In town for a monitor, need recommendations on what would suit me!

[DannyBoy]

I sold my desktop a long time ago and have stuck with just my thinkpad for several years now, however the time's coming close to get myself a new desktop.

For the time being I'd like to purchase a new monitor to use as a primary display device and my laptop as a secondary display as the screen on my laptop is proving to be a limitation when it comes to graphical and development work.

I'm not sure whether or not to go with a standard lcd or a widescreen option, which would you recommend would be more beneficial to me in the long run?

I need as much screen space as possible as my work entails a lot of photoshop / dreamweaver code work, I'd also like something that would be good for watching films on (which leads me to think a widescreen option maybe better?)...

I don't play any games but I most likely will do in the future when I purchase my new desktop system around christmas time, what are response times like these days?

Before anyone comments I've scanned through the buyers guide sticky but I only see lists for specific criteria whereas I'm looking for advice on an all purpose solution if possible.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers 🙂
-DJ

 

[Rudy Toody]

The first thing I did before buying my Samsung 940B's (I have 4) is to go to several stores and look at the models on display. Find a brand that has the color, brightness, and all those other things that you can live with. Then check Anandtech.com for reviews of those brands.

 

[acegazda]

How much are you willing to spend?
A great $330 option is the Dell 2007fpw. It is a 20" widescreen, 8bit S-IPS panel with 16ms response, but it has a "real life" response of 8ms. Is also does not have the banding and backlight issues that have plagued other dell lcds. If you can spend more, take a look at the samsung 215tw. It's like $430 and is also an 8bit but M-PVA panel with greater colour reproduction. If you can spend even more, get the NEC 20wmgx2. It is $550, but worth every penny. An 8bit S-IPS panel produces the best colours and best gaming (6 ms response) of pretty much any lcd out there. It's a big investment though.