22 inch monitors

[g0at]

Hi,
I'm currently looking at buying a new monitor was thinking 22"
i saw SAMSUNG SM226BW but not sure cannot find any reviews on it to convince me

any suggestions or advice on a good 22 inch monitor???

Regards

g0at

[Ilandor]

I have a 226BW, it was an upgrade from a 17" non-widescreen TFT, and it's great. At first the screen seems huge, but you get used to it after a while, playing games and watching films on it is much nicer than the old one.

If you have the money, go for it, when looking at prices, I found that anything above 22" with 1920 x 1080 gets expensive, 1680 x 1050 is quite close, only something like 15% less pixels

[mountainmachine]

Just make sure when you have a good resolution you need a graphics card to match. And look at wide screen monitors too, some great prices at the moment.

[2Cold Scorpio]

I bought a Samsung 226bw S-model and love it. However, I recently saw another Samsung 22" that I liked even better. It had a glossy screen and the same advertised specs as the 226bw. I *think* the model # was 2232gw, but I can't remember. I do know it ended in 'gw'. So I'd recommend either of those two, though keep in mind the 226bw is cheaper.

[acrobat]

Whats it for? And are you after a widescreen one?

If you want to play games on it, I suggest not getting a 22".

[g0at]

Whats it for? And are you after a widescreen one?

If you want to play games on it, I suggest not getting a 22".

was thinking for films mainly and work,
probaply dual monitor so will have my 19"wide screen for games


D games not paly well on 22's? or do you think getting a second 19 and just running 2 monitors?

[fresh]

id say go for the acer 22" Widescreen, its awesome, i bought one the other day, quality is awesome. has native res of 1650x1080. also coming down in price. what graphics card do you have?

[g0at]

id say go for the acer 22" Widescreen, its awesome, i bought one the other day, quality is awesome. has native res of 1650x1080. also coming down in price. what graphics card do you have?

what model acer is it?
8600 gts graphics card

[Max Tractor]

Xerox 22WB/Daewoo L2200DM are my 22inch experiences, they were ok, I didn't like the text on the daewoo. I was looking for something else, was thinking of buying 2x22inch cibox from scan, I was also looking at Samsung SM226BW, Samsung Pebble SM2232BW , panel lottery and backlight rumblings was making it hard to make choice, in the end I went for HP w2207h, had it 3 days now and I can say it is just stunning, text is clear and crisp, and gaming(I use movie mode) is quite simply amazing

[dave87]

If you want to play games on it, I suggest not getting a 22".

Rubbish. Unless you have to play everything on maximum settings and haven't got a q6600/8800gtx

Mate has an LG 22" and its beautiful. He does however have the required hardware to run games on it. I've got a 1680x1050 screen in my laptop, and for work at least, it is perfect. (X1300 struggles in games, however).

So, if work is mainly what it is for, then 22" is a very good buy. For games, it is still a good buy, just make sure you have the hardware to drive it.

Hope this helps,

[acrobat]

Rubbish. Unless you have to play everything on maximum settings and haven't got a q6600/8800gtx

Its not rubbish, and its got nothing to do with the hardware requirements. You could have an overclocked quad core at 4ghz, with twin 8800 Ultras in SLI and it would eat a 22" screen... and yet I still wouldn't suggest it. Because its a quality issue, not because of the resolution.

was thinking for films mainly and work,
probaply dual monitor so will have my 19"wide screen for games

D games not paly well on 22's? or do you think getting a second 19 and just running 2 monitors?

Its a sticky subject and people always argue with me (which pisses me off when they argue without checking what they are arguing about). But basically, all 22" monitors seem to use 6 bit TN panels. There is proof on the internet but its a pain to find so please forgive me for not offering proof. If you dont trust me and wanted to find proof, you could find it anyway with a bit of researching. Infact, you may even find it by searching this site.

But if you wanted to take my word for it, then that could save you some time. There are some really good 22" monitors, and there are some really crappy ones. But either way, its always going to be not-as-good as a good monitor in a different size range, because the 22" monitors all use TN panels, and all are 6 bit rather than 8bit. So depending on what you are going to do with it, you might need to either go up to 23 or 24", or come down to 20".

