More TFT advice required

[Countcussy]

First off, hello everyone.

Been reading these forums as a guest for a while and there seems to be a lot of knowledge on these boards, so i thought i would join in to pick some brains.

I have read the various threads on 19" TFT`s but here is another one.

I currently have a Viewsonic E92f+SB 19" CRT. I am currently still waiting for a replacement from Viewsonic after text started to blurr and shadow. Experience with their customer services dept. is not filling me with confidence for future purchases. But thats another story.

Its only a year old, but i have decided to get rid & purchase a 19" TFT. Usual question, which one?

Primary use is for home computing, with the odd game thrown in. Very rarely watch movies, just the odd music DVD. Games usually would be sports sims, golf, football etc. Lego Star Wars 2 is also a favourite at the mo. Not into FP shooters at all.

Main concern for me is picture/colour quality. With nice sharp text. Not fussed about widescreen either.
Standard res seems to be 1280x1024. What happens below this? When the missus uses the PC, she will want to drop to 1024x768. Will picture quality suffer?

Computing is a bit of a hobby for me, and i like to think i know more than the basics, but i know nothing about monitors. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Due to a deal i am doing with my workplace, i have about £300 to spend.

Also, will my Gfx card cope OK?

System:
Intel P4 Northwood 2.8 @ 3.12
Leadtek Winfast AGP gfx card - 6800 plain, pipes unlocked, 398/802
1 GB pc2700 ram
Asus P4Pe mobo.
(plan to go to core2 duo soon, but thats for another day)

Thanks for reading.

 

[Baddass]

welcome to OcUK!

First of all I'd suggest for your uses you probably don't want to be looking at WS monitors anyway, so a god thing you're not too fussed about them too. Most sports games tend to be in 4:3 format anyway, and for office use you are probably more used to a 4:3 aspect screen. Having said that, with your budget you could get a 20"WS model if you wanted to which might be a nice choice.

If you stick with a 19" model then you're limiting yourself to a max res of 1280 x 1024 and also limiting yourself to TN Film panel technology. If you venture into the 20"WS market there is more choice of models based around other technologies like S-IPS or P-MVA for instance. Have a read here if you want to know a bit more about what the technologies can offer. Seeing as you have the budget it might be a shame to settle for a smaller (19") model and lower res, as well as the draw backs of TN Film technology. Just a thought....

If you like the look of the 20"WS models then the Viewsonic VX2025WM, Belinea 102035W or maybe even the Dell 2007WFP would be good choices (Dell just a little over the £300 mark). These all offer good all round performance, and some impressive performance and features. If you wanted to stick with a 4:3 format screen then the Dell 2007FP would be a nice choice and is <£300. Like I say, these use other panel technologies and so you don't have to settle for the average performance of TN Film which is heavily used in the 19" market.

If you did want to stick with a 19" model then you could save yourself some money and get a model like the Samsung 920N for example. Very good office TFT and well established, and probably perfectly adequate for your needs anyway. It does use TN Film technology, but have a read up in that link above and see what you think about what the technologies offer, see whether it will be ok for you. For most users it is probably fine, so if you wanted to save some money then this would be a good choice. If you want to stick 19" but NOT TN Film (god, this is getting complicated! ) then there's the Viewsonic VP930 which you'd need to have a look around for. It is using P-MVA technology so a very good choice if you want to stay 19".


Using a TFT below native resolution is ok, but not really advisable for Windows use. Is there any reason your wife would want to use it at a lower res for windows use? It would be better to stick at it's native res and just make the text larger through Windows i'd think For gaming it's not a massive issue though, lower resolutions are generally pretty well interpolated on modern panels.


What i'm trying to get at is check about the panel technologies, see which would suit your needs. If you will be fine with TN Film then you can save some money and get a very good 19" model for around £200 (Samsung 920N). If you want 19" but something a little more fancy with more rounded performance, and better functionality then look for the Viewsonic VP930 (still <£300). If you have £300 then you can afford a 20" model, so maybe consider the Dell 2007FP as a 4:3 format screen, or the 2007WFP or Viewsonic VX2025WM if you fancy a WS model.

hth

 

[Countcussy]

Thanks for the great response Baddass. Just what i was looking for. Plenty of info to help me make the right choice.

The missus wears glasses, or at least she should. But she can never be bothered to find them when she uses the PC.

She will just have to make do with my choice.

Thanks again.