Be Excellent To Each Other

I'm currently using a few-year-old 19" Samsung "square" TFT, which is pretty much fine, but it has a sort of "watermark" or something all down the right hand side of the screen. It developed about a year ago and I've put up with it, but it's getting worse. Describing it in detail would be boring - I want a new monitor, basically.

I figure everyone is going wide screen these days judging by what's available and the fact that most people on here/elsewhere seem to have wide screen printscreens whenever they post an image of a game or their desktop or whatever.

So, what should I go for? £150 budget would be about what I'm looking at, and for around that price I've found a 22" Samsung. It matches my TV as well (Samsung "piano black" style thingy):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SyncMas ... YXC2NSS0UW

Is there anything better within budget? Bearing in mind that I'm pretty much set on 22-23". I don't think having a larger monitor than that would make any sense. My TV is 26" and I can't imagine it a) fitting on my desk and b) being particularly kind on my eyes when I'm sat at PC-using range.

So yeah, any advice chaps?

22 is good size for when you're sat right on top the monitor. I'd suggest one with an adjustable stand to suit you level of slump as the day wears on and a digital connection (whether that be DVI, HDMI or Displayport) is an absolute must.

Yeah that one above has all of that, but not an adjustable stand.

Also, I've just read it suffers a bit from backlight bleeding, which sucks. What else is there worth considering in the £150 range? Are Viewsonic still the dog's knack-sack?

Also also, I'm not going to necessarily buy the monitor on Amazon - they don't tend to keep up to speed with prices/tech, and that monitor I linked to has actually been bookmarked for a year and the price hasn't changed, which says it all really.

One of my mates was banging on about his LG Flatron, but he did spend a couple of hundred quid on it, and is obviously going to stick up for his purchase.

If you're bothered by backlighting issues, might be worth looking at an LED lit one...

Like so

My ex-Dave Samsung TV has that watermark problem too. It doesn't really bother me but I'd be curious to know what causes it.

I'd say it's a slightly diminished fluorescent throwing off the balance, but that would only be a guess.

It's a weird one! I hope it doesn't happen to my TV. It looks like someone has spilt a drink *in* the screen or something.

Yes, I could buy that if it was a stripe / block that was dimmer or something, but it's literally like WTB says, a random liquid spill shaped stain.

Buy my 19inch widescreen monitor off me for £80. Hardly used since I have a Samsung tv/monitor for upstairs.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=1849088&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&cc=us

I think 19" widescreen would be a bit too small mate. My regular 19" monitor is alright, but as soon as you start squashing it down and stretching it wider, it'd be pants for web browsing. Good luck with the sale!

Just don't take your time sending monies, or you'll never hear the end of it

Fuck you then.



and fuck you too, Grim....

<no kissy face>

Are 22" monitors worth £150? I have three spare ones! Crikey.

You did get the money, right?

Er, no. Ahem.

Really though, what's good you bastards? What monitors do you use? Would you recommend them? Come on!

Nope. When and how did you send it?

Is this another joke?

After the whole "sending a game to Zardoz for free" fiasco, I'm out.

That game turned up though WTB

BTW I'd go for that Samsung monitor you linked to.

Me and Dimrill both love our Samsung SyncMaster 2333HD's! Relatively cheap, great colour, photo's look gorgeous on them and none too shabby with the movies either. In built digital tuner too. And they're 23". I got mine for about £180 I think, not sure how much they are now. Worth every penny that's for sure.

I have an older 22" Benq that's OK but not great, two[1] Viewsonic 22" screens (which are both pretty good) that I got from my last workplace for a pittance when I was made redundant, and a 26" Samsung T260HD that I'm very happy with.

[1] Actually I think the Egg has one on loan. The other is mounted over my Yamaha drumkit for Rock Band.

Cool cheers guys - it seems the general consensus is that Samsungs are every bit as good as I thought they were

I guess I'll just go for the best Samsung I can get for the budget!

Eek - no!
I send you a package around the middle of December with 12 different chocolate bars, each with £1 taped to them. It was just a first class package, I think.
It was addressed to "Zardoz's Mum"

These are what most of our floor use at work.

They're rather good.

I've got a bigger samsung at work (24"), mind, I have no problem with it being too large for desk use. But I don't tend to maximise things because there's little point, so things are as large as I want.

Well I don't know about anyone else, but my monitor definitely needs replacing now. It's covered in snot and hot tea.

Cheers Dave - looking into that model.

That is just heartbreaking if he didn't get it

I have the Samsung T220HD, which I assume is a decendant of the one above, one annoying thing is there is no proper way to switcvh it off. Secondly, I use it multi source, (xbox/PC) and it occasionally gets stuck meaning I have to sycle the power, as there is no way to do this, it is either cable removal/wall plug. Final;ly. it doesn't work with Linux, and struggles with ATI graphics cards (disclaimer, I have tried it with two old (>3 yrs) ATI cards, and they both worked until I changed channel,. then I had to reboot the PC to get a picture back).

And hilarious! But yeah, some other bastard hit the carefully-thought-out-parcel jackpot if they opened this.

Hmm. I have an ATI card. Hope they fixed this. Then again, I'll only be using it as monitor - my TV is in the same room and I use my consoles on that.

I have a widescreen monitor that can push 1440x900 and is 20 inches ish? I use i t for my macbook that's becoming a desktop thanks to the iPad. I don't know the make, I woke up with it and a broken G3 cube after a drunken night out. Apparently i took it from a house party after the owners said they wanted rid.

My previous monitor was chucked out of my parents work.

It seems I have an almost intense dislike for paying for monitors. Hell, it took the gf to buy a HDTV, as I didn't see the need.

You're not kidding

Be careful when selecting a monitor unless you have an uber graphics card. Pushing 1920 x xxxx can be hard on it and your performance will drop badly.

I have two monitors. a 22" Acer running 1680x1050 and a Hannspree 23" running 1080p. I recently switched back to the 22" Acer as running the Hannspree out of resolution made it look cack and my performance goes up by a good 25% running at the slightly lower res.

I would aim for 22" with 1680x1050 unless you run a Herculian graphics setup.

Or don't play games.

Not an option for him. He's a greasy spotty WOW nerdototalolio. I caught him on it at 3am the other night and he had no plans to stop before dawn

Quiet, you. And my card is pretty hefty.

Get a 60" kingdong monitor.

No - like my T260HD, it's about the same generation but has TV stuff built in too. So HDMI ports, component, a Freeview tuner, etc. However it's still a monior-type flat panel (almost certainly the exact same one in fact) which means it has narrower viewing angles than most TVs.

In the thread where Dimrill bought his monitor/tv he linked a few posts later to a foehn and hersch one from ebuyer (going "curses!). I purchased that one. It's ok but the remote control is rubbish so I switch inputs using the buttons on top.

In case anyone was unaware, this name can also be read as "Ebuyer".

See also 'GABA'

HEY!
\

I'm far too young to get your Ramones references.

*cough*

Maybe it went to Zardoz' mum.

In other news, I have this. It sexes me up so much. The screen is insane.

Even I didn't know that. It's branded F&H on the splash screen and the frame.

See also (ish) Advent.

I'm quite happy sticking with Dell monitors. I'm not sure how they compare to other brands on price or quality these days, but the 24" deal Gaywood pointed me toward a couple of years ago is still serving me well, and the 20" I bought a few years before that, and still use as my primary monitor, is going strong. Can't fault either of them, really.

Dells are generally excellent. I have two 24" in work at some huge res (above 1920x1080) and they are superb.

Just to provide anecdotal contrariness, my dell monitor went pop after a couple of years.