[Granz00]

Well, with my credit card getting close to being paid off, it might be time to waste money again... I've built my new desktop, but now I want to "see" the difference. Right now, I have a 17" LCD, non-widescreen monitor that was purchased with my old desktop back in 04'/05'. Its been fun, but I'm trying to move into the HD world now. So now I'm looking at a better monitor.

First, my signature should contain my desktop build specifics. My video card is an EVGA 8800 GT with 512 GDDR3. I assumed that this card would suffice for what I want to do. Specifically, I want to be able to watch high quality video, and play "some" high quality games, like Bioshock, and possibly Crysis. I might invest in a Blu Ray drive, but that will be later down the road when I can afford to upgrade my graphics card too.

I have a few general guidelines that I want to follow. First, I will be using DVI as the connection. Second, it must be widescreen. Third, it must be 20" or more. Forth, I don't want to spend too much over $200 (I don't have a specific limit in mind, so I will spend more for quality, but I still have to be conservative as much as possible with the price). Lastly, my current monitor displays dark scenes a little too dark. So I need a screen that won't display too darkly.

I'm not entirely sure which aspects are more important than others, so I might need help with that. However, I have done a little bit of research, and have a few choices in mind. If you can come up with better choices, then feel free to do so.

Acer 22"
Sceptre 22"

My concern with the first is that Contrast Ratio will cause me to have certain scenes that are too dark. Other then that, it seems to have tons of good reviews.

The second one is probably my top choice right now. However, it does not come with a DVI cable, which is a small inconvience. Also, there is a new model, X22HG-Naga, which seems to be the same exact thing, just without the audio. So what makes the Naga more expensive? Also, reading some reviews about the 20" model makes it seem like Sceptre has a decent problem with dead monitors.

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It doesn't really make a real difference with VGA or DVI, when they started developing DVI there was a perception that analogue to video converters would not be fast enough to handle newer high res monitors however as it turned out the analogue converters improved to such a point that it didn't make a difference so in real terms DVI or VGA doesn't really make a difference.

The second one seems fine but I know nothing about the brand, check out Samsung or Viewsonic they usually put out the best monitors in the under 24" range.

[warriorscot]

It doesn't really make a real difference with VGA or DVI, when they started developing DVI there was a perception that analogue to video converters would not be fast enough to handle newer high res monitors however as it turned out the analogue converters improved to such a point that it didn't make a difference so in real terms DVI or VGA doesn't really make a difference.

The second one seems fine but I know nothing about the brand, check out Samsung or Viewsonic they usually put out the best monitors in the under 24" range.

[Troy]

Hi there,

I vote this Samsung - they look fantastic! It's a bit more expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

I sure wish I could afford one for myself...

Cheers

Troy

[kamille316]

I do agree with troy's suggestion, I picked that same monitor for my brother and it looks awesome (wish I can buy one myself), no dead pixel and colour is nice.

[Granz00]

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I might look into that one, just not right away. First I need to get my credit card off, which will be real soon. However, with the economy looking as bad as it is, I'm going to change my spending habits to only spend money that I have (Specifically, money I can afford to spend). So I might end up waiting a couple of months.

Hopefully it will get a little cheaper by then.

[warriorscot]

That is a good idea, even before it wasn't the smartest thing to buy on credit unless you had the money to pay it straight away.


What some people do is stick away a bit of cash in a high savings or tax free account until they can get themselves what they want to buy that way you can earn some interest.

Edited by warriorscot, 19 September 2008 - 02:21 AM.

[Granz00]

Actually, I decided to open up another Savings Account, to keep track of certain money. To be specific, I want to take a trip to Japan for a few weeks as a vacation some time. So what I am going to do, is put $10 a week into my new Savings Account. That would take me around 9~10 years to build up $5000. Of course, I will be increasing the amount I put in each week over time. So as long as things don't get too financially unbearable, I can build up about $5000 in 5 years.

I just got my tax bill for my new car, so that set me back about $250... So that is a week's worth of pay that I get to lose... I guess that might push me back a few more weeks for getting a monitor.