looking for best 24 inch wide screen monitor

[shilatoe]

I was ready to buy the NEC 20WMGX2 based on xtknight's advice when a friend raved about his Dell 2407wfp last nite. I began to look over reviews and forums re the Dell and it looks good. But then I noticed a flyer in the newspaper this morning that advertised the LG L246wp. This looks brand new, almost nothing online when I google it but the [HARD] forum has a good discussion that suggests it has the same panel as the BenQ and is very good.
My question: Of the 24" wide screens priced around $700 which one does the best job for me? My uses are FPSs, RPGs and strategy games, photo & video editing.
I have the feeling that I can't go wrong with the Dell but this model is almost a year old and this LG is brand new. Also, what else is out there that I haven't heard of yet that might be even better?
As always, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

 

[nitromullet]

I don't know about the BenQ or the LG, but I game on my Dell 2407WFP and am happy with it. Is it perfect? ...No, but I haven't ever seen a display that is.... I opted for Dell over the BenQ at the time because newegg was offering a 30 day limited warrantee with the BenQ, whereas with Dell you get a good warrantee - their service reps might be a pain to deal with, but eventually they get stuff taken care of.

 

[kenji4life]

So where did you see the flyer for the LG and how much??

 

[almach1]

i could start all over again, i would of gotten that new dell 27 inch. looks nicer too.

 

[imported_Imp]

Another vote for 2407. Just got mine three weeks ago tomorrow (good bye no questions asked return). Other than a bit of overdrive ghosting and color shifting and a stuck-off green sub-pixel in a corner, excellent monitor.

If you look around, there's a lot of 2407/24" discussions. The same points to be repeated are that most 24" are roughly the same (Dell = S-PVA, BenQ = P-MVA), each with their own problems. The BenQ is suppose to be best (one of the more expensive), but has quite a few firmware issues. The Gateway has a crap warranty and 'inverse ghosting' and other stuff. The LG hasn't been around as long, and isn't as popular. The Dell has the first two problems I noted, which are caused by the panel technology (S-PVA) itself. It is also the cheapest of the bunch since Dell has so many coupons and sales often. Also, the don't think the LG has an adjustable stand? Also look for the inputs you need.

 

[MichaelD]

I've had my Dell 2407WFP for about a week and couldn't be happier. It replaces a Viewsonic VX922 19" 4:3 LCD. There was nothing wrong with the Viewsonic; it was just too small for video editing.

The Dell has much richer colors and I don't detect any of the problems I've read about in some of the reviews I read before purchasing. Mine is an A04 revision (the latest). They seem to have all the bugs worked out now. I had no dead pixels. Just ONE stuck pixel that "unstuck" after rubbing it for just a few seconds. :thumbsup: Also, the stand is really nice. Sturdy, and adjusts up/down/tilt.

I got a good deal on it; Dell was running a special a few weeks ago. $629, SHIPPED.

For FPS gaming at it's native 1920x1200 resolution, you'll need a beefy videocard. But just for everyday use, light gaming and video editing any halfway decent card will do just fine.

I did a ton of research before buying the 2407WFP; I'm very happy with it. Plus, you really can't beat a 3-year advance replacement warranty!

 

[Captante]

The original BenQ 24 inch FP241W lacked 1:1 pixel mapping in firmware which could be overcome when displaying from a PC with an Nvidia grapics card & from other sources capable of outputting true 1080p via HDMI or component.

The newer model called the FP241WZ has corrected this problem & although its tough to find plus costs more its about the best 24 inch display on the market right now although as has been said the differences arn't huge.

The BenQ has a fantastic quality stand which adjusts easily across a wide range of both vertical & tilt, it has DVI, HDMI, component, composite & VGA inputs plus a USB 2.0 hub and BenQ offers a zero dead pixel warranty as well... if you can afford it I'd say its the way to go, but if you want to save money the Dell 2407 would be my second choice.

 

[jdoggg12]

Spend 300 more and get a 37"er?

 

[shilatoe]

Originally posted by: kenji4life
So where did you see the flyer for the LG and how much??

It was today's Sunday paper, 4/15/07, Comp USA announcing that they now carry LG monitors. The price is $639.99
Sounds like a heck of a price.

 

[videopho]

Since mine is 2405 which is no longer available.
I'd recommend the 2407 instead.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: shilatoe

Originally posted by: kenji4life
So where did you see the flyer for the LG and how much??

It was today's Sunday paper, 4/15/07, Comp USA announcing that they now carry LG monitors. The price is $639.99
Sounds like a heck of a price.

LG makes some nice moniters so this could be worth checking out, especially at that price & with the added advantege of snagging it from & B&M source for easy return if you have a problem ... be sure to report back after you have a look at it in person.

