Shopping for a quality 20" widescreen LCD

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
My god this has been harder than I thought. Manufacturers measure everything in a different way, especially LCD response time, which is what I am most concerned about because I hate hate hate ghosting and play a lot of videogames. So far I'm looking at the Viewsonic VX2025wm and Dell 2007WFP; the Viewsonic has better response times (I think, everybody measures them differently though) and the Dell has more inputs and has adjustable height.



Any more choices you can interject to make my buying decision more difficult?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    hanenthanent Posts: 19member
    For the value your best bet is viewsonic.

    You're not going to find a 20" widescreen LCD with better than 8ms of response time.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hanent

    You're not going to find a 20" widescreen LCD with better than 8ms of response time.



    Considering they all use the same panel, there's no use comparing specs unless you want to know how much or how little a particular manufacturer dares to lie.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Why is this? Is it really that the LG panel is the only one out there?



    Also, I've been looking at the NEC 20WMGX2. It's pretty damned expensive (lowest I can find it is $630) but has gotten absolutely rave reviews from everyone. It has some sort of software-assisted 1600:1 contrast that makes it almost seem like there's different severity of light in a given scene, like it's capturing brightness. But the price is high, anybody know more?
  • Reply 4 of 12
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    Why is this? Is it really that the LG panel is the only one out there?



    I'm not aware of any competing 20-inch 1680x1050 panels, though I could be wrong.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Some data:



    - Anandtech says the Apple 20-inch ACD and the DELL 2005FPW (now superceded) use the LG.Philips LM201W01. They have photos to prove this.

    - A hardforum.com thread quotes flatpanels.dk in stating that the ViewSonic VX2025wm and the NEC LCD20WGX2 also use the same LG.Philips LM201W01.

    - I have conflicting information regarding the DELL 2007FPW; some state it is the LM201WE2 (that is, a newer version of the same panel), whereas others once again cite the LM201W01. In fact, this DELL support forum thread states: "According to a website that I trust, Dell is always changing the panel in the 2007WFP and it *should* be a LM201WE2, the same as the Nec 20WGX². But the 2007WFP they got had the LM201W01 which isn't as good as the LM201WE2. So if you order a 2007WFP, you don't know which panel you will get."
  • Reply 6 of 12
    lupalupa Posts: 202member
    Here's a good deal on a viewsonic that I've had my eye on... now if I could just get a job.



    http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Tab=2&NoMapp=0
  • Reply 7 of 12
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    At the high end I like the NEC 20" that Placebo mentioned. It does look very good.



    I'd also urge you to check out Samsungs 215TW it looks good and I was able to compare it directly to the viewsonic and see better colors and contrast.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    My god this has been harder than I thought. Manufacturers measure everything in a different way, especially LCD response time, which is what I am most concerned about because I hate hate hate ghosting and play a lot of videogames. So far I'm looking at the Viewsonic VX2025wm and Dell 2007WFP; the Viewsonic has better response times (I think, everybody measures them differently though) and the Dell has more inputs and has adjustable height.



    Any more choices you can interject to make my buying decision more difficult?




    I use the Dell 2007WFP in my office and have ordered many for users. I will take some pics if you like. I highly recommend this monitor. I love mine. I believe Dell is running a special on them for around $360ish now.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Yeah, it seems solid, but I just want to look at others as well.



    New choice: the LG L203wt, which has the same sort of software-driven effective contrast trick of the NEC one.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    The Samsung 215TW just got a really good review here http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=3081

    I think I am finally ready to go widescreen.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Thereubster

    The Samsung 215TW just got a really good review here http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=3081

    I think I am finally ready to go widescreen.






    No surprised.



    Samsung, Viewsonic, LG and Planar all came in to my company last week with some of their wares and to my eyes the Sammy 215TW was the best. The viewsonic 2025 is decent monitor for the money but it's not going to make you ooohh and aahhhh at the picture.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    God I've never been more confused as a consumer before. The NEC seemed like the safe highend bet, but now I'm seeing banding complaints and uneven backlighting issues on various forums... and for $600+, that's not going to fly.



    If the Dell definitely had the latest panel, I'd go for that, but not knowing which panel it uses is off-putting.
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