21-21" Monitor suggestion: Upgrading

[sektor]

I've decided to buy a new monitor here. Something I have put off for a long time. I was hoping to get help and feedback here for what I am looking for.

Looking for at least a 21", perhaps even a 22".

I am a gamer, more casual and not hard core.
I do use the web A LOT. Lots of RSS feeds, research,email, pdf reading/editing article reading etc, so getting something that makes things crisp, clear is a definite must.

First, is widescreen the way to go?
Does widescreen affect games at all?
Current games playing:

Company of Heroes
Team Fortress 2
Call of Duty 4
BioShock
Crysis (when it comes out)

I was looking at a Dell 22" that was $299. Seems good.
One thing is, at work, I have dual Dell 21" monitors and I can see a difference between that monitor and my 19" Viewsonic at home. The Dells seem to display Firefox better (very obvious with google reader). Seems crisper, easier on the eyes for whatever reasons.

I'll start here. Any info needed, I will happily oblige and provide more here.

Thanks,

TCG

 

[jaguarskx]

I haven't done much research on 21" LCD monitors, but I think most of them use MVA or PVA panel technology. All current consumer level 22" LCD monitors use TN panel technology which is considered inferior to MVA/PVA tech because of color accuracy, black levels, and viewing angles.

Gamers love TN panels because they offer the fastest response times (even though there is no standardized tested).

Because TN panels uses dithering to come up with 16.2 million colors, images and text may not look as sharp as better LCD panel technologies. Most people do not notice this difference, but it is there and you seem to be able to pick it out.

Since you can tell difference between the 21" Dells from work to the 19" LCD you have at home that seems to indicate your monitor at home uses TN panel tech. If you have Win XP at home and at work try setting the Autumn wallpaper as your background and see if you notice any difference.

I'll bet that the Autumn wallpaper will look better on your 21" Dells at work. It should be sharper and "more colorful" on the 21" Dells. Take a look at the bark of the trees to see if you can notice any pixelation artifacts.


As for gaming, all modern games do support widescreen formats. Many older games do not support widescreen resolutions so they will appear streched out. A few LCD monitors will allow you to correct this in the OSD (on screen display) menu. It might be under "Advanced Options" and most likely called Aspect or 1:1 pixel mapping. That will force the monitor to use the exact number of pxiels specified by the game.

For example, Diablo II has a max resolution of 800 x 600. On a widescreen monitor without Aspect or 1:1 options the screen will be stretched to fill the entire screen and everything will look "fat". Setting Aspect or 1:1 tells the monitor to use exactly 800 x 800 pixels, therefore the "play screen" will have black borders around it.

 

[sektor]

That is very very interesting. I had no idea.
If possible, i'd like a good blend of something that works well for games, and something that works well for the internet. I think my monitor at home is more built as a gamers monitor.