Which LCD should I buy?

[fredrich]

I'm thinking of buying myself a 19" or 20" LCD monitor for my stationary computer. Does anybody got any recommendations for a decent monitor in the price range of ca. 300$ - 500$?

It will mainly be used for photo editing and graphical work, not so much gaming. Is the difference between 19" and 20" very noticeable, or is it better to buy a decent 19" instead of a little less decent 20" in the same price class?

[mojoprime]

depending on where you go, the difference in price between 19" and 20" might be negligible. a lot of us here -- myself included -- think that having two monitors is better than having one great big one, like 24"-plus. i have two 19s at home, and a 20 and 17 at the office. those setups both work well, using the secondary monitor for palettes, email, another program, web browser, etc.

so, back to your original question. i like shopping at newegg.com because their reviews tend to be really trustworthy. so you might start there. look for a low refresh rate -- like under 16ms, high constrast ratio (maybe > 700-1), good brightness (like 250 cd/m2 or better), and i would recommend dvi or digital connectors. a lot of cheaper LCDs are analog or rgb-only. a lot of newer video cards are dvi-only.

finally, and i can't stress this enough, invest in a calibration solution. often, it make a relatively inexpensive monitor into a fairly accurate device. if you need to go cheap, pantone makes the huey that's > $100 US.

search the forums, though. this topic has been covered here before.

[Schmitty]

I totally agree with mojo. Newegg is the place to shop and their reviews are what help me pick what I buy. They also have super fast shipping. Some designers tho prefer CRT as the color seems to be closer to what will be printed. Low refresh rate.

Just bought a 19'WS Samsung fron newegg for $200.

[fredrich]

I won't buy the monitor in USA, but thanks anyway.

[mojoprime]

right, but you can use their reviews to shop at home. that's always what i do, and always check around to see if you're getting the best price.