Monitor for Wife - non TN - A success!

[blckgrffn]

I am going to be buying my wife, who doesn't game much, but loves the internet and photos, a new monitor for her birthday.

Basically, I am looking at non-TN panels for a better viewing experience, and ~24" so that she won't lose much screen space moving from her current 24" 1920*1200 TN panel.

I am fairly cheap.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5211/benq-vw2420-monitor-review

I am looking at getting this monitor, it can be had for less than $200 new from a brick and mortar store (I will never again buy from NewEgg, etc. due to getting burned w/dead pixels, Dell is OK) it uses a VA panel, which seems to be the best fit for the application.

An IPS or E-IPS model would be considered as well.

I just want to make sure, before I pull the trigger, that I haven't missed out on the next great thing in monitors. Other options under $400 would be very welcome.

Thanks for your input!

 

[Sunny129]

probably the highest quality 24" 1920 x 1200 IPS monitor under $400 would be the Dell U2412M. its actually priced right around $400 i think, but it goes on sale often for ~$330 shipped. i also hear good things about the HP ZR24W, though i have no personal experience with it.

 

[blckgrffn]

probably the highest quality 24" 1920 x 1200 IPS monitor under $400 would be the Dell U2412M. its actually priced right around $400 i think, but it goes on sale often for ~$330 shipped. i also hear good things about the HP ZR24W, though i have no personal experience with it.

Hmm... That does look nice. I could buy two of the BenQs for that price, but I would like to get her one monitor that lasts for a long time...

And I have a soft spot for Utrasharps...

Hmm...

 

[tynopik]

Basically, I am looking at non-TN panels for a better viewing experience, and ~24" so that she won't lose much screen space moving from her current 24" 1920*1200 TN panel.

wait, so your 'gift' is to downgrade her from 1920x1200 to 1920x1080?

what are you going to do with the old monitor? claim it for yourself?

I am fairly cheap.

That's one way of putting it . . .

 

[blckgrffn]

wait, so your 'gift' is to downgrade her from 1920x1200 to 1920x1080?

what are you going to do with the old monitor? claim it for yourself?



That's one way of putting it . . .

The amount of assumptions you've made there is pretty awesome. Good work. You're right, I'm an ass who covets his wifes prized TN monitor and will use a birthday gift/trojan horse to get it. :ninja: Glad that is the first scenario that crossed your mind.



Ha, her TN panel is pretty rubbish. She's told me that she'd prefer better color/faster wake up/everything to the little bit of screen lost. (I asked, of course.) I paid ~$250 for it a few years ago, it's a Sceptre... when I got it, an IPS or similar was just not a real option. Heck, five years ago, maybe?

You make the downgrade sound personally offensive? Is that bit of resolution really worth 2x the cost? If I brought the specifics up to my wife, she would laugh me out of the room for even considering it. She's helluva lot cheaper than I am I am considering because I want her to have a nice monitor.

She gets to do whatever she wants with the monitor, probably Craigslist it - it's her's and that's her MO. *shrug* It's likely not worth keeping.

I recently upgraded from a $75 20" eMachine 1080p to a $130 23" Dell 1080p. Woohoo. So she'll still have the nicest, biggest monitor between us. And I am blatantly disregarding our informal $100 limit for gifts.

So there, now you can pass judgement if you want.

 

[tynopik]

Is that bit of resolution really worth 2x the cost?

Except that's not the situation.

If you were asking whether to buy the TN or not, that might be a valid question.

Here you already have the TN and you're actually PAYING MONEY TO DOWNGRADE.

I recently upgraded from a $75 20" eMachine 1080p to a $130 23" Dell 1080p. Woohoo. So she'll still have the nicest, biggest monitor between us.

So you agree her current monitor is better than your 1080p?

 

[Puddle Jumper]

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&sku=320-2807

I have one of those and am very happy with it. It's not quite as good as the U2412M but it's also significantly cheaper.

 

[blckgrffn]

Except that's not the situation.

If you were asking whether to buy the TN or not, that might be a valid question.

Here you already have the TN and you're actually PAYING MONEY TO DOWNGRADE.



So you agree her current monitor is better than your 1080p?

What do you mean? Paying money to downgrade? She has a crappy panel that she doesn't like. It's all about the panel, man. She's already said she wants a better picture versus the added resolution. So, good panels come in 1080p 24" packages for 1/2 the price. It is the situation, my friend.

She has a 24" monitor. It's bigger.

What is your suggestion, then?

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&sku=320-2807

I have one of those and am very happy with it.

That does look pretty nice, thank you The adjustable stand and USB ports are actually pretty desirable...

