Be Excellent To Each Other

Hello again! Crawling out of my rock once again I felt the need to ask for some recommendations regarding a monitor for my PC rig.

Technically there's nothing wrong with my current one atm, but considering it's limited to VGA output only and I've been witness to a monitor elsewhere with DVI output where everything looks so much clearer, I felt I could do with a change. That and it's my birthday coming soon. So yeah.

Here are my conditions:

1) No touch-screen fancyness, since I'm still not looking to move on to Windows 8+ (that and I'm sure this feature alone would jack the price by a significant amount).
2) Needs to support VGA, DVI and HDMI at the very least.
3) Needs to be at least 21" or over.

I've been debating whether it's worth getting a monitor that can support something like 1920x1200 (16:10) or just sticking with a 1920x1080 (16:9) one again. For whatever reason, the price difference between these two seems quite astronomical. I'm struggling to find any website that actually sells a 16:10 monitor (with all the output ports) for less than £180, whereas there seem to be plenty of 16:9 ones going for under £100 (though I'm willing to ones that cheap don't include all the ports I'm after).


Any suggestions?

As it happens Custom PC did a monitor round-up this month, here are the results.

As you can see, your main challenge will be finding one that supports all the inputs you're after....

As for 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, it doesn't sound like a massive difference but once you've got used to the extra screen real estate you'll find it hard to go back to a 1080p screen.

I moved to a 2560x1440 27 incher a couple of years ago and now find anything less than that incredibly restrictive, so if you can stretch to a screen of that resolution you'll be pretty impressed by the change.

Your other option is just to buy the cheapest screen you can find from ebuyer that fits your input-list criteria, because chances are it'll be 'alright', I bought a right bargain-basement job for the kitchen laptop predicated on the logic it'd get the shit kicked out of it and covered in food and wasn't worth spending any serious cash on, and it's certainly 'good enough'.

How come you need all those ports? Like AE said, that's going to be the biggest hurdle.

It's the VGA that I'm having a hard time thinking of a use for, and even then there are cheap adapters aplenty to turn most inputs into a different sort of input.

Unless it's like a personal challenge Marz likes to set himself when speccing up a new monitor, 'Must support all major display technologies of the last twenty years or no sale'.

I would want a VGA port for my Dreamcast but I understand that not everyone would think like me.

Also, I wouldn't want a widescreen monitor as I'd have to muck about with MAME to get my games looking right... I think.

That round up doesn't mention colour reproduction or 3d-ness. I wonder why the gave the Dell a star thingy buy not the cheaper Iiyama.

3D-ness?

'Disappointing backlight uniformity, mediocre viewing angles, terrible speakers, and a poorer port selection' - it says here.

I would imagine "terrible speakers" is a given if you're talking about monitors.

I definitely want to know how good a monitor sounds before I buy it. Similar to the way I simply won't touch a pair of speakers unless they output at 1080p.

Apparently one of them (the Asus) features a decent pair of Bang & Olufsens which are, and I quote, 'superb, offering more volume than any other display on test, and with no distortion at the top end. Its high-end frequencies aren't too tinny, and the bass isn't overpowering; they'll be fine for gaming if no alternatives are available.'

I guess some people want speakers in their monitors.

Personally, I'd rather not have them wasting space in my TV*, let alone my monitor.

*Saying that - TVs are so fucking thin nowadays, where the hell do they put them anyway?

I can imagine some situations where having a passable set of speakers built-in would be handy.

For example I've hooked up a cheap set of 2:1 Logitechs to the kitchen setup (a laptop with a 24 inch screen sat on top of it), simply because I was running on the assumption that all built-in speakers would be execrable so externals were the only choice.

TBH I'd rather not have used externals because of the extra space and wires and general faff of them, so a decent set of built-in speakers would be the preferred option there. (Not that I'd spend £273 on a screen that was going in the kitchen though, I have to say, and I wouldn't want a 27 incher in there either.)

