is this monitor good?

[HiME]

I am helping my friend to pick a LCD monitor for his desktop. Can somebody check this monitor for me?

Samsung 931BF
http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/moni.../ls19medsbqxaa.asp?page=Specifications

Viewable Area 19"
Pixel Pitch 0.294
Brightness 300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio(Typ. ) 2000:1 (Dynamic Contrast)
Viewing Angle(H/V) 160/160 (CR>5)
Response Time(Typ. ) 2ms (Gray to Gray)
Resolution 1280x1024
Input 15pin D-sub, DVI-D



Another thing, should I tell him to aim for 20.1" instead of 19" for the extra resolution?

 

[deadken]

Why not get the 204b for a little more money? It's still a Samsung, 20", 1600x1200 (4:3), and maybe $50 more.

Check out this thread for more info.

 

[HiME]

He can't run games on 1600x1200 with his GeForce 6600. Will he suffer things like stretched image, black bars, or even blurry images as he lowers the resolution?

Will things look smaller since the pixels are smaller on a 20.1" (0.258) monitor?

 

[deadken]

He doesn't have to run @ 1600x1200, he can lower the resolution if he wants.

No, the image won't distort since as he lowers the resolution since it is 4:3 already.

His desktop icons will look smaller (you can increase their size with Windows settings to fix that though), but his 3D applications won't look smaller. If enemies, etc.. looked smaller while gaming, they would be harder to hit and then people would all use 640x480 if that was the case.

Since the pixels are smaller and spaced closer together you get a smoother / finer picture. Whereas on a 19" they are spaced further apart and more grainy.