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 |
- 23" LED LCD Roundup: Dell, HP, And Samsung
- Dell SR2320L
- HP 2311x
- Samsung PX2370
- Size Profile
- Our Benchmarking Approach
- Out-Of-Box Performance: Brightness And Contrast Ratio
- Out-Of-Box Performance: Color Accuracy And Gamut
- Out-Of-Box Performance: Maximum And Minimum Brightness
- Calibrated Performance: Brightness And Contrast Ratio
- Calibrated Performance: Color Accuracy And Gamut
- Black And White Uniformity, Viewing Angles
- Power Consumption
- Final Words

anyway...
please review 16:10 monitors next time
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/response_time.php
+1 I'd like to see that. HP LP2475w (rev 2.0) vs Dell U2410 (rev 2.0) vs ASUS PA246Q
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
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...
toms i like your site but what the heel are words like photographers and content creaters doing in a review of tn monitors.
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.
Is IPS some new kind of monitor?
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).
To quote a review from anandtech: "Though the 120Hz refresh frequency does make games playable in 3D, there’s another important benefit of using a faster refresh rate - everything looks smoother, and you can now drive up to 120 FPS without tearing. The ASUS VG236H was my first exposure to 120Hz refresh displays that aren’t CRTs, and the difference is about as subtle as a dump truck driving through your living room. I spent the first half hour seriously just dragging windows back and forth across the desktop - from a 120Hz display to a 60Hz, stunned at how smooth and different 120Hz was. Yeah, it’s that different. . . honestly, the completely unparalleled level of smoothness on a 120 Hz display has made me hyper attuned to just how flickery 60Hz looks on all the other LCDs I’ve got."