Long shot, but anyone live around Brick, NJ who would be willing to help a fellow old timer out?

[purbeast0]

I am trying to get 2 of these very specific monitors that are 25.5" 16:10 1920x1200 for a very specific project I am doing. There are literally 2 ASUS models of this monitor that are from 2010, so there are hardly any around.

I have found about 10 of them in the entire country but only 2 of them were willing to ship them, and those 2 canceled their orders after I ordered them, so I still don't have them.

Then there is a lady in Brick, NJ who has 2 of them in great shape. Initially she did not want to ship them but she looked into it for me after a while, as to having UPS package them. The cost JUST to package/ship them was $140.

Long story short, that fell through after the cost of that. It would cost more for her UPS store to package/ship them than the items themselves, and right now I just can't justify that.

So I'm wondering if there is anyone in or around Brick, NJ that would be willing to be a middle man for this and pick up the monitors for me and ship them to me. I'm in MD so it's about 200 miles away. I would provide the prepaid shipping label as well. The only thing I'd ask is that you would be comfortable packing 2 monitors in a large box so that they are packaged well enough that they will be safe and sound. I would definitely be willing to compensate you a bit for your time as well.

Anyways I know it's a long shot but figured it's worth a shot asking here since this community is decently large.

Oh one of the orders that was canceled, the lady canceled it on ebay because she said it was not worth the effort for the amount she was making and that it was using so much of her shipping materials, and she sent me this pic of her packaging job. I think I dodged a bullet with this too, cause this would be coming from California.

 

[lxskllr]

No chance of you driving to get them? That's the surest way of getting them in one piece. 200 miles isn't the worst drive in the world.

 

[nakedfrog]

Yeah, TBH for a rare item of this nature 200 miles isn't all that bad.

 

[purbeast0]

Well it's not necessarily just about the 200 miles, it's about the cost/time as well. It's like $30 each way in tolls, plus probably like $40 gas, plus 8 hours of my time, which isn't quite as easy to do now a days with a family. At that point my 8 hours is only worth $40 if I could get them shipped for $140.

But yes that is something I have contemplated already I just don't know when I'd be able to do that, and who knows how long this lady is going to have them for.

And yes they are rare but not necessarily valuable. Like the one in Cali the lady wanted $20 for. I see another one in Arizona for $25.

I do realize though if I want these ones I may just have to pony up the extra $$$ for them, or time.

Before my kids were born, I drove up to NYC and back in one day to pick up a pair of $800 speakers lol. But that was like 12+ years ago.

 

[lxskllr]

Looks close to the ocean. Maybe you can make the trip more valuable by turning it into a getaway of sorts. There might be something cool to see close by.

edit:
With me knowing nothing, I'd time the trip to reach the ocean before sunrise. Watch the sun come up, have a nice breakfast, spend some time doing resort stuff, then get the monitors, and get on the road so you're home before evening traffic. Or maybe spend the weekend. There's a lot of ways to add value to the trip.

 

[Torn Mind]

Looks close to the ocean. Maybe you can make the trip more valuable by turning it into a getaway of sorts. There might be something cool to see close by.

edit:
With me knowing nothing, I'd time the trip to reach the ocean before sunrise. Watch the sun come up, have a nice breakfast, spend some time doing resort stuff, then get the monitors, and get on the road so you're home before evening traffic. Or maybe spend the weekend. There's a lot of ways to add value to the trip.

There's also traffic along the 95 corridor. I think he's a MD'er like you and me. Rush hour sucks and there are many chokepoints. Delaware, Philly, Baltimore(Key Bridge got nuked).

 

[RossMAN]

Just curious, would the Dell UltraSharp U2415 work for your project? I frequently see them going for $50 - $80 on craigslist/facebook.

24.1" Dell UltraSharp U2415 - Specifications

Specifications of Dell UltraSharp U2415. Display: 24.1 in, AH-IPS, W-LED, 1920 x 1200 pixels, Viewing angles (H/V): 178 ° / 178 °, Brightness: 300 cd/m², Static contrast: 1000 : 1, Dynamic contrast: 2000000 : 1, Refresh rate: 56 Hz - 76 Hz, sRGB: 99 %, NTSC: 72 %, Dimensions: 532.2 x 350.6 x...

www.displayspecifications.com

 

[purbeast0]

Just curious, would the Dell UltraSharp U2415 work for your project? I frequently see them going for $50 - $80 on craigslist/facebook.

