Monitor - £400 budget.

[WhiteGiant]

I'm aiming to save £400 in the next couple of months for a new monitor.

I'm currently running a Belinea Artistline 22W, and whilst it was a cracking little budget monitor back in the day, its beginning to show it's age.

I'm thinking it's time for an upgrade, and £400 doesn't seem too out of my league considering how much of my life I waste staring at this thing!

In order of use :

1. Media, I.e. IPlayer, AVI/MPEG etc, DVDs, blah blah (mainly from about 8ft away).
2. Gaming, everything from the latest FPS through to C&C the original.
3. General use - internet, office stuff, etc.

I want a considerable size upgrade from 22", as I could simply get a 32" TV for this price, but I'm thinking a monitor might be a little better for me.

Please note, warrenty and long life are a must.

System as per specs on the left, might upgrade to Crossfire, or a 4890 sometime in the future if required.

As always, suggestions appreciated. (Specific links, and personal reviews would be great!)

[cptwhite_uk]

I'll save CAT the bother of typing it again:

This is the monitor you want. Bar none.

On the buy screen enter the discount code: "HPSHARE" or there's another one I can't remember if that doesn't work. It gives 10% discount. Also if you buy though Quidco you can get an extra 4% discount. Which means it'll cost about £370, or thereabouts.

Video Review

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The 24" HP LP2475W will be an excellent upgrade in terms of image quality over your existing monitor.

It can be had for just under £400 direct from HP using the codes HPSPLDIS or HPSHARE and the cashback website Quidco. The HPSPLDIS code includes free shipping on top of the discount as oppose to the HPSHARE IIRC(could be wrong here).

Here are some reviews for the monitor:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/hp_lp2475w.htm

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mon...n-tft-review/1

If you want to go a bit bigger the 26" E2607WS-1 looks decent for the price:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161550

It has decent reviews:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/monit...rolite-e2607ws

http://www.trustedreviews.com/monito...6in-monitor/p1

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/i...eviewid=109731

However as the LP2475W has similar resolution in a smaller panel the pixels of the 26" displays will appear larger.

Also the LP2475W has an IPS type panel as opposed to the sub £400 26" displays which use inferior TN type panels.

More details here:

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...or-advice.html

[chrism]

I received my LP2475W from HP earlier this week, and although I haven't had the chance to use it for gaming yet (not sure my 9600gt could cope!), it's been excellent in all other respects.
No dead pixels, and none of the various minor issues that have been mentioned in other forum threads on the net (a lot of impressions in this one).
HP are supposed to be very good and hassle-free when it comes to returns though, should there be any defects with the monitor.

[WhiteGiant]

I'm not happy to pay my budget for only an extra 2 inches (phnarr phnarr), I think a TV might be the way forward.

Thanks for the responses as always!

[nibbler]

I've always wondered that: Unless it's hdmi what signals do tv's accept. And surely the resolution and refresh rate are far inferior?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I'm not happy to pay my budget for only an extra 2 inches (phnarr phnarr), I think a TV might be the way forward.

Thanks for the responses as always!

There are some 28" monitors for under £400 from Ebuyer but the quality is not brilliant. The LP2475W would destroy any TV under £500 for image quality though!!

[samwyard]

this is probably the biggest monitor you can get

http://www.kikatek.com/product_info....source=froogle

its a Hanns g 28" my friend has one and says iit it good,

but i would say a 24" monitor is fine i paid £350 for my one and would tell any1 to get it

just remember that the bigger the size the higher the refresh rate goes so not so good for gaming on

[razor92]

Can I just point out the following code will get you 10% off , and free shipping. HPSPLDIS