Advice please!

[Fanaticjam]

Hey all, I'm looking to get a new monitor, I've been reading the guide on buying etc but they all look the same to me to be honest!

I'm pretty clueless with monitors, only bought one before and that is a 19" 'Hanns-G' one.
This one below!

Was on a tight budget, being only 15/16 thenP)!




I'm now studying photography and can spare a bit of cash to upgrade it (Got a new rig in jan from OCuk), while I will be doing lots of photo editing, and a bit if video/3d, the main use will likely turn out to be games. Completed stuff such as Skyrim and MW3 on my new rig, but I end up playing LoL a lot and ME3 also at the moment. I imagine my gpu will handle any size screen really, it's one of EVGA's 460's.



No idea what to get really, I'm thinking 24" as I hate the 27"iMacs we have at uni; they're just way too big for me.

Should I spend a bit more and get a 3D monitor, or is that just a shoddy gimmick?


Multiple screen set up? Ack I have no idea about these, no idea how it works and the thought of the screen being split in half or into thirds with bezels is a disgusting one to me, but if you reckon that'd be a good set up please say ^^ I'm already thinking of using my old monitor with the new one but just use it for web browsing/chats/skype etc while using the new monitor for games/films/editing/blabla, I think this is possible?


I don't have a real set budget - I'm due to move soon so if I don't get most of my deposit back I might end up the gutter But I'm looking at £150 pref, up to £200-£250 tops, (I work a fair bit so it won't take be long to get the cash if I need it, not just throwing loan money at it )


So, any suggestions?!

Thanks!

 

[cmndr_andi]

Hi there,

Conisidering your uses I would go with a nice E-IPS panel monitor like the dell u2312hm or u2412m. these monitors use a type of lcd panel called ips, which offers very good colour accuracy and wide viewing angles (so when you are looking straight-on at the screen, the colours don't shift when you move your head a bit and you don't see colour banding at the extremes of the monitor). Here is an in-depth review of the U2312HM, which also mentions the U2412M.

The other main type of LCD panel is TN film, these monitors are generally cheaper and respond faster to pixel changes - so the user sees less ghosting due to fast motion - hence they tend to be better for gaming than IPS. However, they have worse colour accuracy and much worse viewing angles than IPS panels - so they aren't great for work like photo and video editing.

Also, please bear in mind that modern IPS monitors like the Dells I mentioned are not as good as TN panels, however they are still generally pretty good for gaming and many forum members use these monitors for gaming and find them to be perfectly fine.

If you would rather go for a TN panel over an IPS then I would recommend a 120Hz refresh rate model like this one (which samsung are currently offer to give you the vat back) or this benq 24in (here is a review).

 

[Fanaticjam]

Hi there,

Conisidering your uses I would go with a nice E-IPS panel monitor like the dell u2312hm or u2412m. these monitors use a type of lcd panel called ips, which offers very good colour accuracy and wide viewing angles (so when you are looking straight-on at the screen, the colours don't shift when you move your head a bit and you don't see colour banding at the extremes of the monitor). Here is an in-depth review of the U2312HM, which also mentions the U2412M.

The other main type of LCD panel is TN film, these monitors are generally cheaper and respond faster to pixel changes - so the user sees less ghosting due to fast motion - hence they tend to be better for gaming than IPS. However, they have worse colour accuracy and much worse viewing angles than IPS panels - so they aren't great for work like photo and video editing.

Also, please bear in mind that modern IPS monitors like the Dells I mentioned are not as good as TN panels, however they are still generally pretty good for gaming and many forum members use these monitors for gaming and find them to be perfectly fine.

If you would rather go for a TN panel over an IPS then I would recommend a 120Hz refresh rate model like this one (which samsung are currently offer to give you the vat back) or this benq 24in (here is a review).

Heya, thanks for your response!

Had been looking at the 24" Dell due to wanting a bit more vertical height, looks ideal in everything but the price,

Just going to read a few more reviews and order it in a week or so, want to make sure it's good for games, I've read it actually beating some TN screens in overall lag, so that's promising.


Anyone else got one and use it for gaming?

 

[cmndr_andi]

Yea, that 24in Dell is a nice bit of kit, and I would personally go for it given the choice.

As for gaming, it really depends on how much you notice ghosting - these Dell panels are certainly have slower pixel response times than modern TN panels, so there is more ghosting during fast motion. However, in practice you may or may not notice the difference - it really is down to the individual. If you have a search on these forums for "U2412M" and "gaming" you will see many people find them to be excellent and use them for gaming regularly, however there are still a few who can't abide by the ghosting and they usually return the monitor and swap it for something like an TN panel 120Hz monitor.

As for input lag, these Dell monitors do rather well - this test shows it has an average input lag of under 10ms, which is a pretty good result - even for a gaming monitor.

Here are some good in-depth reviews on the U2412M. Hopefully they can help you come to a decision.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2412m.htm
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2011/review-dell-u2412m.html

However, this is one of those things where the best test is in person to see whether you like it - therefore I would suggest you bite the bullet and order one. If you don't like it then you can always return it for a full refund using DSR (so long as you notify the shop you will be returning it within 7 working days of ordering it).

 

[Fanaticjam]

Yeah I think you may be right, I will give it a blast on some frantic games and see how it plays when I can order it, if it doesn't handle them well I will return.

All the reviews I've read seem to conclude that it is well worth getting, although some insist on comparing it to £500+ monitors which is annoying :/

Did a search and mostly came across you suggesting it aha