A monitor that will be easy on my eyes,

[shalti]

Hello,

I'm interested in buying a 16:9 LCD monitor at around 250$.

Since I'll be using the monitor mainly for graphic design, I'm going to concentrate on it for hours, so the most important thing for me is that the monitor won't strain my eyes, will be comfortable to look at and will have accurate colors.

I found the following monitors:

LG W2242T - a 22" monitor at a reasonable price. What deters me about this monitor is that I'm afraid it will hurt my eyes (I saw a review saying it's a bit too bright) and that maybe it's a little too big for me (22") since I sit kinda close to the monitor, but I don't really know if it's actually good or bad to the eyes.

Samsung 953BW - a 19" monitor with great reviews. I really would like to think this monitor won't strain my eyes although I don't know. It's a little more expensive than the LG monitor.

I would be happy to hear your opinion on which monitor should I choose, or if you have another suggestion in my budget range that would be great.

Thank you!

 

[jaguarskx]

How serious are you about "accurate colors"? 'Cause at your price point you will be buying an LCD monitor with a TN panel.

Here's one of my posts from another thread:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/53905-3-l222ws-refresh-rate-60hz

There are actually some LCD monitors that are designed to flicker. But some background info first...

Most inexpensive monitors are built around the inexpensive 6-bit TN panel. While inexpensive this type of monitor has a major "flaw", it can only produce 256k actual colors. Each of the primary colors Red, Green, Blue are given 6-bits to store different shades of that color. Some basic binary math tells us that 6-bit color means there are 64 shades of each color. 2^6 = 2x2x2x2x2x2 = 64.

There are 64 shades of each primary color , that means 256k colors can be produced. The math is as follows:

64^3 = 64 x 64 x 64 = 262,144.

1,000 in computer terminology = 1,024

262,144 / 1,024 = 256k


Thru a process called dithering the remaining 16.5 million colors can be created. Dithering means blending colors together to produce a different color. For simplicity sake imagine a checkerboard, that will be used to represent the LCD matrix in a zoomed in view under a magnifying glass. If the LCD were to display red, then all the squares would be colored red. If the LCD were to display solid blue, then all the squares will display blue.

Let's say you wanted the LCD to display the color purple. Purple is a blend of red and blue. For simplicity sake, let's assume each square is incapable of displaying purple. Okay, the dithering process kicks in to "imitate" purple on the screen. To do so every other square will alternate between the colors red and blue. Up close you can clearly see that it is just checkerboard of red and blue. But step back. The further away you are from the checkerboard the more it looks like the red and blue are blended together to create what appears to solid purple.

The above is the traditional method of dithering. However, there is another version of dithering called Frame Rate Control or FRC for short.

FRC - To continue the example above, instead of alternate squares of red and blue to create the color purple, each square flickers very fast between red and blue. This flickering is so fast that you will not notice the flickering and it fools the brain into thinking it is seeing a constant shade of purple. What's the timing of the flashing between colors? I have no idea. Probably need one of those high speed cameras that can film 500+ frames per second used to film a bullet leaving the muzzle of a gun.

Also...

Additional info:

More expensive panel technologies like S-PVA, P-MVA and IPS are capable of actually displaying 16.7 million colors because each primary color (Red, Green Blue) will have 8-bits of data to represent the shades.

The math:

2^8 = 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2 = 256 shades

256^3 = 256 x 256 x 256 = 16,777,216

Therefore, these panel techs do not need to use dithering. More expensive because the cost to produce them is higher.

 

[shalti]

Thanks for the info but I can't afford more than that so more expensive monitors are out of question.

 

[jaguarskx]

Veiwsonic VX2255wmb

http://www.behardware.com/articles/689-4/22-inch-lcd-monitors-the-3rd-wave.htmll

Sold @ newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116078