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27 Inch Monitor for $319 - Lower Price

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apoppin...why not check out the 36" grade B and C monitors?? You will be pickign up in person so you can check them out personally! 36" for $279 is HOT HOT DEAL!!! Add a cheapie hi-fi vcr to use as tuner and youre SET!!
 
Spec, these monitors only have a VGA input so forget about the VCR as a tuner thing.

The point I made that while these big monitors have a fairly poor dot-pitch for everyday PC use, it's just fine for HDTV and games, especially a Dreamcast with a VGA box. These are real monitors, not just a TV tube with a VGA input. They can do 800*600/60Hz, which means it can handle 480p/1080i HDTV input, which is excellent.

I have a similar setup, and I feed my 2nd big monitor with my WinTV-HD, my Geforce MX dual VGA (mostly for DVD), and a Dreamcast with a VGA box (you haven't lived untill you've seen Shenmue in VGA big-screen glory).
 
I have a 52" HD TV w/ 1080i resolution which runs off my video card @ a max of 800 X 600 @ 60Hz. For games and surfing the web the res. is great. I also can lay on my couch about 15 feet away and write essays and do programming which is awesome!!! Hopefully these monitors have lots of controls, on my TV I can choose between text and graphics modes. Otherwise, text is blurry in graphics modes, and UT is not so great in text mode. Overall, the 2 grand or so I spent on it is well worth it. I also have a 21" Nokia monitor that I run @ 1280 X 1024 @ 75Hz, UT is supa-clear on that baby!
 
For any still interested in a dual display I saw ATI's new Radeon VE that is dual display. 129.99 - 30 MIR if I remember correctly.
 
Well, I just lugged this beast home.

Can you imagine bringing it home in a small Saturn? No way would it fit inside the car (even out of the box). I drove with half hanging out of the trunk and about 150' of rope holding it down. No way I could have brought a bigger one home without a pickup.

The monitor case is PERFECT. Absolutely Zero scratches or defects. It looks brand new.

I just haven't time yet to plug it in. Maybe tonight. I also got my retail Radeon 64 VIVO today in the mail ($165 shipped).

It really sucks that I am working 6 long days a week - no time to enjoy my new toys (but at least I can afford them now).

I am setting up a dual boot system this weekend: 1) Win2k for all my applications and my regular monitor; 2) Win98SE ONLY for games and DVD watching (entertainment) on the 27 incher.

I'll let you know what I think of the monitor later.
 
Last post - I promise (unless someone asks me any questions).

I set the Gateway up. Very nice. 60hz refresh rate is tolerable (same as a TV) at 600x800. Just don't have a fluorescent light on. Color is good. Text is absolutely crisp. Very slight bowing of horizontal and vertical lines (I have made no adjustments whatsoever).

However, the experience of sitting 5 or 6 feet from the screen is WEIRD. It will take some getting used to. Ditto for gaming.

I have seen "Web TV" (on 'normal' televisions) and this is a far better experience. I am not sure what else at 27 inches that would compare to this for only $319.

I like it.
 
DaYam. thats hella HUGE! too bad its crappy.
hhahah. need better resolution and i wanna watch tv widout getting a tv card. daYam these BIG moniters
 
hardwarejunkee: The site states that:



<< These prices are not valid in the store >>



But they did lower the price to match Compgeeks.com prices. However, Compgeeks has the 90 day warranty, and they have the cheaper shipping by about $10 (at least for my location). I'd go with Compgeeks. Not to mention you can use a Mastercard and get a 10% discount. 😉
 
I was in the pcliquidator.com store today and they sell the monitor in the store for $349

I guess if you don't have to pay for shipping, it saves a few bucks. I had it shipped because I had no way of getting it in my car. The monitor is a princeton DL27 by the way.
 
***WARNING*** I thought I'd update you on my monitor. I returned it today.

The first one - all from CompGeeks - had some problems with a &quot;bump&quot; in the horizontal lines near the bottom of the screen that was really annoying. The second one had exactly the same problem. The THIRD one had a dark area on the right side of the screen really noticeable on an all white background.

I talked to their testing/technical/repair department and was told that at least 4 others had similar problems this week.

So use caution when buying these. I had no problem - except with my time and sore back (moving those heavy suckers) - since I drove to pick them up and return them.

CompGeeks couldn't have been nicer or more helpful - they finally refunded all my money with no problem - the problem is likely Gateway's refurbish dept.


