I need a new computer monitor

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:17 pm

My old computer monitor is soon to be passed to the Scraplets for use with my old base unit etc - homework, for the doing of, and educational games (I am cruel, CRUEL!). I have about £130 to play with and need a new monitor, and I have absolutely no glimmer of an idea what I'm looking at in the shops/ads etc. It is sale time, which might make the ackers go further, with some luck.

So, (polite) suggestions welcomed.

It has been mentioned that I should try to get a 19" screen with some sort of stereo speakers.... *hopeful smile*

martyboy70 · Post by **martyboy70** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:34 pm

Well for your budget I reckon this should fit the bill nicely and its an inch bigger than you wanted(and as you always tell us Clogs an inch can make all the difference!) You really cant do much better for £120 delivered im going to order one myself when I get paid on Thursday as the 19" CRT im using at the mo was one of the best available in its day but is just so big and bulky compared to TFTs tho I then wont have anywhere to display Hoist towing Ironhide.
It doesnt have speakers but to be honest the speakers built into monitors are usually piss poor and with the tenner saved you could get a better set of standalones or spend slightly more for a 2.1 setup with a subwoofer-something like these would fit the bill and only take you £4 over budget and give far better sound quality than integrated speakers.

Post by **Denyer** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:53 pm

Get separate speakers unless you only want them for system beeps.

Should get a very nice 17" or nice 19" TFT (with or without widescreen, your choice) for under £130, or a more basic one for a hundred.

Have a browse around --

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computers/cat/Monitors

Ideally don't buy a TFT without seeing it working, but the high-street won't have the best prices and things have improved a lot regarding the likelihood of dead pixels since TFTs took over almost completely.

LG are certainly a good brand, and if you plan to watch films on it widescreen is worth it. Do you game much?

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:12 pm

Well, I'd like to use the computer to watch DVDs; it is in the bedroom and would constitute a brill luxury. And I do dabble a bit with gaming, which reminds me that I still haven't found time to play either my Bionicles or Transformers...

(Dead pixels? My monitor at work had one almost smack in the middle. Swapped it out for the back-up after about an hour of eye-watering agony. Dunno, but all these filters on my specs make any dead pixel punch me in the eye.)

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:14 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
LG are certainly a good brand

Their tellies are mint, gold, lush... oh, what's an idiot-proof euphemism for good?

Good. Their tellies are good.

martyboy70 · Post by **martyboy70** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:40 pm

Originally posted by Halfshell
Their tellies are mint, gold, lush... oh, what's an idiot-proof euphemism for good?

Good. Their tellies are good.

Yeah LG screens (whether TV or Monitor) are definitely at the upper end of the scale.
If you want to game or watch DVDs built in speakers are an absolute no-no-as Denyer says they are barely capable for beeps and mouse clicks.
The one I linked to would be good for both as it has a 5ms response time(basically how fast the screen adapts to changes in the picture)8ms is good enough for most people but 5 is excellent and eliminates the blurring that TFTs can suffer with when watching fast moving action.
Get a TV Tuner for your PC and it will double as a good TV set in the bedroom as well so if you already have one in there you could get rid(or pass to the Scraplets) and save a bit of space.
Again if its for films I personally think you have to go Widescreen.
What size of screen are you using at the minute?
BTW Clogs did you get the video of Kyle I sent you to work?

StoneCold Skywarp · Post by **StoneCold Skywarp** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:17 am

It's just a shame that LG can't make a decent phone to save themselves.

I was in staples not so long ago (yesterday) and they're selling a 22" TFT for only £149.99. Can't remember the model but it was black and shiny

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:52 pm

I know size matters, SC Sw, but I'd have to sit next door to use my pc if I had a 22" screen

!

I do like black and shiny, though. Hem-hem. Current monitor is an ancient Packard Bell 14" CRT which only likes the lowest resolution from the seven my graphics card offers it!

martyboy70: For heaven's sake, mate, tell me the one you're going to buy and that'll do for me, too! I need something that is fast as I can also detect the horrible blur on some TFT tellies, also the 'ripple effect' as people move on the picture, which ain't good.
(Could you send Kyle's pics again, please? My computer is still blocking the original and telling me it cannot be run on my operating system, and I'm not technical enough to beat the crap out of the thing and make it work.)

StoneCold Skywarp · Post by **StoneCold Skywarp** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:37 pm

Originally posted by Clogs
I know size matters, SC Sw, but I'd have to sit next door to use my pc if I had a 22" screen

Please, most people call me "Sky" or "Warp"

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:42 pm

Originally posted by StoneCold Skywarp
most people call me "Sky" or "Warp"

A few other things, too.

martyboy70 · Post by **martyboy70** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:09 pm

Im ordering the LG one I linked to above on Thursday or before if I can charm my Gfs credit card out of its hiding place.
The problem you might have is whether your graphics card can run it at its native resolution or thereabouts as TFTs arent as adaptable as CRTs when forced to run at lower res.
Have you tried running the video I sent in Quicktime as it works ok in that for me failing that I will try to convert it to another format.

