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Hardware

Recommendations and Reviews for > 20" Monitors? 19

Posted by Cliff from the smart-shopping dept.
Yet Another Anonymous Coward asks: "I'm in the market for a new monitor, and am considering a 20"-21". The problem is that I've had trouble getting much information about them; the local computer stores tend to max out at 19", as do the a lot of the reviews I've found in magazines and on the Web. The reviews I have found on the Web are contradictory in some cases, and for the most part are gamer sites which only have reviews for one or two large monitors, so it is hard to get a sense of relative "goodness". I'm particularly interested in text clarity at high resolutions, but gaming quality is a runner up. "
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Recommendations and Reviews for > 20" Monitors? More

Recommendations and Reviews for > 20" Monitors?

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  • I've got a 520GS running at 1600x1200, and it's difficult to use anything much less. (I pretty much refuse to use anything at 800x600 or worse, and I stay the hell away from refresh rates under 70 Hz -- how the hell can people stand barbaric refresh rates?)

    Got it for $500 too. Sweet deal.

    - A.P.
    --


    "One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad

  • I use a 21" Viesonic. I have a 64 Meg Promedia video Card. This is a great combination at a reasonable price.
  • The Viewsonic PT813 is a nice once. I think they still make it. It is a nice trinitron tube, and we've got a lot of these at work. Everybody agrees that they are most likely the best. The IBM 21 inch monitors that ship with their RS6Ks are good, but I tend to like the Viewsonic better. Sony's might be a little better, but I suspect that they either are the same identical tube internally and/or I would have a lot of trouble telling the difference between the two.

    - Mike

  • Cornerstone (www.bigmonitors.com [bigmonitors.com]) - they make some rather nice high-end units.
  • I've got a slightly older 21" Cornerstone 50/101sf... I've run quite clearly at 1600x1200 at 85+, and made a few efforts above 1920x1200 - still really clear. It's not an ultra-flat (like the Trinitron FDs), but it only ran me ~$400 (w/ shipping) on auction (1 yr warantee reconditioned). I get some ghosts at 1280 and up, but that's when I'm connected through my Cybex KVM switch... when I connect the cable directly, it's crystal.
  • I bought a nice 19" CTX short-neck from buy.com, and am very happy with it, and the proce was excellent. They also make 21 inch models: buy.com listings. [buy.com] They seem to be reasonably priced ($657-$771).
  • Oh yeah! I have a Sony 21" Trinitron, runs 1600X1200 at 85Hz perfect. This monitor is actually the same depth as my 3 year old 17" trinitron, so its even pretty good space wise. Anyway, I've never seen a better monitor, and until LCDs can compete with the sheer brightness and clarity of this monitor, i won't be switching for years to come.

    Additionally, I bought a fairly pricey computer when I bought the monitor (PII 400 approaching 2 years old now), but i skimped somewhat on the PC in favor of the huge Sony trinitron and it was worth it. While the PC is somewhat dated compared to the fastest machines out there now, I will be using and enjoying this monitor for years to come as my primary display.

    Spyky
  • I have a Trinitron, and there is no way I am going back to anything else. If anything, I will move to a large LCD.

    I know Sony is making some awesome short-neck Trinitrons right now that are in the 21" range. However, they cost an arm and a leg.

    You best bet is to do some research on manufactorer sites, and make a decision from their specs.

    Check out Buy.com, they always have good prices.

    Good luck,

    EC
    "...we are moving toward a Web-centric stage and our dear PC will be one of
  • I have a Sony F500 (the one with the flat tube)and I certainly wouldn't buy it again. The first one I got was so badly out of focus that I returned it. The replacement monitor was not much better. When I got my original monitor back it was somewhat better adjusted but I still have convergence problems, especially at the sides.

    Objects near the corners always have a colored shadow above, below or at the sides, about 1 pixel at the worst places.

    Check out this monitor test program [heise.de] (needs Java, it is supposed to be os-independent). It displays a collection of grids, color bars, patterns etc.

  • If I had the cash the monitor that I would get is the IBM P260 [ibm.com]. This has sony's new apeture grile, flat tube in it. It is a very, very nice monitor. The new Sun 21" has the same tube, but I like IBM's because it's more tasteful, the Sun one is a bit to flashy for my taste. As always there is two inputs, but the kicker here is that as well as a vga connect (15pin Dsub) there is a DVI connector(digital video). The only card I've seen so far tho with dvi output is the ati card in Apple's new G4's.
  • Because the demo units are always on computers with crappy vid cards, plus your lighting will be different where you will use it. I never can get them to turn out all the lights (which is how I use mine.) even after closeing. Plus you may like it when you first see it and decide you don't like it as much after looking at for a few days.
  • I have to agree. We've just finished a review at work for new 21" displays. After quickly discounting cheap bands as false economy the choice came back to Sony and a couple of Samsungs. The only reason this took so long was the Sony's price - in the end the Samsungs couldn't compete for definition at 85Hz.

