What to look for in gaming LCD's

Contrast ratio is the ratio of black to white, or light to dark. The higher the ratio, the darker the darks and brighter the brights.

Resolution is how many pixels you display. If you have your resolution set at 1280x1024, those are pixels wide x pixels high. The more pixels, the greater the detail. However, the more pixels you have, the harder it is to render graphics. So you need to balance your wants vs. available power.

Response time is the time it takes for a pixel to change. The faster the response time, the quicker it changes from one color to the next. With an LCD, response time can make a big difference in high-speed games and movies. Typically 5ms or lower is desirable for gaming, but most good gaming monitors hit 2ms.

Good contrast ratio for a computer LCD is probably 2000:1 or higher. For a TV, I wouldn't go any lower than 20,000:1 personally. They can be as high as 500,000:1 for LED-backlight displays and are quite a bit more expensive.