Strong, Easy to use and under £200

FMF · 18 Jul 2008 at 03:04

Hi,
Currently I have a 17" Philips 170c monitor, it's coming up to 3 years old and I feel a nice (slightly larger) monitor would be in order for this system:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17895555

(Last two links from my post.)

Before I post some of the specs that I'd like in the new monitor I feel I must praise the one I currently have. It's had a mug broke against it, fell both front and back numerous times and did infact "repair" the pixels (1cm x 1cm area roughly) that I thought the mug had broken. This is the level off durability/ strength I'm looking for in the new monitor.

As in the base unit thread ^^^, I play a fair few games and would like a pretty decent resolution that a ATI 4850 could handle. Also strength / durability is a must as I often tilt the screen forward so it's clearer to see in the light. The screen must also be very easy to set up. With my current monitor I have an auto button that positions image for me and all the colours seem to be spot on, I would like the new monitor to be the same. There's not a specific size I'm looking for but a well builit, good spec monitor for under £200 (less if possible) is effectively what I'm after.

Also a 3+ year warranty is needed.

Thanks
FMF

FMF · 19 Jul 2008 at 18:59

Would it be better going for a 20" monitor rather than a 22" as the resolutions are the same?

Moeks · 20 Jul 2008 at 11:57

Well a 20" wide screen at a resolution of 1680x1050 will give you a finer dot pitch than a 22" yes. So if you would prefer slightly finer detail then yes I would say the 20" is better. I prefer them anyway myself, I think the dot pitch on a 22" is a little too big to be honest. Depends what you use the display for though ultimately. For games, then I don't really think that a 20" holds any real advantage over a 22" as you won't notice the finer dot pitch all that much.

In this bracket, the Samsung, Iiyama and LG displays are usually pretty good, as are the Dell's. I'm not overly familiar with this price braket or the TN film displays that you'ed be looking at though to be perfectly honest. Have you considered this at all? ...it's fairly well reviewed around here, certainly a lot of monitor for the money. And, it's got a pva panel in it, so no uber restricted viewing angles.

FMF · 20 Jul 2008 at 15:38

Thanks for the advice Moeks. Another question, which brand of monitors has the best build quality?

Thanks

Moeks · 20 Jul 2008 at 18:05

Hmm, that's a tricky one to answer really. I wouldn't say any of the mainstream brands have much of an advantage over another in terms of build quality. The most important thing really is the panel quality and electronics, then come the ergonomics ...which I suppose you could bring build quality into. But really the '1st tier' brands are all much of a muchness. Dell, Samsung, LG, Iiyama, NEC, Hyundai etc ...they all have decent and fairly consistent build quality.