Some questions about choosing a monitor

JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
Hi everyone. I'm slowly beginning the process of looking for a new desktop PC (especially for gaming) and I have a few questions about a monitor.

First off, just generally speaking, I'd appreciate if you could give me a list of things I need to look for when choosing a monitor, such as response time, dot/pixel pitch, etc. I'm not sure about some of these things and what I should be looking for.

Here are a few specific questions:

1. How can a 22" widescreen monitor have the same resolution (1680x1050) as my 15.4" laptop widescreen? Wouldn't the resolution increase with the size of the monitor? Would images/video look worse on a wider screen if they are still in the same resolution as they were on a smaller screen?

2. What color depth should I look for? A few monitors I've seen say 24-bit (16.7 million colors), but I always thought 32-bit was normal. Or am I thinking of something else? (When I go to my color settings right now, it says 32 bit, so I certainly don't want to go *down* to 24!)

3. Any comments on either of these two:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A0964719
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-5205

I'm considering a Dell monitor, and most likely 22".

Thanks a lot!

John
 
Each monitor will have a default resolution that will give you best picture. I have an Acer 22" in 1680X1050 resolution and it looks worlds better than my laptop (I think its a 15.4") running the same resolution. As far as color depth goes, I believe all newer models are gonna have 24-bit and 32-bit colors. In that case, see which you are most comfortable with and which is easiest on the eyes. Hope that helped a little!

Welcome to the forums! Lots of great people here :D
 
I have a 15.4" laptop that uses 1280x800, I can't imagine 1680x1050 on any laptop. I guess I'd just like to keep my vision.

Anyway, 17" and 19" widescreens will use 1440x900, and 20" - 22" will use 1680x1050. With 19" and 22" everything will be bigger, with 20" and 17" everything will be clearer and sharper (and you will go blind).

TN panels (most common) will generally use a lower color quality but the response time will be quicker (for gaming). Other panels will use 32-bit color but will have poor response times (for imaging, etc.).

There is no universal system for measuring response times yet; it'd be very unwise to base your decision off of what the manufacturer says. Some will use GTG (gray to gray) and others black to white. Obviously response time would be quicker between two shades of gray then between black and white. No matter what, any single response time will not reflect the monitor's performance with every color.

Contrast ratios are also not regulated. Some will use their "dynamic contrast ratio" and market it as the actual contrast ratio. Samsung, for instance, markets their newer monitors as 3000:1. This is "dynamic," and their actual contrast ratios are 700-1000:1, which is typical. Anything above 700:1 will usually provide a pretty good picture, but that's a personal preference thing.

Most manufacturers offer a 3-year warranty, Dell is one of them. Some that I know of that only offer 1 year are HP, Gateway, and Westinghouse.

Keep in mind when considering your resolution that bigger isn't always better for gaming, unless you have a very powerful system. I don't get the FPS I want with 1680x1050 which is one reason I have a 19" monitor.
 
fortyways said:
I have a 15.4" laptop that uses 1280x800, I can't imagine 1680x1050 on any laptop. I guess I'd just like to keep my vision.

Anyway, 17" and 19" widescreens will use 1440x900, and 20" - 22" will use 1680x1050. With 19" and 22" everything will be bigger, with 20" and 17" everything will be clearer and sharper (and you will go blind).

TN panels (most common) will generally use a lower color quality but the response time will be quicker (for gaming). Other panels will use 32-bit color but will have poor response times (for imaging, etc.).

There is no universal system for measuring response times yet; it'd be very unwise to base your decision off of what the manufacturer says. Some will use GTG (gray to gray) and others black to white. Obviously response time would be quicker between two shades of gray then between black and white. No matter what, any single response time will not reflect the monitor's performance with every color.

Contrast ratios are also not regulated. Some will use their "dynamic contrast ratio" and market it as the actual contrast ratio. Samsung, for instance, markets their newer monitors as 3000:1. This is "dynamic," and their actual contrast ratios are 700-1000:1, which is typical. Anything above 700:1 will usually provide a pretty good picture, but that's a personal preference thing.

Most manufacturers offer a 3-year warranty, Dell is one of them. Some that I know of that only offer 1 year are HP, Gateway, and Westinghouse.

Keep in mind when considering your resolution that bigger isn't always better for gaming, unless you have a very powerful system. I don't get the FPS I want with 1680x1050 which is one reason I have a 19" monitor.
Click to expand...

