I spent 5 hours trying to find Definitive Best Monitor Guide

[pandastew]

so I spent 5 hours looking over topics here and other PC forums and I can't find any definitive guide for Monitor purchase that's been recently updated to accommodate newer monitors.

After 5 hours of researching all I found is

Best 22" Monitor

???


Best 24" Monitor

<$200
???

$200-$300
???

>$300
XL2420T


Can someone help me whats good monitor at 20" and under category?

 

[ssddx]

it is hard to blanket statement "best monitor" in a price range due to the very different needs of customers. one would need to cover each and every different type of customer such as gamers, office workers, media viewers, graphic professionals, etcetera. with how often the market gets updated with new models it would be rather difficult to keep such a list up to date.

the three main questions you should ask yourself are:

-what do i want to spend?
-is 120hz/3d important or is 60hz fine?
-what am i going to use this monitor for?

this will help you pick out what type of panel you should be looking for. after all we have tn, va, e-ips, s-ips, p-ips and h-ips. generally speaking this is a simple breakdown:

tn: cheap. this is also the only panel which comes in either 60hz or 120hz/3d. they feature fast response times but also have rather poor viewing angles.

va: i'm not very familiar with them but i do believe they offer a better viewing angle then tn. 60hz only.

e-ips: offer a wider viewing angle then tn but have a slower response time. 60hz only. normally i suggest e-ips unless 120hz/3d is required.

s-ips, p-ips, h-ips: these offer greater color accuracy since they can actually display more colors instead of trying to fake them like 6bit monitors. they are more expensive and have slower response times. they have almost a 180 degree viewing angle. i personally prefer these over the other panel types, even for games.

generally speaking gamers seem to prefer the lower quality tn panels since they are available in 120hz and that is what they deem important.

as far as brands go asus, acer, viewsonic, dell and all of the major brands are a good place to start. i would avoid any second rate companies.

led backlighting can save you money but quite a bit do not use white leds but use leds with a coating to simulate white. this can mean a blue-white or purple hue to the picture. more expensive monitors with led backlighting use white leds. there is no real performance gain between leds and ccfl at this time.

 

[pandastew]

thanks so much for the explanation. I actually found the diff panel during my 5 hours of research and forum scan. but what I seem to be hearing a lot repeated is to dodge TN like a plague. why is that true? but isn't BENQ's XL2420T which I heard many times mentioned as the best gaming monitor out today a TN panel?

I am looking for something <$200 MSRP (because I currently live outside of US, deals about US stuff just hurts me because of how cheap everything is in US)

and I wanted something like under 20" to save cost and to hit my $200 limit without sacrificing too much, but it seemed that the majority of gamers out there says either 24" or 27" or go bust. Is this range the sweet spot for gamers?

 

[ssddx]

the answer is not so black and white.

tn pro:
fast response times
60hz or 120hz
cheap

tn con:
6bit color (but equal to va and e-ips)
poor viewing angles (can result in color shifting or grey-outs)

keep in mind that not all tn panels are as bad with the viewing angle. laptops are just about the worst. also keep in mind that you really do not need 5ms and under response times just something reasonable.

in your budget you are looking at either a tn panel, va panel or e-ips panel.

as far as size is concerned, go with 20" or 22". any smaller and you are likely to strain your eyes on details and any larger costs rise and sharpness goes down. around this size is also the best for twitch-reaction fps gaming as the entire screen is within your central vision area.

--

as far as what i personally use?

a 40" lcdtv. quite a big leap over the 20" screen i recommend i know. gaming on such a large screen takes a little getting used to but considering that time is split 66/33 between movies and games it makes sense for my current usage patterns.

before then i used a 20" s-ips screen i bought for $600. back then my time was spent 80/10/10 between games, movies and photo work. the reason i went with a s-ips is because of the wide viewing angle. i often sit at slightly different angles as i move around when gaming so this is important. back then tn panels were as bad as laptop tn panels so there was a huge difference. the 8bit s-ips panel also was capable of displaying more colors which was also a plus.

i also have a laptop with a tn panel. i've used it for gaming and it really is convenient to carry around for general work and casual gaming when traveling but i absolutely hate the screen. keep in mind that in todays world tn panels on laptops are far worse then tn panels on monitors.

 

[pandastew]

what's your recommendation on 20" or 22" that's under $200? I need few alternatives so that I can see what I can find in my country. btw I use my monitor for 90/10 - 90% gaming 10% Internet, youtube, pr0n (just keeping it real). and I play DotA 2 and other non twitch gaming as FPS is the only twitch I will play ( I hate fighting) and since I don't have fast internet I won't go into shooters FPS (no online = no reason to play FPS)