Well, I've gathered a small list of the ones I bothered to make note of...

http://www.ebuyer.com/603622-acer-g226h ... -wg6ee-l01
Acer G226HQL, 22"/21.5", 5ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA - £109.00

http://www.ebuyer.com/544598-asus-vx229 ... tor-vx229h
Asus VX229H, 22"/21.5", 5ms, 2xHDMI/VGA, PC Audio In, Speakers - £136.31
(no DVI)

http://www.ebuyer.com/583994-asus-vs239 ... or-vs239hv
Asus VS239HV, 23", 5ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA, PC Audio In - £140.50

http://www.ebuyer.com/525364-asus-vn248 ... tor-vn248h
Asus VN248H, 24"/23.8", 5ms, 2xHDMI/VGA, PC Audio In, Speakers - £173.50
(no DVI)

http://www.ebuyer.com/397020-pb278q-23- ... ght-pb238q
Asus PB238Q, 23", 6ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA/DisplayPort, 4xUSB, Speakers, Pivot - £197.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/616192-lg-24mp55h ... 24mp55hq-p
LG 24MP55HQ, 24"/23.8", 5ms, HDMI/VGA, PC Audio In, Pivot - £123.99
(no DVI)

http://www.ebuyer.com/616175-lg-24mb35p ... r-24mb35pm
LG 24MB35PM, 24"/23.8", 5ms, DVI/VGA/DisplayPort, Speaker, Pivot - £163.35
(no HDMI)

http://www.ebuyer.com/411048-lg-e27ea33 ... r-e27ea33v
LG E27EA33V, 27", 5ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA - £186.50
(little info)

http://www.ebuyer.com/623743-iiyama-pro ... u2290hs-b1
Iiyama XU2290HS, 22"/21.5", 5ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA, Speakers - £115.00

http://www.ebuyer.com/611971-iiyama-pro ... x2380hs-b1
Iiyama X2380HS, 23", 5ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA, Speakers - £127.98

http://www.ebuyer.com/614620-iiyama-pro ... u2390hs-b1
Iiyama XU2390HS, 23", 5ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA, Speakers - £141.63

http://www.ebuyer.com/397481-iiyama-xb2 ... b2380hs-b1
Iiyama XB2380HS, 23", 5ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA, PC Audio In, Speakers, Pivot - £154.98


All in all, the ones I think have the most chance of being bought are the VS239HV, PB238Q* and the XB2380HS. What would you guys say?

(BTW, "PC Audio In" usually means "yes, I can plug a pair of headphones into this monitor", right?)


* Even though it's close to £200, but hey, can't go wrong with some USB ports and pivot action right? And I think it even includes a jack for my headphones too (that's what the small black round port is, right?) even if the description doesn't explicity state so.

It's an input, not an output. That is you can put the input from your PC into the monitor. Headphone out would be mentioned separately

Typically, you'd just plug your headphones into the front of your PC, assuming any vaguely modern PC.

My current monitor at home is doing odd flickery stuff, time for a new screen.

What are good options for bang to buck at the moment?

I might be interested in this advice as well. The monitor I've got is a 22 inch cheapy with terrible vertical viewing angles and I'm considering replacing it with something better and very slightly bigger. This is the one I was considering purely because I could pick it up from Argos on the way home one night:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... 584672.htm

Well I can't imagine the world of monitors has moved on too much since April so the Custom PC reviews earlier in this thread are probably still valid.

The other option is just buy any old shit and it'll most likely be halfway alright.

Most Laptops still use VGA don't they?

That looks reasonably reasonable to me

Maybe the archaic ones your guys produce

Most have moved to HDMI these days, haven't they?

Even the cheapest of the cheap have HDMI, although you will still find VGA ports on many of them as well.

Mine does not have HDMI it has VGA and Display Port

I'd put it fairly firmly in the 'any old shit' category but yes, it'll probably be fine for most people, most of the time.

Personally speaking I always like to splash out a bit on a monitor, since you literally look at it 100% of the time you're using your computer, and it will last for years, most likely spanning a couple of PCs and/or upgrades.

Same goes with keyboard and mouse and speakers, spend a bit of cash on something decent.

Ebuyer are currently knocking out a 'reasonable' 24 incher for £80, no HDMI but otherwise gets the job done.

http://www.ebuyer.com/612426-acer-k242h ... -fw3ee-001

Am I right in thinking not all IPS monitors are good for gaming but do give better picture quality? But could I really tell the difference and LCD backlit?

Early IPS panels had a bit of input lag on them but they're a lot faster now, AFAIK there are none that would be inherently unsuitable for gaming for that reason.

Picture quality and colour accuracy/depth/blacks/etc are generally better than TN panels, especially the cheaper TN panels.

