HELP me please - new TFT for games and office, £350 budget

simmo.3 · 18 May 2006 at 12:44

hi all, im looking for a 19" or 20" tft [my first] i want the best one out there for me ££s, i have a max of £350 to spend, but i dont want to spend it for the sake of it.
it will be used for normal desk top stuff and games + the net.
i dont need all the bells etc but would like it to have Analogue Input and DVI-D Input.
also can you tell me what plugs etc i will need to run it off me old 9800pro via the dvi-d.

big thanks to you guys.
cheers
simmo

MrFunex · 18 May 2006 at 13:40

I have the Viewsonic VA1912W... a 19" widescreen (actually, i have 2

). Have found this to be a very good screen. It's amazing how much extra space you seem to have on a slightly wider aspect ratio.

They're reasonably cheap (can be had for around £200), 8ms response, 1440x900 resolution and have a DVI and an analogue input; I think the panel is also wall-mountable. Also, viewsonic will replace your monitor for ANY dead/defective pixels. I'm using mine on a Radeon 9800Pro and have found the image quality excellent for gaming, web browsing etc. The blacks aren't the darkest I've seen, but for the money, you can't go wrong.

Hope that helps!

edit: have just read the last bit of your post! This monitor comes with all the cables you'll need.... just plug the DVI cable into the port on your screen, and on your card, and it'll run fine.

simmo.3 · 18 May 2006 at 19:11

MrFunex said:
I have the Viewsonic VA1912W... a 19" widescreen (actually, i have 2 ). Have found this to be a very good screen. It's amazing how much extra space you seem to have on a slightly wider aspect ratio.
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thanks for that mate, i had not looked at the widescreen ones, is that the way to go?

cheers
simmo

Baddass · 18 May 2006 at 22:38

you've got a fair bit of money to play with there. You could either look at some of the 19" models around which gives you a lot to choose from, or some of the 20"WS models perhaps. Ones to consider i would say:

- Samsung 913N for about £200 is one of the best 19" you can get if you want to save money. Very good screen, good for gaming and general desktop / office work.
- Viewsonic VP930 if you want to push the budget and get a much more all round screen. Wider viewing angles, smoother movie playback and deeper black depth thanks to different panel technology being used (P-MVA instead of TN Film) hence the price difference too. One of the best all round screens in the whole market right now
- Viewsonic VX2025WM, right at the edge of your budget, but a 20"WS screen with very good all round performance as well. One of the best 20"WS screens at the mo, so if you wanted larger screen size and a higher res then this might be a good option

There's loads to choose from really, i'd recommend having a read through the models covered in the sticky and see if you can narrow your selection down a little

simmo.3 · 19 May 2006 at 09:55

thanks baddass, i do like the look of the VX2025WM but is it worth the £36 over the viewsonic 2012w.
i think that i will go with one of these 2 they do look good.
thanks to all.

cheers
simmo

Baddass · 19 May 2006 at 18:01

imo yes. The VX2025WM uses a P-MVA panel whereas the VA2012 uses a TN Film panel. Take a look at this article as it compares the two and should help you decide

MrFunex · 19 May 2006 at 20:31

Simmo,

Depends what you're after really... it does seem to make your desktop much roomier on a widescreen, although the resolution slightly changes (1440x900 for w/s as opposed to 1280x1024).

Movies seem to fill the screen more, although some old 4:3 ones now give black bars at the sides rather than on the top and bottom!

Most new games coming out now support widescreen modes. Plus your field of view is naturally widescreen. I'd seriously consider them.

I found the Viewsonic panels pretty darn good, and relatively cheap too. If more money was to hand, I may have gone with the 20" ones as Badass suggests, but if you go with the 19" ones, for £350 you can ALMOST have two!!!

simmo.3 · 21 May 2006 at 11:25

a big big thanks to all, i am going to go with the VX2025WM mainly coz my son says we should, hey what do i know all i do is pay...

cheers
simmo

ps. does the VX2025WM come with the dvi cable.