LCD Monitor:Planning to get a ‘Monitor’ for your laptop/desktop computer. then surely you need to consider reading this!
In this review, I would like to share my experience, while choosing the monitor appropriate for my needs, and what we all should look for while zeroing in on a particular set. I checked out few reviews, and each of them concluded on few good offers from Samsung, Viewsonic, AOC as well as Dell.
I also followed a few ‘Online Forum’s, and the comments from their members, which helped me substantially in understanding few technical jargons, and finally, select the one that most suited my requirements.
First let’s check out which monitor size is suitable:DVDs have been the popular choice while viewing a movie, because of appealing picture quality. Lately the standard has been revised! As most of us may remember the battle between HD DVD and Blue Ray, which went in favour of Blue Ray to be the chosen format in coming years, we surely will see DVDs taking the backstage with the VHSs and CDs.
What it means is high resolution and crisp video and image quality on a larger screen. In other words, we should be prepared to change our display units to receive the best quality of the new format. But before we jump in, we need to check the resolution supported by the graphics card in our computer and choose the monitor size accordingly.
The talked about High Definition video primarily refers to 1920×1080 resolution(1080i or 1080p), which is the HDTV standard format. To view this, the minimum monitor size required is 24”. As of this day, a 24” monitor is sold well above 20k Rupees.
To top it all, though there are several brands present, availability is a question. And if one is looking for a few features(shorter response time, higher contrast ratio, lower pixel pitch), the price level goes up dramatically. Current scenario in the Indian Market is, prices of 22” monitors have dropped well enough, such that those who are going for a 19” monitor can very well think of going for a 22”. An average 22” costs 12k – 16k Rupees. Therefore, it is better to go for a 22” monitor if you do not want to shell out 25k for a 24”.
Is it worth spending the money? Well, it depends on what you are looking for. If it is only office work/reading, 22” is just a bit of extra space to work on, which may cost about 2k – 4k more than a 19” monitor. If it is office work with some amount of video watching, 22” is a better choice. If you are also considering gaming, it is good to go for a 22” at least if not 24”, provided you have good graphic support on your computer.
Widescreen is the present trend and primarily because the movies and the games feature the widescreen format. For office work alone, I personally would prefer a normal screen simply because it gives a larger view of an A4 sized document.
*Response time: What is it?!
*Response time is the time required for an LCD pixel to change from fully active(black) to fully inactive(white), then back to fully active again. Faster it is, better the videos will look. Any monitor with a response time below 8ms will be good to look at. But again, when you are watching a motion video, a 5ms monitor will look much better and will be devoid of ghosting or having a trailing shadow. There are several monitors in the market, which sports 2ms response time and are preferred by viewers who use it for watching movies and primarily, gaming.
*Contrast Ratio: What to look out for.
*Contrast ratio is the ratio of the luminance of the brightest colour(white) to that of the darkest colour(black). Ratio of the luminosity of the brightest and the darkest colour the monitor is capable of producing simultaneously at any instant of time is called static contrast ratio, whereas, the contrast ratio the system is capable of producing over time is called dynamic contrast ratio. Therefore, it is always better to look for static contrast ratio rather than the advertized dynamic contrast ratio. Like the PMPO vs. RMS concept in audio, a dynamic contrast ratio is a misleading scale to judge by.
22” monitors with 1000:1 static contrast will surely be a good one. But there are several of them in the market, which sport 700:1 static contrast ratio, and they are not bad either.
*Connectivity:
*Until recently, the connectivity offered on a monitor primarily was analogue 15 pin D-Sub. But as the quality of displays changed, better connectors took the place. Currently DVI(Digital Visual Interface) is the norm. The DVI interface uses a digital protocol, in which the desired illumination of pixels is transmitted as binary data. This translates to a better and more accurate representation, of the digital media that we play on our digital player. Therefore, the monitor should offer a DVI connector apart from an analogue option. Most of the LCD monitors in the market do offer this option. But there are a few, which offer only an analogue connector. So we should look out before striking a deal.
A very few brands offer an additional HDMI connector. This surely will be helpful if you are planning to hook up a device with HDMI connector. HDMI or DVI connectors are important for those who plan to plug in a Blue Ray reader/writer and junk DVD writer next year! Analog connection may display HD media, but not at its best.
*Options:
*After a fair amount of study, the two 22” monitors that stood out were Samsung 2243BW and Dell SP2208WFP. The Samsung 2243BW was not available in any of the shops at the time I enquired, in Bangalore. The other comparable Samsung model, which was available at Croma was 226BW, and the price was about 17k Rupees. The new LG 22” L226W specifications looked equally impressive. But the performance reported, was not up to the mark as Samsung or Dell monitors.
Finally I settled for Dell SP2208WFP. Booked it over phone and the price was settled for 16100/- including delivery and taxes. It took about a week to arrive, and I was able to track the status of my order each day at the Dell website.
PS: My review on Dell SP2208WFP