Seeking 24-inch LCD

[JackSpadesSI]

I?m looking into building a computer for the first time and one of the many choices that I?m stuck on is the LCD display.

I?d like to have a 24? widescreen (16x10) LCD, mostly to enjoy 1920x1200 resolution games. I won?t ever watch movies on it since I have a 52? 1080p HDTV in the next room for that. As it won?t be used for movies, viewing angle (while important) may not be critical to me since many people would rarely be huddled around it all trying to see the same thing.

HDMI input would be fantastic, but not a deal-breaker if it was missing. Included card readers/USB would be cool, too, but just a perk and again not a deal-breaker.

I value vibrant colors and high contrast ratios (maybe I?m not a purist, but I actually like dynamic contrast) over the savings of a few extra dollars.

This is the one I?m currently considering ($339.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824009125

I?m not sold on it for a couple of reasons: it is over $300 and I?d really like to come in under that mark, and it doesn?t have the ability to adjust in height ? with a poor viewing angle I consider the ability to tilt/height adjust very important so I can make the most of my viewing experience.

For reference, my dream monitor is ($517.00):
http://accessories.us.dell.com...dhs&cs=19&sku=320-6272

Your help and advice is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[OCGuy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824001309

$259 AMIR for a Sammy. The reviews seem to say the viewing angle could suck, but it has 88% 4 or 5 ratings. (not that newegg reviews are worth a damn)

 

[mmnno]

Had you asked this two months ago, the no-brainer answer would have been the dell e248wfp for $280. A week ago, the G2400WD probably would have been your best option, though it is only sRGB. However retailers started dumping last years models in November, and it appears the supply flush is nearly complete. New models will probably arrive in spring, and until then there's not much that fits your criteria except 1920x1080 displays.

You can go with a refurbished monitor to cut the price, though.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

Does anyone own the Samsung 2433BW 24? LCD?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824001309

I?d like to hear people?s pros and cons on the monitor. Sure, I could read the reviews on Newegg, but who knows what?s going through those people?s heads and I?d like to be able to speak back-and-forth about it.

I like how the monitor looks (from Newegg pictures, at least). I would just like to know how well it works (I?m a little concerned about its brightness at 300cd/m2).

Anyone know how long the mail-in rebate will last???

Finally, does anyone have any advice about ordering an LCD screen from Newegg and/or the internet in general? I?m a little concerned about the five dead pixel rule that if the monitor is ?only slightly? damaged with 4 dead pixels that I just have to deal with it.

Thanks!

 

[mmnno]

Never ever buy LCDs or any display from Newegg. Lots of people will tell you they did it just fine with no problems; of course that is because Newegg for whatever reason chose not to stick to their return policy, and I wouldn't want to rely on that happening for me. It is the worst. Seriously, 8 dead pixels is just insulting, so screw them.

Amazon is tops in my experience, they pretty much return everything and give you whatever you ask for. Provantage is second, where their 30 day return applies. NCIX has that dead pixel insurance policy which is a nice idea, but it basically just makes free money for them because their standard return policy isn't much better than Newegg.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

Does anyone want to second mmnno?s statement about Newegg? To be honest, I?m a big fan of Amazon.com for most general stuff and I?ve never used Newegg before. However, Amazon.com doesn?t seem to have the selection of (quality) computer components that Newegg features, so with that and the recommendations from several friends I began browsing Newegg.

Unfortunately, Amazon.com doesn?t carry the Samsung 2433BW 24? LCD. If someone wants to recommend another sub-$300 24? (no smaller, and with 1920x1200) LCD I?d be more than happy to take a look! Until then, this display meets those marks ? even if the seller?s return policy is awful.

More thoughts are VERY much appreciated!!!

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: mmnno
Never ever buy LCDs or any display from Newegg. Lots of people will tell you they did it just fine with no problems; of course that is because Newegg for whatever reason chose not to stick to their return policy, and I wouldn't want to rely on that happening for me. It is the worst. Seriously, 8 dead pixels is just insulting, so screw them.

Amazon is tops in my experience, they pretty much return everything and give you whatever you ask for. Provantage is second, where their 30 day return applies. NCIX has that dead pixel insurance policy which is a nice idea, but it basically just makes free money for them because their standard return policy isn't much better than Newegg.

i agree. probably the only thing i would never consider buying from them

 

[Keitero]

I bought two LCDs from newegg and I've never had a problem with either of them.

 

[mmnno]

Provantage has it, but for more than Newegg. I don't really know anything about this monitor, so I'm recommending the vendor, not the product.

Newegg is fine for anything but LCDs really. With plasmas, defective is defective, but LCDs are a tricky business. Edit: Oh right, I forgot you can't return TVs at all no matter what to newegg anyway, so don't buy plasmas there either

Originally posted by: Keitero
I bought two LCDs from newegg and I've never had a problem with either of them.

Newegg doesn't make LCDs, so the question isn't whether or not you'll have a problem with the product. The question is, what happens to you if you do have a problem.

 

[brencat]

At your price point, I'd suggest the Samsung T240 (not the T240HD). NCIX has a sale on it right now and it should come to ~ $296 shipped with the zero dead pixel guarantee:

Sammy T240

However my first choice, especially if you are a gamer, is the V2400W/G2400WD. I own the "V" and bought it for $323 shipped from the BenQ store when they recently had their after holiday sale. They offer a satisfaction guarantee of 30-days but you have to pay return shipping. Also, NCIX's price on these fluctuates like a yoyo every two weeks. Wait for the "G" to drop again to $260 - $270ish and it should work out to ~ $313 shipped. You should see how Left 4 Dead looks on this thing at 19 x 12 w/ 4xAA/4xAF and everything else maxed...awesome!

