View Full Version : New Monitor advice required
My 19" GNR nearly 5 year old monitor has stripes down the sides and I am wanting to replace it with a 22" or 24" TFT or LCD (I don't know whether they are the same thing or not):confused: monitor.
I paid £419 for my current one and I don't think it has been one of the best for colour.
I would like advice on what the best monitor would be for me bearing in mind I us CS3 and Lightroom. I have an Epson 1290 printer.
I have seen ones advertised for under £200 but I would like to spend less if I could get the right one.
Any advice would be appreciated.
My 19" GNR nearly 5 year old monitor has stripes down the sides and I am wanting to replace it with a 22" or 24" TFT or LCD (I don't know whether they are the same thing or not):confused: monitor.
I paid £419 for my current one and I don't think it has been one of the best for colour.
I would like advice on what the best monitor would be for me bearing in mind I us CS3 and Lightroom. I have an Epson 1290 printer.
I have seen ones advertised for under £200 but I would like to spend less if I could get the right one.
Any advice would be appreciated.
You won't get a 24 inch LCD monitor for under £200 - not at least one from a known brand. As a rule of thumb, the difference between 22 and 24 inch monitors, apart from the physical size, are that 22 inch monitors have 1680x1050 pixels, while 24 inch monitors have 1920x1200 pixels. Personally, I have an inexpensive 20 inch iiyama monitor (c.£100) and this has the same resolution as the 22 inch models. It's pretty good for the money I have to say.
One thing to remember about LCDs (practically all LCD displays are of the TFT variety, by the way) is that the size measurement of the screen diagonal is of the visible area of the screen. With CRTs, the screen bezel covers a fair percentage of the screen at its borders so the like for like comparison of 'inches' between CRTs and LCDs will mean a smaller visible area for CRTS than LCDs. So your old 19" CRT probably only has a visible area equivalent to a 17" LCD. Meanwhile, a 20 inch LCD would be comparable to a 22" CRT.
Features to look out for include:
Connections: DV-I (useful if your PC has a DV-I compatible graphics card). Some monitors now include a HDMI port so you can turn your screen into a HDTV display when connected to a suitable HD source.
Contrast ratio: 1000:1 is considered par, but some monitors can boast 3000:1 or higher.
Viewing angle: The wider the better and in both vertical and horizontal planes: aim for at least 170 + 170 degrees.
Orientation adjustment: Make sure the screen can be tilted up and down for ideal position and viewing. Some designs can als be rotated to portrait mode for viewing documents, for example.
Refresh rate: this is mostly of importance for game playing. 5ms is OK for most uses and photography isn't demanding in this respect. Monitors for gaming will refresh pixels in as little as 2ms.
I'm very happy with the iiyama brand and happily recommend it:
http://dpnow.pricegrabber.co.uk/search_attrib.php/page_id=37/form_keyword=iiyama%20lcd%20monitor/rd=1/skd=1/st=query
Other good brands include Samsung, LG, HP.
Ian
DennisP
26-05-08, 05:20 PM
Autumn - I was in the same position a month or two ago and after much deliberation and shopping around I finally settled for the 22inch LG Flatron TFT monitor model No. L226WTQ which is a wide screen model. I purchased it from Comet and it cost £200 then but can be obtained for £184 if you shop around. It has a response time of 2ms and a contrast ratio of 5000:1 which gives excellent deep blacks and bright whites. I have been well pleased with it and wish now that I had bought it sooner.
Josh Bear
26-05-08, 07:49 PM
Hi
Just bought this yesterday.
http://www.johnlewis.com/230448292/Product.aspx
If you have a DVI card in your PC you will need a DVI to HDMI cable (£30) So far so good. Have just finished calibrating it and it seems considerably better than my old Fujitsu one.
Best Regards
Josh
Josh Bear
26-05-08, 07:50 PM
Sorry should have mentioned. That I did research here
http://www.prad.de/en/
Thank you all very much. It certainly helps to have such a wealth of knowledge at my finger tips.
I know I definitely would like a widescreen. For some reason, I imagined 22" or 24" would be widescreens. That is because I saw someone using one and it was wide.:\
I am going on holiday soon, so when I return, I will then start looking seriously.
jds9000
28-05-08, 09:32 AM
Got one of these from Dabs
HP w2207h 22" Wide Brightview TFT ... just under £200 here in the C.I., but a gorgeous screen.
