Dell ST2210 for $139 should I buy it or pass it up?

[busydude]

I am in the market hunting for a cheap 1080P monitor and I found this deal today. So what do you guys say? Should I buy it or are there any better monitors for that kind of price? My current budget is $150.

 

[toyota]

for the money that looks good but I hope you have good eyesight because 21.5 16:9 is pretty small monitor for 1920x1080. I had the 24inch version of that Dell style of monitors and the colors sucked and flesh tones always looked like lower bit colors for some reason. of course they may not even use the same panel anyway.

 

[busydude]

Thanks for the input. Yeah, that is one of my concern. I do a lot of reading besides playing games so reading text may become a problem in the longer run. I guess ill have to save some more to get a bigger one(23-24in).

 

[taltamir]

I don't recommend getting a smaller then 24 inch 1920x1200 monitor or letters will be disturbingly small. 23' at most.

 

[busydude]

I don't recommend getting a smaller then 24 inch 1920x1200 monitor or letters will be disturbingly small. 23' at most.

Affirmitive! 24in it will be. Thanks.

 

[blanketyblank]

Personally I find this kind of talk ridiculous. High DPI is a good thing in a monitor and if you have any problems reading text you just zoom in using your web browser, acrobat, word, or whatever program you are using. Worst case you just use a larger DPI setting in windows. The only reason a physically bigger monitor would be better is if you're watching movies or sitting far away, otherwise the picture will always be less sharp and there's nothing you can do to fix that besides sit farther away.

I've got a a 17" LCD at 1600 x 1024 and it's great for work and I have no problems with it being too small. I also have a 42" TV at 1920 x 1080 and it's great for entertainment (though I sit several feet away).

 

[toyota]

Personally I find this kind of talk ridiculous. High DPI is a good thing in a monitor and if you have any problems reading text you just zoom in using your web browser, acrobat, word, or whatever program you are using. Worst case you just use a larger DPI setting in windows. The only reason a physically bigger monitor would be better is if you're watching movies or sitting far away, otherwise the picture will always be less sharp and there's nothing you can do to fix that besides sit farther away.

I've got a a 17" LCD at 1600 x 1024 and it's great for work and I have no problems with it being too small. I also have a 42" TV at 1920 x 1080 and it's great for entertainment (though I sit several feet away).

larger DPI settings dont always work properly and zooming in every time you want to read something can be a pain too. a 21.5 inch 16:9 monitor is physically small to and not even as tall as a regular 17 inch monitor. a 23 or 24 inch is much better for a 1920x1080 for most people.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Dell has their 24" 1920x1080 monitor on special for close to $200 I believe.

Newegg has a Samsung 24" 1920x1080 on sale for like $230 or so. LED backlit, no less, if that tickles your fancy at all.

Both of those are respectable choices.

I personally can't stand the HD resolution, and use only 1920x1200 monitors. The extra vertical space makes a large difference for me. You can get the Dell U2410 for around $400 if you shop coupons or can wrangle a work discount or something. *Very* worth it if you stare at your monitor for a significant amount of time every day.

 

[taltamir]

Personally I find this kind of talk ridiculous. High DPI is a good thing in a monitor and if you have any problems reading text you just zoom in using your web browser, acrobat, word, or whatever program you are using. Worst case you just use a larger DPI setting in windows. The only reason a physically bigger monitor would be better is if you're watching movies or sitting far away, otherwise the picture will always be less sharp and there's nothing you can do to fix that besides sit farther away.

I've got a a 17" LCD at 1600 x 1024 and it's great for work and I have no problems with it being too small. I also have a 42" TV at 1920 x 1080 and it's great for entertainment (though I sit several feet away).

Please, I have been trying to use higher DPI settings (mostly for my parents) for over a decade. There is not a single OS on the market that can do it right, NONE!
this isn't because you CAN'T do it right, you actually CAN... its because they never bothered to... Maybe one day bill gate's or steve job's vision will deteriorate enough for their respective companies to program a quality DPI increasing system (one that doesn't break every single program, causing text to fly off of windows and be placed at random locations all over your screen, or be truncated, or who knows what).
Many programs actually handle zooming in an acceptable manner... although, even though browsers and the like let you zoom, they:
1. Do NOT adjust their MENUS to be larger. (big problem)
2. Occasionally break the webpages in question.

You need to fundamentally divorce the OS from the font size, just as was done for the language type (IIRC starting with vista). Possible solutions also include having a "zoom" (I am familiar with the zoom for blind people, it sucks!) option where it will simply enlarge all objects on a screen by X% while cutting down the actual desktop area, or making the desktop "larger" then the actual screen (so going to the edges scrolls it).

 

[busydude]

Please, I have been trying to use higher DPI settings (mostly for my parents) for over a decade. There is not a single OS on the market that can do it right, NONE!

