24" LCD Round-Up: Acer S242HL, Dell U2412M, And Samsung T24A550

Three 24" LCDs, Benchmarked And Reviewed

After a brief hiatus on the display round-ups, we're back. Why? Because, if you're an enthusiast spending big bucks on PC hardware, then you're going to also want a monitor of comparable quality. After all, why would you bother buying a pair of GeForce or Radeon cards if a lackluster screen prevented you from enjoying the highest-quality settings in the latest AAA title?

New LCDs aren't released on a predictable schedule, though, so it's difficult to put together comprehensive line-ups representing the latest and greatest. As such, we're reviewing monitors in smaller batches. This approach has worked pretty well thus far, and we'll continue taking your requests as the come in.

So far, we've covered:

• 22" LED LCDs: Dell ST2220L/SR2220L, LG E2241S/E2241T/E2241V, And Samsung SyncMaster S22A350H
  
• 23" LED LCDs: Dell SR2320L, HP 2311x, And Samsung PX2370
  
• 27" IPS-based LCDs: Dell UltraSharp U2711, DoubleSight DS-277W, NEC MultiSync PA271W
  

Based on comments from that last round-up, we're back with 24" LED monitors. This time, our three contenders represent a wider range of prices. We have:

• Your typical LCD TN-based monitor, Acer's S242HL bid
• An affordable IPS-based LCD, Dell's UltraSharp U2412M
• And a multifunction TV/LCD Monitor, Samsung's SyncMaster T24A550

Of the three screens in our comparison, the one we're most interested in is Dell's 24" UltraSharp U2412M. This is the successor to the CCFL-based U2410M, with a LED backlight and an e-IPS panel (more on that in a bit).

We're pitting that model against a typical TN-based monitor and one that performs double duty as a TV. If you're looking slight more display surface than what a 23" screen offers, the interesting results we generated should help shape your choice as you shop for 24"panels.