After over 4 years, my Samsung SyncMaster 710v is showing its age. On and off, it’ll show vertical lines over red and green color. It’s not bad, but it’s a sign.
As such, I’m preparing myself for the worse by doing some research on LCD monitors, just in case, one day the monitor dies on me and I need to get a new one. There are literally TONS of options out there, all kind of brands, sizes, models, and prices.
I know I’ll be looking at 24” LCD monitor should the need to replace arises. My choices at the moment are narrowed to three choices.
Dell 2408WFP
At the moment, Dell is selling at S$860. This monitor is very popular. It uses VA panel type, which means viewing angle is pretty good and color reproduction is much better than the cheaper ones. It has all kinds of connectivity you can think of. You can plug this monitor to old and future systems, desktops, laptops, PS3, cable TV, USB, card readers, etc.
As much as Dell is popular, a couple of months back, Philips 240PW9EB/69 model made quite a headline in Singapore by introducing an IPS panel monitor, normally reserved for true professionals who don’t care about budget, for S$739 price point. Generally, you’ll never find an IPS panel under S$1000, so this price point made a big splash. IPS panel has the best color reproduction, best viewing angle, and generally the best in most departments.
What Philips sacrificed in this monitor are connectivity. Unlike Dell, this monitor only has VGA and DVI inputs, more than enough for most people, but you may find it insufficient in the future should HDMI and DisplayPort standards took over. But, for its price and panel type, some say it’s a bargain.
At the foot of LCD panels technology, TN panel are the cheapest, well-used in virtually all notebooks in the market and cheaper LCD panels. They have the worst color reproduction, the worst viewing angle, and don’t bother looking at the screen from below. If you’re reading this on a laptop, try viewing your screen from below. If the black colors turned “grey”-ish, then yours is a TN panel. And, the best of the worst LCD panel is Samsung 2493HM, currently priced at $599, but I should be able to get it at S$500 elsewhere.
I have to admit, the design is stylish, and despite all the shortcomings of the TN panel technologies, unless there’s a really cheap VA or IPS LCD monitor out there, I’ll likely to still stick with TN panels. Why? Because they’re much cheaper. And frankly, using it at home, I don’t care as much if a strawberry looks red or slightly orange-ish.
There are cheaper models from Acer or BenQ or ViewSonic as well, I may consider them if people have good reviews about them.
What do you recommend? Or, are you using any of these monitors?
