£150-250 Monitor Recommendations

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Hello all,

Yeah, it's yet another advice thread, and I know the OcUK forum gurus see a thousand of these a week, but once again I plead the forebearance of the sages and seek your superior wisdom in the arena of all things technical that I may, too, attain electronic nirvana etc. etc.

Basically I've had the same 19" Iiyama panel for donkey's years now, quite a ratty old thing. The backlight finally blew on it a few months ago, and while I've been trying to make do with a generic 17" I dug out of the attic, I've decided enough's enough and it's time to treat myself to a shiny new panel.

Mostly it'll be for gaming and generally bimbling around on the net/Office, so I think size and good responsiveness is more of a priority than extremely high colour fidelity and viewing angles. Do occasionally watch a DVD or do up the family photos from my DSLR on it, though.

I'm looking to spend about £150-250. Given the above, I was thinking the Samsung SM-245B, which is the right price, great size, 5ms should be fast enough and has pretty good colour fidelity for a TN (or so the reviews say). Plus I like that Samsung guarantees no dead pixels on their monitors.

However it seems like opinion round here is a bit divided on the 245B. What have been people's experiences? And are there any other screens I should be considering? Ideally 22" or more is what I'd like, but honestly, is it worth the extra £100 for the 2" difference over, say, the LG-L227WT?

Input much appreciated!

PS Sorry for long and rambling post!
 
Soldato
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Hi Orison,

I am also looking for a monitor between £150-£250, with the same uses and same screen sizes!
I have narrowed my 22" choice to either the LG L227WT or the Samsung SM-2253BW.
My 24" choices are either the Samsung SM-245B or the Dell S2409W.

I think the biggest difference between the 22" and 24" models are the resolutions. 1920X1200/1080 on the 24inchers will look incredibly sexy, but then our graphics cards will probably need to be upgraded sooner to cope at that res.

Choosing a monitor has been much harder than I thought!

At the moment though I am swaying towards the Samsung 245B.

Sorry I couldn't help more, let me know if you make a decision.
 
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Hi Zildjian,

Sounds like we are thinking along similar lines. I've had a browse around today for more info, looked at a few of the hardware forums. Mostly what I found was:

1. People fanatically defending their own purchase choice (unhelpful, but hey, at least it seems we're likely to be satisfied whatever we choose!)
2. A sad and ill-informed minority who dismissed any TN panel with the brilliant argument "Well if it's TN it's bound to be rubbish isn't it?". No, in short. The best choice is not always the most expensive, it's the one that's fit for purpose. TN panels are cheapest, yes, but they are also the best for response time (which matters a lot in gaming) at the expense of some of the accuracy of colour reproduction (which doesn't matter much in gaming at all). Meanwhile because they're cheaper you get a bigger screen for your cash (which, again, matters for gamers - unless you have an unlimited budget, of course!).

Other, actually useful things I found:

This website, which offers direct monitor-to-monitor comparisons so you can judge for yourself.

And the recommendation to consider the BenQ G2400W, which from the look of the above site is amongst the best for image quality on 24" TNs, has a HDMI input (unlike the Samsung 245B), and is similarly inexpensive. I'm quite seriously considering this one now. Contrast numbers look lower, but remember to watch for panels that cite their Dynamic Contrast rating instead of their true rating - and a lot of people prefer to leave DC off for games etc. In real terms the BenQ has comparatively very good contrast with other monitors in this price range.

Hmm, food for thought... wonder if I'll ever manage to decide!
 
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1. People fanatically defending their own purchase choice (unhelpful, but hey, at least it seems we're likely to be satisfied whatever we choose!)
2. A sad and ill-informed minority who dismissed any TN panel with the brilliant argument "Well if it's TN it's bound to be rubbish isn't it?". No, in short. The best choice is not always the most expensive, it's the one that's fit for purpose. TN panels are cheapest, yes, but they are also the best for response time (which matters a lot in gaming) at the expense of some of the accuracy of colour reproduction (which doesn't matter much in gaming at all). Meanwhile because they're cheaper you get a bigger screen for your cash (which, again, matters for gamers - unless you have an unlimited budget, of course!).

You summed it up really well there.


Other, actually useful things I found:

This website, which offers direct monitor-to-monitor comparisons so you can judge for yourself.

That's a nice website, but a shame they don't have more Dell models. I would have liked to compare the E248WFP and S2409W.

And the recommendation to consider the BenQ G2400W, which from the look of the above site is amongst the best for image quality on 24" TNs, has a HDMI input (unlike the Samsung 245B), and is similarly inexpensive. I'm quite seriously considering this one now. Contrast numbers look lower, but remember to watch for panels that cite their Dynamic Contrast rating instead of their true rating - and a lot of people prefer to leave DC off for games etc. In real terms the BenQ has comparatively very good contrast with other monitors in this price range.

