Please recommend a good 20"+ LCD Screen

Notorious Lee · 12 May 2007 at 18:54

I need a monitor for my set-up & would like a recommendation.

I am running an XFX GTX8800 graphics card so I need a good hi resolution monitor to justify it.

I don't want to spend too much preferably around £200 - £300.

Thanks.

lokiguesty · 12 May 2007 at 19:17

i got the Samsung 206BW 20" monitor today after a quick drive to ocuk,

its ace and im loving it so far!

comes in at just over £200

or if u want to spend the extra £50 they might still have some 22" Samsungs in stock which are selling like hot cakes at the mo so much be pretty impressive

JsD · 12 May 2007 at 19:18

Well a good question to ask yourself first is what exactly will you be using it for?

I'm going to assume gaming?

If so then you may want to look at the Samsung 206BW (or possibly the 22" if you should like) for that price range, can't be beaten or so I keep hearing

*Edit*

Bah, beaten to it

Richdog · 12 May 2007 at 19:37

Notorious Lee said:
I need a monitor for my set-up & would like a recommendation.

I am running an XFX GTX8800 graphics card so I need a good hi resolution monitor to justify it.

I don't want to spend too much preferably around £200 - £300.

Thanks.

The NEC 20GX2 is the best of the best...

ca9phoenix · 12 May 2007 at 19:42

Richdog said:
The NEC 20GX2 is the best of the best...

quotes the truth (i have one witn my gtx) however a bit over price range at £340.74 and you can have a much bigger one for less if your willing to sacrifice some quality

Richdog · 12 May 2007 at 20:15

ca9phoenix said:
quotes the truth (i have one witn my gtx) however a bit over price range at £340.74 and you can have a much bigger one for less if your willing to sacrifice some quality

Can be had cheaper than that, and an extra £25 ti secure a monitor of that quality is nothing.

Indy500 · 12 May 2007 at 20:19

Go for a 20' that can do 1600x1200 (maybe a Dell 2007FP? although that is a bit above your price range), unless you particularly like widescreen resolutions.

shine · 12 May 2007 at 20:24

Richdog said:
Can be had cheaper than that, and an extra £25 ti secure a monitor of that quality is nothing.

You should listen to him. I did when I got mine and have had no regrets.

Richdog · 12 May 2007 at 20:35

sr4470 said:
Go for a 20' that can do 1600x1200 (maybe a Dell 2007FP? although that is a bit above your price range), unless you particularly like widescreen resolutions.

Why on earth would you get a monitor that wasnt widescreen nowadays... :confused:

Indy500 · 12 May 2007 at 20:36

Richdog said:
Why on earth would you get a monitor that wasnt widescreen nowadays...

Just seems stretched to me, but then again I've always used 4:3 displays..

Richdog · 12 May 2007 at 20:57

sr4470 said:
Just seems stretched to me, but then again I've always used 4:3 displays..

It's all perfectly in proportion, and once you go widescreen you never look back. It's about 10x better than 4:3 imo.

fish99 · 12 May 2007 at 20:59

ca9phoenix said:
quotes the truth (i have one witn my gtx) however a bit over price range at £340.74 and you can have a much bigger one for less if your willing to sacrifice some quality

Dell 2007WFP is a great 2nd choice after the NEC. The 22" screens are TN+Film with limited viewing angles which is why they're cheaper than screens like the NEC and Dell which have IPS panels. IPS has the best viewing angles around and is very quick too. Widescreen is excellent for gaming btw, better for movies, and after owning one I prefer it for browsing, general windows and even for programming.

1mm3 · 12 May 2007 at 22:11

Just my personal opinion but i honestly think you should be looking at 22/24 inch solutions with such a beefy graphics card otherwise you may regret it (i do - spent nearly £250 on a 20.1" widescreen monitor and now gonna buy a 24" for another £400 when the £250 could have easily gone towards it..)

Yes, i appreciate you have a budget of £200-£300 but i would urge you to save the money and put it towards a 24. This advice would have saved me lots of £ ..

fish99 · 12 May 2007 at 22:20

Agree about a 24", especially with the price you can get the 2407WFP for, although it's still not within the OPs budget. 20"/22" have the same res though, so beefy graphics card doesn't rule out 20" and rule in 22".

1mm3 · 12 May 2007 at 22:55

Yes, given no increase in res, but bigger screen size always helps, i can still remember jumping from 19" crt to 20.1" widescreen tft that extra inch makes all the difference

that just doesn't sound right, lol!

fish99 · 12 May 2007 at 23:39

I know, I'm just saying you linked choosing 22" over 20" to having a beefy video card as if the resolution came into play.

Anyway, I still think there's some 20" screens that are better than any of the 22" ones even when the size is taken into account. Having owned two TN+Film (Digimate L1916, Samsung 913B), two IPS (Dell 2007WFP, LG 32LC2D) and two PVA screens (Samsung 172T, can't remember the other), the limited viewing angles of TN+Film would always make me choose a better panel (IPS, MVA, PVA) over size, plus TN+Film is only 18-bit colour.

Good thing is the 24 inchers are mostly PVA panels, so you get the best of both worlds there, and I agree the extra outlay is well worth it.

Mansize_tissue · 13 May 2007 at 09:33

Due to their same resolution, do 22" monitors look any less sharp than 20" monitors? I'm in a similar position to the OP and, considering i don't really need the extra screen size (at least i don't think i do, since i'm used to a 15" laptop screen), i was wondering if a 20" monitor would produce a sharper picture and show jaggies less in games (due to the smaller pixel pitch).

Richdog · 13 May 2007 at 11:01

Mansize_tissue said:
Due to their same resolution, do 22" monitors look any less sharp than 20" monitors?.

Yes... and the panels are MUCH worse, being TN. Some of the advice in this thread is proving a bit dodgy... the OP has a £300 budget so people suggest a 24". Then start suggesting a vastly inferior 22" panel over the pin-sharm and far better over all 20.1" panels.

OP, get a good 20.1", trust me you won't regret it, especially if its the NEC. The Dell 2007WFP would be a great second option, my dad has one and it looks the business.

Mansize_tissue · 13 May 2007 at 19:52

Personally, i'd get the NEC. I mean, it's worth getting a descent monitor because it's likely to be one of the longest living components in your system. So, seeing as it isn't likely to be upgraded as often, you might as well get a good one!

alg1a · 16 May 2007 at 23:15

Sorry to hijack the thread, but how good is this monitor 'Asus 20" MW201U 1680x1050 300 cd/m2 2ms Widescreen'? I had the Asus 19" VW192S before which I thought was acceptable except it had no DVI input which is why I sold it to a mate. Now I was set to get this 20" one on friday so I need some feedback really quick. Thanks guys.