[b]Display Specification[/b]

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powerincarnate

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Here is a question I have, Just how much does dot pitch play a role in LCDs. Specifically, I'm in the hunt for a nice 20 or more inch widescreen monitor. Now the 20ichers have a dot pitch of .258, the 21 inchers have it at .270, 23inchers again is back at .258 and so on. Wouldn't it be logical assuming everything else is equal that 20 inch and 23 inch are superior to 21 and 24 inch.

Also I've seen some people are excited about the 27inch dell will introduce in about 6 month. Now, that one will be .303 inch. Isn't that a bit too much space between the pixels? As oppose to the 30inch one which has .250 dot pich.

Finally, if you you don't mind, Pick one Samsung 215tw, Viewsonic vx2025wm, Dell 2007fpw, LG' 203WT, finally, NEC WGX2

I've heard great stuff with NEC's display but I'm not paying 700 or more for it when at that price I can get a 23 or 24inch monitor. So they might be out of the race, leaving the other 4.
 
You won't get an intelligent answer as to which one you should get until you tell us what is important to you. Otherwise people will say " I have the xxxx and I love it."

They are all good monitors but all have weaknesses. Whats most important?

Cost?
HDCP?
Connections?
Color?
Text Clarity?
Backlight Bleeding?
Response?
Viewing angle
etc

I have the vx2025wm and I am satisfied with it but it only has DVI /VGA so it may not suit your needs.

Dot pitch will affect sharpness. Obviously smaller is better and the stated specs on the 2707 are a bit high and concern some who are interested in it. the difference between .258 and .270 is almost imperceptible to most people.

The NEC seems too expensive to me given the alternatives but some people have brand loyalty and will pay the higher price.
 
Clarity is the most important thing to me. Clarity in videos and games. Do I play games like some others, probably not, I have a console, and from time to time I'll play a good PC game as well. But I'm definitely not one that you'll seem all the time playing a PC games as at that a particular moment, I might be playing a console game instead. With that said, I have a VERY good eye for things that bother me, ie.. I can't stand anything but component video with my PS2. If ghosting is readily evident, I'm sure I'll see it. Again, I like clarity and sharpness and therefore 6bit displays and their washout dithered colors are out for me.

Obviously the Samsung 21inch and the Gateway 21 inch and the NEC 20 inch have Component video input. I've heard bad stuff about gateways so I eliminated them in the component video category, plus I've heard that their video has a lot of noise. The NEC seems to be a bit expensive but I wonder how it does with something like a PS2 or XBOX, It's quite Useless for anything else in my opinion. If you want to watch a DVD, why connect a DVD player to that input when you could just play the DVD straight from your PC's DVD drive. So component video is a plus but not a necessary, I wouldn't mind trying the 360 for a bit though.

We all would like 1920 X 1200 resolution but not for the price I do, not now. I figure, by the time PS3 rolls around and the good 360 games roll around, I would have decided to get a 1080P HDMI flatpanel TV by then, so I don't mind sticking with 1680 X 1050. (funny how soon, my TV will have better resolution than my monitor, thought that would never happen). With that said, I figure, if all things equal, that a 20incher would be better than a 21incher base on dot pitch.

I've just returned from Bestbuy, Circuit City, CompUsa, and tested out some of the monitors. I was Disapointed BIG TIME with HP's 2105 monitor, the widescreen one that is about $650. I don't know if it was the circuit city input or the nVidia 6150 they were using, but that screen had all sorts of video noise and artifacts, especially right after a movie picture, when the picture was relatively still it cleared up a bit. I saw the Gateway one as well, Better than the HP, semi impressed but Not totally, especially seeing after the Viewsonic monitor. I saw the Viewsonic VX2025wm and while it's no CRT in pure clarity, it was impressive. It was definitely the better of the three. I dont' know if it was because the viewsonic one was at Comp USA and therefore had a different input then the other two which were in circuit city but there was a difference. I saw couple 23inch ones but I didn't look at them to carfully. I saw the ACER 20inch widescreen one also at compusa and it wasn't as sharp as the viewsonic and fell in the same general area as the gateway one did, maybe slightly less clear but more colorful than the gateway.Bestbuy had the gateway on display but it was turned off, They didn't have any other widescreen monitors, I was hoping for the Samsung 21 tw or the LG 20 incher. Both are on Bestbuy website but none were at the store. I did quickly pass by the 2005FPW dell monitor at one of their stands but the damn associate had the log on screen on and i didn't want to bother asking him to log on so I could inspect it a bit.

For all of these monitors, I made sure that the resolution was 1680 x 1050. all but the viewosonic one were at the correct resolution. the viewsonic one was at 1280 x 1024 and I switched it. To tell you the truth, even at 1280 x 1024, it still had the best image.

I don't mind HDCP, in fact it would be a plus, but honestly, it's not a pure requirement. I figure that by the time blue ray and all the HD movies rolls around, I'll have my TV to play them with. monitor will probably be used for AVI files, anime and such. Finally, ALOT of people will be pretty pissed having their expensive monitor scaled down, who knows, maybe a similar backlash will result when SONY tried to implement their copy protection spyware on their CDs. Finally, I have a suspician that these hackers out there will find a way around it.
 
OK, then given the ones you have listed, you should buy the ViewSonic vx2024wm.

The LG 203WT is a 6 bit TN panel

The 215TW has the same panel and features as the Gateway which you have ruled out.

The NEC is too expensive.

The Dell 2007 is unknown but will likely be very similar to the 2005. I'm not familar with the 2005 so someone else should describe it.

