Help needed on making the right choice

[pitsi]

One friend of mine decided to replace her CRT display and buy a 15" LCD monitor. I know everything about the disadvantages of LCD monitors against CRT monitors and the fact that it would be better buying a new 16ms display and everything. Despite that, what I would like from you is to suggest which of the FOLLOWING monitors I should buy. Please don't make any other suggestions, that would be useless right now. Here are her choices:

1. Sony SDM-S51
2. Sony SDM-X52
3. Iiyama 3817 (updated specs with 25ms response time)
4. AOC 15" Monitor (I am really not sure which of the two models currently available)

As you can understand, she is not looking to buy the best monitor. She simply needs something cheap for use in Windows and in a few games like The Sims (where no high FPS is required - no DVD playback either). As I have already mentioned, any other suggestions will not be helpful since only those 4 models are available for her to buy. So, if anyone has had any experience with any of these, I would really like to hear their opinion.

Thanks.

 

[JDig]

From my own experience (I bought one) I can recommend the Sony X52. Sony says it has a response time of 30ms but in operation it is much better than any 25ms panels I have seen (particularly Samsung units). This is down to the way the response time is measured as explained in other replies. I cannot notice ghosting in games; GTA3, RTCW, Mafia etc. In general use the monitor is excellent but does have one draw back; it's poor at displaying black (backlight clearly visible behind).

I don't think the SDM-S51 is meant to be as good as the X52 (it's a much older designer with poorer response times and contrast). X52 looks much better also. I almost bought an Iiyama unit, though I'm not sure if the unit you mention has a DVI connector. You really should make sure any screen you buy does (several Iiyama 15" do).

Hope that helps