do. I have so little knowledge on what are classed as good and bad.

Cheers

[Rich-MLandS]

Have a scan through this site: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/cat/Monitors/subcat/.TFT-LCD-Flat-Panel-20%22-to-24%22

I would recommend ebuyer.

[george]

The difference between my Dell Ultrasharp thingy (at work) and my CRT one (at home) is like comparing a 60w light bulb to a 100w one. :o

Good to see your work on different viewing standards though.

[leehack]

I did like having a CRT to see things also, the difference to my laptop was quite substantial and gave a good overall view on things.

However, he was having to do his homework in his dinner break at school as he didn't have one at home - so it's gone now.

I had a search around ebay and this one (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Xerox-22-Widescreen-TFT-PC-Mac-Monitor-5ms-19-20-21_W0QQitemZ150087530905QQihZ005QQcategoryZ174QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)seems ok, however i have no idea whether its a good model or not.

[pinbrook]

personally i wouldn't use a widescreen for website work, widescree nis for watching dvds etc

[jont]

personally i wouldn't use a widescreen for website work

I also went for a standard ratio monitor for design work - better visually on the eyes and promotes safer working practices.

[leehack]

Hmmm good point, I agree.

My laptop is widescreen, so a second screen i want to give me as square a picture as possible. These widescreens are great for width however always suffer on the depth. Scrolling down and not seeing as much of a document as i could is always a bug bear for me, especially in word and excel. Photoshop and dreamweaver will always be better too.

Cool, on the way now to knowing what to get. A 20"-24" non widescreen is what i want. Its more the makes now than anything else i guess. There are some manufacturers whom i have never heard of, whereas with a pc or laptop, i personally love compaq. Mainly cos i have never had a problem with them and i know they run most of the atm's in the world - i always saw that as a plus point - don't ask me to explain, i just do.

I can't decide on whether Dell are any good or not, i seem to hear contrasting stories. I guess i could also do with a new desktop, maybe i should be looking for a complete new package with a monitor included.

That gets confusing again though, there are so many processors around now. Last desktop i bought was a 450 Pentium III, which as i understood was the nuts at that time. I presume the dual core ones are the nuts now, however there seems so many.

If anyone would like to tell me which to buy and where to get it, i would be eternally grateful, i look at the options available and just get confused - bit like when i first saw V8 actually. In fact still to this day lol.

Thanks for the advice so far guys and gals.

[pinbrook]

I like my Dell flat screen.

I've also got a cheapy i bought from CPC which is my standby spare monitor for emergencies - the problem with this one is its whistles on warming up, therefore I have to keep a screen saver on it to stop it whistleing all day, it also has dead pixels. Neither my laptop nor my Dell (both are 2 years old have any dead pixels)

thus buy branded

[RuralWeb]

I always buy and recommend DELL (ducks for cover) over the years I must have bought over 700 of various types and have had few problems. You can go on thier website and configure what you want and there is always an offer on. I use a wide screen but with a "normal" one to check sites on.

[RuralWeb]

I would go for a complete package as they are dirt cheap and you can almost get a full system for the price of some monitors.

[los_design]

I always buy and recommend DELL (ducks for cover) over the years I must have bought over 700 of various types and have had few problems. You can go on thier website and configure what you want and there is always an offer on. I use a wide screen but with a "normal" one to check sites on.

Go on Malc run for the deepest cover you can find :p

I would never touch dell with a barge pole, with the vast majority of their components being proprietary you are screwed should something goes wrong PLUS the amount of c$%p components they throw in around 2 top notch items makes the less savy buyer think WOW!!!

HP/Compaq rule the waves IMHO but once again, a factory built pc will NEVER be as good value or custom spec'd as an independently built pc.

We 'could' build a pc similar to the Dell OptiPlex 745 with bolt ons for a fraction of the cost. BUT Dell do offer high VAS's compared to SMB's building their own.

Chuck up your preferred spec Lee and I shall demonstrate the variances for you to compare.

PS...before you ask...NO I am not building one for you ;-)

[leehack]

This is my problem, one swears by them and another scoffs.

