A good 22" CRT for around $600

[pieman7]

My 20" IBM P200 CRT is dying and so I've recently been researching 22" CRTs. Surprisingly, there's not much out there for 22" CRT reviews. Then I just read the Weekly Buyer's Guide: Cutting Edge System - March 2004, and noticed the recommendation of the Philips 202P45 22" CRT monitor. I have seen almost nothing as far as reviews for this CRT, and am wondering how it compares to other 22" CRTs in a similar $ range (~$600) like the Samsung 1200NF, Viewsonic P225FB, and NEC FP2141SB-BK. I'm looking for one with good text and picture quality, to be used for programming, photo editing, and gaming. Weight is not a problem as I have a solid desk.

Thanks for all your thoughts.

...and please let me know if this should be asked on the General HW forum instead.
:moon:

 

[Nebor]

I'm looking for one with good text and picture quality, to be used for programming, photo editing, and gaming.

Get an LCD for that kinda money... It'll be much easier on your eyes.

I really have no clue about large CRTs though. They're probably all the same. 50 year old technology doesn't change much. Your biggest choice is Shadow Mask or Trinitron, I believe.

 

[tenoc]

gaming.

For that, CRTs are still the bong.

I've a ViewSonic P220f for that that is still highly recommended.

 

[Alptraum]

If you want to stick with CRT I would go with the Mitsubishi 2070sb. NewEgg has it for $669 right now. The NEC FP2141sb should be the exact same monitor for $610. I have just been using Mitsubishi for so long that even though I know Mitsubishi now owns NEC and the product lines are basically same I still prefer Mitsu for some reason. I have both a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u and a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2040u and they have serverd me well for many years. Great quality. I have a 21" Sony G520p also and the 2040u is better in my opinion.

Having said that I would recommend upping your budget a little bit and spending $690 or so for a Samsung 192t and go LCD. It beats both the Sony and Mitsu 21" CRTs as far as I am concerned (and I still own them all to compare). Its money well spent.

But if for whatever reason you don't want to go LCD then I would highly recommend the 2070sp.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I have seen almost nothing as far as reviews for this CRT, and am wondering how it compares to other 22" CRTs in a similar $ range (~$600) like the Samsung 1200NF, Viewsonic P225FB, and NEC FP2141SB-BK. I'm looking for one with good text and picture quality, to be used for programming, photo editing, and gaming. Weight is not a problem as I have a solid desk.

I was in your position not too long ago and I ended up picking up a NEC 2141SB-BK and have to say that I'm most pleased with the monitor. Unfortunately a typical vid card isn't suitable to drive this thing at its upper limits for 2D, 2048x1536@85Hz isn't tollerable on my BBA R9800Pro- although I doubt you'd be working at that res anyway I'd still suggest picking up a Matrox board to use for 2D mode if you are used to working at higher res settings(the FP2141 SB-BK has dual vid inputs with a button on the front to swap back and forth). IIRC this runs 100Hz @1600x1200 for the maximum setting and that is pretty sketchy on my current board. Naviset software is very nice(doesn't ship with the monitor but it's a free download on NEC/Mitsubishi's site) and allows you full control over the monitor settings from inside of Windows(including geometry, color calibration etc, also displays test images on your desktop to aid in calibration). Text quality on the monitor depends greatly on your vid card and the settings you use, but the image quality and gaming quality is stellar(even with lower quality 2D graphics cards the image IQ is still the best I've seen).

As mentioned above, the 2141SB-BK is the same as the Mitsu 2070SB-BK just the Mitsu costs more everywhere I've seen. Oh yeah, in terms of space footprint the monitor is within a 1/2" in terms of depth of the NEC MultiSync 19" it replaced. I know you mentioned size wasn't a concern, but considering the size of this CRT screen I was surprised how compact the overall dimmensions were.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

I am a novice so regard this post in that light.

I just recently up-graded from an old Compaq 15". My budget is tight so I went used and rather than go refurbished
I went for a lease pull from azatek, they are not the cheapest but do have
a 6 month exchange, their reseller rating is good.

I was torn between the Mitsubishi 2040u and the 2060u. They both have dual impute but the 2040 has a BNC that
the 2060 lacks.

The reviews of 2002 rate the 2060 as the best 22" CRT for both graphics and text. So I bought it !
DoM 6-01, tiny ding in the top left corner(not noticeable) & once I hit the degauss button it looks as new.

I am not promoting these guys but a look won't hurt



EDIT: BenSkywalker, Thanks for mentioning Naviset. I installed it and its much easier to use than the seven buttons.

 

[Luthien]

Another vote for viewsonic here. I own two P815's Professinal Series which I have had now for about 4 years. Purchased used for about $400 each in pristine condition at a local pc show. They are the best monitors I ever owned and I have not been without a 21" monitor for over 16 years. Paid like $3,500.00 for my first NEC 21" monitor back then. All the 22" CRT monitors I have looked at are actually only 20" viewable so when the say 22" they are full of you know what. So, any 20" viewable is the same size. FYI

 

[440sixpack]

Originally posted by: galvanizedyankee
I was torn between the Mitsubishi 2040u and the 2060u. They both have dual impute but the 2040 has a BNC that
the 2060 lacks.

I have a refurbed 2040u that I picked up for $195 about a year ago, great deal and great monitor for the price.