LCD Wanted - 250 to spend

Xplo · 3 Mar 2006 at 09:48

Hi all im after a LCD monitor, It will be used for gaming and i have 250 to spend, whether its brand new or second hand what shall i be looking for around that price mark?

I want something thats future proof, i dont really know much about monitors but future proof to me will be something like a 20" with a native res of 1600*1200 @ 85hz and 8ms or so. Dont even know if this exists!

But you get the idea of what im looking for, also must go fairly bright! Any recomendations? Also would prefer the monitor to be mostly black or atleast have some blakc on it but thats not a major concern. Thanks!

UOcUK Poopscoop · 3 Mar 2006 at 10:03

Well for "future proof" you will always be onto a loser as TFT's are improving all the time.

Would certainly recommend the widescreen option though, this is definitely the way the industry seems to be moving.

A 20" widescreen will run @ 1680x1050 res.

You might pick up a second hand Dell 2005fpw for that money.

They are 16ms ISO, but I think 12ms grey to grey.

Fr0dders · 3 Mar 2006 at 10:10

couple of things, most 20" monitors will be out of your price range at £250. Chances are, most people selling 2nd hand 20" monitors will be selling ones that are old and with poor response times unsuitable for gaming. Does this bother you ?

with regards resolutions. most normal aspect ratio 20" monitors tend to be on the expensive side. its only the newwer widescreen models that are being pushed in the budget end. The Belinea at £325 is a good option but £75 over budget

oh and dont worry about refresh rates. LCD monitors work in a completely different way to CRTs (each pixel lights individually, so no need to scan down the screen) so refresh rates are irrelevant with respect to LCD monitors

Xplo · 3 Mar 2006 at 12:47

Ok thanks so what do you recommend as a widescreen or normal lcd monitor, 19" at a minimum? Thanks for replys.

Fr0dders · 3 Mar 2006 at 13:15

To get affordable in the 20" sector, youve really gotta go widescreen. Best quality seems to be the NEC, but the Acer AL2016Ws has got positive reviews from those that ordered it as a great value screen at £290

with regards 19". Most 19" monitors tend to be normal aspect ratio, as most of the recent devlopment in widescreen monitors appear to have been in the 20" size, with the exception of one 19" viewsonic widescreen. But i see no point in this monitor unless you really HAVE to have widescreen. Best to look at either the samsungs or normal viewsonics. Best budget is the Samsung 913n i think, and probably one of the best 19" would be either the Samsung 960BF (£270) or viewsonic VX922 (£290)

Xplo · 3 Mar 2006 at 13:36

Ok thanks for that info mate. Am looking thru ocuk now.

Xplo · 3 Mar 2006 at 14:15

Is the BenQ FP202W any good?

Fr0dders · 4 Mar 2006 at 21:14

not many people bought it from here, so difficult to comment

but it is a TN film panel, so should be good for games, but not much else. There are other panels out there for not much more that will be much better at other things, and just as good in games.