Tough choices

[Anemone]

Probably going to make the plunge in June and augment the current Sony G420 with a LCD. Doing a lot of surfing, and a lot of Everquest tends to put a strain on the eyes, after full days of spreadhsheets. I noticed on EQ'er here mentioned great success with the Compaq TFT 7020, something I'll keep in mind. And offhand, digital photos are a hobby - though I won't be tossing the nice CRT, color quality is something I appreciate if it can be had without throwing gaming usefulness out the window.

Ok, monitors on my short list and opinions wanted, especially if you have them or work with them personally in a gaming FPS/MMORPG scenario (text is their forte so I don't need that reiterated)

Compaq 7020
- good price, good personal experience, 17" is a bit smaller than I had hoped for


Compaq 8020
The response is great, but the contrast is low, seems like someone is trying to perfect last years tech and sell it for a stunning price


Viewsonic VG191
-Lots of up and down reviews, 1280 res is not the same ratio as 1024 or 1600, so going this all out, as with the 8020, might be bad from a longer term perpsective, ie when everything is at 1600. Never sure whether the specs live up to the real thing with the Viewsonics and that makes me worried at this price point

HP 1820x
- No one seems to have even seen it. I'm curious, it seems to fit the bill pretty well, but specs do not = the real thing too often and I can't find one of these live. Anyone have one or use one?

Samsung 171T to 191T or variations thereof
- I've heard the whites on Samsung are more yellowish, and maybe not. I have seen older Samsungs and was not impressed, but the new ones get good reviews. The 181 and 191 series (not sure which letter is the best one but probably the T's), have been reviewed to be less in quality than the smaller 171 models. Samsung prices have also been pretty high lately due to popularity, so if the 181 and 191 are really stunning and the ghosting is very low, I'd like to be very sure of that before I paid what they're asking.


Price... Well if I could get a great monitor at 17, I'd probably want to spend no more than 800. If I am getting a great monitor at 18-19, I'll go to 1200 ish, less than 950 if I am making compromises which quite probably I will be. I guess I'd want to weigh out how high in that range to go, for just how great any one of these is.

Comments from those who hyped something for months, bought it then 2 months later hates it and returns it are not very useful.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and help.



<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Anemone on 05/16/02 09:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[flamethrower205]

Throw the compaq's off your list, unless you want to spend an hour editing a photo b/c it's darker on the edges, and then realize it's b/c poor viewing angles of your lcd.

Sig of the week.

 

[Neil_is_Dead]

Have a look at the thread I started, it should give you some insight into the new Samsungs (I wasnt impressed). All I can suggest is that you buy from a shop that has a no quible return and view for yourself after making an educated decision.

All I can say is that I found peoples comments very subjective i.e. when I saw for myself I had a different opinion. For fast FPS gaming (Q3 HL etc..) your not going to even get close to a CRT.

Buy one and see for yourself, and return it if your not happy.

btw: A friend of mine has an 18" Sony, I cant remember the model number but I'm going to pop along and have a look at it.. he loves it. Plays CS etc..

Neil

 

[imo]

Look closely in dealer before your purchase, try not to have this attitude of buy/try it out and return it! Dealer is not setup to be your testbed provider!