24" Gaming monitor in the £300 range

MegaMick

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Ok, this post turned out bigger than I expected, skip the first 3 paragraphs if you just want to see some monitor models and what is it that I'm specifically asking. That said... Hi there, I'm new around these parts. I'll be ordering parts for a new computer in about 2 weeks, but there's one question still bothering me. I've got next to no clue what monitor to buy. Where I live, shops don't usually have good computer monitors demoing in a decent way. At most, they're just displaying a still image that consists of bright letters on a bright color background stating all of the monitor's specifications. They're not displaying pictures or games or any moving objects, so I've got no idea if they ghost, blur, not to mention the quality of colors... Well, here in Portugal, I'd say that I'm reluctant to pay more than 400 Eur for a monitor. I'll pay a bit more if it's justifiable. That's around 300£, hence the title. Hell, maybe I'll pay 500 Eur, or close to 400£, ghaah!

A couple days ago, I wasn't very familiarized with LCD monitors and panels. My previous monitor was a Samsung Syncmaster 940BW. I bought it because it was very cheap then, and then when I tried it with games it looked awesome compared to my 10-year old CRTs. Meanwhile I bought a 46" TV for my living room and started to notice differences in quality between the different LCD monitors, and so I turned to research a lot before making my next buy. I spent the last couple of days doing almost nothing short of reading reviews and articles about monitors and panels, and I'm concerned that many of them weren't unbiased...

Now here's what I'm looking for: A monitor that displays 1920x1200, and also decent blacks and whites, and colors, because I'll be watching HD movies and anime. Most of the time, I'll be writing works, programming code, playing both new and old games of all sorts, from FPS to RTS, browsing the internet and chatting. Day-time and night-time use, in a room with 2 windows, one being behind me.



Basically, I believe this translates into a 24" (16:10) 1920x1200 monitor with a response time of 5ms or better (for gaming), 1000:1 contrast or better, and if possible, 400 brightness, since I'll be using this in a very illuminated room. Minimum input-lag (again, gaming)... Glossy monitors like HP's BrightView stuff is out of the question because I'll see both windows reflected on the screen, myself, tables and closets and even paintings. Specially in dark images, common in movies and games. So I'm going for a Matte style monitor, where the ambient light is diffused, resulting in a slightly worse level of black if it's day-time, but no reflections. I've got a very ugly face, and I don't want to see myself mirrored on the monitor. ;)
Last but not least, I'm picky with the stand. I study a lot in the computer, reading e-books, pdfs, that sort of stuff. So I very much prefer a model that can rotate to a portrait position, as well as height and tilt (positive and negative, if possible) adjustment.

Well, thanks for reading so far... Here's some models that I saw on a few reviews that I found interesting:

- HP w2408h (The stand looked awesome, the pictures looked great on websites, until I found out that it was glossy and would mirror the whole room during the day)
- Samsung T240 (I don't know much about this model, it was one of the first few that I read about, the reviews were probably biased because they almost won me over before I saw it in a shop and found that I don't like the stand having no adjustments, and then, I saw this thread and I don't think I'll consider buying it anymore.)
- Samsung 2493HM (The specs look great, the stand is just like I want, but I've only read biased reviews about it: Like this one. I think it's biased, that, or there's nothing wrong with the monitor. But I'm yet to know about how gaming looks, how's the input lag, ghosting/blur... And I've heard that Samsung has different stands for the same monitor model, does this apply to this monitor model too?)
- ...err, well, now you've got an idea of what I'm looking for. My problem here is I don't have an idea of what brands or models are good. So when I look around and see so many monitors included in the range, I don't know where else to begin looking! There's Asus, LG, Philips, Pioneer, Acer, Viewsonic...

I need some advice... Which models should I look for next? Is Samsung 2493HM great for what I want? Or Samsung T240? Or are other models that are better for what I want, in the same price ranges? 150-300£ or maybe a bit more if justified... My mind hurts with so many LCD monitor articles right now... Maybe there are even more recent models of the families that I rad about and I'm unaware of them?...