 

[tapir]

Love my Samsung 244T. It is huge, super bright, and has component and s-video inputs as well. I had the impression that it was a slightly better unit than the Dell or had higher quality standards but that could be rubbish for all I know. It is an incredible monitor though, and I've never seen one nicer.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: tapir
Love my Samsung 244T. It is huge, super bright, and has component and s-video inputs as well. I had the impression that it was a slightly better unit than the Dell or had higher quality standards but that could be rubbish for all I know. It is an incredible monitor though, and I've never seen one nicer.

Dell 2407 uses Samsung S-PVA panel..chances are that it is the same panel.

As for best, probably better wording is "least bad", because for $630+ everybody expects perfect thing, but everyone is far from perfect.

 

[Matt2]

You're going to get a lot varying answers as every 24" has it's own negatives and positives. They also all use the same Samsung S-PVA panel with a few exceptions such as the Viewsonic 24" which has a TN panel. I would stay far far away from any of these TN 24" LCDs.

I personally love my Gateway 24". Has every input you could want besides HDMI, even has 2 component inputs with HDCP over DVI. It also sports 1:1 pixel mapping which I simply cannot live without after having it on my Dell 2007WFP.

This is probably the most scrutinized 24" panel because out of the box, the IQ is very bad. It's way too bright, colors are way over saturated, and the banding is horrendous. The banding is what people complain about the most with the Gateway. Anandtech's very own Jarred created a ICC profile for use with the Gateway that he calibrated himself and after applying the profile, I can tell you that I would put the IQ of this monitor up against any other 24" any day. With the color profile applied, the colors are much more accurate and the banding went from 95% unbearable to almost completely unnoticeable.

The one thing that does bug me about this monitor is it does have some "inverse ghosting". It's a really weird problem that I had never seen before on an LCD. In certain situations, this monitor will smear dark colors due to an overly aggressive overdrive. It's weird because it doesnt do it all the time, only in certain situations in certain games. I still haven't really figured it out. It doesn't do it in STALKER on my PC, it doesn't do it in Gears of War, Quake 4, MLB 2K7 or Madden 2K7 on xbox360, but it smears real bad in GRAW2 and RS: Vegas on the 360.

Just thought I'd put my $0.02 in for the Gateway since I didn't see anything about it.

 

[dennilfloss]

My BenQ FP241W uses an AU Optronics P-MVA panel and has no problem handling 1:1 pixel settings (bought it from NCIX with the firmware fix). Absolutely gorgeous colours and no lag or ghosting.

 

[Matthias99]

The one thing that does bug me about this monitor is it does have some "inverse ghosting". It's a really weird problem that I had never seen before on an LCD. In certain situations, this monitor will smear dark colors due to an overly aggressive overdrive. It's weird because it doesnt do it all the time, only in certain situations in certain games. I still haven't really figured it out.

I haven't seen the Gateway, but overdrive-equipped Viewsonics (like the VP930) also do this sometimes. At least on my monitor, it seems to occur when it transitions from a very dark shade of color to a not-quite-as-dark one. It's a case where the overdrive technology doesn't really help that much; if it tried to apply a much higher voltage for a much shorter time, it would probably overshoot the transition badly. To be fair, this is the hardest kind of color transition for any LCD panel...

 

[imported_Bee]

What about this one: Benq FP241VW

 

[dennilfloss]

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1159553

 

[Synomenon]

Dell should be releasing a 2407WFP-HC soon. I'd get that. Also get a monitor calibration kit. I got a ColorVision Spyder2Express. I'm very happy with my 2407WFP now.

 

[BassBomb]

LG is a supposed TN panel

If you care about pure picture quality + speed, then the 20WMGX2 cannot be beat.

If you want bigger size then I would go with the Dell as it has very good picture quality. Do not bother with the 27" Dell, its an overpriced pixel pitch explosion

 

[zephyrprime]

Or you could wait and get the new LED backlit Samsung which is just over the horizon...

 

[Bootstrap]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
LG is a supposed TN panel

If you care about pure picture quality + speed, then the 20WMGX2 cannot be beat.

If you want bigger size then I would go with the Dell as it has very good picture quality. Do not bother with the 27" Dell, its an overpriced pixel pitch explosion

LG is not a TN panel -- it uses the same AU Optronics P-MVA panel that's found in the BenQ FP241W.

 

[happy medium]

24inch Sony widescreen CRT. There on ebay for 350 bucks or so all the time.

 

[Painman]

The *best* 24"? Something tells me that's probably going to be the NEC 2490.

...For under a grand? I'm leaning towards the BenQ on that one since it's an MVA and they gave it the scaling update.

 

[postmortemIA]

How is MVA better than S-PVA?