24.1" Dell UltraSharp U2415 - Specifications

Specifications of Dell UltraSharp U2415. Display: 24.1 in, AH-IPS, W-LED, 1920 x 1200 pixels, Viewing angles (H/V): 178 ° / 178 °, Brightness: 300 cd/m², Static contrast: 1000 : 1, Dynamic contrast: 2000000 : 1, Refresh rate: 56 Hz - 76 Hz, sRGB: 99 %, NTSC: 72 %, Dimensions: 532.2 x 350.6 x...

www.displayspecifications.com

Those will work, but 25.5" will be basically a perfect fit. If I ended up simply not being able to get any 25.5" monitor, I will go that route but I'm really trying to exhaust my 25.5" options. There are some on eBay right now too (including the one that I put the pic of above) so if I wanted to splurge I could get them. Also the response time on the Asus 25.5" one is 2ms, better than any of the 24" ones.

This is a guy who used a 24" in his cabinet, and he said his buddy got a 25" one and he got it to fit perfectly. You can see the bezel a little bit here and he even used some posterboard to clean it up a bit.

While my cabinets are not the same game, the bezel is nearly identical. They both take 27" CRT stock.

I'm turning my cabinets into linked emulation racers and going to be playing old school racers and modern games, so I need games running at 4:3 and 16:9, and a 16:10 monitor in general gives me the best of both worlds and is the closest thing to 4:3 that I can get. It will also fit the best aesthetically.

 

[RossMAN]

Best of luck on your pursuit of your monitors, I would personally just drive the 200 miles.

If you decide to pivot to Dell it looks like two are available in the area, not sure how far they are from you.

For Sale: Dell UltraSharp U2415 24in LCD Monitor - household items - by owner - housewares sale - craigslist

Description: Check Amazon and compare the prices; Gently used; HDMI Standard; Energy-efficient and tiltable; Includes power cord Price: $55 cash only (Public meet up, text me if interested and can...

newjersey.craigslist.org

Two Dell U2415 computer monitors - electronics - by owner - sale - craigslist

24", 1920x1080 @60Hz IPS LCD Includes two monitors, two stands, two power cables, one HDMI cable, and one DisplayPort cable.

rochester.craigslist.org

 

[purbeast0]

Best of luck on your pursuit of your monitors, I would personally just drive the 200 miles.

If you decide to pivot to Dell it looks like two are available in the area, not sure how far they are from you.

For Sale: Dell UltraSharp U2415 24in LCD Monitor - household items - by owner - housewares sale - craigslist

Description: Check Amazon and compare the prices; Gently used; HDMI Standard; Energy-efficient and tiltable; Includes power cord Price: $55 cash only (Public meet up, text me if interested and can...

newjersey.craigslist.org

Two Dell U2415 computer monitors - electronics - by owner - sale - craigslist

24", 1920x1080 @60Hz IPS LCD Includes two monitors, two stands, two power cables, one HDMI cable, and one DisplayPort cable.

rochester.craigslist.org

I have a lead on 3 other Asus ones, and 1 of them is looking promising as it's in AZ and one of my buddies lives like 45 mins away. I think it's not quite as far from him if he detours from work so he may swing by for me and mail it to me. And it's dirt cheap if you pay them in cash too.

 

[brianmanahan]

No chance of you driving to get them? That's the surest way of getting them in one piece. 200 miles isn't the worst drive in the world.

yeah, i'll drive 200 miles on a weekend sometimes just for the heck of it

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would just try to find something more common that you can get locally or order new, and maybe build a border around it if the cabinet opening is bigger. But I guess you want to try to keep it as legit as possible to it fills in the existing space not more not less.

Maybe overkill but I wonder if a projector could work, essentially build it out like a rear projection TV so you can set it up to the exact size you need. I guess that would be much more work though to get the optics right. There's a whole science that goes into the actual screen layer too so the colours pop out properly.

 

[IBMJunkman]

Be wary of UPS doing any packing. I bought 2 pieces of Carver hi-fi stuff from someone on eBay. The seller had UPS pack. What I got was 2 25+ lb pieces of gear in 1 cardboard box with just crumpled newspaper as packing. Needless to say the gear did not fare to well.