DVI Flat Panels? 95
David_Bloom asks: "I've been shopping for flat panels, and have found it very hard to find a good deal on an LCD with DVI. My best bet so far is probably the NEC MultiSync 1550XBK (I've heard good things about its picture quality, and I'm not a gamer, so update times are irrelevant to me), but I've noticed that for about the same cost (~$600), I could buy a 17" Samsung LCD with that TV and video input thingy, but it only has analog VGA input (no DVI). I really don't want to buy a flat screen without DVI to avoid the phasing problems (its a must for me). Any reccomendations on good, low cost DVI-compatible flat screens? Any idea why monitors with DVI support are more (it's digital, so in theory, it should cost less, because there's no need for a analog to digital conversion)?"
Why expensive? (Score:4, Interesting)
2 reasons:
1) Market dynamics. They sell far more VGA analog models (since there are so many people with VGA and so few with DVI) and so the economics make it much less expensive to manufacture and market those models. If they sold more DVI monitors, they would be cheaper (like the current trends for HDTVs).
2) Most people with DVI outputs are gamer and/or designer types who have spent alot more on video cards than the average user (who often spends nothing to get a VGA output since most motherboards have built-in video). They feel that if you're willing to pay for a DVI capable 3D accelerator, you would be willing to pay more to hook it up.
Spend the extra $$$$ (Score:4, Interesting)
I have at home an 18" Sun LCD and a 22" Apple Cinema Display. At work I have a 24" Sun LCD.
I'd take the Apple Cinema Display over the other two any day. Both Sun LCD's have both a VGA and DVI input (the 24" has c-video and s-video as well), but the Apple only has a single ADC (Apple display connector). The apple screen is the sharpest of the three.
Not to say the Sun 24" is bad, but the Apple one is just that little bit crisper. The 18" Sun LCD is crap -- the colors are all wrong, and it looks _awful_ on analog.
--NBVB
Re:Check THG (Score:3, Interesting)
I just bought three Viewsonic VG171b's.
Analog and DVI input. Black Case. both inputs can be connected and switched between using a front panel button. Crystal clear output. 1280x1024 resolution. The price? $5867 each. Not bad if you ask me.
-sirket