Please, please help me! ;_;

--EDIT--
I don't have video-gaming consoles, and I'm not really planning on getting one... Err... So I'm not demanding that the monitor works well for them.
Also, I'm using Vista 64bits on the computer. So, if the monitor has drivers to control color calibration, rotation, that kind of stuff, I'll have to worry about the drivers. That's one thing that reviews never mention, so I'll have to check manufacturer's sites to download the drivers when my choices are narrowed down to just a few, and go for the ones that do have Vista64 support.
 
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Thanks for your suggestion. But curiously, Dell doesn't sell monitors in Portugal. Don't ask why, I've looked around, laptops and all sorts of stuff, yes, but computer monitors, no. Weird, huh?

Here's a list of the computer monitor brands that I found while looking around: Samsung, LG, HP, Asus, Philips, ViewSonic, Acer, BenQ, Lenovo, IIyama, Apple, Hyundai, Hanns-G, Fujitsu-Siemens, Eizo, Zalman, Sony, Belinea, NEC, Mirai, Proview, LaCie, Samtron, Videoseven, Imax, Formac, Haier, IIsonic, Canon, Neovo, Daewoo

(did I miss something? could Dell be selling under any of these names?)
 
Sorry for the double post, but it's been a while and I haven't had any more feedback on this... I'm almost done with picking the computer's components, and the monitor is one of the few things left, and I still don't know where to begin looking for one with the specs that I mentioned earlier! I could really use some feedback on the models that I mentioned, as well as with newer models that have the specs that I need...

Help, pretty please, with a cherry on top?
:lease:
 
Just a short development. I found one of the monitors that I'm interested in featured in a review which didn't sound biased (for a change):
Samsung SyncMaster 2493HM: X-bit labs - 24" LCD Monitors Roundup. Part II (page 17)
It says that the speed is terrible, at an average of 13.9ms (GtG) even thought the marketed speed is 5ms. This really put me off since I really liked everything else about the monitor. But I'm going to use the new monitor for gaming, and 13.9ms doesn't sound acceptable. Are there similar monitors that are faster? I still have hope that there might be good and fast monitors since the article is old, and meanwhile, there has been progress in the techniques used to speed up the matrix. But I'm having trouble finding them.
Anyone?
 
Thats a disappointment to me too. I had been looking at luxury panel construction types for the picture quality but then horrified at resposne times in practice came back to looking at TN screens. My story can be seen on this page

The Samsung you're talking about was said to do the colour thing well too for a TN type and being a TN would have great timings. Then this :thumbsdow. What a bummer - and I agree, what a headache too, with so many monitors to consider and I may add, with so much contratictory information about response times !

Where is this leading us then ? Does it have to be that really good response times incurs a penalty of terrible picture quality ? I'm guessing out of despair there but really I'm beginning to wonder.

Ok, so if the Samsung 2493HM is slow in practice, can we have a short list of other 24" TN type monitors that really are fast ?
 
I've just read the conclusion at the end of that X-Bit labs report linked a couple of posts up. Now I just don't know what to think ! :confused:
 
I wonder if Dell have overcome slow times in practice with new firmware for the 2408 ? Maybe now it performs as intended, using technology to compensate and in practice meant to equal a TN for speed. Have they done it ? If they have I'll have one.
 
It's annoying... It depends on the technology they use to get faster times. I can't remember which model it was, but I've seen a review where they used this thing called Overdrive. This technology improves the speed a lot, but makes the response a bit wavy. In terms of perception, you'll see a dark ghost following fast white objects, and white ghosts following fast dark objects.
So, make sure that you find a very extensive review about a model before you buy it... Unless you have a chance to see it working somewhere, for yourself. If you see games and movies at a store and there's no ghost or blurring on the monitor, then at least it's good enough for you! I'll have a bad time. I don't know any store that has the computer monitors displaying games or movies. Only TVs... >_<
 
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