Monitor Recomendations

[Erom]

And lo, the eternal topic returns once again! I'm looking to pick up an external LCD.

TLDR version: Looking for recommendation on a general use, non-gaming monitor with modest specs, for cheap.

Long version: This will not be used for gaming as it's primary purpose- it will be mostly a general purpose work monitor, to be used as a second monitor while coding or doing other code-like work, and hooked up when I need to see what my headless computers are doing locally. So it will spend most of it's life looking at text or similar. That said, I would like something that I could game on in a pinch, and wouldn't be embarrassingly bad. IE, I don't want top of the line, just enough to get by. It may also serve as a minimap display for Spring.

I actually prefer lower resolutions for everyday work - 1600x1200 is a high as I'm likely to ever go, and even somewhat smaller is fine. I use a 1440x900 monitor on my main desktop, and that is plenty big. My eyes are fussy about a few things, though - monitors that are very dim or have noticeable flicker will be unusable for me.

I'm looking to pay absolutely less than $200, and trying to get down to ~$150. Any recommendations? I'm in the US, if it matters.

EDIT: I guess what I'm asking is, is there anything wrong with popping onto Newegg and picking up a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824254018 or something?

[SwiftSpear]

We don't have monitors that low end where I work any more. Generally I recommend acer for good performance at a good price. I've been impressed with those for the most part.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824009117
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824009091

Not as low a price as the Hans G, but the improvement over the 500:1 is a big difference, especially if you're going to be using it for any type of art, or even just watching movies online. The response time is a more standard 5ms vs the 8ms... combined with acer's natural resistance to ghosting (I'm not sure how they do it, but their monitors just seem to not ghost at all) they have a significant advantage for any type of moving media.

Honestly, monitors last FOREVER in computer terms. A screen will probably outlive 3-4 towers. It's a component worth spending a little more for if it means you're going to be able to reasonably use it for 6 years as opposed to 2 years.

[edit] Acer monitors also have extremely good brightness (you're more likely to turn it down than up) and absolutely no flickering.

[Erom]

Acer monitors also have extremely good brightness (you're more likely to turn it down than up) and absolutely no flickering.

Good to know. I've been avoiding Acer since my only previous experience with them were super-mega-shitty towers back in the late 90's, which I suppose is about equivalent to the late Jurassic period in computer hardware.

[SwiftSpear]

I probably still wouldn't recommend getting a tower from them. But their monitors are amazing vs the price you get them for.

[Erom]

Any reason I shouldn't get the AL1716 Fbd instead of the AL1717 FB? They're identical near as I can tell, except the 1716 has free shipping and DVI support instead of speakers. I'll take the 20 bucks shipping instead of the speakers I wouldn't use, and it can't hurt to future proof a little.

[SwiftSpear]

Nope, I just picked the first one I saw that was close to the price range of the Hans G but with higher than 700:1 contrast (which is personally my comfort zone)

[Caydr]

I quite like mine: Samsung SyncMaster 2232gw. Pixel lag is a little worse than my last one but it makes up for it with excellent color, large size, and low price.