best brand for a lcd?

[spp]

I thought that viewsonic is really good... but since many other companies make it cheaper, what do you guys think?

 

[donwan]

I just finished the search for an LCD - I had looked at lots of them in the 17 - 18" size. Viewsonic was one of my top candidates. I also did in-store comparisons of Samsung, Envision, Philips, Sony, NEC, Radius, and some others.

The 17.4" Viewsonic VA800 was actually my least favorite visually, which surprised me. I have like their CRT's for years. I don't know how the other Viewsonic TFTs perform, but the VA800 always looks blurry to me. The text nor the images look very crisp. I wondered if it wasn't due to the MVA technology.

I thought all the 17" Samsungs looked very nice, and on the value end the 760V is a great display, or the 770 which I believe is discontinued but still very fine. I could not find the 170T in any store around here, but it is probably even better with its DVI connection.

The others had pros and cons. Radius I wouldn't consider because I had a very bad experience with one of their CRTs, and the would not support me. The Envision was OK and inexpensive, but could have been brighter. Philips and NEC were also average in my opinion.

Where I actually voted with my money was the 18.1" Sony SDM-M81 for three reasons. 1. Gorgeous color and very bright (brighter than many that publish higher luminance values). 2. Very flexible in automatically handling resolutions below 1280 x 1024. 3. DVI connection that I will use later to get out of the analog world.

The last point is a tough call - there were displays I liked that just didn't have DVI input. If you can never imagine using digital, you can definitely save some $.

FYI - Sony is now releasing another 18.1" TFT that they just added to their website this week which will cost less by removing DVI and built-in speakers. See specs below.

Specs
Specs For SDM-S81

 

[azkiwi]

Newer LCD technologies are still making their way through the product lines. So you can find newer and older tech within the product line of one manufacturer. Video cards make a big difference too - especially in stores where several monitors may share a connection. I suppose a store could put the higher margin monitors on a nice DVI and leave less expensive models on a shared analog line if they really wanted to move the top screens...

MVA is widely regarded as the latest advance in LCDs - a big step forward in response times, viewing angles and brightness.

A new chip from Pixelworks (co-branded under different names such as Opti-sync by Viewsonic) has allowed several components to be grouped for a cost savings and performance increase.

I can only tell you my VG191 is working for me, my 19" Viewsonic CRT is sitting on my wifes desk and I have no inclination to have it back.

The gamers screen of choice currently is Compaq's 8030, due to its slightly faster response time (20ms).