Which monitor and why?

Anti-Skub · 7 Sep 2013 at 19:16

I'm in the market for a new monitor but they baffle me. Can anyone suggest something sub £200 and tell me why it's a good idea?

Things that are confusing me.

1 - People claim Samsung do good cheap monitors, but then it seems to be IPS panel or nothing these days, and Samsung use TN panels in all their low end stuff so whats good about them?

2 - Online reviews seem to be all over the place. Some reviews give 10/10 to screens other places give 1/10. Like Tech Radar claimed this AOC monitor is the best monitor of the year...yet everywhere else seems to think it's a heap of ****. Anyone know of any monitor review source that's consistent? Even one that doesn't give cheap monitors bad ratings because other more expensive monitors look better.

3 - Contrast ratios. Why does it vary so much? Isn't high contrast ratio better, and if so why do some cheap monitors boast higher ratios than some super high end stuff?

Drake5 · 7 Sep 2013 at 19:40

I was also recently in the market for a £200 monitor aswell. Ultimately, after looking around lots online and getting some fantastic help from PCMonitors forum, I decided to go for the Asus MX239H.

Why?

Great 'TraceFree' settings which pretty much eliminates all ghosting/overshoot.
IPS Panel - Fantastic image quality and vibrancy.
The overall design of the monitor is very nice and the stand is strong and sturdy. (There is a little bit of wobble but it isn't a big deal at all).
A good amount of outputs/inputs.
The reviews for it were great on various websites.
The speakers built into the monitor are great considering they're monitor speakers.

I'm sorry I can't answer your other questions, I just thought I'd offer you some advise as I know how difficult picking a monitor can be. I must also say that the Asus MX239H is getting replaced as my unit had some very bad backlight bleed, but otherwise the monitor is great and hopefully the excessive backlight bleed is an isolated issue. (I am aware that some backlight bleed is always going to be apparent, no matter what the monitor is.)

Anti-Skub · 8 Sep 2013 at 01:22

Well I've done a lot of looking around and I was leaning towards a 24 inch Asus...I'm just not particular sure of my choice. I'm just going off random reviews and forum posts, and they seem to vary wildy when it's concerning monitors.

Lartyconshayo · 8 Sep 2013 at 04:35

1. TN panels can have a quicker response time than IPS like as low as 1 - 2 ms. The best IPS I've seen are about 5 - 6 ms. Besides that though IPS is the way to go and unless you're total high fps gamer then TN is fine.

2. Nope . You can always find diff opinions on internet. I just keep reading until I get a feeling for good vs bad.

3. Probably the cheaper ones are quoting dynamic contrast ratio which is a way to inflate numbers to make them sound impressive

http://m.cnet.com/news/contrast-ratio-or-how-every-tv-manufacturer-lies-to-you/20066138

But for sub £200 I would try this monitor

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-077-IY

Drake5 · 8 Sep 2013 at 09:22

Let me know which one you decide to go with. For now I'm certainly sticking with the Asus MX239H and hopefully the bleed is just a one off. It has lots of very good reviews on a certain online retailer so I think if the bleed was more widespread, more people would have mentioned it.

Anti-Skub · 8 Sep 2013 at 18:01

djferrick said:
1. TN panels can have a quicker response time than IPS like as low as 1 - 2 ms. The best IPS I've seen are about 5 - 6 ms. Besides that though IPS is the way to go and unless you're total high fps gamer then TN is fine.

2. Nope . You can always find diff opinions on internet. I just keep reading until I get a feeling for good vs bad.

3. Probably the cheaper ones are quoting dynamic contrast ratio which is a way to inflate numbers to make them sound impressive

http://m.cnet.com/news/contrast-ratio-or-how-every-tv-manufacturer-lies-to-you/20066138

But for sub £200 I would try this monitor

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-077-IY

One of the main reasons I'm looking for a new monitor is the horrible viewing angles on my current Samsung with a TN panel. If I sit up in my chair it's fine but if I'm watching a movie or something and sit back and put my feet up the contrast goes to ****. Reading up on it I got the impression that all TN panels have terrible vertical viewing angles which is why I was pretty much sold on an IPS...is that not true?

I also really don't need inbuilt speakers. I have good quality headphones and 5.1 satellite speakers. Feels like wasting money to get a monitor with speakers.