best monitor for approx £300

davetherave2 · 17 Nov 2006 at 20:58

Ok So I have recently just sold both my old 17" TFT's to fund this little enterprise. I am after a new monitor and was looking at 20+ inches. Now I have always liked the looks of the viewsonic VX2025. I find it to be just a stunning looking piece of kit.

But what about the new belinea 2225S1W. Now the styling isn't great for my tastes but I have been putting up with a plain old LG and Proview monitor for the past 18 months so I can't complain on that front. Now the extra size would be great but is it all that its cracked up to be how does it compare to the viewsonic.

But there is the Dell 20.1" monitor as well which looks appealing.

I'm going to be using this monitor by itself initially but plan to get a second one in the future as I play a lot of games and with my recent move in jobs will be doing a lot of software development jobs. But for now one screen should be enough. Now I plan to get this tomorrow so which one should I go for.

I'm fairly certain its going to be the viewsonic but just wondering if the others off anything better than the viewsonic

edit: I will be using this with a pair of 7600GT's in Sli. SO they should be able to cope with the resolution with little problem.

Baddass · 17 Nov 2006 at 21:10

Well the Belinea's performance can't really match that of the VX2025WM. It is well priced and offers an extra couple of inches of screen, but still remains at the same 1680 x 1050 resolution and uses a more restrictive panel technology than the Viewsonic. The VX2025WM uses the excellent all round P-MVA panel from AU Optronics, which offers arguably some of the best all round performance in the market at the moment. The Belinea on the other hand uses TN Film which is more restrictive in terms of colour depth, black depth, movie playback and most notably, viewing angles. It would probably still be adequate for most users so it's still a very good screen, but the Viewsonic is more of a 'premium' product I'd say.

Since you like the styling of the Viewsonic, it would be a shame not to get that, as i think that's very important when choosing a screen. The Dell is nice as well, but unless you use the extra functions or inputs that it offers, i dont think it really offers anything in the way of performance to out-do the Viewsonic

ernysmuntz · 17 Nov 2006 at 21:21

davetherave2 said:
edit: I will be using this with a pair of 7600GT's in Sli. SO they should be able to cope with the resolution with little problem.

I wouldn't count on it mate, I'd check in the graphics card forum to make sure

Amp34 · 17 Nov 2006 at 22:48

ernysmuntz said:
I wouldn't count on it mate, I'd check in the graphics card forum to make sure

It depends what he is using it for, I run my 25wm off a 6800GT and it works fine. I havent used it in any intensive games yet though so that is up for debate.

davetherave2 · 17 Nov 2006 at 23:00

wellI play BF2142 a lot at the moment and I generally play a lot of fps games. I usually max out the settings to see what I get and if the game is not acceptable to play at those settings i will tweak them slightly till it is. In BF2142 @ 1280x1024 I generally get 70+ fps while on the ground. Well thats according to fraps.

davetherave2 · 18 Nov 2006 at 16:11

well have purchased the viewsonic in the end. And all I can say is WOW.

Now I can see why people go for big screens. I have only just set it up but have to say the monitor has met all my expectations so far.

Although it feels strange not having the 2 17" TFT's there it certainly fills the space well.

Haven't put it through its paces yet but will try some of my fav games and see what happens. I have to say that the monitor seems to be so much brighter and vibrant compared to the old LG and also another plus no dead pixels.

edit: sorry the settings I was using on BF2142 are 1024x768 not 1280x1024.