Then again the latest TN panels are reckoned to be very good as well.

Buy one that can be put in a vertical position so you can play pinball and shmups as its supposed. It's the most important thing obviously

apart from all the cheap ultrahd ones, the 144hz ones, And the g-sync ones.

still can't afford one. Which is weird, because I COULD afford an xbone. Er. Whoops.

Oh. Shit. Overclockers are punting the dell 24in IGZA up2414q at £499.99.

I know what I'm doing when my credit card rolls over then.

1) £500 minimum.

2) Totally niche for PC gamers who want to push past 60FPS.

3) New technology in its infancy and scarcely supported.

None of those seemed to match the profile of the folks who were asking for advice, hence me saying 'probably about the same as it was in April'

There are LOADS of sub-£500 UHD monitors. Seriously, more than half a dozen, at street prices.

There's a viewsonic for £379.99 RRP but that's because they know they fucked up releasing late and 30hz.

And a 4k g-sync for under £500 street, albeit 60hz. I don't think 120/144hz sacreens cost that much know, but I'm not interested because they're 1440p max.

The rest, sure, but things re changing - the lovely dell for under £500 versus the £1200 RRP in april is spectacular!

Custom PC did an extensive round-up on the new wave of 4K monitors this month, the Viewsonic in particular got an absolute mauling (30hz, really?), your starter for a decent one was £500, which is amazing considering they were £3000 a year ago but still not what was being asked about in this thread IMO.

(Plus of course, to make use of a 4K monitor, especially in games, you need a £2000 PC to pump that many pixels out.)

120/144hz screens come down to the same basic issue, you need a beefy PC to kick that many frames out per second, and you have to be a niche twitch FPS gamer to want it in the first place.

G-sync is still new and largely unproven, I wouldn't advise anyone to shell out on one of those until the technology beds in and is widely supported.

I love my PC wankathons more than most here, and even I'm not thinking about jumping on the 4K train until Intel get their next-gen CPU architecture out and Nvidia's 800 series is (a) Launched and (b) Not demanding crazy prices.

Of the 28inchers, only an asus is over £500 now. It's mental. They're all based on a single manufacturer's panel - they must be shitting themselves with laughter.

I'm not arguing about gaming requirements or anything*, just your assertion that nothing has changed. There's a mauling going on.

* I've said before I'm purely interested in desktop estate and a cheap, single slot, low profile, low.power card to drive it.

Having had a look around my usual haunts (Overclockers, Ebuyer, Dabs) I'm not seeing any decent 28 inchers for much under £500, although there are a fair few around that price. (Custom PC identified a good one at £460 IIRC, but said you'd be better off spending an extra £40 on one that came in at £500, can't remember the make and models.)

For me a 28 incher is the bare minimum size that would be usable at 4K, anything smaller than that and you're just into tiny-o-vision territory. (TBH I'd like to go 4K at 30 inches, I'm currently on a 27 inch 2560x1440 screen and that feels about right for pixel density.)

For what you want 4K for then yes you could get away with a modest graphics card, but for anyone wanting to play games pimped out (and for anyone who's gone 4K and plays games, that's a fair assumption), the single GPU card to drive those games scarcely exists, a 780Ti will sort of do it but you're talking £450 for the card alone. Add on the cost of the screen and that's a grand just for the graphics card and the screen!

Undeniably things are changing fast in the world of 4K, but I still maintain that's totally not what was being asked about here, hence me saying 'not much has changed since April' But yes, I realise that's splitting hairs a bit

Just to back you up a bit here (not that you need it or anything) I agree in that I was asking about a small-ish monitor with no fancy shit going on (certainly no 4K madness!) and you answered that question as described, for which I thank you. I'm very interested in that whole chat about new monitor tech and have read with interest everything you and Bik have said in the last few posts but, yeah, none of that is currently anywhere near my price range or even what I'm after. I'm grateful to both you a Bik for all the info though so cheers to all!

I am so fucking tempted to get that dell, even though I know it's suddenly gone 'cheap' because it's due a.refresh to current hdmi/displayport standards that make 4k properly workable (just like the 31" that is also nearly half price less than a year after launch, a mate paid £1900+vat as a Christmas present to himself, best street price from.scan) - even dell's website is punting it at £555 inc vat and delivery now. That's a better than 50% discount six months after launch.