newbie to displays wishes a 22" mac ox s display with dvi and vga

i have an ibook, a powerbook and a macbook, all of which i use and all of which i would like to connect to a 22" display (that seems to best size for what i want and space available on desk); that means i would like to have option of vga or dvi. i am strictly interested in text since my projects involve writing with no graphics (novels, translations, et cet.) but often 4-6 open windows of original Greek or Latin or Spanish; "standard" translation; my translation; notes; related etext or reference websites, et al. this multitude of open windows gets my macbook screen quite crowded.

i have no experience with external displays and thought the samsung 22" 2232bw was perfect but when i went to a nearby bestbuy and all the displays were plugged in and displaying a repeating add (one screen had text), i thought the samsung was dull and not sharp.(i do not know if they had vga or dvi connected at time and understand that vga will have less resolution.)

the vga is relatively important despite the definite decrease in resolution since i then can use the older laptops.

i do have an old, unused DELL CRT monitor i could use. I am using another old 20th C monitor for the macmini and it works fine. but i think i will ultimately want a more modern dedicated display.

any suggestions regarding brands? i saw one (i forget brand) that looked crisp but when i looked up specs on internet it said PC. i need mac. am not looking to spend oodles of money. $250-500 usd is approx price range. i wish to avoid any controversial (?CMO?) panels.

thanks for any help.

rich ratzan

The Dell SP2208 is a great display - I'm using one right now, and I love it. The integrated webcam is nice too. As thogrom said though, depending on what you want it for a 20" will look slightly sharper than a 22" - I'd go for a 22" if you want a slightly bigger screen for movies and stuff like that, or if it is primarily web usage and gaming, or anything else like that, the 20" is probably a better choice. The Dell Ultrasharp 2009WFP looks good, as does the SP2009, but I don't have any personal experience with those, so I can't say for sure. One thing that I can say is to avoid apple - their displays are OK, but the prices are outrageous, and far too high for what you get.