Spec me a screen for general use

azibux1 · 28 Sep 2012 at 00:34

Hi,

I was looking for some advice on a monitor for my parents to use at their business.

They used to have a desktop PC there but I am currently repairing that so the monitor is currently connected to an old Rock gaming laptop, think it was a rock quaddra 64.

The current monitor is a 17" Sony one about 10 years old but it has developed a fault (for quite some time now) where everything goes odd colours for a while then it will randomly go back to normal.

Tried a different PC and cable so it is definitely the monitor.

Please can someone recommend a sensibly priced monitor just for general use, web browsing etc. Maybe around 20 or 22 inch and a reasonable brand, doesn't need to be anything amazing though, just not a problem total random brand.

I was just wondering as most monitors now have a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 or 1920 x 1080 would that be fine with the old laptop? Might be an odd question but I'm not an expert when it comes to gfx cards and monitors. I'm guessing the laptop or old PC (also about 10 years old) will be able to support a monitor with that resolution? What's the best way to check?

Thanks!

monitorsgrrrrrr · 28 Sep 2012 at 07:22

DVI, HDMI and VGA all work on a 1920x1080(1200). There are so many monitors so i cant really help you choose with that. Look for some monitors and post them here so people can give there opinion about it.

azibux1 · 28 Sep 2012 at 11:45

monitorsgrrrrrr said:
DVI,and VGA all work on a 1920x1080(1200). There are so many monitors so i cant really help you choose with that. Look for some monitors and post them here so people can give there opinion about it.

Okay thanks. I will do that.

I did see a Ben Q one I will get the product code later when I'm on my PC.

I was just wondering would the laptop and pc be able to output at that res as they're so old but I think you're saying it will be fine?

The laptop is VGA and pc has VGA and dvi

azibux1 · 28 Sep 2012 at 11:57

This monitor? I was thinking of this but on offer the Iiyama is better as it has longer warranty and better contrast ratio right?

Or is there anything we should spend a bit more on and get more for our money? Don't want to spend unnecessarily though

monitorsgrrrrrr · 28 Sep 2012 at 12:40

The iiyama would be a good choice but if you want better colour accuracy and better viewing angles you could choose a IPS screen. The iiyama uses a TN panel and these dont have such good viewing angles like IPS panels. I dont think your parents would ever notice the difference but just take a look at this monitor IPS224V
Imo a very nice monitor and its about the same price.

azibux1 · 28 Sep 2012 at 12:54

monitorsgrrrrrr said:
The iiyama would be a good choice but if you want better colour accuracy and better viewing angles you could choose a IPS screen. The iiyama uses a TN panel and these dont have such good viewing angles like IPS panels. I dont think your parents would ever notice the difference but just take a look at this monitor *competitor link removed*
Imo a very nice monitor and its about the same price.

thanks I see what you're saying and I will discuss with them and see how much they want to spend.

I would remove that competitor link before a mod sees it, you're only supposed to link to OcUK

Other than the viewing angle, is the Iiyama a good monitor if they don't want to spend over £100? I will speak to them and post back.

Thanks

monitorsgrrrrrr · 28 Sep 2012 at 13:03

Yes its a good monitor. Either way you cant go wrong. I believe the IPS224V only comes with a vga cable so keep that in mind. Link removed ty i was allready warned once so you saved me

hmmz can you edit your quote to me? It still shows the link.

azibux1 · 28 Sep 2012 at 14:51

monitorsgrrrrrr said:
Yes its a good monitor. Either way you cant go wrong. I believe the IPS224V only comes with a vga cable so keep that in mind. Link removed ty i was allready warned once so you saved me

hmmz can you edit your quote to me? It still shows the link.

Just spoke to Dad and he said the Iiyama will be fine as he doesn't want to spend too much on it.

Just edited that quote too (Y)

Think I'm going to go for the Iiyama, thanks for your help

azibux1 · 28 Sep 2012 at 15:08

I am using the laptop that the screen will be used with and I went into control panel to check the settings. Can somebody make sure for me that the laptop will be able to output a picture of res 1920 x 1080.

The laptop screen is NOT in use and we are just using the external old monitor for now and here is what it says when you select monitor 1:

That setting does not have any options above 1280 x 1024 as you can see

And here is what you see when you click monitor 2:

This one does include 1920 x 1080.

The thing is if you change the settings of that monitor 2, it has no effect, it only actually changes the resolution of you change the monitor 1 resolution. If I try to change 'monitor 2' the one that has the option for 1920 x 1080, I click apply, it just goes back to 1280 x 1024 again instantly

Please can someone say if the new monitor will be able to run at 1920 x 1080 with this laptop or not

Thanks!

