Three-Way 23" LED LCD Roundup: Dell, HP, And Samsung
Table of contents
- 1. 23" LED LCD Roundup: Dell, HP, And Samsung
- 2. Dell SR2320L
- 3. HP 2311x
- 4. Samsung PX2370
- 5. Size Profile
- 6. Our Benchmarking Approach
- 7. Out-Of-Box Performance: Brightness And Contrast Ratio
- 8. Out-Of-Box Performance: Color Accuracy And Gamut
- 9. Out-Of-Box Performance: Maximum And Minimum Brightness
- 10. Calibrated Performance: Brightness And Contrast Ratio
- 11. Calibrated Performance: Color Accuracy And Gamut
- 12. Black And White Uniformity, Viewing Angles
- 13. Power Consumption
- 14. Final Words
We've spent a lot of time evaluating the performance of graphics cards and processors, but a good monitor is almost every bit as important to gamers and professionals alike. For our first look at monitors in 2011, we are starting out with three 23" LCDs.
Tom's Hardware LCD Reboot
It has been five long years since our last monitor roundup (19" LCD Monitors: The Spring 2006 Collection). Since we don't cover the cost of a monitor in our quarterly System Builder Marathon, we know that the lack of LCD coverage has been frustrating for those building completely new systems. Generally, we assume you're trashing your old system for parts, but keeping your existing monitor, keyboard, mouse, and operating system. Obviously, this isn't always the case, and we haven't forgotten that fact.
While the days of bulky CRT technology are over, the expense of a monitor really hasn't changed. The cost of an LCD can still break your next PC's budget. Researching monitor purchases is hard enough without having reliable information, and that's why your review requests for haven't fallen on deaf ears.
We are relaunching our LCD coverage with three 23" displays, all of which we pulled off the shelves at Best Buy. Reviews will continue to be presented as roundups, because they allow you to more easily make comparisons. However, our benchmarking process has changed dramatically. We are specifically interested in traits like color gamut, luminance uniformity, and contrast ratios. We'll explain our benchmarks individually, but first, we're going to take a physical look at our three LCD monitors.
| Brand | Dell | HP | Samsung |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | SR2320L | 2311x | PX2370 |
| Type | LED | LED | LED |
| Panel Type | TN | TN | TN |
| Screen Size | 23" | 23" | 23" |
| Max Resolution | 1920x1080 | 1920x1080 | 1920x1080 |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Response Time | 5 ms | 5 ms | 2 ms |
| Brightness cd/m^2 | 250 | 250 | 250 |
| Contrast Ratio | 1000:1 | 1000:1 | 1000:1 |
| Picture in Picture | No | No | No |
| Antiglare Coating | Yes | No | No |
| Speakers | No | No | No |
| VGA | 1 | 1 | - |
| DVI-D | - | - | - |
| DVI-D with HDCP Input | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| HDMI | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Tilt | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Energy Star Qualified | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Refresh Rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Warranty | 1 year | 1 year | 3 years |
Ummmm LG! How Could you have left out LG?
I think you mean DVI-D not DVD-D on your front page chart.
hey where did my comment go?
anyway...
please review 16:10 monitors next time
where's the NEC EA231wmi or EA232WMI? that's around $300 as well and it's an IPS
Hmmm.... Could've added an LG, I love my LG W2286L
Input lag!!
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/response_time.php
I'd actually rather see a 24 & 25.5" monitor shootout, they tend to be the higher-end displays of the brands (like Dell's super-duper Ultrasharp U2410).
A certain retailer has the samsung monitor listed for 280 with free shipping. If you don't live in CA, that's tax free, i'm pretty sure.
I'd actually rather see a 24 & 25.5" monitor shootout, they tend to be the higher-end displays of the brands (like Dell's super-duper Ultrasharp U2410).
+1 I'd like to see that. HP LP2475w (rev 2.0) vs Dell U2410 (rev 2.0) vs ASUS PA246Q
Why would you bother buying one of these monitors when you can get an IPS one for the same price?
How about reviewing something like the ASUS ML239H and give us a useful review, rather than going over which one of these junk TN panels is the best? 100% sRGB is useless if you can't see it unless you're straight inline with the screen (any sometimes not even then).
KTHXBAI
Finally an article about LCD monitors!
The selection is rather pointless (what self-respecting Tom's Hardware reader goes to Best Buy to get a monitor anyway?), however. Replacing Dell and HP with manufacturers like ViewSonic, ASUS and LG would make more sense, at least for the low end.
Reviews for IPS panels would be very welcome, but TN is where the bulk of purchases go, so I'd like to see more TN reviews going forward too. Just get realistic online prices please, instead of the MSRP Best Buy sells at... Case in point - I bought my older generation (16:10, e.g. 1920x1200) 26" ASUS for $240 last year.
Hopefully we get a series of LCD monitor charts (chart per monitor size) out of this some day, but we'll need a lot of testing activity to happen until then...
Why would you even calibrate a TN panel, if the colors shift even if tilt your head a little.
"If you're a gamer, wider gamuts should be your preference because the gamut required to adequately represent the colors in titles like Just Cause 2 is much larger than what's needed to watch an episode of House (which usually uses a smaller and darker color palette). This also goes for anyone that seriously cares about content creation. For example, if you're a photographer, accurate representation of a color space may be your livelihood. "
toms i like your site but what the heel are words like photographers and content creaters doing in a review of tn monitors.
21" 23" 24" 27" LG,Vs ASUS Vs San sung Monitors for 3 way monitor set up,for ATI video card Gaming setup.
and a best setup mount or alinement's, best in visual and smallest borders, so on.
and just like gaming PC lets say $1,000.00 $1,200.00 $1,500.00 i would have said $900.00 but that is not realistic.
Would like to see (~300$) monitors reviews based on IPS panels. For example LGE IPS231P, Dell 2311H etc.
Thanks for this review of monitors. Readers of Tom's run the whole gamut of computer people, from neophyte business people to foaming at the mouth gamers and even (as we see above) elitist wankers. You can always focus on premium displays in the future, thanks for this average budget minded review.
All tech sites I know of test games on the resolution 1920x1200, but only test monitors with max resolution of 1920x1080. Why is this?
[citation][nom]LuckyDucky7[/nom]Why would you bother buying one of these monitors when you can get an IPS one for the same price?How about reviewing something like the ASUS ML239H and give us a useful review, rather than going over which one of these junk TN panels is the best? 100% sRGB is useless if you can't see it unless you're straight inline with the screen (any sometimes not even then).KTHXBAI[/citation.
Is IPS some new kind of monitor?
One thing I notice about the Samsungs these days is the 3 year warranty as opposed to most companies 1 year. That's pretty substantial in the day and age of producing "disposable" lcd monitors. I'm sure this is a big part of the higher cost. The picture is usually great on a Samsung monitor, though the reason I will always choose a Samsung monitor is the warranty all other things being equal (beside price).
Samsung doesn't even back it's $1500+ 3D TVs more than 1 year (I can tell you first-hand there's a reason they don't!). Samsung TVs have the best picture around, but the component quality sucks balls. For this, I will never buy another Samsung TV (unless they add a 3-yr warranty to their TVs).