Best TFT Monitor 17" or 18"

[StrikerJJB]

Was wondering in your guys opinion what the best TFT Monitors are?
I was also thinking reasonably price 1300 or less.


LMK - Post away

 

[Gosharkss]

All LCD monitors are fixed resolution devices. LCD monitors use a matrix of cells so the pixels are in a fixed location and therefore define the native resolution of the monitor. For example a typical 18" LCD monitor with a dot pitch of 0.2805mm and a horizontal viewable area of 359mm has a native resolution of 1280 in the horizontal direction. Math is simple, 359 divided by 0.2805 equals 1279.85 or 1280 if you account for the small rounding error. Same calculation can be made in the vertical direction.

17" LCD monitors also have a native resolution of 1280 x 1024 with a tighter pixel pitch of 0.264 and a viewable area of 338mm x 270mm.
Like CRT monitors, typically tighter dot/pixel pitch means the image will be more defined.

Good Luck

Jim Witkowski
Chief Hardware Engineer
Cornerstone / Monitorsdirect.com

 

[HansXP]

Well you managed to babble on and on, but you didn't answer his question. In my opinion, Viewsonic makes the best LCDs. I'm using one right now, and it's spectacular. I would recommend the Viewsonic VG180 or VG181 for an 18" monitor, but they are a little out of your price range. The 180 costs $1500 while the 181 costs $1600.

A different, lower-cost Viewsonic would be fine as well. Other good brands are IBM and NEC. You'll have many choices.

 

[Gosharkss]

My point was that he may be happier with a 17" LCD around $1000 U.S. these days

Jim

 

[frankroh]

I've done lots of looking around for 17"-18" TFTs and I like the Philips 180P and Samsung 770. Since I didn't want to go over $1000 (180P is ~$1200), I ended up getting the Dell 1701FP (same TFT as Samsung.)

Dell has them for $900 and refurbs are $800. I got 10% off and free shipping too. I bought it last month so I don't know if the specials are still going on. Not a bad deal at $810 for a 0.264 dot pitch 17" LCD with digital input.

 

[StrikerJJB]

Nice. Thanks for the information keep it coming. All of it is good.

 

[frankroh]

I forgot to metion Dell LCDs come with 3 years warranty, unlike 1 year for some other companies. Samsung has 3 year warranty too I believe.

Warranty is very important for LCDs I believe, since they are rather sensitive and expensive(!!!)

 

[bozo1]

I have a Viewsonic VG175 - 17.4" and can't be happier. I did quite a bit of research when I bought this 2 months ago and it was consistently rated the best for clarity, brightness, etc. (I've seen many LCD's that just aren't bright enough.) I paid about $1200 but they are around $1000 now.

 

[BMW330ci]

<< My point was that he may be happier with a 17&quot; LCD around $1000 U.S. these days

Jim >>




Jim,
Can you explain the response time as follow: Rise Time - 10ms Fall Time - 35ms
Those are the specs for the Sony Multiscan N80 18&quot; LCD Monitor. I haven't seen it in person but I hope the delay isn't that bad when playing FPS Games. I have the Samsung 17&quot; 170T DVI/Analog LCD Monitor and the response time is 29MS. You can hardly notice any motion blur at all. Just wondering how the Sony N80 compares.
Thanks!

 

[Gosharkss]

Even in the high-speed world of computers happens in zero time.
The Pixel response time is the total rise/fall time of the pixels typically measured in seconds (ms). This represents the amount of time it takes for a point on the screen to go from completely white to completely black. You can think of pixel response time like a camera shutter opening and closing.

Pixel response time is a good indication of how fast motion such as video or computer animation will appear. Fast pixel response (lower numbers) is always better for animation.

The response of a pixels rise (Off to On) time can be different than the fall (On to Off time). For example: For A monitor with a total response time of 40ms, the rise time can be 13ms and the fall time can be 27ms. Compare this to phosphors on a CRT monitor at less than 1ms. This is why CRT's display motion and animation better.

Older passive matrix LCD had response times up to 500ms where today's active matrix LCDs range from 30 - 50ms.

There are other aspects that can affect the rise and fall time of the pixel.
The video card can also affect pixel response. Video cards with RFI filters increase the pixel response time by the addition of capacitance to the video signal. This added capacitance adds to the rise and fall time of the signal introduced to the LCD panel.

Because the signal on a monitors with DVI interface is digital interface is digital, the rise and fall times of digital signals are much faster than analog signals and will be less prone to this affect. Remember even monitors with digital interfaces need to convert the signal to analog in order to create the 16.7M color palette. The difference is it is converted inside the monitor as opposed to the video card.

 

[frankroh]

Striker:

Just checked Dell's Website and they are having 20% off sale on Dell brand accessories including their LCD monitors.

The 17&quot; 1701FP goes for $899 but with the discount and free shipping (second day is pretty reasonable - around $35), it comes to $719 out the door. Pretty good deal.


Specs:
1701FP Specs

 

[BMW330ci]

<< Even in the high-speed world of computers happens in zero time.
The Pixel response time is the total rise/fall time of the pixels typically measured in seconds (ms). This represents the amount of time it takes for a point on the screen to go from completely white to completely black. You can think of pixel response time like a camera shutter opening and closing.

Pixel response time is a good indication of how fast motion such as video or computer animation will appear. Fast pixel response (lower numbers) is always better for animation.

The response of a pixels rise (Off to On) time can be different than the fall (On to Off time). For example: For A monitor with a total response time of 40ms, the rise time can be 13ms and the fall time can be 27ms. Compare this to phosphors on a CRT monitor at less than 1ms. This is why CRT's display motion and animation better.

Older passive matrix LCD had response times up to 500ms where today's active matrix LCDs range from 30 - 50ms.

There are other aspects that can affect the rise and fall time of the pixel.
The video card can also affect pixel response. Video cards with RFI filters increase the pixel response time by the addition of capacitance to the video signal. This added capacitance adds to the rise and fall time of the signal introduced to the LCD panel.

Because the signal on a monitors with DVI interface is digital interface is digital, the rise and fall times of digital signals are much faster than analog signals and will be less prone to this affect. Remember even monitors with digital interfaces need to convert the signal to analog in order to create the 16.7M color palette. The difference is it is converted inside the monitor as opposed to the video card. >>



You're absolutely right about the videocard. When I connected my Samsung 170T LCD Monitor to the Hercules Geforce 2 DVI, the motion blur was terrible. FPS Games were unplayable until I upgraded to a GeForce 3 which cleared the motion almost completely!
So you're using the Sony N80 would have a total response time for 45MS? That doesn't sound too good compared to my Samsung 170T which Samsungs claims to be 29MS.
Thanks for your excellent response.