I mainly use my computer for internet browsing, watching DVDs, and playing games (not anything hardcore). I want a good monitor but I don’t want to spend alot for something I don’t need. Here is a link to the monitor I’m interested in, feedback is greatly appreciated.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Compaq-19-Widescreen-Monitor-WF1907/sem/rpsm/oid/176652/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do#tabs
its really good. If you play games, the response times matter smore, and 5ms is top notch. Also, go get a 22″ if youre buying… But that monitor rocks
Nice looking monitor with pretty good specs. and that,s a good price for a 19 inch LCD. I have a 19 inch Dell LCD and I really like it, I watch DVD’s and TV on it and the picture is very sharp. The Compaq you are looking at should do nicely for what you want of it.
Contrast ratio is particularly important for watching video. Poorer contrast ratio is about the only weakness LCD has compared to CRT. The higher the ratio, the blacker the blacks will be. The picture will look less “washed out” and more detailed during darker scenes. More “TV-like” and realistic… Some lesser-quality LCD monitors really suffer in this area. Video looks pretty crappy on my old 500:1 monitor.
That monitor looks very nice. Fast response time for gaming… There are monitors with a much better contrast ratio and even faster response times out there now for a little more $.
Looks like a great deal for the money though…
very
Not bad, while 19″ is way to small for me (I usually go with 30″ cinema or 27″ displays, but watch out for the price tag) this one doesn’t look half bad. As someone in the high end market I missed monitors getting so cheep, I remember when 15ms response times would cost you a premium and there where virtually no LCD’s for under $500.
The contrast ratio is the difference in brightness between the brightest white and the blackest black. 800:1 is pretty much standard and the highest you can get on LCD’s right now is 1000:1 (plasmas are much higher and some new techs are promising a million to one, but virtually all of those are TV’s) but if you aren’t a videophile or a graphics pro, 800 is fine.
The resolution is higher then most hdtv’s but I can’t really comment on it because I work at a resolution of 2560 x 1600 (on my 30″) . The only warning I give is that it only has 1 input and that is DVI. Make sure your computer can output in DVI or factor in the cost of a VGA to DVI converter.
So all and all (as long as you have the proper connections) I would go for it. That is a great price for the highest response time you can get (the monitor I paid 7 times as much for is 3 times slower then this one), ok resolution (for that screen size) and a standard contrast ratio.
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Shop around. I’ve seen sales of 19″ as low as $160…
Like the others said, faster refresh times are better, 2ms is about the fastest. 5ms is very good.
Contrast ratio is important, but it you normally use the monitor in dim lighting, it’s not as important as refresh time.
For watching DVDs and games, you usually need a pretty high contrast ratio. For browsing the Internet and whatnot you dont. Here is a small article about contrast ratio..