I have $300-$600 to spend...oh what to do?

[krock1]

Hello all,
I am building a new rig this weekend and next:

q6600 w/go
pk5 deluxe/wifi
4 gb ddr2 1066 crucial ballastix
8800 gtx
2 WD 500 HD
creative music

I have a budget of anywhere between $300 to $600 and I need to order a monitor. Please let me know what I should buy. I need it for gaming but also movies, music and workstation.

Thanks,
Krock1

 

[jaguarskx]

I generally recommend people to stay away from monitors that use TN panels. While inexpensive and are considered fast due to low response times, they have very bad viewing angles, poor "black levels", and poor color accuracy.

All 22" monitors use TN panels so I recommend avoiding these altogether.

All 24" used MVA or PVA in the past, but not anymore. TN panels have invaded this LCD segment at lower price points. 24" TN panels have response times of 5ms while MVA/PVA have response times of 6ms. While only rated at 1ms slower than TN panels, MVA/PVA panels offers better colors and viewing angles.

TN panels may be better for games if you don't care about color accuracy and just want speed. But for movies color accuracy is more important because you will see less annoying image artifacts.

Basically, I recommend the Planar PX2411w ($580) or the HP LP2465 Carbonite-Black 24" ($560 after a $50 rebate @ newegg.com).

Below is a post I made in another thread that can apply to you from the following thread:

New Gateway 24 inch monitor

In your situation you may want to consider a reasonably priced 24" monitor that uses a MVA or PVA panel. The following is a list of all 24" LCD monitors sold at Newegg.com:

List of 24" LCD monitors @ Newegg

Many of the less expensive monitors are using the TN panel; similar to the Gateway that you bought. All monitors under $570 as of (Oct 18, 2007) uses TN panels with the exception of the following monitors:

* Westinghouse L2410NM Glossy Black 24" 8ms ---> $380 after a $50 rebate
* DoubleSight DS-240WB Black 24" 6ms ---> $420 after a $100 rebate
* DoubleSight DS-245W Black 24" 6ms ---> $480

I never heard of Doublesight so I'm not sure how reliable their monitors are.

Westinghouse just shouts out to me as "CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP" in more ways than one.

My recommendation is the Planar PX2411w for $580. I currently have a 4+ year old Planar PX191 19" LCD monitor that I am still very pleased with. No problems at all. Back then they simply had the best warranty out there. They actually had 1 dead pixel return policy. If you had to RMA a Planar LCD monitor back to them within the warranty, they would ship out a replacement monitor to you using 2-Day express delivery. You would then return your defective monitor back to Planar using the same packaging and pay no postage whatsoever. Now Planar is simply has a very good warranty policy since they no longer have that 1 dead pixel policy.

Planar PX2411w

Before stepping up to looking at 26" LCD monitors using Si-IPS panels (actually there were only two: Planar PX2611w and the NEC 2690WUXi) I was considering the BenQ FP241W and FP241WZ; they were at the top of my list. Newegg only carries the FP241W. If you are looking for a monitor with lots of different video input connections, either one of these monitors is for you. It is selling for $650 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

BenQ FP241W

I guess by default a lot of people in the 24" LCD market look at the Dell 2407WFP-HC that is currently selling for $670. However, Dell is known for having sales every now and then.

Dell 2407WFP-HC

 

[prodystopian]

I bought the 24" Dell a few months back and have been very happy with it. Just make sure you get it when it is on sale for about $580.

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, Dell will probably have a sale around Thanksgivings.