<snip>

I totally agree with you. I have only used a 16:10 22" monitor and I am barely able to read the text when viewing a full page of a research article and I read 3-4 articles per day so zooming in to read texts is a hassle. Being a student, budget is THE determining factor and I have made up my mind to save some more money to get a bigger monitor even if it takes a few more days to make a purchase.

Toyota, how do you rate the monitor in your sig?

 

[toyota]

I totally agree with you. I have only used a 16:10 22" monitor and I am barely able to read the text when viewing a full page of a research article and I read 3-4 articles per day so zooming in to read texts is a hassle. Being a student, budget is THE determining factor and I have made up my mind to save some more money to get a bigger monitor even if it takes a few more days to make a purchase.

Toyota, how do you rate the monitor in your sig?

for the 180 bucks I paid at the time its good. I have very little back light bleed and the monitor is great for gaming. my only complaint is that I get some odd flickering on certain webpages. truthfully though in the year and a half that I have owned it I have only seen 3-4 pages do it and some other lcd monitors do it too.

 

[n3wbie]

I'm glad I stumbled across this thread. I'm looking for a new monitor too and have been trying to decide between the ST2210 and the ST2410. They both have the same 16:9 resolution of 1900 x 1080 and the ST2210 is slightly cheaper.

My dilemma is whether the 24" display is going to be too big! Both monitors have the same resolution, so it makes sense that the only difference is the "bigness" of what's being displayed (a.k.a. the 24" model doesn't actually have anymore screen real estate, it just displays things bigger).

I'm going to be reading a lot and I'm wondering if the text on a 24" is going to be too big, or unclear. Anyone have an opinion on this?

 

[toyota]

I'm glad I stumbled across this thread. I'm looking for a new monitor too and have been trying to decide between the ST2210 and the ST2410. They both have the same 16:9 resolution of 1900 x 1080 and the ST2210 is slightly cheaper.

My dilemma is whether the 24" display is going to be too big! Both monitors have the same resolution, so it makes sense that the only difference is the "bigness" of what's being displayed (a.k.a. the 24" model doesn't actually have anymore screen real estate, it just displays things bigger).

I'm going to be reading a lot and I'm wondering if the text on a 24" is going to be too big, or unclear. Anyone have an opinion on this?

a 24inch 16:9 monitor is not very big at all. in fact my 23 feels pretty small and my 22 inch 16:10 monitor is even physically taller. go with the 24inch for sure.

 

[n3wbie]

So, you don't think text will be too large on a 24"? Does that mean that text would be too small on a 22"?

 

[toyota]

So, you don't think text will be too large on a 24"? Does that mean that text would be too small on a 22"?

um no the text isnt too large at all and in fact its still fairly small. you would have to but it at 800x600 or even 640x480 for people to think text was too big.

 

[tweakboy]

Pass up. 1680x1050 res is no good. 22 inches is sorta small for now adays.

22 inch you get for 140. Pay 250 to 300 and get a nice 24" Samsung or something. gl

Trust me, 22 inches is small. When I use my Dads computer and his viewsonic 22 inch I feel soo small. 24" is the minimum people should buy for past 2 or 3 years, because of the great price reduction.

If you have money to burn, Get a 27" Sony or Samsung with a 2550x1550 not sure of res numbers but its high res, ull love it.

gl whatever you choose my friend.

 

[n3wbie]

Pass up. 1680x1050 res is no good. 22 inches is sorta small for now adays.

They actually both have a 1900 x 1080 resolution.

 

[taltamir]

I'm glad I stumbled across this thread. I'm looking for a new monitor too and have been trying to decide between the ST2210 and the ST2410. They both have the same 16:9 resolution of 1900 x 1080 and the ST2210 is slightly cheaper.

My dilemma is whether the 24" display is going to be too big! Both monitors have the same resolution, so it makes sense that the only difference is the "bigness" of what's being displayed (a.k.a. the 24" model doesn't actually have anymore screen real estate, it just displays things bigger).

I'm going to be reading a lot and I'm wondering if the text on a 24" is going to be too big, or unclear. Anyone have an opinion on this?

if you tell us the current resolution and size of your current monitor (has to be LCD for them to be accurate), I can calculate for you the difference in size (aka, smaller, larger, or same sized letters)

 

[n3wbie]

That would be great!

I have a laptop (a Gateway P-6860FX) with a 17" screen. The actual dimensions of the screen are 15" x 9.35" and the resolution is 1440x900.

 

[toyota]

That would be great!

I have a laptop (a Gateway P-6860FX) with a 17" screen. The actual dimensions of the screen are 15" x 9.35" and the resolution is 1440x900.

well you sit closer to a laptop so a desktop monitor at normal distance would be much different.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

To each their own, but I will NEVER use a ~22" monitor at a greater than 1680x1050 resolution. Tried a 21.5" 1080p one once. Promptly returned it and got an ASUS VH242H (23.6" 1080P) instead.

