Which 20" TFT

m1nky

m1nky

m1nky

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2 Apr 2006
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Hello

I am on the look out for a 20" widescreen tft monitor. I have around £350 to spend, but there is so many to choose from. I would use my computer a lot for design work such as photoshop, illustrator, flash etc...with a good bit of gaming as well.

I have narrowed it down to these 3, what one would you recommend? Or if there are any other monitors worth looking at please specify in the range of £350

Viewsonic VX2025 20" Widescreen LCD £340
Belinea 102035W 20.1" Widescreen £328
Acer AL2016Ws 20" Widescreen LCD £287

I quite like the price tag on the acer, but is it worth spending the extra and getting the DVI on the other two monitors?


Thanks, all comments are really appreciated
 
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The Belinea has the best panel of the lot, IIRC, as it has a P-MVA panel - high contrast ratio, good viewing angle and most importantly 24-bit color (16.7m).

Personally, I'd look at the 20" Philips 200C6W and Viewsonic 2025M as they are good screens seemingly. Have a look at Baddass' 20" round-up here.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/20inch_roundup.htm

And read up on different panels from the sticky to choose which is best for you.

e.g. TN - fast response, good for gaming, bad for films (colors).
P-MVA - the 8ms are excellent all rounders with good colour depth, blacks good and viewing angles good, but slower than TN.
 
smids said:
The Belinea has the best panel of the lot, IIRC, as it has a P-MVA panel - high contrast ratio, good viewing angle and most importantly 24-bit color (16.7m).

Personally, I'd look at the 20" Philips 200C6W and Viewsonic 2025M as they are good screens seemingly. Have a look at Baddass' 20" round-up here.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/20inch_roundup.htm

And read up on different panels from the sticky to choose which is best for you.

e.g. TN - fast response, good for gaming, bad for films (colors).
P-MVA - the 8ms are excellent all rounders with good colour depth, blacks good and viewing angles good, but slower than TN.
Click to expand...

Thanks for getting back to me, i must read up on what "Badass" has to say, he seems to know his stuff.

The Belinea sounds like a good choice with its P-MVA panel and 24-bit color (16.7m).

But would a P-MVA be good for gaming?

Would there be much competition/difference between the belinea and viewsonic 2025?. As these are 2 monitors that i have my eyes on.

Thanks
 
Well the fact that the P-MVA panels now come in 8ms varieties (Grey to Grey), it would seem fine for gaming. TN panels are really gaming panels however I'd much prefer a more all round monitor than just a gaming screen. I think the Viewsonic has better build quality, (I've owned a fair few Viewsonics) and looks better to me but the Belinea is very highly regarded anyway it would seem (just check the user opinion on this forum and others). I play games on my 15" TN TFT with a 30ms response time and all seems fine to me, motion blur and all! TBH, I think that there is little difference between say 12ms, 8ms and 4ms, especially when you look at some transition charts, but please get a second opinion on this. I'm a monitor n00b but I've been doing a lot of reading lately as I desperately need a new monitor and a 20" Widescreen is on my radar.
 
OK i have done a lot more reading up on the subject, but still not to sure what to choose.

i think its between these 2

Viewsonic VX2025 20" Widescreen LCD £340
Belinea 102035W 20.1" Widescreen £328

I do play a lot of games aswell as design work on photoshop/webdesign

i find it really hard to make up my mind, any other feedback would be welcome
 
Those two are excellent for photoshop etc due to the 8-bit colour and both are excellent monitors.

I'm still looking at the Philips 200W6C (or something!) though as that looks good and it supports 1:1 pixel match so you don't have to play widescreen but can play with a border on games that don't support it.

Sorry, it's only me again, hopefully someone else can voice their opinion too.
 
I had a look at badass website http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/selector.htm and went through the TFT selector, 2 of the TFTs that I have mentioned came up in the list. They are

Viewsonic VX2025 20" Widescreen LCD £340
Belinea 102035W 20.1" Widescreen £328

It said these are good for games and photoshop, which is a good sign.

The Philips spec does look very nice and very similar to the above 2, but haven’t heard much about them or seen many people with them. I will look more deeply into this. Anyone one else have any opinions on this?

Thanks smids for your advice it’s really appreciated.
 
m1nky said:
I had a look at badass website http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/selector.htm and went through the TFT selector, 2 of the TFTs that I have mentioned came up in the list. They are

Viewsonic VX2025 20" Widescreen LCD £340
Belinea 102035W 20.1" Widescreen £328

It said these are good for games and photoshop, which is a good sign.