This is my rough needs in plain english:

1 - 20" or bigger square screen
2 - The best processor on the market at the moment or maybe one down from the best if the best is stupid price right now
3 - as much ram as i need to run Photoshop, dreamweaver, actinic, office 2003 and the internet at the same time without waiting for them to swap over
4 - hard drive size doesn't really bother me, i haven't filled a 40GB one in 12 months and have a seagate external drive where i back up too etc. around 160gb seems to be pretty standard nowadays, i have no need for anything more
5 - be able to pick up my wireless network
6 - CD/DVD drive that is fast, burns and accepts all type of formats
7 - wireless keyboard and mouse unless not advised
8 - In 3 years time it won't be the best, but it will still be a reasonable spec
9 - Vista
10 - recognised name
11 - no shitty bundled useless software i do not want

Thats about it i think.

Thanks for this guys, im getting really frustrated and want it sorted out today, i am waiting no longer, i am getting too peed off with it.

[los_design]

Hi Lee

Customise this baby (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF13a/35123-968421-968421-968421-12221722-12221748.html)....had my eye on this one for a while ;)

[leehack]

That page just blows my mind, i have no idea what im choosing and the site is dead slow.

[gabrielcrowe]

i design on widescreen. i cant really go back now. see, resolution dependent design would suggest a screen similar to your end user, but with a very simple browser resizing app, you can easily mimic their resolutions.

i use a laptop with 1280x800 for coding, dual pane, and an attached 1600x1200 flat panel, for viewing the output.

try this, if you buy a large panel:
http://www.rjlsoftware.com/software/utility/resize/

also, when considering a flat panel, the only thing i consider is its speed.

mine is a 2ms panel. and a 4 ms laptop display.

cost is not important, when you consider the possiblity of blurry images, and a crappy dot pitch.

[jont]

I use and very happy with Dell TFT - would not touch their PC's again after 2 bad experiences.

The only thing I would add to the confused mix Lee is to invest in colour calibration (Huey for example) if doing a lot of graphic / image work.

[RuralWeb]

How about buying a new chain saw and sorting your old one out:D

[gabrielcrowe]

good call mr j.

[Duncan Rounding]

Agreed. I use a GretagMacbeth Eye-One colorimeter to make sure my printouts are the same colours as my monitor (for digital artwork). If it's important to you you may want to consider that.

I use a 21.3" Iiyama 4x3 aspect FP monitor with a decent ASUS graphics card - very pleased with it.

[leehack]

I bought a McCulloch chainsaw about 2 weeks ago to cut up the 3 trees that fell in my garden. After butchering a number of trunks, it is tempting to take it to anything computer related in my house as today has blown my mind - i officially give up.

Too much bad news ive heard on Dell

PC World sucks

Compaq website is a disgrace

Is colour calibration a piece of software or a techy thing you buy at purchase time?

[jont]

It basically dangles in front of you monitor to calibrate with its associated software. There are several on the market to chose from see http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/pantone_huey.html for example

[completerookie]

I've just bought TWO 19" screens from misco - they ( mfg is HANNS-G ) hook in instantly, both match (in terms of colours) and the nice thing is 3yrs ON-SITE warranty for JUST £95 for each monitor
in terms of screen-space, 2 x 19 (1280 x 1024) beats the hell out of any 21" widescreen
I've now got enough space to have actinic open in full on one screen, email, web, word . . . etc on the other.

having played on widescreens etc, I wouldn't part with 2x19"

I've actually got the old tape out, (I know I've got 2" of bezel in the middle but the brain seems to filter that out after a while) and the diagonal measurement is 34" - slightly better that 21"

there I go, boasting again !

[Jan]

I would never touch dell with a barge poleSame here.

Regards,

[gabrielcrowe]

I've just bought TWO 19" screens from misco - they ( mfg is HANNS-G ) hook in instantly, both match (in terms of colours) and the nice thing is 3yrs ON-SITE warranty for JUST £95 for each monitor
in terms of screen-space, 2 x 19 (1280 x 1024) beats the hell out of any 21" widescreen
I've now got enough space to have actinic open in full on one screen, email, web, word . . . etc on the other.

having played on widescreens etc, I wouldn't part with 2x19"

I've actually got the old tape out, (I know I've got 2" of bezel in the middle but the brain seems to filter that out after a while) and the diagonal measurement is 34" - slightly better that 21"

there I go, boasting again !

i have this setup at home. but i use the monitor rotation to have them top to top and long ways. like the pages of a book. this makes reading list sites and searches a lot easier.

coding is better too, longer screen space.

[completerookie]

the only reason for NOT going this way (vertical not horizontal) was Neck Ache but the idea's a good one.

[leehack]

Its cool if you glue your chair to the wall.

[completerookie]

picture please !