Tell me what to buy, pretty please with sugar on top

Z

zenogias

n00b
Joined
Jan 29, 2006
Messages
52
Hi,
I am interested in a new monitor. I am a recovering research-a-holic. I used to spend hours trying to figure out what to buy, digging through review after review for everything.

I can't take it any more.

Please I beg of you fine folks who still know the difference between a TFT, an NFS, and a WTF, to just tell me what monitor to buy.

I would like to spend between 300 and 400 USD, but I would be willing to spend a few more dollars if it's worth it.

Basically I am just looking for the best bang for my buck.

The biggest, nicest, most versitle, feature and option filled product on the market. Something flexible and known for quality. Also I would like to buy from a store that will exchange it if it has a couple dead pixels.

So tell me what the overall best "bang for my buck" is out there in the $3-400 range.

In the interest of full disclosure I am currently leaning toward the VX2025wm. However, I am very flexible. That is just to give you an idea of what sort of product I would like.

Thank you so so so much, you are saving me a lot of stress.

I will look at this thread a couple times a day, and once I have gotten enough replies, the product with the most votes is the one I will buy.
 
I have done butt loads of research and the Dell 2007WFP is the best LCD in that price range.
 
Acer Ferrari F20 unbelievable lcd around 500 to 550 but well worth it.ive seen them on ebay for around 400 used you wont be dissapointed
 
F20 is P-MVA, let me put it this way the Dell 2007WFP is the second best 20.1" widescreen LCD. The NEC 20WGX2 is the only better monitor at that size, but it cost 600+ USD. Unless you just have to have a glossy screen, then the F20 is probably the second best.
 
Just to clarify, it doesn't have to be 20 inches. It doesn't even have to be in the 3-400 dollar range. I could probably go as high as $500.

I just want it to have the highest quality, best customer service, and widest range of options for the money I am spending. For example, if I want to hook my Xbox 360 up to it, I want to be able to do that.

Also I forgot to mention: If it makes any difference, it will be hooked up to a Geforce 6800 GT which has both DVI and VGA output.

Thank you both for the quick replies, though.
 
In other news, it depends what you want to do with it.

Is absolute maximum speed important to you? Very serious gamer/// FPS?
If so this greatly limits your options. Probably TN or NEC 20wmgx2, but the nec is somewhat out of your price range. The Acer would likely make you happy as sort of a "medium of the road" monitor, that is to say it's very close to the best in most fields. S-IPS, reasonably fast ect.

Are you picky about "blackness levels" and "pure color?" If so, you're probably going to want to go IPS. Possibly PMVA, but I don't like it much.

It should also, perhaps be noted that the other Acer 20" is likely a better value, if perhaps somewhat less in performance.

***Edited because I was apparently wrong. Sorry s1d.
 
I am most picky about customer service and being able to exchange the thing if it craps out or has dead pixels.

After that, I am picky about being able to hook different things up to it. For example, at the very least my PC and my Xbox 360.

I would rather pay $300 than $400 of course, all else being equal. But if there is a $400 monitor that performs really well, and has the best customer service of any company, then I am willing to pay for it.

As far as picture quality goes, yes I would like it to perform as good as possible, but I am pretty tolerant of a lot of little things. For example, I find it acceptable that a $300 monitor doesn't have as nice colors as a $600 one. That is to be expected.

But I would like to get as nice of one for $300 as I can, if I'm paying $300. If I'm paying $600, I still want it to be as nice as I can. Basically I want to pay as little as possible for a real quality experiance. If that means I have to pay $400 or even $500, then so be it.

I don't have a lot of debt. I have some extra cash. This monitor is purely for my pleasure. :)

I'll take a look at the Acer, but "middle of the road" isn't what pops in my mind when I think about what I would like to get, if you catch my drift.

Edit: The Ferrari looks pretty nice, but also kind of "gimmicky" A ferrari logo on a monitor? LOL

What is this "other" Acer 20 inch that you speak of?

Is the NEC really above and beyond? I may have to check it out and save a few more dollars if that is the case.
 
I forgot to add that I would indeed like to watch movies on it.

I guess basically what I want is the best gaming monitor/TV for my needs.

The viewsonic vx2025wm sounds like such a good deal, is the acer F20 or the NEC really worth the extra cash?

Any other products I should be looking at? Samsung? Etc?
 
Fernoz said:
If you want to know just how much research the above poster has done, the Acer F-20 Ferrari is a SIPS panel. Ignore whatever comments he has.
Click to expand...

The F-20 is not an S-IPS panel, its listed on tftcentral.com as one but thats incorrect. Several people at widescreengamingforum.com have called Acer to confirm if it was an S-IPS panel and found out its actually a P-MVA panel.


http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3112
http://www.flatpanels.dk/skaerme.php

"Acer F-20 (Ferrari) (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 8 ms (g2g) P-MVA (AUO M201EW01 V0) panel."