I'd avoid that "dream" monitor of 2408WFP if you game. Even the rev A01 still has 3 frames of lag which you WILL notice in FPS. Your dream monitor in a similar price point should be this instead:

HP LP2475w

 

[JackSpadesSI]

Wouldn't you know it?! The DAY I was going to buy the Samsung 2433BW that was first recommended to me Newegg upped the price by $10 and canceled the Free Shipping offer at the same time for a nearly $45 swing. No way I'm buying that now. You'd think that in this economy they'd keep those sort of offers going for as long as possible just to generate revenue.

Does anyone know how often Newegg cycles products into and out of Free Shipping? I'd deal with the extra $10, but that shipping is outrageous!

 

[nOOky]

It could be a week, it could be less or more. I have bought 4 new monitors in the past year from newegg, no problems with any yet. I certainly would send a monitor with 8 dead pixels back, heck even one or two would put me over the edge.

 

[s44]

The pixel thing is a lottery... From what I've seen, iffy panels tend to come in batches, but it's hard to tell when or if you'll be hit.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

Thanks everyone, for all of your advice. I just bought the Samsung 2433BW 24? 16:10 LCD.

Because Newegg raised their price I did some hunting and found the monitor for sale on Buy.com for $299.99. They also have Samsung?s mail-in rebate that brings it down to the same $269.99 as Newegg.

On top of that, Buy.com offered Free Shipping (even if it is insanely slow shipping) to save me a bunch. Finally, I discovered a ?first-time customer? coupon that knocked another $10 off my order (any order over $200).

That brought my final price down to $259.99 ($299.99 - $30.00 MIR - $10.00 Coupon + $0.00 Shipping) ? the same price as if I had not hesitated with Newegg last week.

I?m looking forward to 24? of high-resolution glory!

 

[Paladin]

Originally posted by: brencat

I'd avoid that "dream" monitor of 2408WFP if you game. Even the rev A01 still has 3 frames of lag which you WILL notice in FPS. Your dream monitor in a similar price point should be this instead:

HP LP2475w

This

The HP 2475 is a fantastic monitor. worth it if you want to splurge a little. Can get for less than $600 at Provantage, shipped.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

Ok, so my monitor came today (it's huge!!) and I hooked it up to my ancient PC because I needed to test it out (I'll be building something better shortly). The PC has an old GeForce 3 which has both VGA and DVI connections. The monitor that computer used up until now is a 17" CRT, which connected via VGA.

Since the Samsung LCD came with both VGA and DVI cables I figured I'd try to hook it up with DVI. However, the monitor just showed a symbol that alternated between "analog" and "digital" and then went black after 5-10 seconds. I switched over to the VGA cable and it works great (after watching the LCD spazz out because the computer was set to refresh at 75 Hz... took me a while to realize what the problem was there, but that's fixed).

Anyway, does anyone know why the DVI might not be working for me? Can a DVI port "die" since it has never been used before? Do I have to tell the video card to "activate" the video out on that port (I didn't see anywhere that gave me the option to output through DVI vs. VGA)?

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

Loyal Newegg customer here, would NEVER buy an LCD display from them EVER based on their policy.

You don't even have to ask people what they think, use common sense... what would you think if you ordered a fancy new 24" and had even 4 pixels staring you in the face that are the wrong color.... and then CAN NOT return it. F that.

Amazon, or Local purchase for me for this stuff.

 

[mmnno]

Yeah, video card outputs can die. But that doesn't mean that's what happened. You'll want to test it with another card asap.

 

[YiPPiEkiYEH]

I would definitely agree with the majority about newegg, their return policy is poor compared to the rest of the great service/products. I do have quite a few 24" monitors, and personally I like the Dell ultrasharps. From the 2405 that I bought years ago, still going strong and the current ultrasharp 2408 that I just got last week. Personally, I think it is the combination of having a built in 9 in 1 media reader, 3 year warranty, and Zero dead pixel guarantee that pushed me toward this great monitor. 3 frames of lag? I can't tell, and I would consider myself a pretty heavy gamer...

 

[JackSpadesSI]

YiPPiEkiYEH,

(Great name, by the way). I agree that the features on the Dell Ultrasharps are great, but I was looking for a monitor in the $2xx range, not the $5xx range.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

mmnno,

Thanks for the advice. Turns out all I had to do was reboot the computer while the display was plugged into the DVI port. I guess that port deactivates on startup when it doesn?t detect a connection. So much for plug-n-play, huh?

Anyway, it works well with DVI and looks FANTASTIC!

 

[JackSpadesSI]

WARRANTY QUESTION:

I know quite well that warranties are usually total crap and just a way to part a sucker from more of his money, but there ARE a few circumstances where warranties are smart investments (e.g. when buying an Xbox 360? that saved me twice already).

So I?m wondering if any of you have experiences where you wish you (or were thankful you already did) have a warranty on your LCD screen. I own a 52? Samsung LCD HDTV, too, but that is too new to have had any problems already so I don?t have any idea if this is an item prone to breaking.

Does my Samsung 2433BW LCD have a manufacturer?s warranty on it already, and if so how is the coverage?

The warranty offered through Buy.com (where I bought the display) is ~$40. That?s 15% of the whole monitor. Does anyone think that is worth it for the peace of mind gained?

Other questions: has anyone bought an extended warranty from Buy.com and had a good or bad experience to report.

Thanks!