EDIT: I notice CompGeeks pulled the 27&quot; Grade A Monitor off their web site today.
 
Thanks apoppin for the public update. apoppin couldn't have been more helpful when I asked him about his monitor since I'm located in Texas and he is local, therefore saving me shipping back to Compgeeks if I don't like the monitor. Thanks man! 😀
 
apoppin.

The problems you describe sound like magnetization of the crt. This is easily corrected by degausing the tube. The built-in degausing coils on these units are weak and often unable to completely degaus. A cheap tape head demagnetizer from Radio Shack or a 40.00 hand held crt degausing tool should do the trick.

I have bought many large monitors for peanuts because the sellers assume these tubes are defective. I'll bet someone will get your &quot;returns&quot; for under 100.00.

You may want to consider one of the higher res monitors fron NEC or Mitsubishi. If you get one that will do 1024 X 768 or higher, you can use it for web surfing and other typical pc stuff as well as DVD and HDTV. The big Mitsubishi will do 1920 X 1080 and IMO the picture quality beats every &quot;HDTV&quot; monitor I've seen.

PC gaming is outstanding. The Dreamcast with a VGA adapter is arcade quality too.
 
MichaelJ, where can you get one of those big NEC or Mitsubishi that you are talking about? What are the prices on those generally? Thanks! 😀
 
junthin

Try E_ay to start. Try to find a seller near to you and inspect before you pay. Also, some rental companies sell cheap after they have depreciated. With some shopping, you can get a 37&quot; for under 1000.00 or a 29&quot; for under 500.00.

The 800 X 600 units from Gateway, Princeton, etc. are nice but just too low res for most computing use. They are also more of a cheap plastic construction. The pro stuff is a better bet for the long term.
 
Seems like most agree that the best use is for gaming, DVD playback, and internet browsing.
But, that is still not good a good gaming choice.
For gaming you would be stuck to a max of 800x600 @ 60Hz, on your primary monitor as well.

Instead, get a scan convertor, and you can play games and DVD's on your PC and TV at resolutions of up to 1600x1280 @ 152Hz. My $150 Focus TView Gold has all of these same Text/Graphics choices that these big monitors have, plus a lot more, and game playing looks and works great at my prefered resolution of 1024x768x80Hz on my 53&quot; Sony.
 
RobsTV

That is a common misconception. Scan converters output an NTSC signal to the TV. This is at best 720 X 480 INTERLACED (about 1/2 the bandwidth of 640 X 480 on your pc). Even if you start with 1600 X 1200, your TV will always have this same lower resolution. Even the cheap Gateways are night and day better than NTSC.
 


<< Even the cheap Gateways are night and day better than NTSC >>



What do define as cheap? I got my Gateway 31&quot; for $149. I can try and find his email address if you guys like, there was a huge computer show in st louis and he had tons of them. He had the 27's for $249 and the 36&quot; for $349.
 
MichaelJ, If it was just a simple problem easily cured by degaussing, you'd think Gateway would have done that when it was refurbished by them. Evidently that is not the problem since CompGeeks has the external degaussing units in their repair department.

I used an A-B switchbox (and quality cables) to choose between my 2 monitors. The resolution on WIN98SE (gaming/DVDs) was set to 800x600 and the resolution on Win2K higher for my regular monitor. It is also no problem to use ONE o/s and simply change the resolution each time you switch monitors via the control panel.

If my Gateway wasn't defective, I would have certainly kept it. It is far better than a regular television (although not really suited for general computing EXCEPT gaming and DVDs).
 
apoppin

You would be surprised at what &quot;repair technicians&quot; don't know - or don't care about - or can't recognize. I bought one from a pro video rental Co. that actually had a 6&quot; speaker stuck to the outside of the metal case - just hanging by its magnet (They rent these things for $500.00 per day BTW) Of couse it had a blurred image and distorted geometry on that side. I bought it as &quot;defective&quot; for just under 5% of retail cost. I had to degaus the crt and cabinet several times but now it is fine.

Many people believe the internal degausing coils are all that is ever needed and if that doesn't work, the monitor is shot (lucky for us). The good things about degausing are 1. It takes only a few minutes with no training or skill required. 2. It can do no harm and 3. It is free. Even if you bought a rat shack degauser it would be cheaper than shipping charges to return one monitor.
 
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