Gonna buy a new monitor

BuggyBuggy Join Date: 2003-11-08 Member: 22400Members, Constellation
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">What do I watch out for?</div>I'm one of those poor students that can't afford anything so i've always had this 17'' CRT monitor, but it's time to get a new flatscreen next to it so I can play games full-screen on that and have irc/msn/browsers on the old CRT.

I've been looking at different monitors, comparing prizes etc and i'm a bit confused as to what makes a good monitor. Don't know much about them.
I'm seeing a 22'' TFT for 299 Euro for example, and then this 19'' for 234 Euro, the price difference isn't huge just by looking at the size. So, what other specs are most important? Response time, ports, viewing angle, brand, type?

Help me out here please!
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Comments

  • puzlpuzl The Old Firm Join Date: 2003-02-26 Member: 14029Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    Firstly, read this glossary:
    <a href="http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/speccontent.htm" target="_blank">http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/speccontent.htm</a>

    The two most important specs are contrast ratio and response time. Most manufactures deviate from ISO standards to overdrive fast responses on pixels, so when you see less than 10ms quoted then they are doing something funky to force a quick colour transition which can reduce ghosting but introduce other artifacts.

    The next thing you need to be wary of is dual screen setup. In the end I just ditched my second monitor because it was a pain to configure and [literally] a pain in the neck. The ergonomics of a good desk require your main view to be directly in front of you when seated. Your neck should be relaxed when viewing the screen. If you are using a second monitor then place it to the left or right, while keeping your main view directly centered. Ignore people who say they don't have a problem with both monitors slightly off center, they will suffer from neck and shoulder pains eventually.

    The other aspect of this is that there have traditionally been issues with displays if any resolution is different from the other. To get a smooth multi-desktop experience, you need to run both of them at the same resoltion, and to be able to alt-tab smoothly you need to also run your game at this resolution. Now, I haven't used multi-desktop in about 2 years, so the various solutions might have improved to the point of useabilty.


    My advice: Get a good quality 19" TFT and dump the CRT. Alt-tab is much more effective than multi-desktop. I think the exception to this is probably someone doing graphic design etc.
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  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    everything puzl said, exept tack on this:

    If you have the spare parts (as most of us do) just clober together a barebones (no vidcard, no sound card, etc), hook up your old monitor and there you have a computer just for web browsing/IRC. And you don't have to wory about games that are not alt tab friendly.
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  • tjosantjosan Join Date: 2003-05-16 Member: 16374Members, Constellation
    CRTs still perform best for fps games... no question about it really.
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  • MonkfishMonkfish Sonic-boom-inducing buttcheeks of terrifying speed&#33; Join Date: 2003-06-03 Member: 16972Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1629984:date=May 30 2007, 12:26 PM:name=tjosan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tjosan @ May 30 2007, 12:26 PM) [snapback]1629984[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    CRTs still perform best for fps games... no question about it really.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Do you even have any idea what you're talking about?
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  • SwiftspearSwiftspear Custim tital Join Date: 2003-10-29 Member: 22097Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1629990:date=May 30 2007, 07:35 AM:name=Sonic)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sonic @ May 30 2007, 07:35 AM) [snapback]1629990[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    Do you even have any idea what you're talking about?
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Being that he's correct he probably has at least some idea...
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  • puzlpuzl The Old Firm Join Date: 2003-02-26 Member: 14029Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    Anyone who argues that a TFT will outperform a CRT is really confused. $ for $ the CRT will win hands down. There are two features that a TFT will usually win on: physical size and glare.
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  • XythXyth Avatar Join Date: 2003-11-04 Member: 22312Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1629982:date=May 30 2007, 07:11 AM:name=puzl)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(puzl @ May 30 2007, 07:11 AM) [snapback]1629982[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
    Alt-tab is much more effective than multi-desktop. I think the exception to this is probably someone doing graphic design etc.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I would strongly disagree with this. Alt-tab is nowhere even close to being as efficient and effective as having 2 monitors. Espically if you plan to play a game on one of them that doesn't like being alt-tabbed. I highly reccomend dual monitor setups, I use one now (Crappy 19" crt with crappy 17" crt) and I will never go back to single monitor if I have the choice.
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  • tjosantjosan Join Date: 2003-05-16 Member: 16374Members, Constellation
    Of course seeing as Buggy only really plays WoW since a few years, it doesn't matter. Grrr.
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  • BuggyBuggy Join Date: 2003-11-08 Member: 22400Members, Constellation
    edited May 2007
    Yeah, i'll probably end up playing FPS games on the CRT anyway, unless it turns out that my CRT's performance is even worse than a new TFT. We're talking a 7-year old monitor here that's turning yellow due to smoke and things. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />

    And sorry puzl, your pain in the neck thing didn't take my mind off being able to have (generally) prettier looking games whilst not being 'taken away' from IRC and MSN.

    Edit: Gonna do some more research on 19'' CRT before I get a TFT then.
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