Jay
DennisP
28-05-08, 10:41 AM
The only trouble that found with that one Jeremy when I was looking for one was the annoying reflection of oneself which can seen on dark areas. As you say a lovely picture but I just could not stand the reflections.
jds9000
28-05-08, 10:45 AM
The only trouble that found with that one Jeremy when I was looking for one was the annoying reflection of oneself which can seen on dark areas. As you say a lovely picture but I just could not stand the reflections.
Your right .... I'm next to a large windows, but the screen 'faces away' from it so no reflection !!
Good point :o
Jay
Thank you all very much. It certainly helps to have such a wealth of knowledge at my finger tips.
I know I definitely would like a widescreen. For some reason, I imagined 22" or 24" would be widescreens. That is because I saw someone using one and it was wide.:
I am going on holiday soon, so when I return, I will then start looking seriously.
All but old stock or cheapie smaller size screens are now wide-screen format :)
Ian
Geeez I'm really pleased this useful thread is here 'cos I suspect I may be needing a new monitor very soon.
Thanks for all the info and links, chaps. :)
Pol
Geeez I'm really pleased this useful thread is here 'cos I suspect I may be needing a new monitor very soon.
Thanks for all the info and links, chaps. :)
Pol
Just finished setting up the iiyama ProLite E2003WS-B1 after my CRT finally gave up the ghost this morning.
So far so good and I must say I'm very pleased with it. The colours look good even though I haven't calibrated it yet. Good and sharp and great no longer having to scroll sideways for most of the panos and other stuff.
Not very expensive either at just £156.
Pol
Is it a 20 or 22" Pol?
I still haven't replaced mine yet. As it hasn't completely "Gone" yet, I keep hanging on and Roy's Graphic Card went this morning, so it looks as though we shall be spending money on that first.:\
Anyway I shall be looking for help with that in a separate thread.
BTW Glad your first impressions of the Screen are good. Let us know how you get on and how it calibrates. What calibration software do you use?
Is it a 20 or 22" Pol?
I still haven't replaced mine yet. As it hasn't completely "Gone" yet, I keep hanging on and Roy's Graphic Card went this morning, so it looks as though we shall be spending money on that first.:
Anyway I shall be looking for help with that in a separate thread.
BTW Glad your first impressions of the Screen are good. Let us know how you get on and how it calibrates. What calibration software do you use?
It's the 20" (screen resolution 1680 x 1050). I followed the link Ian posted when he mentioned the one he had.
I use the Spyder2 for calibrating and I'll probably get around to doing that later this week. The colours are looking good at the moment though - seems to be near enough as it should be, though I'll still calibrate to be sure.
Pol
Thanks Pol. I fancied the 22". I also have a Spyder 2 but it doesn't seem to work properly on my current monitor and Vista.
Thanks Pol. I fancied the 22". I also have a Spyder 2 but it doesn't seem to work properly on my current monitor and Vista.
This PC is getting on for 4 yrs old and still with XP.
I'll just have to cross the Vista bridge when I come to it. I'm hoping I can pootle along with this one a while longer since I now have the new monitor. The 20" wide screen suits me fine. The CRT was huge and heavy (19") so I now have much more available space on the desk as well as a wider resolution.
Pol
Audrey, just to let you know I've now calibrated the new monitor with no bother, no problems.
It's looking superb now - I'm really very pleased with it. :)
Pol
Patrick
17-07-08, 09:47 AM
Thanks Pol. I fancied the 22". I also have a Spyder 2 but it doesn't seem to work properly on my current monitor and Vista.
I had Trouble with my Syder2 under Vista, if its the same problem I had it was easily sorted, right click the short cut and select "run with administrator" it may then ask you to put in your serial number again but should be OK after that provided you start the program this way every time. Or go a step further and do what I have done and switch UAC off in control panel > user accounts. This stops that irritating darkening of the screen and the requests for permissions when installing new programs, and allows Syder to run unhindered.
I had the same problem with PrintFix but this same method sorted it, datacolor help could not sort the problem and said it was only me suffering from it but were delighted when I emailed back to give them the solution. They said the info would be passed on to the technical dept. Its my guess they were having lots of help enquiries and had not yet found this very simple fix, I found it by accident.
Patrick