rleete

iTrader: (21)

Since y'all was so helpful like buying me my new-fangled compooter box, I though it best to axe y'all about them screen doo-ja-hickeys.

New computer means new monitor. I currently sport a 19" ViewSonic VA903b. Doesn't even go above 1280x1024. Color (as is typical of ViewSonic) is incredible, as is contrast and brightness. But it's time for bigger and better.

It has a display that is about 12" vertical. Since all reasonably priced stuff is 16:9, that means I need to go to about a 24" to get any more vertical space. Larger than that is okay, as I can rearrange things on the desk to accommodate if necessary. Not really looking to go much bigger than 27" at this time, mainly due to prices. I'd like to keep it under $300, but will be flexible as required.

So, any recommendations? Personal experience with certain brands or models? Anything to avoid?

neocataboi

Monoprice 9579 IPS Display

I'm a little biased. As this is an extremely high performance monitor for a very low cost. I hate to toot my own horn, but i'm on the product development team for this monitor. I would highly recommend it, its beautiful. Let me show you some videos from our CES booth last week.




BTW, if you aren't familiar with Monoprice.com, i recommend checking the site out.

HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!



---------------

GIZMODO - Monoprice Action Cam Test Footage on Vimeo

Oh, and one more thing, we also have a Go-Pro alternative action can, here is an example of some footage from WSIR, in Enzo (Bellwilliam's) 2011 T25 @ Thunderhill E2 winning car... :P

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

That's a reasonable price on a decent-looking monitor.

Personally, I mourn the death of the 16:10 1920x1200 standard. If and when my current 28" Hanns-G monitor finally gives up the ghost, I don't know what I shall do.

Most traditional computerey activities tend to favor displays which are biased towards vertical size. Most of the static elements of the display (the start menu, the tabs, the ribbon, etc) are almost always horizontal in nature, such that making the display increasingly landscapey simply causes more and more of the total display real estate to be "wasted" on essentially inactive content.

At work, I still use a pair of 4:3 monitors, and I have strongly resisted the efforts of the IT department to give me a free "upgrade." (The monitors are my personal property, which I bought out of pocket after one of my two 20" CRTs died, and the only monitors the company could provide for me were 16:9s.)

I'm sure this is all marketing driven. We've been brainwashed to associate "1080p" with "high quality", never mind that in the PC world, transitioning to 1080 lines meant stepping backwards about 10 years. If the primary task that I used my PC for was watching TV shows formatted in 16:9 then I wouldn't mind, however that's what my ******* TV is for. My computer monitor is for doing computery stuff.

Have you noticed that your mouse has a wheel for scrolling up and down*, but not for scrolling left to right? There's a very good reason for this. The presentation of data on a computer, from the earliest dumb terminals to the present day, has historically been structured around a vertical paradigm. Why on earth would you want to decrease your system's ability to convey information in this dimension?

* = I assume that you are not a Mac owner, and therefore understand the concept of a mouse which has actual physical affordances on it, rather than just a bit touch-sensitive area which gives absolutely no tactile feedback whatsoever.

[/rant]

neocataboi

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Personally i don't like the new widescreen formats, but we have to do with the flow. More and More applications and games are being built around these extra wide formats. We like to bring things to market that people will buy, and the 2560x1440 format is the new thing in video/picture editing, as well as games.

You bring up a great point, and something i always start debating with customers. Personally i love CRT monitors and i wish they still made them with modern connections and resolutions. There is nothing that compares with overall picture quality, IMHO. I waited for the longest time before i upgraded my personal TV to a modern LCD, and this is with me being in the Home Theater/Consumer Electronics industry for the majority of my professional career. All this thin LED stuff is lame, i would much rather have a high performance display that has an amazing picture over something that is absurdly thin.

With that said, it's really is funny at how people hold 1080p to such a high regard, when their personal computers have been supporting much higher resolutions for years before.

rleete

iTrader: (21)

So, neocataboi, as a pro, can you comment on IPS vs. TN panels? I do graphics at home (Solidworks), but just as part of my machining hobby. I mostly surf the web, read & post on forums and play the ocasional (usually older) game. While the one you lited looks nice, it's more than I want to spend. More importantly, the availability in late March is too far out. I need instant gratification! Gonna buy something this weekend.

I prefer my 4:3 screen, which is why I've resisted so long. Joe's rant is dead on; why would anyone want widescreen? I blame shooter games for the change.

