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Thread: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

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    (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    At least 22" please, though not too much bigger. The reason I've delayed going across for so long (still using a CRT atm) is the seemingly low resolutions around. It will be used for everything including a little bit of gaming but watching video files (some at 1080p, some at 720p) too.

    I'm currently reading about them now since I know very little about flat screens.

    It seems I have to sort of ignore brightness ratios as they can be misleading? Is that right?

    Is there any advantage to a hard glass monitor? I'm on a CRT now, and my old laptop had a hard glass screen. Loved it.

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Is a colour accurate monitor essential?

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    On the basis that you'll struggle to get a colour accurate monitor for that price, with a good resolution, I'd happily recommend the monitor on my main rig.

    As far as I'm concerned, it's the best TN monitor for the price.

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Wouldn't go for the first two personally - 1680x1050 isn't a great resolution these days, and I'd want more if I was forking out decent money for a monitor these days.

    Depends how much you want to spend I guess - the latter pair are very good monitors, but then I paid £165 for my current one... that's a big saving from the budget if you're not too fussed about the colour quality.

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Quote Originally Posted by snootyjim View Post
    On the basis that you'll struggle to get a colour accurate monitor for that price, with a good resolution, I'd happily recommend the monitor on my main rig.

    As far as I'm concerned, it's the best TN monitor for the price.
    I'll second that, I also have that monitor and it's amazing! Especially when you consider the price, size and resolution.

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Why the sudden decision to change? If you have a CRT and it's working OK I'd personally stick with it (I think my next monitor will be a refurbed CRT)

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Quote Originally Posted by snootyjim View Post
    , but then I paid £165 for my current one... that's a big saving from the budget if you're not too fussed about the colour quality.
    snootyjim, what connections are on that monitor, I can only find SM2343NW on the samsung website and it's VGA only. Do you have to use a dual link cable with this due to the resolution?

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Quote Originally Posted by killie99 View Post
    snootyjim, what connections are on that monitor, I can only find SM2343NW on the samsung website and it's VGA only. Do you have to use a dual link cable with this due to the resolution?
    With Samsungs, NW means VGA only, BW means DVI + VGA.

    I don't know about the dual link to be honest, I've only ever used cables that were supplied with graphics cards/monitors, although looking at Wikipedia, single link should be able to cope with the resolution. Someone else might know though :/

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Quote Originally Posted by snootyjim View Post
    With Samsungs, NW means VGA only, BW means DVI + VGA.

    I don't know about the dual link to be honest, I've only ever used cables that were supplied with graphics cards/monitors, although looking at Wikipedia, single link should be able to cope with the resolution. Someone else might know though :/
    I'm sure I read somewhere that anything above 1920x1200 requires dual link but I guess 2048x1152 is barely more than that (2,359,296 pixels v's 2,304,000 pixels). Only other thing is will my KVM support that resolution .... it's an Avocent 4SVDVI10, user guide says it supports up to 1920x1200

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Still loving my SM2343BW, worked out a little more expensive than I thought though as I had to buy one for my wife as well

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152744

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    I use the SM2343BW as a portrait monitor for coding alongside a Dell U2410, it looks really crap in comparison but is a great monitor when not comparing it to a monitor worth £300 more.
    Hello, i'm spaced. Lover of mountains and lakes.

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Quote Originally Posted by spac3d View Post
    I use the SM2343BW as a portrait monitor for coding alongside a Dell U2410, it looks really crap in comparison but is a great monitor when not comparing it to a monitor worth £300 more.
    If you don't know, it'll never bother you

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    Is a colour accurate monitor essential?
    No, I won't be doing any e.g. photoshop or other graphics programs bar Paint or resizing photos. I do want some thing that's still fairly accurate though.

    Quote Originally Posted by snootyjim View Post
    On the basis that you'll struggle to get a colour accurate monitor for that price, with a good resolution, I'd happily recommend the monitor on my main rig.

    As far as I'm concerned, it's the best TN monitor for the price.
    Which one is that? I can't see a monitor listed in your sig.

    Cheers for the suggestion. I think I'll try and hit as high resolution as possible so too would have only considered the last two. But I have to pay VAT, and I'll be over budget.

    Quote Originally Posted by matty-hodgson View Post
    I'll second that, I also have that monitor and it's amazing! Especially when you consider the price, size and resolution.
    Quote Originally Posted by scaryjim View Post
    Why the sudden decision to change? If you have a CRT and it's working OK I'd personally stick with it (I think my next monitor will be a refurbed CRT)
    The trouble is cost, I can't find them on the cheap; it appears the better ones have run out second hand even on eBay. :/

    Also space too. I already have a lovely Iiyama Vision Master Pro 513 which I'm using now, I don't have the desk space for another chunky CRT.

    Quote Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix View Post
    Still loving my SM2343BW, worked out a little more expensive than I thought though as I had to buy one for my wife as well

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152744
    Is there much difference between that and that SM2333SW? It's just that's available to me for free delivery.

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    My monitor is the one DancesWithUnix has. And the one that Matty has. It's on my main rig in my sig, at the end of the line, and in the "My System" section under my name over there <---

    As for your comment up there about free delivery - ebuyer do free delivery, so the link DancesWithUnix gave is good to go. Or it's the same price at Amazon.co.uk, again with free delivery.

    I wouldn't buy the SM2333SW - it only does 1920 x 1080 so you're losing quite a lot of pixels - and you'd only save a tenner according to Amazon prices.

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    Re: (Sorry) Spec me a monitor for ~£250

    Quote Originally Posted by Greenlizard0 View Post
    The trouble is cost, I can't find them on the cheap; it appears the better ones have run out second hand even on eBay. :/
    Ah, I take it your existing CRT has died then? Shame. You may be interested in this Ebay listing. Just don't buy them all before I get my hands on one!

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