19" Mag Monitor Deal at Best Buy is not what it seems! Everyone Read!!

[Samster]

I bought one of these today from Best Buy for $180 after rebate.

It says right in the ad and on the box, that this monitor can display at 1600x1200
however when you go into windows, you'll find that the highest resolution windows will let your do with this is 1280x1024. Whenever I select a driver that would normally have 1600x1200 as an option, it is no longer available (the option).

so therefore this is a 1280x1024 19 inch monitor essentially.
Oh yea, and it also contains dark spots on the left side, and it is really fuzzy!

In otherwords: Piece of $hit!

 

[helloedchen]

can't return it?

 

[Atrac]

It's a Proview Monitor. Proview merged with Mag Innovision, hence "MagView." I think that Proview changed the cases on the old monitors that used to be sold, then unloaded them on Best Buy (note the warranty is only 1 year, vs. the usual 3 year one. It also refers to Best Buy right on the warranty card!)

I think if you go to http://www.proview.net and download the driver, it *may* fix the problem (you can get it by clicking on "Downloads" at the top, then downloading the magviewpnp.exe file).

I bought the 17" version (VM-700E) and this monitor still won't go up to 1280x1024 as the sticker right on the front says it would. I thought the driver from their site would fix it, but it didn't. They'll probably try to blame it on your video card if you call them.

Anyway, very informative thread, but this baby's gonna be locked soon.

 

[Dragoon42]

If he can see it

 

[CAK]

You try using their inf file for the monitor? It usually unlocks more refresh rates, dunno about resolutions though.

 

[Maverick319]

Here's Mag Monitors FAQ, which leads directly to their driver download page. I looked at that same monitor, then decided you couldn't touch a decent 19" for less that $350-400 dollars. I know there are some great deals out there right now, so take the monitor back, I believe you have 30 days to return it, and do some research. I went with a Viewsonic A75F 17" .25db monitor from BB. The model number is only in-store, so you won't find it listed online, but go take a look and decide for yourself. The deciding factor was that everytime I went to Viewsonic's site and entered a model number, I received a detailed response and it was very easy to compare specs.

 

[Moffat Cafe]

Best Buy has a 14 day return for monitors.

 

[Maverick319]

I stand corrected Moffat Cafe, so the Samster better hurry up and take his doorstop back to BB. I wouldn't accept a monitor that didn't have a 3 year warranty, as my odds average out better. If the Mag POS craps out, it cost you $180.00 a year to use it, if my Viewsonic craps out, I have three years divided by $279.99, which costs me $93.33 a year to use. And with a 3 year warranty, if the monitor craps out in two, they may replace it with a better one that uses newer technology. Gateway sent my buddy a new monitor after his blew after two years and he really got the better end of the deal.

 

[burnedout]

In view of what everyone says, I am going to cancel the order.

Dang! Didn't know Proview merged with MAG. Had used MAGs tech support on a couple of LCD monitors I had before and they were OK. Was looking at a Samsung or Viewsonic anyway.

Probably go with Samsung from buy.com.

Thanks everyone for your valuable input.