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:50 pm

Originally posted by martyboy70
Have you tried running the video I sent in Quicktime as it works ok in that for me failing that I will try to convert it to another format.

Sadly, I have tried to download Quicktime without success to date. A new format would be brill or else I'll try downloading QT again tonight...

Please, most people call me "Sky" or "Warp"

*humble* I shall ignore defamatory remarks made above and hereafter address you as Sky or Warp indeed.

Post by **Hound** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:01 pm

Originally posted by StoneCold Skywarp
Please, most people call me "Sky" or "Warp"

That's not what I call you...

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:08 pm

Found a 22" Acer brand widescreen with mega-pixilation for £160-ish in Tesco. Speakers are a pifling £10 - £15. Worth buying? May need, however, to move in with Denyer in order to not be sitting too close to the screen (H&S) ...

secretcode · Post by **secretcode** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:23 pm

Originally posted by Clogs
Found a 22" Acer brand widescreen with mega-pixilation for £160-ish in Tesco. Speakers are a pifling £10 - £15. Worth buying? May need, however, to move in with Denyer in order to not be sitting too close to the screen (H&S) ...

Acer is actually a quality product. The laptop I use most of the time is Acer, and besides being built in with Vista, it's a pretty good rig. It won't run Crysis, mind you, But what does?

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:49 pm

Originally posted by Maju Garzett
Acer is actually a quality product. The laptop I use most of the time is Acer, and besides being built in with Vista, it's a pretty good rig. It won't run Crysis, mind you, But what does?

Ta. It's more pennies than I was expecting to pay out, but what the heck - I went to the local outlet to get a new printer and chose a Lexmark for £39.50 which, unbeknown to me, happened to be in the sale and cost a mere £25 at the till. The Beloved was chuffed with that, but demanded that I investiage the Acer brand before lashing out sqoodles more!

Post by **Denyer** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:51 pm

Acer's laptops tend to be a bit flimsy, but I'm used to Thinkpads and everything suffers by comparison. As a brand they're decent enough quality, nothing remarkable, nothing particularly wrong with 'em.

Don't leap on it just because it's a sale price; you can match/beat that with online prices for 22" widescreen displays.

Personally I'd rather go for something a bit smaller and read around for reviews about image quality if spending extra. If a main interest is TV it might suit, but equally it might be a bit awkward for use as a normal monitor -- unless you want to be able to open two documents side-by-side to work on them, in which case the wider the better.

Originally posted by Clogs
and chose a Lexmark for £39.50 which, unbeknown to me, happened to be in the sale and cost a mere £25 at the till.

The reason is... how do I put this politely...

If you can somehow get non-Lexmark cartridges for the model you picked up, it might turn out to not be cheaper to buy another printer rather than a replacement set of cartridges when they run out.

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:47 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
The reason is... how do I put this politely...

If you can somehow get non-Lexmark cartridges for the model you picked up, it might turn out to not be cheaper to buy another printer rather than a replacement set of cartridges when they run out.

I had hp before. Two replacement cartridges together came in at much more than the printer cost and even generic cartridges were the same. I don't usually print much and the scanner is welcome as my old one is a huge slab not worth trying to plug in.

I'll bear the screen size in mind, though. I'd like to watch movies on it, but the prime uses will be gaming and Internet. There is a smaller Acer I might check up on or I'll pop over to PC World.

Aw, shucks! You just don't want me to move in with you, do you?

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:30 pm

What gave it away?

Originally posted by Clogs
I had hp before. Two replacement cartridges together came in at much more than the printer cost and even generic cartridges were the same.

With HP you pay for a print head being on each cartridge rather than on the printer. It does have the advantage that if a cartridge dries up there's no risk to the printer.

A space saving all-in-one's a decent choice at that price if you don't print much, and it gives the option of colour. It's getting harder to find any retail-available inkjet printers with cartridges that aren't chipped to slow down third-party manufacturers.

Ideally find someone with a huge monitor and play with it, or see if there are any attached to the display PCs in store in various places.

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 9:34 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
Ideally find someone with a huge monitor and play with it

I shall tell 'em that Denyer told me I could

Honestly, visiting an ill friend on Friday and she EQs, so she has a very nice 19" monitor and I guess a fair idea about the necessary specs. We shall drink pop, eat crisps and discuss monitors - makes a change from discussing men, I suppose.