Nick

Hi

I've been using a 17" Iiyama VM Pro 410 CRT for the past few years & have been very pleased with it. However I'm thinking of getting an LCD monitor for health reasons (eyes getting worn out). I'm an IT pro & spend a lot of time in front the screen. I use the pc for general office work, playing games (eg Age of Empires/Stronghold/CM Rally), also a bit of photo editing (Fireworks, Paint Shop Pro) & also Dreamweaver.

Space is not an issue, budget is around £600. I don't need speakers or a USB hub. I'd like a 19" LCD. I have a DVI output & use Win XP.

I install several brands of LCD for my corporate customers including Iiyama, Viewsonic, Fujitsu Siemens & Sony. I don't really like Iiyama (my wife has an Iiyama LCD) or Viewsonic. Sony is ok & Fujitsu Siemens are pretty good. I could just put up with the Fujitsu Siemens professional LCD range, but would like something better.

I've been considering the Fujitsu P19 (13ms 1000 contrast 280 brightness) & the Sony SDM-HS95P (12ms 1000 450). I read some stuff on the Sony XBlack range last night that it was too reflective & not very even brightness. I also don't really like the new Sony stand design. The Fujitsu Siemens P19 would probably be ok for me, but I've also been reading about the Eizo L778 (12ms 1000 250) which looks pretty good to me. I've also read some stuff about 19" screens have a 5:4 ratio instead of 4:3 which can make things look squashed. Does anyone have any info about this?

Links:
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk/pro...cview_p19.html
http://www.sony.co.uk/ShowProduct.do...duct=SDM-HS95P
http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/l778/index.asp

DrEvil

I was looking at the Sony too, undecided at present.

As for 5:4 ratio, I thought that was true of 17" TFT screens too?

Daz34

Viewsonic VX912

Fabulous monitor

class_A

Thread last week on this, have a read:
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=413620

Re: aspect ratio. Can only come into play on LCD's if you run them at a scaled/non-native res. See post in other thread for more info

Nick

Thanks for your reply. I read the linked thread carefully. So as far as I can tell, the 19" screens do run at 5:4, but that their res of 1280x1024 is also 5:4 so it doesn't matter? A circle is still a circle - as long as you run at native res?

People *seem* not to rate 19" screens because they don't get any more real state for their bucks

I'm not worried about screen real estate (I run my 17" CRT at 800x600), I just want to make sure that the text isn't too small.

class_A

Spot on with your aspect ratio conclusion. If you are at all concerned with the legibility of text on denser ppi (pixels-per-inch) panels then try to see a panel in real life of comparable size and resolution to the one you are considering. Or get a kind soul to take a photo for you so you can at least get an idea.

LCD panels run at a "native" resolution so they have to scale any "non-native" resolution to fit the panel. Obviously the quality of this conversion can vary greatly from awful (such as my ThinkPad T21) to the really quite acceptable (Dell 1704FP we have at work). Use of tools such as the ClearType tuner can greatly improve readability of text on high res panels.

Personally, I have young eyes and a small wallet so I would be content with a 17" panel. If I had a little extra, I would stretch the budget and go for something like the Dell 2001FP (20") or 2005FPW (20" widescreen) as not only do you gain actual GUI space, the larger models tend to offer more in the way of connectivity such as S-Video and Component inputs. But, this choice is down to you - it is very much a personal preference, plenty of people are happy to pay to have a 19" panel without any extra resolution because it delivers a bigger visual "punch"

ando

I don't know how good this is but I bought one... but www.aria.com do a 19inch Digiview for £186 (inc vat and delivery) and I think it's amazing for the price, my 17inch CRT expoloded into a shower of shyte so I got it, no dead pixels and I'm as happy as er...hell.

Nick

Ando, thanks for the reply

I think you mean www.aria.co.uk?

Nick

Class A

Thanks for your reply. I deal mainly with small owner manager businesses. All the LCDs I install are 15" or 17". I've never actually seen a 19" LCD!

pmacFTO

I bought a Viewsonic VG910b from a local PC place for 220 on Friday - very impressed with it - not tried it with DVI cable yet so it should be even better These are the same monitors Dell sell on their site for over 300 quid!

Nick

Thanks for your reply. I've seen some Viewsonics (15" & 17") & have not been impressed by them. Colours tend to be good but after half an hour I felt that everything starts to look a little false on them. Maybe good for games though...!

ScoobyJawa

19" Digimate 199 delivered from Amazon, or mayber somewhere else cheaper now and jobs a good un - cracking panel and specs for the price

shawa

I'm looking for a flat panel monitor and was considering the Sony SDM-HS95P, but I haven't been able to find any reviews. It's much ,ore expensive than other 19'' panels, so I don't want to make a rash decision.

My flat panel needs are for general PC use - some games, some photo work, web browsing, etc., but also for use as a spare PC/DVD player. I read that LCD TV's are not good for PC use, because of their resolution. TV seems okay on my current CRT display, so I presume a 'standard' ratio TFT display will be okay.

I'm opting for a 19'' TFT because the size of the screen overall is more important in this case, than the number of pixels.

Any views on this? Any advice/suggestions?

Nick,

Have you decided which monitor to get and if so, which one?

Nick

Hi, yes I bought 2 (one for my wife) Eizo L778s & have had them now for a couple of weeks. This screen is superb & I now couldn't go back to my old Iiyama CRT. My wife also loves the screen in comparison to the Iiyama LCD she had previously.

The screen has a sensor that detects the brightness in the room & adjust the screen brightness to suit. So late at night, the screen will dim a little, in a bright room, the brightness goes up. This feature is suprising useful. You can also set the screen to use specific settings when you run certain software. So for instance, you can have different settings when you run Word, to when you run Photoshop for instance. (The monitor links to the pc via USB.) Display contrast at 1000:1 is excellent & colour reproduction is better than my old Iiyama CRT. Brightness is just right. The panel speed is fine for the games I play, like CM Rally, Stronghold etc. I've not yet tested it properly on a DVD film. Zero bad pixels on both screens! Digital & analogue inputs are around the same (excellent) quality, although digital is slightly better & you don't get that ultra sharp text ghosting effect. The only neg point is that the integral speakers are rubbish - only suitable for computers beeps.

I'm very hard to please & this screen is excellent.

shawa

Mmmmm...wish I could stretch my budget that far, but I'm limited to £400 maximum, and preferably less.

Anyone else got any suggestions for monitors?

Nick

If it was me & I really couldn't push for the extra dosh, I'd go for a 17" Eizo, the L578 (£389 + VAT) or the L568 (£299 + VAT). Before the L578 came out, the L568 came first for quality in a PC Pro test.


http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/69373/ei...scan-l568.html

bigsinky

bought a videoseven from overclockers @£165+VAT. no pixels out cracking job. no DVI but i don't intent to use it.

Jeff Wiltshire

I have a Viewsonic VP201b (20") and it's excellent....and within your budget, native 1600 x 1200. No smearing or lag on games or DVDs.