Help with new monitor purchase

[TitusTroy]

Hello, first time poster...

I'm in the market for an excellent LCD to replace my 10 year old Sony 21" CRT...it's come down to the Dell U2410, HP LP2475W and the NEC LCD2490WUXi for me...and I'm still undecided between the 3

can someone offer me some advice on the best of those 3...I am mostly going to be using it for gaming (mostly single player FPS games like Crysis, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, Bioshock etc) along with internet surfing and word processing software (Office 2007)

the Dell U2410 seems like a great deal but the wide gamut aspect worries me a bit...the HP has amazing black levels but I'm worried about overall performance...the NEC worries me in terms of input lag, response time and overall gaming performance...can someone offer me some good advice...I really want to buy this week...Thanks

 

[jaguarskx]

If gaming is your primary concern then you might want to drop the NEC 2490WUXi from your list since it has about 38ms (2.4 frames) of input lag due to the extra electronics used for image and color quality. While you can play games with it, it's primary purpose is for color accurate images (i.e. professional usage). Unfortunately, it is only standard gamut 24" LCD on the market. The ~$1,200 price tag typical dissuades most people from buying this monitor.

The HP has about 25ms of input lag and is overall pretty good. A lot of people seem to like this monitor; probably because it's input lag is lower than the Dell 2408WFP. Remember, this is also wide gamut. Here's a review:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/hp_lp2475w.htm

The Dell U2410 seems nice and has the lowest input lag of the three; 14.4ms in game mode. Here's a review:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2410.htm


Since you are considering spending a lot of $$$$ for a monitor based on your consideration of the NEC 2490WUXi, then you might want to consider the slightly less expensive Planar PX2611w for ~$800. This 26" monitor is wide gamut (hard to standard gamut nowadays) and it has been tested to have input lag of less than 8ms (<0.5 frames) by ToastyX a respected member of www.hardforum.com.

I have the Planar PX2611w and it's more expensive "sister" the NEC LCD2690WUXi. Both share the same H-IPS panel, but the NEC has extra electronics for color and image quality enhancements.

The only problem with the Planar PX2611w is that it does not "play well" with console games @ 1080i/p resolution. There are color banding issues with both XboX 360 and PS3. No issues with watch movies though.