Acer X241W

[stureandre]

Just gor my first 24" LCD. Big upgrade from my Dell 2005 20".

Got it at best buy for 400 bucks, which i though was not too bad for a screen with 6 ms response (ok.. I know it's not really 6 ms but hey.. whatever) and 1920 X 1200 resolution.

Colors are descent right out of the box, refresh rates are pretty good. I'm pretty sensitive to ghosting and I have no probmems playing any games on this monitor. Both CS:Source, quake3, and Far cry looks gorgeous. And NO dead pixels.

But like a lot of people say, If you've tried a 24 inch, you'll never go back to anything smaller.

Of course for gaming it helps to have a OC'ed core 2 duo and a 8800 GTX under the hood..

Anyways. just wanted to share.. Love this thing.. I'll update after i watch a movie or two and play some more games..

Later,

Andre

 

[boglwe]

Thanks for the Info

 

[doggyfromplanetwoof]

It's a 8bit panel, good deal... But I expect most 24inch monitors will fall into this price range soon.

 

[nataku00]

Originally posted by: doggyfromplanetwoof
It's a 8bit panel, good deal... But I expect most 24inch monitors will fall into this price range soon.

Do you have a link confirming this is an s or m-pva panel so that it is an 8 bit panel? It is really tempting for $400.

 

[amheck]

SO you're pretty happy with the size coming from a 20" monitor? I have the 20" Dell and just want to make sure my next purchase is a good size jump. But there just aren't good things to say, it seems, about the 27" monitors. And the 20" is out of my price.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Very nice. I don't think I'll be getting anything bigger than 20" anytime soon though (just ordered one). The high resolutions just require too much of a video card investment. I think my 6800 GS will be stressed enough at 1680x1050. I think I would cry if it didn't last until its predecessor came in (anywhere from 4-6 months).

 

[Laminator]

I think this is a PVA panel. TN panels would advertise at most a 5ms response time. Plus, this monitor isn't as cheap as other 24" TN's.

 

[Arcanedeath]

See the Hot deals thread here, its 299 + shipping and/or tax after rebate at Microcenter now, and it is a TN pannel w/ 5ms response time. I too have one and its beautyful

 

[stureandre]

Yeah I have no idea about the panel. Both best buy and acer are very skimpy with the info on the screen...

I must say blasting someone in quake, or walking around in Far Cry is fantastic with this screen. Even my girlfriend who only checks her email dropped her jaw.. The difference from a 20" is massive.

If you can afford it and have the hardware to drive it I would say go for it! You really do see the ~500K extra pixels on screen.. But hey at 300 bucks at microcenter you almost can let it go.. If not try one and see if you like and the worst that can happen is that you return it.. But then again.. after a few days.. you probably wouldn't...

Later

 

[Laminator]

Sorry, about my last post; that is definitely a TN panel. I thought it might have been PVA because the OP said it had a 6ms response time.

Acer does make a cheap PVA, the AL2416W series.

 

[stureandre]

What's the big difference between the TN panels and the PVA?

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: stureandre
What's the big difference between the TN panels and the PVA?

tn is 6bit dither, much worse viewing angles (effictively about 140 degrees even though most documentation lies and says 160-170).


pva generally is jus tbetter. TN has faster refresh though.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: hans007

Originally posted by: stureandre
What's the big difference between the TN panels and the PVA?

tn is 6bit dither, much worse viewing angles (effictively about 140 degrees even though most documentation lies and says 160-170).


pva generally is jus tbetter. TN has faster refresh though.

Ya, once you've seen the viewing angles of a PVA, you'll never go back to TN. This is especially true of a monitor this large. I rarely watch my 2407 from directly infront, but occasionally I sit on the floor, which would have yielded me a very dark image if I were still on my TN.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: Imp

Originally posted by: hans007

Originally posted by: stureandre
What's the big difference between the TN panels and the PVA?

tn is 6bit dither, much worse viewing angles (effictively about 140 degrees even though most documentation lies and says 160-170).


pva generally is jus tbetter. TN has faster refresh though.

Ya, once you've seen the viewing angles of a PVA, you'll never go back to TN. This is especially true of a monitor this large. I rarely watch my 2407 from directly infront, but occasionally I sit on the floor, which would have yielded me a very dark image if I were still on my TN.

..and once you see PVA's colors and real contrast...

 

[hans007]

yeah TN on a monitor that large is not very good if you tilt it at all or look at it from a near distance (from near enough like say 1.5 feet, the corners wont even look the same color as the center due to the angle)

 

[stureandre]

Now that I've had the monitor for a short while I must say that I'm very happy with it. The viewing angels are more that adequate for my taste, and also movies and games are great. Just finished Bioshock. Game was stunning, even though some crappy textures here and there, it was great in 1920X1200!!

 

[Audx]

Four bad monitors in a row!!

I'm glad to hear that you all had good experiences, although a little surprised. I was excited to see a nice looking 24" LCD on sale at Microcenter for just $300, and we have a store in Chicago so I picked my Acer X241W up there.

That one had a bad pixel in the middle of the screen, so I decided I would exchange it for another one. That one (the second one) had a bright stripe down the middle. You could only see it when you had just one color as the desktop but it bugged me, and even though $300 is cheap for the monitor it's no chump change, so I decided it was worth a return.

I felt bad for returning it for something that wasn't immediately noticeable, so I explained to them the problem, and when we did the exchange for another one, they checked it for me right there in the store. The one they checked had two bad pixels!!! So I went and got another one (note, this is the fourth one) and it looked OK in the store, so I'm sitting at home looking at it now as I type. I've noticed two "smudges" or scratches on this one that seem to be underneath the screen because the cleaner won't affect them at all, and I intermittently get a "No Signal" and the monitor resets before it comes back on (it's actually doing that right this moment!)

That's four bad monitors in a row!! This is incredible - but since you all like yours, maybe this MicroCenter got a bad batch? Tomorrow I'm going to go back and try one more time because I like the monitor and the price, but after that I guess I'll eat the cost and get a Dell 24-incher. We all have Dells at work and not one of them has bad pixels or problems.

PS - I'm surprised also at all the satisfaction with the viewing angle. I find the vertical angle to be kinda bad - the image changes darkness as I move my head up and down.