Is the NEC really above and beyond? I may have to check it out and save a few more dollars if that is the case.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about get 2x Dell 2007WFP instead of the NEC, but seeing this made my decision alot harder..

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1029926972&postcount=4142
 
siodine said:
The F-20 is not an S-IPS panel, its listed on tftcentral.com as one but thats incorrect. Several people at widescreengamingforum.com have called Acer to confirm if it was an S-IPS panel and found out its actually a P-MVA panel.


http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3112
http://www.flatpanels.dk/skaerme.php

"Acer F-20 (Ferrari) (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 8 ms (g2g) P-MVA (AUO M201EW01 V0) panel."
Click to expand...
http://www.acer.co.uk/acereuro/page...Param=UK&LanguageISOCtxParam=en&crc=290315009 that's straight from Acer's UK site and not from a customer service phone jockey....I tried calling twice myself and was rebuffed the first time and the second time got someone who seemed befuddled by the question and then put me on hold and came back and said "we don't have that information available to us" :rolleyes: I actually have an F-20 and it exhibits the telltale characteristics of IPS (slightly pinkish/purple at extreme side angles) unless thay are the same for MVA? Really I don't care one way or the other because I'm happy with my monitor but I'm tired of seeing people being ridiculed for calling the F-20 and S-IPS panel...tft central says it is S-IPS as well as the Widescreengamingforum that you linked yourself...we aren't just pulling this out of thin air.
 
joemama said:
http://www.acer.co.uk/acereuro/page...Param=UK&LanguageISOCtxParam=en&crc=290315009 that's straight from Acer's UK site and not from a customer service phone jockey....I tried calling twice myself and was rebuffed the first time and the second time got someone who seemed befuddled by the question and then put me on hold and came back and said "we don't have that information available to us" :rolleyes: I actually have an F-20 and it exhibits the telltale characteristics of IPS (slightly pinkish/purple at extreme side angles) unless thay are the same for MVA? Really I don't care one way or the other because I'm happy with my monitor but I'm tired of seeing people being ridiculed for calling the F-20 and S-IPS panel...tft central says it is S-IPS as well as the Widescreengamingforum that you linked yourself...we aren't just pulling this out of thin air.
Click to expand...

It could be a panel lottery like the 2007FP then, or people in the UK could be getting the P-MVA's and people in the US getting the S-IPS or vice-versa.
 
joemama said:
http://www.acer.co.uk/acereuro/page...Param=UK&LanguageISOCtxParam=en&crc=290315009 that's straight from Acer's UK site and not from a customer service phone jockey....I tried calling twice myself and was rebuffed the first time and the second time got someone who seemed befuddled by the question and then put me on hold and came back and said "we don't have that information available to us" :rolleyes: I actually have an F-20 and it exhibits the telltale characteristics of IPS (slightly pinkish/purple at extreme side angles) unless thay are the same for MVA? Really I don't care one way or the other because I'm happy with my monitor but I'm tired of seeing people being ridiculed for calling the F-20 and S-IPS panel...tft central says it is S-IPS as well as the Widescreengamingforum that you linked yourself...we aren't just pulling this out of thin air.
Click to expand...

You have to be careful though from region to region with part numbers and panel types. Sometimes they will be different here in the US than in Europe.

Only way to know for sure is to take the bezel off and check the panel part # but you pry dont want to do that,

It does baffle me that you can call a manufacturer and they dont know what panel their monitor's use.

I had the same issue with LG and Westinghouse. Westy called me back about a week later with an answer and the guy at LG said it was prorietaty info.
 
travbomb said:
Only way to know for sure is to take the bezel off and check the panel part # but you pry dont want to do that,
Click to expand...


Don't LCDs have a secret service menu that displays information like that?
 
siodine said:
Don't LCDs have a secret service menu that displays information like that?
Click to expand...

Yes I believe that info is in there but it is pretty much impossible to figure out how to get to it.

I think only the engineers know how to do it for our products.
 
travbomb said:
You have to be careful though from region to region with part numbers and panel types. Sometimes they will be different here in the US than in Europe.

Only way to know for sure is to take the bezel off and check the panel part # but you pry dont want to do that,

It does baffle me that you can call a manufacturer and they dont know what panel their monitor's use.

I had the same issue with LG and Westinghouse. Westy called me back about a week later with an answer and the guy at LG said it was prorietaty info.
Click to expand...
That's because the average consumer doesn't care about such things...they make buying decisions based on the name on the bezel or because it "looks better than the others". I could tell that 'what model and panel technology does X monitor use?' was not a frequently asked question at Acer support. I guess that is why Dell and others can get away with doing a panel lottery without changing the model number.
 
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