DELL 2001FP/2005FPW LCDs $506 / DELL 1905FP $368

[Jeff V]

Jeff, two questions....

What's your definition of fast? Is there some maximum response time you're looking for?

When you say you've never had any signal degradation with analog, are you talking about CRTs only or CRTs and LCDs?

Fast is 16ms or quicker. All of the monitors I've seen with this speed have been 19" or smaller, and analog only.

I've never noticed signal problems with either analog LCD or CRTs.

[Jeff V]

The Dell 2001FP has a 16ms response time. The 2005FPW is even faster, with a 12ms response time. Both are large and have DVI inputs, so I'm not sure why you would think that there are no large, fast LCDs with digital inputs.

Dell does not show the pixel response in their monitor specs on their website. I assumed, therefore, they were on the slow end of the spectrum (especially since others have commented that pixel response is the one drawback on Dells).

NewEgg allows you to query their selection of monitors by response rate. All of the monitors that were 16ms or below were 19" or smaller and analog only. While I understand this isn't exactly an exhaustive search, odds are, I will buy a monitor from either New Egg or a similar retailer like Buy.com, so what they have in stock is essentially defines the scope of my search.

Thanks for posting the link, but they haven't reviewed the monitor I'm looking at either (the 915N).

[ChrisGwinn]

19" LCD with a 16ms response time and DVI at Newegg -

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 063&depa=0

There are a couple others there as well. Not sure if there was something wrong with the search you did, or if they're new products at newegg.

[Jeff V]

Thanks, either I didn't see those before, or I had selected a rate faster than 16 ms.

I'm still going to wait for a review of the 8ms monitor, though - because in my world, 8 is twice as fast as 16.

[gorham09]

Be careful. I bought my first LCD recently and spent a good deal of time researching. Some of the practical things that I learned that I would share with others include:

response time- my understanding is that there are no true 8bit panels that have a response time faster than 16ms. All of the panels with 12 and 8ms response time panels are 6bit panels (in order to get increased response times, sacrifices elsewhere had to be made). 6bit panels are not capable of displaying as many true colors as an 8bit panel. As a result, some claim that colors on 6bit panels are not as accurate or vibrant, etc.

refresh rates- generally fixed or very limited and not really important to LCD's because the image is being displayed with a very different technology than CRT's

native resolutions and scaling- LCD's are intended to be displayed at their native resolutions, and while they are capable of displaying at other resolutions, in doing so they are scaling to that resolution and image quality is impacted. Many have reported not noticing much in games, but in word processing and general applications, images can lookk fuzzy and lack sharpness when scaling to a non-native resolution. The other thing to keep in mind is that the larger the LCD screen, the higher the resolution. A 19" LCD's native resolution is generally 1280x1024. While I considered a 20" I knew my eyes would not be able to deal with the tiny text and icons that result from displaying in the native 1600x1200 resolution. There are ways to compensate for this, large fonts, etc., but I didn't see the point, so I stuck with a 19" for this reason alone.

contrast and brightness levels- another selling point. Some are put off by super high brightness levels and other love them. Likewiese with contrast allowing for better display of color.

Some people will notice these types of issues more than others, but for me I chose to trade off the 8bit panel for one with a faster response time, chose a 19" over 20" so that I knew I would be able to display my desktop and normal windows applications at the monitor's native resolution and still be kind to my eyes, and also went with the 19" because I knew that I would be able to run games at the monitor's default resolution as well.

So far I am happy with my decisions. I have not noticed any significant lack of color or vibrance as compared to my CRT; I have experienced no ghosting; I enjoy the higher brightness levels except for the backlight bleed at the bottom of my LCD that is somewhat distracting. Personally, I have noticed a difference in shaprness and clarity when running games at resolutions other than my native resolution (it's not slap in the face noticeable, but it is there) so I am pleased with my choice to stick with a 19" as opposed to a 20" where I would not have had the muscle needed in my graphics card to run most games at the native 1600x1200 resolution. These issues will be different for everyone, but I just thought I would share some of the things I came across.

[EDIT]
By the way Jeff V. Here is a review of the Samsung 8ms panel. Here I bought a Hyundai 8ms panel that uses the same Samsung panel (but also has a DVI input)

[Jeff V]

Thanks Gorham! That was very helpful. I did not know that about the faster panels, and will now concentrate on the 16ms ones.

I do have a question on brightness. I've noticed some have complained about screens being TOO bright. This is potentially a problem - my desk faces some windows, and as it is, on sunny mornings, my CRT is almost unusable. Too dark is never good (I have to keep boosting gamma to stay ahead of the troglodyte game programmers), but too bright could hard to see against a bright background. Should I be looking at a median value, and if so, what is a good number to shoot for?

[gorham09]

Jeff: I have read that people tend to be more bothered by the brightness in dimly lit rooms as opposed to brighter rooms. I wouldn't worry too much about the being in a bright room as far as things being washed out because of the brightness. IMHO, it's just a different kind of brightness than you get with a CRT.

Also, don't completely discount the panels with the high response times. I have a Hyundai LD90+ which uses the same panel as the Samsung you are considering. I upgraded from a Sony CDP-G400 19" monitor, which in it's day was a very respectable monitor. And I have no complaints about color at all. The only time I can envision it being an issue is with DVD playback. I sampled a few dvd's and can honestly say that playback was a bit better on my CRT, but I personally don't use my computer monitor for watching DVD's so, it's a non-issue for me. My suggestion would be to try and find one and see for yourself. The reviews I read for the hyundai, including the link I posted above as well as one at Tom's Hardware and a few others scattered across the net, were very positive and favorable as far as color rendering, regardless of it being a 6bit panel. I think it's just personal preference and deciding what you use the monitor for.

[Gedd]

I'll agree with gorham on the brightness issue and add that I think there may be a brief adjustment period with just about any LCD where the brightness may seem like it's just way too much, but you become accustomed to it after a while.

And to answer the glare issue, my office is extremely sunny and I've always had some glare on sunny days on my CRTs. For the few days that I've had and used them, the LCDs have had no glare whatsoever, probably because as far as I know there's no glass for the sun to reflect off.