Much better explaination :D kudos
 
fortyways said:
I have a 15.4" laptop that uses 1280x800, I can't imagine 1680x1050 on any laptop. I guess I'd just like to keep my vision.

Anyway, 17" and 19" widescreens will use 1440x900, and 20" - 22" will use 1680x1050. With 19" and 22" everything will be bigger, with 20" and 17" everything will be clearer and sharper (and you will go blind).
Click to expand...

I find the 1680x1050 resolution very nice on my laptop. There's nothing difficult about seeing or reading it, although I had that concern before I bought it.

What do you mean about going blind on 17" and 20" screens? If 20" and 22" are the same resolution, why would the 20" be "worse" than the 22"?
 
Not worse, just different. They will both have the same number of pixels, screen space, etc., but the 22" will display a larger image and the 20" will display a sharper image. So, pretty much exactly what I said the first time.
 
fortyways said:
Not worse, just different. They will both have the same number of pixels, screen space, etc., but the 22" will display a larger image and the 20" will display a sharper image. So, pretty much exactly what I said the first time.
Click to expand...

Well, clearly I didn't understand the point you were making. Why do people simply repeat what they say and expect someone to simply get it the second time around?

I understand that the 19" and 22" displays will be larger than their 17" and 20" counterparts, obviously. But when you say the smaller displays will be clearer and sharper, that makes me wonder if the quality of the larger displays isn't considered "worse", since they are the same resolution but not as clear or as sharp.

Now, I know I don't quite understand how this is all working, but that was my original question to begin with. How can a 22" screen have the same number of pixels as a much smaller screen (15.4") and still display the same images well? Wouldn't they be stretched out more, since the same number of pixels is being spread across a much wider and taller screen?

I feel like I'm on the verge of understanding how your comment answers my question, but I just quite don't yet. Maybe it would help if I just go *see* these screens in person and look at how they display everything in their resolutions.
 
Well, first you should understand that laptops use higher resolutions in smaller spaces to try to not reduce your productivity as much, and even then, 1680x1050 on a 15.4" screen is an extreme. Like I said, my 15.4" HP laptop uses 1280x800. When they made 15" desktop monitors their native resolution was 800x600, half of your laptop.

And yes, the image will be of very slightly less quality on a bigger screen with the same number of pixels, but probably not in the way you're thinking. It would NOT be like running a screen on something other than its native resolution.

Just compare laptop screens to desktop monitors. On a laptop, everything is slightly smaller and looks a little more clean right? That's because it's a smaller screen with the same number of pixels. That doesn't necessarily mean the desktop's monitor's quality is poor, just different. If you're used to a laptop, then a 20" screen might appeal to you more than a 22".

If you do have the chance to I'd strongly suggest you go to a store and play around with them all. I see you're interested in Samsung, so if you're looking at the Samsungs for instance, the 19" will have a model number like 906BW, 20" will be 206BW, 22" is 226BW, etc. There are also 20.1 and 21.6" monitors and maybe other sizes I haven't seen.

Dell monitors are only sold in Staples.

Just don't listen to the salespeople; they lie.
 
fortyways said:
Well, first you should understand that laptops use higher resolutions in smaller spaces to try to not reduce your productivity as much, and even then, 1680x1050 on a 15.4" screen is an extreme. Like I said, my 15.4" HP laptop uses 1280x800. When they made 15" desktop monitors their native resolution was 800x600, half of your laptop.

And yes, the image will be of very slightly less quality on a bigger screen with the same number of pixels, but probably not in the way you're thinking. It would NOT be like running a screen on something other than its native resolution.

Just compare laptop screens to desktop monitors. On a laptop, everything is slightly smaller and looks a little more clean right? That's because it's a smaller screen with the same number of pixels. That doesn't necessarily mean the desktop's monitor's quality is poor, just different. If you're used to a laptop, then a 20" screen might appeal to you more than a 22".

If you do have the chance to I'd strongly suggest you go to a store and play around with them all. I see you're interested in Samsung, so if you're looking at the Samsungs for instance, the 19" will have a model number like 906BW, 20" will be 206BW, 22" is 226BW, etc. There are also 20.1 and 21.6" monitors and maybe other sizes I haven't seen.

Dell monitors are only sold in Staples.

Just don't listen to the salespeople; they lie.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much. I'm still deciding between 20" or 22", so I'm sure seeing them will help.

And yeah, I learned a long time ago, thanks to Best Buy sales help, not to listen to those people. :)
 
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