A bit of old tech!

2Thumbs · 3 Dec 2010 at 11:43

A few months ago I was browsing the usual auction and second-hand selling sites in the hope of buying an older, high quality, monitor to be used as a secondary for Photoshop and general web browsing. My current WS screen is used for both PC and 360 use which can be a bit of a pain when I want to do both simultaneously.

There wasn't really anything I fancied at the time. Everything in budget was too small.

Well a couple weeks a go I got a phone call from someone saying they were going to get rid of their old computer and asked if I wanted anything. I went and had a look and this was sitting on the desk (except more dust)!

Viewsonic VP181b. 30ms IPS panel, in 2003/4 it's RRP was around £400. :eek:

The stand is fully adjustable so should fit in well with my Ergotron desk mount.

Not plugged it in yet, but I ordered a DVI cable today to get the dual screen set up going.

Anybody else running older screens?

PCM2 · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:03

I am running several 'older' monitors but very expensive models I use for reference. Samsung XL24 and even a good old CRT. I thought you said everything in your budget was too small. Yet that screen is 18 inches with a 1280 x 1024 - tiny. :eek:

Are you sure that will be enough visual real estate for your uses?

kharlan · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:05

I'm still using an SM226bw if you can class it as old

i still chuckle when i remember buying it from the purple shirt brigade

they had it on offer and after reading these forums i knew the right questions to ask

is it an S panel and who do i see about getting it powered up so i can look for dead pixels

poor sales staff obviously not used to people knowing what they want in such a specific manner just looked stunned and went off to get help

after involving 3 salesfloor people i said i'll go see the techs

even the tech guy was alittle put offguard but did as i requested and hence i got an S panel and zero dead pixies

Makhaira · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:11

My backup monitor is my old trusty VP171B-2. Terrific monitor, only replaced it because I wanted something bigger and widescreen, don't have a bad word to say about it.

2Thumbs · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:12

I reckon it'll be fine. The ones that were in my budget of £40-50 were 15". I'm used to a 1440x900 19" so I wouldn't say it'll feel like I'm going backwards.

Anyway I mustn't complain to much about the size of this as it was a freebie.

Zairs · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:14

I got a 19" samsung gh19bs i bought for well over £500 several years ago as flat screens started. will have to us it for my new build for a bit, till i get new funds. dont know how it compares to a new monitor?

Kosmiche · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:28

I'm running a viewsonic vx2025wm, I was using a samsung 24" but I missed the quality of the viewsonic so I "downgraded".

PCM2 · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:28

2Thumbs said:
I reckon it'll be fine. The ones that were in my budget of £40-50 were 15". I'm used to a 1440x900 19" so I wouldn't say it'll feel like I'm going backwards.

Anyway I mustn't complain to much about the size of this as it was a freebie.

Ah well with that kind of budget... I mean if you think the size will be fine that's great. For your uses the image quality should be at least comparable to ~£220 IPS monitors of today. For free you can't really complain.