EDIT: If it helps, the current monitor is a Sony SDM-S81 and has a native resolution of 1280 x 1024

2nd EDIT: Also it won't actually be full HD will it as we are only using vga?

azibux1 · 1 Oct 2012 at 11:06

Anybody able to answer the above for me please?

tamzzy · 1 Oct 2012 at 11:22

if you set your laptop to display external screen only (or duplicate image) then you wont have monitor 2's settings to play around with iirc
if you set the display settings to extend, then you can play around with monitor 1 res and monitor 2's res

monitorsgrrrrrr · 1 Oct 2012 at 11:22

Have you tried making the secondary monitor (2) as your primary display?

azibux1 · 1 Oct 2012 at 11:42

tamzzy said:
if you set your laptop to display external screen only (or duplicate image) then you wont have monitor 2's settings to play around with iirc
if you set the display settings to extend, then you can play around with monitor 1 res and monitor 2's res

That's the odd thing, it is set to external screen only, the laptop screen is off, only comes on when booting as that is the main screen (that setting can't be changed as it always uses its own screen as the main one)

monitorsgrrrrrr said:
Have you tried making the secondary monitor (2) as your primary display?

As above, I can't change that setting as the laptop insists on using its own monitor as a primary monitor, when I press Fn and the corresponding F button to change between duplicate, laptop only and laptop and external, I currently have it set on external only, the laptop screen is only used when booting the PC

What is the worst that could happen if I order it and the laptop can't produce a 1920 x 1080 image? It will still work fine at a lower resolution right? Still have good image quality etc just not HD?

Might get Dad to bring it home so I can connect it to my 1920 x 1080 TV and test it ... Easier than my monitors as they're wall mounted

monitorsgrrrrrr · 1 Oct 2012 at 12:04

Well if you click on "extend my windows desktop onto this monitor" you should be able to use 1920x1080 on the secondary display without any problems. I know extending is not what your after but atleast it will show if the laptop is able to output 1080p. I see no reason why it shouldnt.

azibux1 · 1 Oct 2012 at 12:06

monitorsgrrrrrr said:
Well if you click on "extend my windows desktop onto this monitor" you should be able to use 1920x1080 on the secondary display without any problems. I know extending is not what your after but atleast it will show if the laptop is able to output 1080p. I see no reason why it shouldnt.

I see what you're saying but do you mean if I do that with my TV connected as an external monitor?

The current monitor I'm replacing isn't 1920 x 1080 so it wouldn't let me do that surely?

Sorry if it is an odd question, I'm not with the laptop at the moment so can't just test it

Thanks

monitorsgrrrrrr · 1 Oct 2012 at 12:33

Hmmz but in the post above you said you were trying to apply 1080p to the secondary monitor. And now you say the sec monitor isnt 1080p? Im a bit confused...

edit :
Ah i read that your using the sony with native res 1280 x 1024. Obviously you wont be able to use 1080p on that screen. Just connect to your tv and check if 1080p works.

azibux1 · 1 Oct 2012 at 12:55

monitorsgrrrrrr said:
Hmmz but in the post above you said you were trying to apply 1080p to the secondary monitor. And now you say the sec monitor isnt 1080p? Im a bit confused...

edit :
Ah i read that your using the sony with native res 1280 x 1024. Obviously you wont be able to use 1080p on that screen. Just connect to your tv and check if 1080p works.

Yeah I was trying to work out 'if' I get a new monitor for it, will it work at 1920 x 1080. I think I will bring it home and check it with my TV like you say, yes the TV is full HD 1920 x 1080

Also Dad said that Iiyama is too small, we looked at the mesasurements and compared it to the current Sony 18" and it looked small. Think it is probably because the Sony is not a widescreen one.

Anyway we are now looking at maybe a 23" or 24"

What do you think of these?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung S23B550V 23" Widescreen LED MHL Monitor - Black £137.99
1 x BenQ GW2450HM 24" Widescreen LED Professional Monitor - Black £131.99
1 x Samsung S23A350H 23" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £129.95
Total : £421.34 (includes shipping : £17.85).

With my knowledge I'm guessing the first one (S23B550V) is the best? Best response time and contrast ratio? Also the BenQ has a 'd-sub'? Am I right in saying that is the same as VGA?

Can't find info for it though about the panel and which one it is, but like you say I don't think it will make that much difference

Please let me know what you think of these, thanks!

monitorsgrrrrrr · 1 Oct 2012 at 13:40

Choose samsung they make quality products and have good warranty. Those samsung are pretty equal in terms of specs but afaik only the S23B550V supports MHL and i dont think you need it. I believe MHL lets you connect your phone to the monitor to show pics and videos. Both are TN panels.

azibux1 · 1 Oct 2012 at 14:18

monitorsgrrrrrr said:
Choose samsung they make quality products and have good warranty. Those samsung are pretty equal in terms of specs but afaik only the S23B550V supports MHL and i dont think you need it. I believe MHL lets you connect your phone to the monitor to show pics and videos. Both are TN panels.

Think I will go for the B550V...MHL sounds like a cool feature to have if we ever use the monitor elsewhere and might as well get better contrast ratio and slightly better viewing angle for £7 more haha

I think I will order it, should be fine even if it has to run at 1280 x 1024 right?

monitorsgrrrrrr · 1 Oct 2012 at 18:09

It wont be a problem but 1920x1080 just has to work.