 

[taltamir]

a 1080p 24inch lcd is 16:9 aspect ratio (probably a better idea), it has 1920x1080 pixels.
Since I am not finding a size on the specs in newegg I will just go ahead and calculate it. lets define angle theta to be the angle opposite the side (the 9) and adjacent to the bottom (the 16)
tan theta = 9/16
theta = inversetan (9/16) = 29.357753542791272457179755551199 degrees
sin theta = opp / hyp = opp / 24
24 sin theta = opp
opp = 11.76626975118141533671872823751 inches
24 cos theta = adj
adj = 20.917812890989182820833294644462

verify with pathegorian: opp^2 + adj^2 = hyp^2
... according to my calculator, square root (opp^2 + adj^2) = 24... which shows my math is correct.

Ok, next step.
1920 lines / 20.917812890989182820833294644462 inches = 91.787798753429096492458597593534 lines / inch

1080 lines / 11.76626975118141533671872823751 inches =
91.787798753429096492458597593533 lines / inch

alright... 1440 lines/15" = 96 lines/ inch... 900/9.35 is 96.256684491978609625668449197861... close enough.
also, 1440 x 900 = 16:10 aspect ratio.
This seems a bit off... doing the math myself for a 17 inch diagonal 16:10 monitor I get that it should be:
14.415971168086495711681009116367 inch x 9.0099819800540598198006306977295

with a pixel / inch count of 99.889211986481687413983462821888 and 99.889211986481687413983462821887

So, you go from either 96 or 99.9 lines per inch to 91.8 lines per inch (to get pixels per inch, just square it). So on a 24 in monitor text will be a little larger.

Alright, 23 inch monitor. theta is the same:
we just went from opp = 24 sin theta
to opp = 23 sin theta
likewise for adjacent.
opp = 11.27600851154885636435544789428
adj = 20.046237353864633536631907367609

1920/20.046237353864633536631907367609 = 95.778572612273839818217667054124
1080/11.27600851154885636435544789428 = 95.778572612273839818217667054125

for 22 inch monitor:
opp = 22 * sin theta = 10.785747271916297391992167551051
adj = 22 * cos theta = 19.174661816740084252430520090756

1920/19.174661816740084252430520090756 = 100.13214409464992344631847010204
1080/10.785747271916297391992167551051 = 100.13214409464992344631847010203

so there you have it.
your current monitor is either 96 or 99.9, depending on which figure we go by.
If 96 is correct, then the 23 will be same sized, the 22 inch will have smaller letters, and the 24 inch larger letters.
if 99.9 is correct, then the 22 inch will be nearly the same, and the 23 and 24 inch will have larger letters.

as mentioned though, you will be probably sitting further away with a desktop monitor, especially a 22+ inch one (to actually see all of it). try sitting further away from your laptop as if it was a desktop monitor and see how easy it is to read.

 

[fuzzymath10]

To each their own, but I will NEVER use a ~22" monitor at a greater than 1680x1050 resolution. Tried a 21.5" 1080p one once. Promptly returned it and got an ASUS VH242H (23.6" 1080P) instead.

I used to have a 15.4" Dell laptop at 1680x1050 (there was also a 1920x1200 upgrade). Now with a 20" 1600x900 display, everything feels huge, even with the viewing distance increased in desktop use. Same with my 720P 32" LCD TV. I wish it would be easier to find higher resolution small panels, but it looks like the trend is towards lower resolutions (e.g. 1280x800 is horrible enough on a 14.1" display, much less 1366x768 on a 15.6"; both should have a resolution with at least 900 vertical pixels).

I'm also not that sensitive to the scaling artifacts when running lower resolutions; YMMV I guess.

 

[taltamir]

I used to have a 15.4" Dell laptop at 1680x1050 (there was also a 1920x1200 upgrade). Now with a 20" 1600x900 display, everything feels huge, even with the viewing distance increased in desktop use. Same with my 720P 32" LCD TV. I wish it would be easier to find higher resolution small panels, but it looks like the trend is towards lower resolutions (e.g. 1280x800 is horrible enough on a 14.1" display, much less 1366x768 on a 15.6"; both should have a resolution with at least 900 vertical pixels).

I'm also not that sensitive to the scaling artifacts when running lower resolutions; YMMV I guess.

nobody mentioned scaling artifacts... we are all talking about text size.

 

[fuzzymath10]

nobody mentioned scaling artifacts... we are all talking about text size.

Yes. All I'm saying in response to concerns that 1080P is too small for a 21.5" panel is that running it at 1600x900 or 1366x768 should be fine vs upping the dpi. Everything gets scaled (and distorted) uniformly a bit, while when you just increase dpi, certain elements scale properly and others may or may not which, depending on the application, may be worse.