    Bottom line if you can justify the cost buy Sony. (And you don't have to switch XFConfig if you pinch a screen from a Sun workstation - they're Sony too).

    Now all we have to do is get it past the bean-counters.

  • The adapter you probably want is a 13W3 -> VGA. ie the sun end has a plug about the size of a 25pin serial cable but with 3 large holes and 13 small ones, the other end VGA (3 rows of 5 pins).

    The Sun part number is 530-2357-01

    Be warned they're expensive so consider contacting a Sun-clone manufacturer.

  • The EIZO FX-E8 is the only big sharp monitor I've ever found, and I've tried out NEC, ViewSonic, Hitachi, HP, Compaq, and Sony. Unfortunately, it is both expensive and recently discontinued. You can find some refurb units for under $1,000, though list price on new ones used to be over $2,000. The FX-E8 will do 1600 x 1200 at 85 and provide crisp text. I don't know or care about its color quality, but it is sharp! As a programmer, it seems that the market pays too much attention to uselessly high refresh rates (what good is >85Hz?) and gamer/graphics features. All I want is sharp text! It appears that the LCD monitors will provide what I want soon, but they cost several times more than the FX-E8. Having 3 80x80 xterms side by side is more useful to me than a fast chip.
  • You should take a look the iiyama Vision Master Pro 510 [iiyama.com], click on "TrueFlat". Very cool 22" monitor, at an affordable price. Its Diamontron tube (equal to Sony's Trinitron) gives you a very clean text, even at high resolutions. That's Sony's Trinitron quality, for a lower price.

    The only problem I have with mine ("just" a 19" 450, but the 510 is just as good) is that its name is almost impossible to spell right ! ;)

    Something you should consider too is the quality of the graphics card. Low end board are quite weak in high resolutions. I've searched a bit around the net about the best choice and it seems that Matrox cards give the cleanest, sharpest image. I'm very happy with my G200. Definitely not a gamers card -- I don't like games --, but a great 2D card.

    Stéphane

  • The trinitron moniter is optically flat. That is one of the salient points of it's design. (I have a normal 17" and a trin. 17" here at the house, and trust me, you can see the difference.) This is not to knock Iiyama moniters, they're quite nice too. :^)


    --

  • I have a 17inch Viewsonic g773 and I love it. My 3dfxVoodo3 powers it at 100hz refresh at 1024x768 just fine, and the monitor is crystal cleer. I play alot of games, so I don't like that big of a monitor because it makes me sick, but this one is just fine at 1024x768 in Q3, and it has little glare or curving of the screen. I'm also happy because I used to have an HP monitor that wouldn't go past 60hz refresh and 600x400 res.
  • I'm running a SGI flat pannel, but Im not sure if you can use it on any platform other than the 320/540 nt boxes by SGI. If you ca, go for it, I will never go back to a tube again. You can also take a look at http://www.tomshardware.com for reviews of everything tech.
  • After shopping for over a year I just bought one of these two days ago. I'm quite happy with it so far. It uses the DiamondTron tube, which is a Trinitron with a flat face. This eliminates a lot of distortion and glare. It claims to be a 22" tube but the viewable area is 20".

    I'm currently running it at 1600x1200 at 80Hz, and the text in an xterm with the "tiny" font is easily readable at normal viewing distance. The monitor could refresh even faster (100Hz at this resolution), but my Matrox Millennium can't. Likewise, 1800x1440 is readable but a little flickery at 68Hz. A newer video card would probably be awesome.

    Two things made me nervous about buying. (1) The price on these larger monitors hasn't plummeted the way the 17" and 19" have, so if you want that extra couple of inches you're going to pay dearly. (2) I did a lot of reading and the general impression I got was that Iiyamas are great if you get a good one, but your chances of getting a lemon are about 1 in 10. So make sure the place you buy it from has a good return/exchange policy. If you go retail, ask them to hook it up in the store so you can check it out. (At these prices, you don't have to feel bad about making them work a little for a sale.) After the sale, Iiyama is reputed to have excellent service during the 3-year warranty period.

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