Hmm, food for thought... wonder if I'll ever manage to decide!

I hadn't considered the BenQ before but I will look into it. I think whatever monitor we choice we will probably be happy with. Viewing angles are not really an issue for me and most of the TN panels can be improved with some adjustments.
I like the look and design of the Samsung 245B at the moment and it does get decent reviews.

When will you be ordering the monitor?
I will hopefully be getting it within the next 2 weeks.
 
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Indeed, I'm prevaricating between the 245B and the BenQ myself now. I briefly contemplated the Hyundai W240D-PVA, which is a PVA panel but only slightly dearer, but am troubled by people saying it ghosts.

I wish there was somewhere I could see the three side-by-side so I could decide for myself what I thought was most worth the money!

I had been hoping to order while the 6% sale was still on, but that finishes tomorrow and I doubt I'll make it!
 
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Well I've browsed the interwebs, perused the image quality readouts on Face to Face and I've decided that if I'm going for 24" then it'll be BenQ's G2400W. It seems an excellent monitor for the money.

But...to throw a spanner in the works, the Hanns-G 28" is on offer now and is practically the same money. From looking at readouts and comparisons, the image quality is actually surprisingly good given the price, decent contrast in the gaming brightness range (i.e. 200cd/m2) and decent response speed.

Comes down to the subjective question of whether the extra screen acreage has a bigger positive impact on the image's "wow-factor" than the slight loss of sharpness (it has the same res as the 24"). For me, that's not necessarily a bad thing - I wouldn't want to try and keep up with the hardware requirements to game in more than 1920x1200 anyway. Hmmm...

Comes down to the question of whether I trust the Hanns-G's build quality as far as I would BenQ's, or if I think the thing will fall apart in 18 months.

Think I might snap up a Hanns-G, live a little :)
 
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Took the plunge and got the Hanns-G in the end, hoping it arrives tomorrow so I can revel in 28 inches of Far Cry 2 glory!

Will let you know my impressions.
 
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It's here!

And dear God...it's...it's more beautiful than I ever dared hope. I feel like I am carving ancient truths upon the monoliths of Stonehenge just writing this post.

I am in awe.
 
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It's here!

And dear God...it's...it's more beautiful than I ever dared hope. I feel like I am carving ancient truths upon the monoliths of Stonehenge just writing this post.

I am in awe.


Lol :) Glad you're liking it. Have you played any games on it yet?
28" would be too large for my desk. :(
 
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Mean me, Scougar? The Hanns-G 28" jobbie. Not sure what Zildy has plumped for yet, think it's still decision-time down his way. :)
 
Soldato
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I think it'll be atleast a week or two until I can order my new build due to lack of funds + increasing prices. :(
I've found the S2409W for £200 inc VAT and del. so I think I might go for that.
 
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Tonyrefail
Im also looking for a monitor in this price range but cannot decide :( The more i read into 24" models, i seem to find some little niggle that someone has found and it keeps putting me off lol.

Im after a 24" with 1920 x 1200 native res, viewing monitor head on so TN panels not a problem, would be nice with an HDMI interface but not essential, must support HDCP, no ghosting and low input lag as main use will be gaming. Was willing to pay the extra for the Hanns-G HG281DP 28" but would not fit on my desk :p. 24" would fit perfectly!

Been looking at the new Samsung's due for release on 03/11/08

Samsung SM2433BW 24"
Samsung SM2443NW 24"
Samsung SM2443BW 24"

Can't see much difference between the three accept the SM2433BW which looks different.
 
Soldato
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Im also looking for a monitor in this price range but cannot decide :( The more i read into 24" models, i seem to find some little niggle that someone has found and it keeps putting me off lol.

Im after a 24" with 1920 x 1200 native res, viewing monitor head on so TN panels not a problem, would be nice with an HDMI interface but not essential, must support HDCP, no ghosting and low input lag as main use will be gaming. Was willing to pay the extra for the Hanns-G HG281DP 28" but would not fit on my desk :p. 24" would fit perfectly!

Been looking at the new Samsung's due for release on 03/11/08

Samsung SM2433BW 24"
Samsung SM2443NW 24"
Samsung SM2443BW 24"

Can't see much difference between the three accept the SM2433BW which looks different.

The Samsung SM2443NW 24" and Samsung SM2443BW 24" look quite nice. Do you know what the difference between the NW and BW is?
 
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The Samsung SM2443NW 24" and Samsung SM2443BW 24" look quite nice. Do you know what the difference between the NW and BW is?

Cant seem to find much information or reviews but the specs look identical. Just have to wait and see when they are released i guess. Reasonably priced monitors as well.
 
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