VX2025wm is very clear with good colors and sharp text and is cheap $400 or sometimes less. I got mine for $350 shipped. Its cons are that it has limited connections (DVI & VGA), no HDCP, some backlight bleeding on a black screen, and a virtually non-adjustable stand. 360 will attach with a VGA cable. DVI cable included. I haven't gamed with it but I haven't read any complaints of ghosting. There's a huge thread on it in this forum.
 
well, first off, where did you get it for 350 shipped, second, I know someone who could give me a discount on Circuit city displays (so the gateway could be found for a bit cheaper than it sells for). With that said, the only bestbuy that have the samsung 215tw is about 15 miles away and I'm not sure I want to trek that long for it, incase there is some dead pixels, I don't want to be constatnly going back and forth paying tolls in addition to gas and time.

I didn't rule out dells 2007fwp as it is HDCP, mostly like will be competitive in price, and has extra features, but everyday I check to see if they are selling it and everyday it's the same thing. I never understand why an american company sells overseas first. It's rarely rarely happens the other way around. And since just about everyone knows the specs and pics of it, might as well simply start allowing some orders in.

Basically, someone somewhere out there, tell me that the image quality I saw was a fluke and tell me i'm stupid for potetially getting a display that isn't hdcp compatible.
 
I bought it at Amazon.com. It was kind of a freakishly low price and it sold out after about 30 minutes after being posted on fatwallet.com. There were some other retailers selling it for around the same price but with a $100 rebate involved. I think the rebate has expired but check the huge thread on the 2025 at fatwallet.com to be sure.

HDCP isn't going to be relevant for around 2-3 years or even more because content providers are not going to activate it until enough consumers have displays with it. In other words, you will still be able to play HD DVDs at full resolution (assuming you have a HDCP drive, graphics card and Vista) for a couple of years even if your monitor doesn't have HDCP. Sony, Universal and a few others have publicly stated that they are not going to deploy HDCP protections on HD discs for awhile. Also Vista will not even be available until Jan 2007 at the earliest. Also, whatever graphic card you have now or can buy now, it doesn't support HDCP anyway. Don't worry too much about HDCP for now.

As far as any deals you can get and whether it's a good deal, that's just a personal decision you'll have to make. :)

Like I said about the 2007, I don't know much about it first-hand, but there are obviously TONS of posts about it.

I think alot of people are satisfied with the the ViewSonic and the 2007 so these both are good choices. Alot of people are also satisfied with the Gateway (and would probably be satisfied with the 215TW) but I thought you ruled these out. :confused:

Just out of curiosity, 15 miles is too far to go to BestBuy? That's like 1/2 an hour or less in a car. It you're taking the time to post and research, and I am taking the time to answer, I wouldn't think 15 miles would stand in the way of you getting the monitor you want.
 
yeah, it's funny how I spent litterally the whole day yesterday researching and posting, but am lazy to go to the Best Buy that has the 215TW so that I coudl see it.

I'm about to go to the mall again for the second day in a row and check it out again, There's a good chance that this time, I'm might just decide to just get the VX2025 worry about USB ports, HDCD, rotation, and others some other time, when I decide to make another major upgrade.
 
powerincarnate said:
yeah, it's funny how I spent litterally the whole day yesterday researching and posting, but am lazy to go to the Best Buy that has the 215TW so that I coudl see it.

I'm about to go to the mall again for the second day in a row and check it out again, There's a good chance that this time, I'm might just decide to just get the VX2025 worry about USB ports, HDCD, rotation, and others some other time, when I decide to make another major upgrade.
Click to expand...

That's my plan. When I saw that I could get this one cheap and it's quality satisfied me, I was sold.

I was considering a 2407 or even a Westy 37" but there are a few new display technologies that should be out within 1-2 years and early prototypes suggest they are very superior to LCD.
 
Well, I didn't get it, COMPUSA just got the Samsung 215tw at the store. It doesn't show up on the internet and they didnt' have it yet on the floor but I was able to see the Boxes.

$500 bucks, I was hoping somehow the mail in rebate still would have been available but it wasn't. I tried to coax the guy into at least price matching some internet prices but he stood firm so I didn't get the VX2025wm.

I took another look at the Gateway and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was the first time, But the HP was still subpar to my standards.

If someone know a store, in the lower NY area that sells the Viewsonic for less than 500 bucks then I'm sold. Yeah I could get it on Newegg, I usually order from them, BUT, I'm weary about th 8 dead pixel policy, Usually Newegg is pretty good at getting good consumer base business practices.

In the meantime, You can keep trying to coax me to get something else, or solidify the current leader (the VX2025wm) until I make a decision.
 
after thinking about it, unless there is some rediculous deal or rebate, I can't justify paying 100 bucks or over just for the convenient of being local pickup. After adding the sales tax, that is a 540 bucks purchase. nearly 650 for the gateway with tax. Gateway, I might be able to get around with a discount but Newegg is 415, free shipping, no tax for the viewsonic, thats a big different now.

There is another comparison of Widescreen 20inch monitors from a british site that is also reference on this forum. In it, the viewsonic got the excellence award. the NEC they tested wasn't HDCP compatible as non of the European ones are. The ACER got a lot better review than I thought it would. I all but ruled them out from previous reviews like Tomhardware's.
 
J&R has the vx2025wm for 429 - 100 rebate that makes it 329. the shipping is a little bit over 30 bucks so it will be in the 360s after rebate. Thats the Good news



The bad New is, The rebate ends today April 1, 2006. Second, They are temporarily out of stock so I'm not sure if buying it today but them not having it result in you not getting the rebate. 3. There is a damn Sales tax for New York State which I happen to be in. That damn sales tax is gonna add clso to 40 bucks to it.resulting in the final total to be about 400, Assuming you actually do get the rebate.



Ok, I couldn't take it anymore and took the deal. 400 bucks is fine by me, Just wish the damn rebate works
 
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