Erat

iTrader: (5)

What do you guys do to torture test these things? Run them for hours on end? Try and burn an image into the screen? I like this. I like the resolution, but i don't see anything about contrast ratio. Also 6ms, seems kinda slow (even though it's pretty dang fast). My LG does 2ms and it's pretty dang old.

neocataboi

I understand, i was just shooting this out there. The biggest advantage is going to be in color replication and in viewing angles. IPS monitors wont distort the image, and the colors will stay true in even the most extreme angles. They are also quite bright. Next time you are in an Apple Store take a look at one of their super fancy 1k Apple Thunderbolt Displays (ATD), out monitors use the same panels as those, we just use our own electronics. If you are drawing or designing, the added resolution gives you more work space on your screen. The icons, and everything else will appear smaller, but retain very high clarity.


You bring up a great point. My job specifically is to test new products and to make sure that the products we carry are all up to standards. I do product complaint management, i don't work with customers, but i do work with our vendors and product managers to make sure things will last and will be up to quality standards.

With this monitor specifically, we have been using 3 engineering samples in our lab for the last 4-5 months. They are my regular monitors here at work, when it isn't busy being shipped around for demo. Burn in isn't a problem with these types of monitors typically, these are the same LG panels that are found in the ATD, and would be susceptible to the same exact type of burn in. In regards to the response time, our monitor is one of the fastest in the industry, for an IPS monitor. With the only connection being DVI-D, there is no scaling, or anything that may take away from the picture that is being transmitted to the screen. Also, keep the resolution in mind, while your monitor may have a 2ms response time, the resolution is no where near 2560x1440, that is twice the resolution that most everyday monitors are capable of it just takes a bit more time for all of that information to display. As a comparison, the ATD has a response time of 12ms.

Apple - Thunderbolt Display - Read the tech specs.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

What slays me is that even the "business" laptops have all moved to the 16:9 standard, either at 1366*768 or 1920*1080.

WTF?

16:10 is an IDEAL form-factor for a laptop display. Why? Because that's approximately the natural aspect ratio of a typical laptop keyboard plus a touchpad. 4:3 never worked well for laptops- they always wound up wasting a bunch of space above and below the keyboard. But at 16:10, they laid out beautifully.

Now, at 16:9, we're winding up either with wasted space to the sides of the keyboard (on larger models) or a horribly undersized touchpad (on smaller models.) Even Sony, which has historically designed machines so elegant and graceful that they made iThings look like something cobbled together out of old Amstrad inventory, has fucked the proverbial donkey on their new Vaio Duo 11. Touchpad? What touchpad? It's gone, baby. Yes, Sony has decided to turn back the clock and re-introduce the most annoying horrible pointing device ever designed by man: the nipple.

I didn't so much mind when IBM used the clitmouse on all of their laptops, since we naturally assume that IBM hates us and wants us to be unhappy. But Sony? Geez, why not just throw some Anthrax in the package while you're at it? The slow-as-hell AMD E2 version of the machine has a touchpad, so why the does the ultra-high-end Core i7 version have to be burdened with this diseased cat ***** sticking up between the G and H keys that's supposed to somehow be an acceptable substitute for me telling the machine what I want it to do?

rleete

iTrader: (21)

After doing a lot of searching, I'm just as confused (about monitors) as before. If that one you posted was available within a week, I'd wait. Looks like a good product at an excellent price.

I think I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and spend more to get something I won't hate inside of 6 months.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

1920x1200 isn't totally dead, it's just getting hard to find. Many are still available in the 24" class, for around $300.

I'm not sure if these links will function as intended, but:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Monitors, LCD Monitors, 1920 x 1200

Monitors 1920 x 1200 Maximum Resolution at TigerDirect.com

rleete

iTrader: (21)

The links work. Thanks.

I think I'll to go out to Best Buy, staples, Office Depot/Max and take a look at what I find. I've pretty much decided to get a 27" just because I can. Something is going to follow me home this afternoon, even if it costs me $400, unless the salespeople **** me off.

rleete

iTrader: (21)

Found it. Acer S271HL It's $269, on sale at BB. Looked every bit as good as any of the others, but mostly they had smaller than 24" A couple other 27" next to it, and I couldn't see much difference.

Of course, they have all of them hooked up to HDTV, and cranked up full bright. As they did in the other place. That pisses me off. If it doesn't look good at normal settings, then don't sell it.

Anyway, a couple of searches, and the reviews seem to be all positive. I guess I'll be heading back down to where I work to get one tonight.

Thanks for all the input, guys.