X2gen 20" Wide SXGA $199 after $30MIR @ Costco Online

[starwars7]

Hey all, costco has the X2gen 20" Wide SXGA for $199 after $30MIR. Not sure how great a deal this is, but figured it should be up here.

The deal starts on 9/8 when they drop the price $20:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as...mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

 

[beserker15]

Wow, that's pretty sweet, a 20" with the resolution of a 19" so weaker video cards can use it better, plus svideo and a/v ports to watch tv with.

 

[MrScott81]

the 1440x900 resolution kind of kills it (at least for me). I would expect at least 1680x1050.

 

[araczynski]

i dunno, i think a 20" widescreen with that resolution is much nicer then the regular 19" widescreen with that resolution, i have an acer 19" widescreen, a dell 24" widescreen, and a nec 18" regular at work, and quite frankly the 19" widescreen just looks small, i'd almost rather have a regular 19", if i wasn't using the widescreen only for email.

for gaming i'd definitely pick a 20" widescreen over a 19" widescreen with the same resolutions. much more pleasing to the eye i think.

 

[beserker15]

Yeah, same here...well, I don't think the 19" is too small. But a small size increase to 20" shouldn't make a huge increase in resolution from 1440 to 1680. Plus, weaker video cards would struggle way less at 1440.

 

[araczynski]

i think most gamers these days play on 17" or 19" regular lcd's, or even 19" widescreens, either way, a 19" widescreen actually has a few less pixels then a 19" regular screen. so performance should be the same as either a 17" or 19", but a 20" widescreen would give the a bigger screen with no performance hit at all.

i would still pick my 1280x1024 projector over a 24" 1920x1200 lcd anyday, but having a 20" widescreen lcd as a backup for when i don't feel like powering up the projector would be nice....

anyone know if this thing behaves nicely at standard resolutions? i.e. when a game is limited to 1280x1024 or even 1024x768? does this one do the black side bands or does it force everything to stretch to fit?

do all widescreens force a stretch? or do they all allow the black sidebands to make things nice?

 

[FreeJPA]

do all widescreens force a stretch? or do they all allow the black sidebands to make things nice?

Most do the stretch.... Although I'd love to know if there was a way to force the sidebands to keep aspect ratio.

 

[superHARD]

I like the resolution...easy to read

 

[WA261]

We have a 19" here in my office. Compared to my 180 B2 it blows. It is not crisp at all. I would never own one of the X2gens for personal use/games.

 

[araczynski]

are you sure its running at native resolution? or perhaps someone just turned it down because it was too small for them?

i see people doing that all the time with the 19" lcd's here at work, you get them a nice sharp monitor and they go and turn it its fuzz fest.

 

[WA261]

Yeah, I set the rig up. I could do nothing to get it looking really nice. I mean..it is ok, but nothing to be impressed with.

 

[araczynski]

that's too bad, thanks for letting us know, i'll be passing.

 

[beserker15]

Now OP, where did you hear that it'll be on sale tomorrow and is this online only? I mean as far as picture quality goes, if you can go to a local Costco, you'd be able to see if it's worth it or not.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: beserker15
Now OP, where did you hear that it'll be on sale tomorrow and is this online only? I mean as far as picture quality goes, if you can go to a local Costco, you'd be able to see if it's worth it or not.

Costco typically has a different inventory online versus instore in my experience. They might have it though, I'd recommend calling ahead.

 

[starwars7]

Originally posted by: beserker15
Now OP, where did you hear that it'll be on sale tomorrow and is this online only? I mean as far as picture quality goes, if you can go to a local Costco, you'd be able to see if it's worth it or not.

I'm a member of costco and they send me mailings to let me know about new sales, coupons, etc... the mailer I got yesterday mentioned this deal starting tomorrow.

So WA261, do you have this monitor, or just a similar one?

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: FreeJPA

do all widescreens force a stretch? or do they all allow the black sidebands to make things nice?

Most do the stretch.... Although I'd love to know if there was a way to force the sidebands to keep aspect ratio.

Well, on mine you can't force it to keep an aspect ratio (so if you wanted 1024x768 to be stretched to fill the screen vertically and maintain a 4:3 ratio it can't do it). However, it *can* just center any resolution without a stretch.

So if you run 1280x1024, it'll only have two very small lines top and bottom since it's a 1680x1050 panel, and more or less look like it's running 4:3.

Of course since it's just that one resolution you can't drop resolutions to run games that your hardware has trouble with at 1280x1024.

Honestly though, you kinda get used to the stretch.

BTW, 1440x900 belongs on a 17" widescreen laptop =p

 

[starwars7]

anyone order this badboy

 

[RedBeard]

DVI??

 

[Budarow]

I don't think this is a "wide screen" display. It says "20-inch wide LCD" and based on the somewhat "thick" side-mounted speakers and the overall width of 23.7 inches, it looks like a standard 4:3 screen. Could be wrong though.

EDIT...here's a description and link for what looks like a VERY similar monitor/TV from Amazon:

Sporting an ultra-sleek, contemporary design and a bundle of essential functions, the X2Gen MV-20T9 20-inch LCD TV makes an ideal addition to your home entertainment system. The TV offers such features as a crisp 1,280 x 1,024 resolution, a 500 cd/2 brightness rating, a 4:3 aspect ratio, and a speedy 12-millisecond response time, helping create dramatically realistic colors and tack-sharp black and whites. Meanwhile, the monitor's contrast ratio--which measures the difference between the brightest whites and darkest darks a monitor can display--checks in at an impressive 700:1. As a result, the MV-20T9 not only produces splashy, intense colors but subtle gradations as well, making it a truly terrific choice for movies, TV shows, console and PC games, and more.

http://www.amazon.com/X2Gen-MV-20T9-20-Inch-Flat-Panel-HD-Ready/dp/B000FOZBLY

 

[BlackPear1]

The photo does look like a 4:3 display, but the title says "WSXGA" and the "1440x900" listed native resolution does work out to 1.6:1 aspect ratio - same as the WSXGA specification. I hope that someone who's got this will report here.