Computer Monitor Recommendation

My old ViewSonic G90fb, a picture tube monitor has finally bitten the dust. It is now on it’s 4th CPU and has developed all kinds of crazy lines in the screen.

Need a recommendation on a monitor. What is the best deal out there right now, maybe one on closeout. Won’t be used for games or anything video intensive. Open to about anything, thanks.

I’ve been using an Asus VH238H for the the last year, and have been really happy with it. Got it from Newegg. I’ve seen Dell and other monitors in this size range for less on sale. One could subscribe to a couple of newsletters and wait for deal to roll along, and/or use PcPartPicker when homed in on a particular part for reference.

If your budget is around $130, then a 23” IPS 1920x1080. If your budget is around $300, then a 27” IPS or PLS 2560x1440. If you don’t have a budget, a 32” IPS UHD (4k).

I currently use this monitor: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-27-led-hd-monitor-black/4753004.p?id=1219103680327&skuId=4753004

It’s a 27-inch monitor made (branded) by Acer, and although it’s a TN panel, it has surprisingly good viewing angles.

It also has thin bezels, and I think BestBuy has it for $200 shipped.

It’s a no frills monitor with very high PWM so the flicker not noticeable.

I’ve never bought a monitor new. I shop around on craigslist and thrift stores whenever I need a new one. I currently have this monitor,

I picked it up for $50 (missing the power supply) at my local Salvation Army. Still had the protective plastic wrap.

Nice score, that’s a great deal. :slight_smile:

I second this. The caveat is that pixel density is important if you run Windows and have less than perfect vision. Ideally you do not want to adjust the resolution to “make things bigger”, so if you can’t see things properly on a 23in or 24in monitor at 1080p you also do not want to switch to the 27in monitor with 2560x1440, it has a slightly higher pixel density (things will be smaller on screen). In that case it may be best to consider a 27in monitor with 1080p (1920x1080). This is a much lower density and will have larger writing.

I use a 27in 2560x1440 monitor. I do not have vision problems, but I do sometimes run into situations where I lean into the screen or zoom in on things to make them larger because the details are so small.

The upside to 1440p and 4K monitors is that much more data fits on the screen. I’ve been using my 27in monitor in situations where I previously used two screens. The catch is that when I want to use all my screen real estate for a single task - I can! (not really true / useful with dual monitors).

The major catch when it comes to using 1440p or 4k screens is that it’s very likely that they will not be compatible with your current PC without a video card upgrade. Also watch out for cheapy 4k monitors/TV’s, I’ve read that they are lackluster.

I recently bought a Samsung U28D590D it’s a 28” UHD monitor and it is simply amazing. The quality of its picture is unreal.

As others have said though if you go this route you need to make sure that your computer hardware will support UHD res.

Prior to this one I had an LG 27MP75HM 27” IPS monitor which was 1080p. I only had it for about 5 months and then sold it. Compared to the Samsung it was like chalk and cheese.

How are the viewing angles on that?

Unfortunately my laptop only has an HD4000 and it’ll only be able to driver it at 24Hz.

To be honest, I haven’t checked. As I have never needed to sit anywhere but straight in front. I will have look when I’m home and let you know. HDMI on it will support up to 30Hz. I’m using the display port input though which runs at 60Hz.

What about the GTX980 you just got?

Thanks, that’d be great. Unfortunately UHD is pushing the HD4000’s the limits and 4K was only recently enabled through a driver update. 24 and 30Hz looked quite horrible on displays I’ve tested, and I think the HD4000 is limited to 24Hz.

I sold the GTX970 before school started because I couldn’t bring a bulky desktop with me, and I don’t plan to game during the semester. It was a great GPU, and I’m sure it’ll be great on a 4K display.

The viewing angles on my Samsung laptop is quite atrocious with color inversions occurring easily. I’m really jealous of Macbooks that have great displays despite the fact that Macbooks (non-retna) have TN panels.

I have the Iiyama ProLite XB2783HSU - a 27” FullHD Display with a AMVA+ Panel - way better than any TN-Panel Monitor.
The colors are displayed very very good - the only negative is that the reaction time is a bit slow - but I play games on that monitor and don’t recognize that.

27” and only FHD is not the best - but that monitor is not that expensive (here in Germany) and a real bang for the buck.

I usually use it with only 30% brightness - and even that is bright enough most time.

And you don’t need a GTX970 with 3.5Gb :wink:

I saw that video on OCN and I had quite a laugh. :stuck_out_tongue:

Loved the 290X electricity bill part.

Huh, interesting option LSX. Viewing angles change a fair amount for me due to adjusting my sitting posture & such things. Color flop is more of an annoyance than a real problem, but for me an annoyance is just as bad.

The specs:price ration is very nice though. I’ll have to check some reviews. I’ve been considering the 4k route.

… the pixel density is really high though. How do you handle that? Are you maybe running Win8 or Win10 w/ some sort of scaling enabled?

I actually picked my monitor up for $499AUD which is around $388USD! From my local computer shop. So for that price it’s awesome!

I use Windows 7 and have windows scaled at 125%. Common programs like Google Chrome etc support UHD res now so they look fine and everything else is “fixed” with the windows scaling. The one issue I have is I use a 24” 1080 monitor as a secondary monitor. And windows 7 doesn’t support multi monitor scaling. It isn’t too much of an issue because I mainly use it for watching TV and the scaling doesn’t make a difference to that in full screen mode. But when windows 10 is released as a stable copy I will upgrade to that which supports multi monitor scaling.

Gotcha, thanks. Wow, that is a hard to pass up deal.

Ok, I’m back on my computer now and the viewing angles aren’t fantastic. It changes colour pretty quickly when I change my viewing angle. I had never noticed it before as I am always sitting right in front.

Thanks for the info. I’m sure it isn’t that bad because you haven’t noticed it previously.

How about this, it comes with a $100 gift card. Dell 22

Or this, Dell 23 refurb