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Okay, someone suggest a flatscreen LCD... (1 Viewer)

Vince Maskeeper

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My new day-job in an office building has me addidicted to the "Ultra Sharp" Dell flat screens we have here. I'm going to have to get a couple of these for my desktop at home.

I wouldn't mind finiding out who OEMs these Dell products and snagging a pair from them (I've been told it is Samsung, but who knows). I thought I'd put the traditional HTF shout out here and see if anyone has a suggestion:

1) I want a 15 inch, actually I will be running a matching pair of 15s. What I really really want is the smallest edges possible. I want max viewable for a given monitor side: so a screen with minimal border around it. If I could get 1/2 inch or less border, this would please me!

2) I only need a 15- actually anything bigger will take up too much desktop space. 1024x768 is good, 1280x720 max would be ideal.

3) VGA input (not DVI or SDI). Can have digital input, but I must have VGA.

4) Want to spend less than $500 each if possible (which shouldn't be too bad for a 15 inch monitor).


So, where should I start??

Vince
 

Gabriel_Lam

Screenwriter
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Mar 7, 2002
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I doubt there are 15" desktop LCD displays with any resolution other than XGA native.

What do you plan on using them for? Mainly text? Games? Video? Graphics?
 

Vince Maskeeper

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Mainly Text, audio editing. I don't do any gaming, I dabble with some photoshopping- but nothing critical.
 

Jeff R.

Stunt Coordinator
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You may be able to find out who the OEM is by looking up the FCC ID. Find the FCC ID on the monitor, probably on the back next to the serial number and then look it up at:
http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/
It'll tell you the manufacturer but not all manufacturers ever sell the product under their own name so it may or may not help.
 

Gabriel_Lam

Screenwriter
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The new NEC LCD1550 and LCD1545 are good, and come with very thin frames. Eizo's line does as well, but are a bit more costly.
 

Max Leung

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Samsung is generally well-regarded. The new ones should have 25ms updates, to reduce streaking and other motion artifacts.

I'd recommmend Samsung...all the reviews I've seen on the internet are glowing...excellent contrast, good color reproduction, etc.
 

Gabriel_Lam

Screenwriter
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Apple monitors are generally the worst or near the worst on the market. They're all made by Lucky Goldstar Philips. They used to make some with Asahi glass (Mitsubishi), but after sinking a few hundred million into LG fabs, they moved all LCD sourcing there. For instance, their 22" panel that everyone so wow'd over was actually one of the worst on the planet, with class trailing 180 nits brightness, 300:1 contrast, and a stunningly bad 60ms total average response time.
 

Vince Maskeeper

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That's interesting- almost every lab at my School has G4 Macs and their flat screen display-- and I've found the MACs to look mediocre at best. That's why these "Ultra Sharp" Dell monitors blew my mind. They looked really clear- solid black with good brightness. The pixel rise and fall looked pretty good (although I didn't watch any full motion stuff on the monitor yet).

So my goal was to try to find something similar to these. I'm curious why the Mac stuff is well regarded when, from what I've seen, the displays seem pretty low quality.

I tried looking up the FCC number, but couldn't clearly identify it on the monitor. In the FCC block there was only one number, and that was the Dell Model number. I wrote down every number on the unit- and tried running them. The only one that came up with a result was ICES-003, but I'm unsure if this is the right number.

The only useful info I could find on the back was that they were build in Suwon, Korea (the Dell model number is 1504FP). I found one post on the newsgroups saying they were OEM'd by "Coretronics".

I looked into the Samsung, and the 181 and 191 suggested are 18/19 inch monitors, and I need 15 (I'll be running at least 2, possibly more) and I don';t have room for any more. I checked the 151p (the 15 inch version of the 181 I guess) and the outer frame is waaaaaaaay too big (not to mention the fact that they cost $500, and I can buy the overpriced Dell monitor I was originally impressed by for less).

I tried to check on the samsung 152T, but there is no information on the samsung site about this model (there is a page, but no PDF spec sheet like there are for the 151p and the 181).

-Vince
 

Jeff D.

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 10, 1999
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Real Name
Jeff
Vince:

Can't recommend Samsung models highly enough. I have a 151s (silver) and can't ever imagine going back to CRT.

One thing first about comparing image quality of LCD monitors - they must be set up properly to look as good as they can. This means they must run in their native resolution (usually 1024x768 for 15" models) and, if they are being fed an analog signal, the sync and clock controls must be set properly. If they are not, the image is less than pleasing.

What I love about the Samsung monitors is they have an 'Auto' button which does an excellent job at setting those sync controls, so the screens looks as good as it can.

The 151p model is, I believe, a 'designer' model that was designed by Porsche. You'll be paying a lot of extra dough for that 'feature'.

The 151s models currently available are excellent and probably your best choice. The upcoming 152T model looks to be even better - the specs on the panel are sweet. It will include both DVI and analog inputs and it purports to be the smallest LCD yet. I think it will be available later this month.

/Jeff
 
E

Eric Kahn

Sams club had the samsung 15" flat panel for like $359
I have tried to get all my friends to buy samsung monitors since I have not seen any better without paying twice as much
I currently use a samsung syncmaster 900IFT which is a flattube CRT monitor
 

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