Whether it is a good panel or not, doesn't make much difference for most stuff. Doing work on it will look almost as good as doing work on a 10 million pound screen (Unless that work happens to be something very visual like photoshop work etc.) But general web, ms office, etc. is fine. Films can be an issue, but not always. Games though... everyone has their own opinion and their own thresholds for good and bad quality, but I wouldn't go with a 22" screen for gaming. Read into that what you will =) (id elaborate but people will only end up clubbing me like a baby seal)

20" screens aren't really that much smaller (its barely really noticable unless you compare them side by side). There are still 20" screens with TN panels, which aren't great either. But atleast with 20" screens, (and all other sizes I think - besides 22"), you can find some of them with better quality panels. IPS panels or S-IPS. 8bit which gives you more colours, which is noticeable in some situations (looking at skin tones etc.). And then there is the general quality of the panel too, and the speed of the screen which is still important too, reguardless of size. (There is also a question of the quality of the manufacturing processes. The NEC 20WGX2 uses a fantastic quality panel, but they are crap at fitting it. -which is probably why it is no longer sold now).

Its not that much of a big deal, and most people don't care and are happy with their screens with TN panels. I only care because I have used a CRT all my life which are usually always really good quality screens. So I didn't want to "upgrade" to a flat panel monitor, only to find it was step backwards in terms of quality. So I bought a really good one and I was happy (a 20" with an S-IPS panel). Then I saw a 22" screen and my god... it looked horrible. Just looking at the windows desktop, it didn't look much different. But then I saw a movie played on it, and the colours looked washed out and it also had some kind of ghosting/blurring issue too. But the nail in the coffin was when I saw a game. It was a game that I play on my PC, so it was a real shock to see it on that other screen. It really did look quite bad. If you haven't seen it on a good screen, then you don't have anything to compare it to, so I think many people don't know they are missing out and therefore insist there is no problem etc..

Long story short, in my opinion, get a nice 20" widescreen, unless you are on a strict budget, or unless the quality of gaming/films isn't that important that you demand the best quality. Also, whatever you buy, research it as well as you can on the net. There are plenty of reviews for almost all monitors, so when you finally home in one a single one you like the look of, just check some reviews to be sure.
Widescreen Gaming Forum :: Index

That link has quite a lot of good info and reviews about them. Good luck =) Hope you find a really nice one. p.s. There are plenty of people here with 22" screens so if you where on a tight budget, then you might be able to find a decent one by asking around and searching what others say about their 22". I'd be willing to guarantee that doesn't look as good as a good 20", but for some people, that is ofset by how much cheaper they are. (A good 20" is a lot more expensive than a good 22" - even though its smaller).

[dave87]

Ok then, slightly different approach - who, apart from those who work with Photoshop (and therefore need the extra colours 8bit panels are able to show) would notice the difference in games?

Suffice to say I was sufficiently impressed having looked at it, even if it was a 6 bit panel, to recommend it.

[acrobat]

Ok then, slightly different approach - who, apart from those who work with Photoshop (and therefore need the extra colours 8bit panels are able to show) would notice the difference in games?

Everyone who have eyes that work. =P Check out the rest of my post. I noticed the difference (quite noticeable!), and I am only using my default human eyes, which came pre-installed with my head.

Suffice to say I was sufficiently impressed having looked at it, even if it was a 6 bit panel, to recommend it.

Thats fine. Most people are. I probably would be too if it wasn't for the fact I look at an 8bit panel for about 10 hours a day or more.

[badass]

I've got an LG 226 WTQ and agree with acrobat.....
I haven't got a screen to compare it to, but the fact it is a 6 bit panel is very obvious to me in games.

[dave87]

Everyone who have eyes that work. =P Check out the rest of my post. I noticed the difference (quite noticeable!), and I am only using my default human eyes, which came pre-installed with my head.

Thats fine. Most people are. I probably would be too if it wasn't for the fact I look at an 8bit panel for about 10 hours a day or more.

Fair comment, I remove my verdict of "Rubbish" and bow to your greater knowledge

I have got to say though, my preference would be to a 20" Dell with the S-IPS(?) panel, partly for the extra inputs, and partly because I'm currently used to 1680x1050 on a 15.4" screen - so everything else seems huge...

[Zak33]

Thin film transistor liquid crystal display - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Read about the TN panels part way down...the Gray to Gray approach to response times, the marketing hype....etc

I dont always believw Wiki, but it's not a bad description on the 6bit to 8bit issue