Which monitor should I buy?

@bigc -- Very helpful info re maintenance of LCD screens. Many thanks!

@everyone - From what you folks have told me (& from the links you provided) I have learned that the best thing is to set my computer's resolution at ~ the same setting as my monitor's native resolution. This puzzles me a lot because...

BACKGROUND- Pending replacement of my dead 19" LCD monitor, I am temporarily using an old 17" CRT monitor that I had lying around.

PUZZLEMENT (example)-

1- A particular monitor that I have on my "short list" of candidates-for-purchase has a native resolution of 1680x1050.

2- To get an idea of what that might look like, I set my CRT monitor to 1280X1024 -- the closest I could come to 1680x1050. At that setting everything was so tiny that I couldn't effectively see what I was doing.

3- Obviously I'm doing something wrong (unless everybody except me has microscope-vision).

QUESTION #1- If I buy the 22" 1680X1050 monitor, & set my computer's resolution to that same setting, are the icons and text going to be microscopically tiny? Or what?

QUESTION #2- What resolution do you people have your computers set at? Why?

P.S. --- In case you haven't already noticed, I don't even know enough about this to ask intelligent questions. Even so I am having a delightfully good time learning from this thread.

 

Per Q-2, my res is at 1440X900. Why? When I reformatted my pc and before installing the drivers for the monitor, the native Windows-res made my pc look like it was in safe mode. Everything was super-sized....way too big. Once I installed the drivers everything was set to the pre-set resolution. Icons and such are quite readable, but, I wear pretty strong eye-glasses. Just shy of pop-bottle lenses. The teens in my house (no glasses) have no probs reading while looking over my shoulder. Maybe you should check out some display-model monitors and ask about their resolution just to get a good view before purchasing...

 

me using a viewsonic 19 inch widescreen at 1440x900 resolution and its really good.i suggest you to go for a 22/24 inch widescreen one.no the icons and the letters wont be tiny at native resolutions.

 

Just a quick note on LCDs, as I have been looking\thinking of replacing my old 21" CRT. The screens\display part of the monitor are all made by only 2 or 3 different manufacturers. I read this somewhere and later had it confirmed by several reliable sources. They are then assembled by the final seller with all the bells and whistles....or lack of. In most cases it is this final assembly that dictates quality and of course $$$$.

 

1. The icons look smaller, though you can change the size (its easy to do in Vista).

2. Check this recent poll on monitor resolutions.

 

The most recent difficulty I have encountered in choosing a monitor is the fact that all the stores use beautiful photographs to display their monitors, whereas my main concern is clarity of text.

In any event I now have a Proview & a Dell & a Acer on my short list - all 3 are 22". Any further comments pro or con concerning those brands?

 

proview,dell,acer. i think you need to add a glossy lcd in thier. i have a hp w2207 it's a glossy screen and i love it.
a great fourm for displays is /http://www.hardforum.com/index.php

 

I think Samsung is very good.

 

Great answers in the thread already, just giving my post/insight...

"Optimum" size is the most you're willing and able to afford. Large monitors with low resolutions or vice versa could be "not optimal" I guess...

Samsung has been excellent in my experience with LCDs, along with Dell. HP is the only brand I've had any issues with. Tech support was so-so all the way around.

They're all going to have one and running the monitor at a resolution other than its native will show stretching/compressing. Set your desktop to this native, and try to bring games to as close to the native as possible.

Personally I've been using this monitor for a while now and it's been fantastic. The contrast ratio isn't awe inspiring, and there's backlight bleeding on the top and bottom edges, but those are both pretty common. Never had any issues or dead/stuck pixels with it, and I greatly prefer widescreen to normal ratio LCDs. Definitely recommend Samsung.

I've always gone to a store and checked out the model I wanted to ensure no dead/stuck pixels on purchase. Can't stand ghosting either so low response times are also important, although up to 8ms is perfectly fine, really.

 

I saved a little and got this one. Poor Bellgamin...so many choices...so hard to chose...

 

FYI. The MAG LCD TVs are also made by the same company that makes Proview monitors.

 

I recently purchased an Acer, I am pleased with it, but could not tell you if it was better then anyother.

Hey BigC thanks for the information. People at my work are always pecking on my LCD monitor, making their "point" . I will tell them to stop.

 

Oh EIZO like the man said are sheer quality. The rolls royce of lcds. Get one of those if you can afford. There's only about 5 lcd manufacturers in the world and Sony buy there lcds of LG.