Questions About Flat Panel Monitors

[Frankie]

I plan on getting a Flat Panel Monitor and I have a couple of questions. First off, does anyone have any suggestions as far as ones to buy? I've been looking at Samsung and View Sonic, any other ones that are good? The other question I have is what "Aspect Ratio" means when talking about Flat Panel Monitors. As an example, the Samsung one I was looking at has a 400:1 Aspect Ratio, the View Sonic has a 450:1 Aspect Ratio. Is that something to look at and how important is Aspect Ratio over the monitor Refresh Rate? Also any web sites that could give me this type of info would be helpfu. Thanks.

 

[CallTheFBI]

Originally posted by: Frankie
I plan on getting a Flat Panel Monitor and I have a couple of questions. First off, does anyone have any suggestions as far as ones to buy? I've been looking at Samsung and View Sonic, any other ones that are good? The other question I have is what "Aspect Ratio" means when talking about Flat Panel Monitors. As an example, the Samsung one I was looking at has a 400:1 Aspect Ratio, the View Sonic has a 450:1 Aspect Ratio. Is that something to look at and how important is Aspect Ratio over the monitor Refresh Rate? Also any web sites that could give me this type of info would be helpfu. Thanks.

Are you sure that isn't the contrast ratio and not the aspect ratio? By the way as far as I know TFT flat panel displays don't have refresh rates, unlike CRTs they don't have to constantly rescan the image on the screen. They do however have a response time which is the amount of time it takes for a single pixel to go from the darkest black to the brightest bright and vise versa. Response time is important if you want to play games. Do not buy a flat panel display that has a response time over 25 ms. Also if you can afford it get a flat panel display that has a DVI connector. DVI is important becuase it will give you a better image over analog.

 

[Frankie]

Thanks for the info. I didn't see anything though about response time. It was contrast ratio, I mispoke on that. Any case, I'll have to see if I can find something about the response time on the monitors.

 

[VBboy]

TomsHardware.com had a few recent and very good monitor roundups with general suggestions. Look for "LCD" on their site.