Looking for a 20" monitor

Nazbit · 24 Feb 2006 at 14:15

Hi all,

At the moment my budget is £330 but If a certain monitor was definatley going to be worth it, I could save up a little more, main use is gaming.

I have been looking at the following for my price range:
Acer AL2016Ws 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver £287
Belinea 102035W 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver £328

The following I could stretch to If its worth it:
Philips 200W6CS 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver £352
Viewsonic VA2012W 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black £352

The next batch of monitors all seem to be around £410, eg the Acer AL2032WA, BenQ FP202W, Dell 2005FPW , NEC MultiSync® LCD20WGX2 etc etc, these monitors are all out of my price range at the moment, but obviously some of them would blow those in my price range out of the sky.

So my questions is, are the 4 named ones within or just above my price range any good? Which one would you choose? What sort of build quality and image quality can I expect, and finally, should I be saving up even more to try and get one of the ones listed in the last paragraph or will I be ok with one of the original 4.

Cheers

DaveP3@ · 24 Feb 2006 at 14:39

Hi Naz,

I was in the same situation as you, ordered the Phillips about an hour ago. Will let you know what i think tomorrow

From what i read before hitting the buy button, the Phillilps and the Belinea were very close in terms of performance. Think the light bleed issue on the Belinea swayed it for the Phillips too, dont forget to check out the this week only section as theres some mighty fine price drops in there.

HTH,

Dave.

Raikiri · 24 Feb 2006 at 15:00

Well I just updated my thread ont he Acer with a mini review, though if you can afford it the Philips is probably worth the extra. I decided to save my money and still get an excellent screen though

Nazbit · 24 Feb 2006 at 20:41

Thanks,

Ok in order, this is what Im leaning towards now:
1.)Philips 200W6CS 20" - Silver £352

2.)Belinea 102035W 20.1" - Black/Silver £328 (not sure on build quality but specs v price put it at number 2)

3.)Acer AL2016Ws 20" - Black/Silver £287 (lower conrast ratio than the two above and no DVI, but good price)

4)Viewsonic VA2012W 20" - Silver/Black £352 600 (lower contrast ratio than first 2, and well, is pretty ugly IMO)

Any other owners (or anyone else for that matter) have anything to add?
Thanks

Pac3y · 24 Feb 2006 at 20:54

I got the Philips 200W6CS 20" today from ocuk, and its an amazing monitor. Very happy with my purchase! no deads pixels no probs with bleeding worked great out of the box!!

Pac3y · 24 Feb 2006 at 20:57

Oh and the Philips is also on this week only for £328.94

Nazbit · 24 Feb 2006 at 21:01

Hi, thats good to hear, plus the offer is mighty tempting at the moment, it seems like the one to buy.

Do you have any pictures?

cheers

Pac3y · 24 Feb 2006 at 21:25

I took a few screens earlier messing around. They really don't do it any justice though.

Image One Image Two Image Three

Don't worry bout left part of the wallpaper its not banding etc Its just how to wallpaper is

I use the screen with my 360 also and its ace!

Nazbit · 25 Feb 2006 at 14:48

Cheers mate, I think the phillips is probably leading the way so far.

Problem is though, I wont be able to afford it for about 2 weeks.....and then it will be back up to its normal price again

Still looking like the monitor of choice though.

Logsi · 25 Feb 2006 at 16:50

Does anyone know if the BenQ one is good im wondering whether to get a 20" also, and its on special this week from £411 to £330 odd.

Nazbit · 25 Feb 2006 at 17:35

The BenQ looks quite good on paper in terms of specs, if you can get it at the this week only price then is seems quite reasonable to me.

I ruled it out of my selection simply because it wouldnt fit in with my setup and the rest of my room. Plus by the time I can afford it it will have gone back up to its ful price of £411 which I think is overpriced, at £330 however it looks quite good.

You would have to do some reearch in to buildquality, backlighting, dead pixels etc etc, I have not heard of any issues with them, but I too would be intrested in finding out.

The phillips and the benq are the same price on this week only and theres nothing between them on paper, personally I would buy the phillips simply on looks alone, but neither wil be a bad choice for £328!

Raymond Lin · 25 Feb 2006 at 17:46

Personally i get the phillips because it isn't a TN panel. I have a Acer 17" TN panel, in comparison to my Philips side by side the philips is a much much better screen. Sharpness, colours, viewing angles, there is just no contest.

Logsi · 26 Feb 2006 at 13:20

Nazbit said:
The BenQ looks quite good on paper in terms of specs, if you can get it at the this week only price then is seems quite reasonable to me.

I ruled it out of my selection simply because it wouldnt fit in with my setup and the rest of my room. Plus by the time I can afford it it will have gone back up to its ful price of £411 which I think is overpriced, at £330 however it looks quite good.

You would have to do some reearch in to buildquality, backlighting, dead pixels etc etc, I have not heard of any issues with them, but I too would be intrested in finding out.

The phillips and the benq are the same price on this week only and theres nothing between them on paper, personally I would buy the phillips simply on looks alone, but neither wil be a bad choice for £328!

I like the BenQ because of the Simplicity of it and it would suit my setup, most of it is black. I will have to do some resaerch first though i think.