is 22" worth getting over 20"?

mortals

mortals

mortals

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I'm thinking of buying a new monitor to replace my samsung 19". The only thing is, there are a few monitors I've been looking at.

The 20" and 22" seem to be similar in price. I'm not sure if the extra 2" is worth an extra £60 and losing DVI connectivity.

The Acer 22" is the one I was first looking at, until I found out there are 20.1" monitors for £60 cheaper with DVI connection and a very similar spec screen :( I guess it depends on what difference DVI will make over VGA, aswell as how much the extra 2" will make.

On OcUK the two I'm torn between are:

Acer AL2216W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-029-AC)
Price: £239.99 (£281.99 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Belinea 102035W 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver
Price: £214.99 (£252.61 Including VAT at 17.5%)

I'm not sure which one to buy :( looking at reviews etc, they both seem to be pretty similar. Is it worth, spending more on a 22" and losing DVI or buying a 20.1" and keeping DVI? :)
 
Another screen to look at is the LG L204WT which is TN+Film, 2000:1 contrast ratio, should be around £215, has a DVI and it's 20.1 inch.
 
I just got one of these today ( LG L204WT , 20.1") , and all i can say is wow , payed £215 , no dead pixles , only thing is atiny bit of back light bleed ,but since the only time i have a dark screen is on the windows loading , im not too bothered. Games wise ive played bf2 and is brilliant , no problems what so ever.Viewing angles wise its good front on , but as you move towards the side you get a slight yellowish shading, top to bottom just the typical dark/light change. But i never watch the monitor from the side im always front on , so not a problem. Once ive played around with it , ill do a review tomorrow.
 
fish99 said:
Another screen to look at is the LG L204WT which is TN+Film, 2000:1 contrast ratio, should be around £215, has a DVI and it's 20.1 inch.
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That was the cheaper one I was looking at :) looks quite good.
 
Now I'm seeing a few more reasons for the pricing etc.

The Belinea is looking good for the price atm.

Acer 22" = TN+Film
LG 20.1" = TN+Film
Belinea 20.1" = MVA

Reading some of the other threads there seem to be a lot of differences between TN+Film and MVA.
The other MVA panels also seem to be a bit more pricey aswell.

The TN display suffers from limited viewing angles, especially in the vertical direction, and some are unable to display the full 16.7 million colors (24-bit truecolor) available from modern graphics cards. These particular panels, with 6 bits per color channel as opposed to 8, can approach true 24-bit color using a dither method which quickly cycles pixels to simulate a given shade, which are noticeable to some and discomforting to others. Overall, color reproduction and linearity on TN panels is poor. Shortcomings in display color gamut (often referred to as a percentage of the NTSC 1953 color gamut) can also be attributed to backlighting technology.
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Well ... it seems that 22" TN range did introduce the problems when you have to decide about the final purchase :) choice is pretty much even more difficult. I would say this - if your choice is between the high quality 20" panels (like 20WGX2 or Samsung 215TW) probably 22" route is not the best option *unless* those 1" - 2" inches are really really important to you. Also, I have to say that because you are keeping the same 20" 1680x1050 resolution perceptive screen size might increase, but picture quality not. 22" panels may offer the best economical balance between the price and features but they can't match the quality of best 20" monitors - yet.

If your budget is tight and your choice is between 20" mid/low range (like LG L204WT or VX2025WM) ... I don't see any particular reason why not opt for the 22" range.
 
barnettgs said:
Nope. Get 20" as it has same resolution therefore much sharper.
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Certainly. I did try to be rather general in previous post. In his case, I'm afraid that Acer AL2216W cut the corners here & there in order to keep the cost down (compared to Viewsonic VX2235wm). Nowadays, I really don't see any point of monitor without the, at least one, DVI port. According to his £280 budged, maybe better option is Viewsonic VX2025wm or LG L204WT. Additionally, latest LG.Philips TN panels did slightly improved when we compare them with the previous (TN panels) generation.
 
I think if the belinea will be ok for gaming, I will probably get it :) I'm currently looking at building a new pc and I think a new monitor would be a nice addition.

The response times on the MVA screens are higher tho :( but 8ms G2G should be ok for gaming? + I get DVI and better viewing angles? :confused:
 
hmm was just reading about the Acer:
Acer has announced that this version of the AL2216W will be replaced by a HDCP-enabled one a few months down the road. You might think Acer’s telling us not to touch the AL2216W until its newer incarnation surfaces…
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Might be worth waiting :( arg it's so confusing :)

I might just keep my Samsung 19" and see what happens with the newer 20"/22" screens, as the 22" ones seem to be very new.
Looks like all the 22" use similar TN panels, even the viewsonic and the samsung.
 
mortals said:
The VX series come with a zero dead pixel warrenty aswell don't they :confused: :D
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VP series, not VX.

The 8 ms G2G MVA panels like the Belina, Philips etc should all be fine for gaming. I'm not saying there's no ghosting, but you probably won't notice or be bothered by it. The TN+Film 5 ms screens will be a bit quicker, but not enough to be a decisive factor I would say.

You're right that the MVA panels are better quality than TN+Film and more expensive to make. They offer true 24-bit 16.7 M colours and wide viewing angles, whereas TN+Film does 18-bit + dithering which means 16.2M colours, and they have narrower viewing angles as you can read in greywolf post above.

If I was going for a 20" MVA, I would go for the Philips due to reports about backlight leakage with the Belinea and the lack of DVI.
 
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fish99 said:
VP series, not VX.

The 8 ms G2G MVA panels like the Belina, Philips etc should all be fine for gaming. I'm not saying there's no ghosting, but you probably won't notice or be bothered by it. The TN+Film 5 ms screens will be a bit quicker, but not enough to be a decisive factor I would say.

You're right that the MVA panels are better quality than TN+Film and more expensive to make. They offer true 24-bit 16.7 M colours and wide viewing angles, whereas TN+Film does 18-bit + dithering which means 16.2M colours, and they have narrower viewing angles as you can read in greywolf post above.

If I was going for a 20" MVA, I would go for the Philips due to reports about backlight leakage with the Belinea and the lack of DVI.
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Cool :)

I was just also looking at the Dell 20" which seems to use a IPS display, looks like you get more for your money with PIP/HDCP and also more options for connecetions. The only thing that sort of lets it down is the response time of 16ms, altho it doesn't say if that's G2G or not :(.
 
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