 

[snoturtle]

What about one of those 27's from Korea?
I know that the Catleap one is more popular but I am going to order this one as I think the base is better
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-CROSSOV...1245?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item20c41f071d

 

[blckgrffn]

What about one of those 27's from Korea?
I know that the Catleap one is more popular but I am going to order this one as I think the base is better
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-CROSSOV...1245?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item20c41f071d

Interesting, but this monitor has to be a)perfect and b)in my possession in that that condition in ~3 weeks. That seems risky to me

 

[Sunny129]

What do you mean? Paying money to downgrade?

don't sweat it man...some folks think that screen resolution is the only important metric to go by when choosing a monitor. if those folks want to continue living in fantasy land, that's their prerogative...

...considering that your wife hardly games, and mostly surfs the web and plays w/ pictures/photo editing:

• going from a 24" 1920 x1200 TN panel Sceptre to a 24" 1920 x 1080 A-MVA panel BenQ is an upgrade
• going from a 24" 1920 x1200 TN panel Sceptre to a 23" 1920 x 1080 e-IPS panel Dell UltraSharp is an upgrade

...the only time they wouldn't be considered upgrades is if the only thing that matters to the user is screen resolution, and cares about losing 120 horizontal rows of pixels...

 

[blckgrffn]

Thanks for taking the time to post that, Sunny Really.

I guess I was looking at it like "upgrading" her PC with a 512MB video card when she has a 1GB card, for example. That could be perceived as a down grade, but that isn't taking the whole situation into account.

If the old card is a Geforce 5200 and the new card is a GT 240... well then, there would be no question about that, right?

That's how I feel about this situation.

Do those extra 120 pixels increase the utility of the monitor by 1.5-2x? Keeping the quality of the panel relatively constant, that is the up charge. That said, I am contemplating the 24" Dell Ultrasharp. Who doesn't want their SO to have nice things?

I may order the BenQ and let it sit at Best Buy for pickup and wait to see if the Dell goes on sale in the meantime. If it does, Best Buy reclaims the BenQ, no hassle.

 

[blinblue]

You can get a refurbished Dell UltraSharp U2412M for $279 in the dell outlet. I haven't bought a refurbished monitor from dell before, but I have purchased a laptop and a desktop from the outlet store and they were both in pristine condition and work great.

Alternatively you can buy it new for $313.65 after this coupon P?F3SSV7VMLXCL

 

[Sunny129]

You can get a refurbished Dell UltraSharp U2412M for $279 in the dell outlet. I haven't bought a refurbished monitor from dell before, but I have purchased a laptop and a desktop from the outlet store and they were both in pristine condition and work great.

Alternatively you can buy it new for $313.65 after this coupon P?F3SSV7VMLXCL

there you go...those are the hot prices i was talking about for the U2412M earlier on...

 

[blckgrffn]

You guys are awesome, I knew I posted this here for a reason!

In for one!

I still the VA panel would be *better* but I think this monitor is better all around and my wife will know she has a premium monitor

 

[mfenn]

Alternatively you can buy it new for $313.65 after this coupon P?F3SSV7VMLXCL

Holy shit. This is the right answer!

I still the VA panel would be *better* but I think this monitor is better all around and my wife will know she has a premium monitor

The only thing that VA panels have going for them is that they have good viewing angles for their cost. That and they're not TN. IPS is superior in other aspects such as color reproduction.

 

[C1]

Watch out with PVA. One of the monitors (eg, Samsung F2380 which is CPVA) has too much contrast resulting in excessive black levels. If you are interested in photographic work or even movie viewing, this is not a good as it suppresses greatly details in the low brightness areas. Generally great for general office type work though.

 

[blckgrffn]

Gothca. I thought that VA would have superior contrast ratios for better text and such, but they go to far, eh?

 

[mfenn]

Gothca. I thought that VA would have superior contrast ratios for better text and such, but they go to far, eh?

Yeah, they have the contrast ratios, but not the color fidelity to back it up. That ends up "crunching" similar colors together.

 

[blckgrffn]

I wanted to thank everyone again for their assistance in this purchase. I paired the Dell US with a 6850 (replacing the 3870 DDR4 dying with pretty rainbows on the screen...) and my wife was really impressed with the increase in contrast, color fidelity and viewing angles.

She said "wow!" - and meant it

I have to say that even I was surprised about how much better it was. Maybe, Tynopik, I will plot buying her a 27" US so I can "steal" her 24"

Also had folks from around MN and Iowa (and my sister from Nebraska!) show up for a surprise party that she was blown away by, so all around success

 

[philipma1957]

I wanted to thank everyone again for their assistance in this purchase. I paired the Dell US with a 6850 (replacing the 3870 DDR4 dying with pretty rainbows on the screen...) and my wife was really impressed with the increase in contrast, color fidelity and viewing angles.

She said "wow!" - and meant it

I have to say that even I was surprised about how much better it was. Maybe, Tynopik, I will plot buying her a 27" US so I can "steal" her 24"

Also had folks from around MN and Iowa (and my sister from Nebraska!) show up for a surprise party that she was blown away by, so all around success

Success in pleasing the wife is always a good thing!