The Philips spec does look very nice and very similar to the above 2, but haven’t heard much about them or seen many people with them. I will look more deeply into this. Anyone one else have any opinions on this?

Thanks smids for your advice it’s really appreciated.
Click to expand...

hi mate, and welcome to OcUK :)

The Belinea 102035W and Viewsonic VX2025WM both use the AU optronics P-MVA panel (M201EW01 V0) anyway, and so the performance between these two models is very comparable. As smids has been advising you (and quite rightly!) the P-MVA panels will lend themselves more to your uses than looking at some of the TN Film models. They offer an 8 bit colour depth, much wider viewing angles and smoother movie playback as well. The modern P-MVA panels use a large application of overdrive which is a technology used to boost mid range grey to grey response times (hence the G2G response time figure :)) They offer comparable performance to some of the TN Film market anyway, but without making the sacrifices in the other areas mentioned.

I think these would both be very good choices for your needs. The Philips 200W6CS is a tricky one though. It has received great feedback from the users on this forum, but we are still in some doubt over the panel it uses. The spec actually suggests it uses the same panel as the Belinea and Viewsonic and so if that is true, you have another choice which is pretty similar in real performance. You can just base your decision on the looks, features and price of the screen which is probably what it should come down to given the choices. However, there is also a chance it is using a different panel technology (S-IPS which LG.Philips make themselves). Either way, it gets good feedback so would be worth looking at as well really. They are all covered in that article that smids linked to first of all.

As far as which one to choose, it's a tough choice (and i'm pleased the TFT Selector showed the choices most suitable!). The Viewsonic offers a slightly more classy design in the eyes of some, and probably a slightly better build quality as well. Belinea tend to offer more "budget" models and so sometimes are lacking in these areas. Performance wise, they are going to be very similar since they are based on the same AUO panel. However, Viewsonic do also include their "ClearMotiv" technology controlling the panel which might help improve and control the responsiveness a little compared with models which don't use this technology. It's mostly a series of electronic controls, but pretty useful and functional when it comes down to it, including in areas like overdrive control to help minimise artefacts and issues which that technology can cause in some cases.

Anyway, hope that helps, let me know if you have any questions :D
 
Thanks badass for your very detailed response, i think you have answered most of my questions there ;)

But ive got one more question for you, since you did ask :p

Whats your opinion on the NEC MultiSync® LCD20WGX2 20.1" Widescreen LCD, would it be worth splashing out more for this or will the others do the same job for a bit less? I know the NEC has a reflective screen but is it any worse than a CRT.

I plan on buying one this week, and thanks to gibbo they are a bit cheaper this week and the NEC has a good deal on it
 
the LCD20WGX2 would be a good bet too. This is a little faster in terms of gaming and pixel response times according to reviews and is certainly a very good screen. The model certainly offers some excellent performance, but is a bit more expensive than the Belinea for instance. I think it's only potential drawbacks would be the reflective Opticlear screen coating which is down to personal preference and lighting conditions and also that the movie playback is a little noisy compared with the P-MVA models (not a problem since you don;t mention using it for movies).

Just depends if you want to spend a bit more, and like the reflective nature of the screen really. A very good performer for sure :)
 
Thanks again badass, its hard to make my mind up :p

Its either between the Viewsonic VX2025 20" Widescreen LCD or NEC MultiSync® LCD20WGX2 20.1.

Would you notice much difference between the NEC and Viewsonic in ghosting, while playing games. As its only 2ms response time shorther?

What would you go for, is my final question? ;)


Andy
 
ive read good reviews on both monitors but still stuck on choosing
what should i go for?

Viewsonic VX2025 20" Widescreen

OR

NEC MultiSync® LCD20WGX2 20.1.

Thanks
 
yeah i was thinking of heading towards the NEC aswell, just wasnt to sure about the shinny pannel. But people have said it enhances the colours, which is good

It also has the 700:1 (1600:1 with Advanced DV Mode), which sounds like a bonus
 
it's not always just about the figures on paper don't forget, but the NEC does offer some improved responsiveness compared with the Viewsonic. I think the NEc is an excellent monitor, one of the best 20" models out there. Perhaps it's only drawbacks are the OptiClear glossy screen (not to everyone's taste) and the relatively noisy movie playback. If these aren't issues to you then the NEc would be a very good choice :)
 
thanks badass, i think i'll get the NEC since its a bit cheaper than usual. Does the "this week only" deals end on next Wednesday or Sunday? It started this wednesday the 7th
 
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