I don't know how much help I can be as, like I said in my previous post, I'm basically in the same position as you - pretty much the same monitor usage, but still looking and undecided. Each of them have their pros and cons which is why it's a tough decision.
These are my own person opinions and this post will be long
Of the two 16:9 Samsungs (P2450H/B2430H), I get the impression that they're very very similar in image quality or use. They're both pretty much the same price and so I would choose the P2450H (despite it being EOL) because to me, it looks better aesthetically. Also the power/status LED appears to be less distracting on the P2450H.
I actually asked a guy who had swapped 2x B2430H for 2x P2450H asking which he thought was better and he said this:
Well firstly let me say they are both great monitors, other than what is on paper, there is little difference between the two. They are both fantastic.
To be totally honest I didn't notice much difference when I upgraded to the P2450H other than the design. I prefer the P series design to the B series, but that really is small.
As for picture and color quality I would be really amazed if anyone could say which one was better, they both seem pretty much the same to me.
Bleeding seemed a bit more prone to the B series, I am a lot happier with the bleed on the P, or lack thereof.
The stands are notoriously poorly made, but not to the point where it is an issue. If you have a flimsy desk you may notice a wobble on the monitor, but unlikely. I type fairly hard and as I type this is don't notice to much of an issue.
If I remember correctly the B2430H was a like more unstable than the P2450H.
As for the 2ms vs 5ms, it is a load of marketing garbage if you ask me. There is honestly no way to tell the difference between the two and I would take a bet that no one would be able to separate the two.
My first choice would be the P2450H, better design and over all seems like a better monitor. That doesn't make the B bad.
The power LED's are not really an issue on either monitor, I prefer the P as all it has is a small orange dot to show the monitor is on. If you run your finger over the touch sensitive menu buttons then the rest of the menu lights up.
Now the LG W2442PA, as mentioned in my previous post, is apparently better than the P2450H according to Prad who write very detailed professional monitor reviews. If you just go by the Rating table on the first page of both reviews I linked, near the top, the W2442PA matches or beats the P2450H in everything.
With the W2442PA also having a better stand, it would therefore put it in front of both the 16:9 Samsungs, but I'm a little wary of buying such an old monitor. The B2430H is a newer monitor so quality could possibly be better, but conversely, it's entirely possible that the panel used in the B2430H is also a few years old. There's also only 1 online retailer that I can find that sells the W2442PA and has it in stock, however I've never used them before but their Google seller rating is high.
The *VA BenQs look amazing on paper and indeed if you read
PCM2's or
NCX's reviews, it does seem to also be very good in use too
providing you receive a good unit. As mentioned previously, there seems to be a lot of people sending them back and there's also the issue of minor ghosting (how noticeable varies as it's subjective). I'm not sure if I want to play the monitor tennis game of returning it back to the seller, but *VA panel technology is clearly better than TN (except for response time). Of the BenQs, I would choose the BL2400PT purely for the better stand and matte bezel, I don't need HDMI.
I would love to get an e-IPS screen, if the U2311H was 24" and at the same price, I'd snap it up straight away. But sadly Dell's 24" U2410 is around £500.
I don't think e-IPS is meant to be for professional colour critical work, yes it'll provide the best colour reproduction of all the other monitors mentioned, but is still no match for the H-IPS seen in the U2410. So I don't think you should look at the U2311H as being over the top, or at least I don't. There are a lot of people who have bought the monitor for gaming because it has a pretty much no ghosting and low input lag. Having better colours and viewing angles over other panel technologies makes it all the more worth while.
The Dell U models have had quite a fair bit of complaint on tinting issues, but it
seems to be less now as they've rolled out later revisions.
The Dell U2311H does have a DisplayPort and you can get adapters from it to HDMI, however I don't know how well that'll work with a Xbox 360. It's not really an issue for me as I mentioned above, I don't need HDMI as I don't have any devices that use it.
This lead me looking to the Viewsonic VP2365wb which price wise, is amazing for an e-IPS monitor. However I'm a little wary of it's black levels and ghosting (compared to the U2311H) as it doesn't have any overdrive (RTC). So for gaming, I don't know how good it'll be.
Lastly, I might as well give you my thoughts on the Samsung 2443DW. It's main and only selling point is that it's 24" and 1920x1200. I would much rather have a 16:10 resolution, I won't go into a debate why, but I definitely prefer it.
The 2443DW is too new and there are virtually no reviews or user feedback on it, however it's basically the same as the 2443BW which gets a lot of mixed reviews. The majority seem to like it (see
here,
here &
here), but there are others that complain of appalling colour shifting (see
here &
here) - amplified by the fact it's so big that even viewing the screen dead on, you'll still see the colour shift. There are also a few reports of a defect where the monitor buzzes if the brightness is set any lower than 100. Whether they've fixed these issues or not in the 2443DW, I don't know. The colour shifting issue is just a limitation to TN panel technology.
The problem for me is that my standards are probably too high and I'm greedy, in that I want the best of everything - i.e. good colours (no colour shifting) and contrast as well as no ghosting or input lag. All of that wrapped up in a 24" matte case with a native resolution of 1920x1200, have a fully maneuverable stand
and come in at around £200 or under.
Now a good friend of mine who's a web designer, says his 22" LG L226WTQ (TN) monitor has pretty much no colour shifting and the viewing angles are also very good - except for when looking down-up on it. He also says the colours on it are perfect, better than any CRT he's ever owned (which includes Mitsubishi, Sony and Iiyama).
I find it hard to believe that a TN panel can be that good, but then again I have no reason to doubt him. He's suggesting I go for a TN and that there's going to be negligible difference compared to VA or IPS panels, especially from a purely gaming perspective. He's never seen a VA or IPS screen in person, only in images and videos, so I've been trying to argue that they're better. However, when it comes down to it, TN is good for gamers because of the low response rate.
That pretty much sums up what I've come to after about a month of looking at monitors, as mentioned, I'm still undecided and keep on picking a different favourite amongst the bunch every other day.
If you've read this whole post, you deserve a cookie
