opinions on LCD monitors

[itfellow]

Hi all,

I'm looking to purchase several flat screen LCD monitors for our office here. These would be used primarily for basic office functions lke Word, Excel, so nothing really fancy is necessary. One of our suppliers was suggesting Acer, specifically Acer AL1511B (15") and Acer AL1702BM (17"). I haven't been able to find any good reviews on these specific models, but I have seen some reviews of Acer which weren't all that favorable.

Would anyone know if these monitors are reliable? If not, could anyone suggest a reliable lower-end ($200-$250) 15" and 17" flat screen LCD?

Thanks

 

[cdogg]

LCD's can emit bright colors and give decent contrast ratios which works well for still-image graphics, but for text and animation, CRT's have the sharpest output.

Still LCD's are "softer" on the eyes. For your needs, either will do. Key features to focus on is TFT, dot pitch, and refresh rates (don't pay much attention to contrast specs since they are not standardized or accurate).

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/index/0,00.asp

is a good place to start researching. If you search for the Acer model number on the web, you might also find some user opinions.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
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[JimInKS]

I have purchased about 10 of these Hyundai ImageQuest L70S monitors from newegg.com recently for office type work.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-179-005&depa=1

Have only had them for about 3 months, so cannont comment on reliability, but seem to be pretty nice monitors. I like the built-in speakers for an office. They are not great for music but do give you ok sound without the clutter of extra speakers.

 

[itfellow]

JimInKs,

That's funny - I was just checking out the ImageQuest monitors myself. NewEgg is one of my favorite places to check for items and prices.

 

[DragonQ0105]

Since it's for Office work (i.e. DVI is not necessary), I'd recommend an AG Neovo F417 (They also do an F419 which is 19" - but that's not really necessary for general work - remember that a 17" LCD is about equivalent to an 18" CRT since a CRT's acutal size is about 1" less than advertised)

The link below is where I got one from (£170, but they do discounts for Bulk Buying) - it doesn't work at the moment though since they are Out of Stock, but you can try it in a few days to see if they have any....or just do a search for the same monitor in Google - it's definately great quality (1280x1024 and 1024x768 both look excellent), and it looks the part being thin, and a sleak black colour.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52611

 

[Sival]

I'd recommend the Benq FP731. About at the upper end of your price range, but fairly well reviewed, and generally well liked by consumers from what I could tell when reviewing recently.

 

[kmcferrin]

If you search on the model number, you should be able to find a number of reviews on it. Generally I'm in favor of LCDs, and I recommend that you go with 17" screens. You should be able to to get decent ones for $250-$300, and your experience will be far better with a larger screen.

 

[dakota81]

The one concern I have with LCD screens is the fixed resolution. Well, not so much that there is a fixed resolution, more so that it's set to 1280x1024. I used to work fulltime for a particular company, but have since let another employee do most of the tech work there because I can make a lot more working elsewhere... Anyways, he just recently upgraded all the 17" crt monitors to 17" lcd's, and absolutely nobody there likes the smaller fonts & images. $3,000 down the drain.

Moral is, LCD's are not for everyone - so make sure the employees are comfortable working with the huge resolutions before you purchase a bundle of new expensive monitors.

 

[kmcferrin]

If you get a decent LCD the resolution shouldn't be "fixed" per se. It is true that because of the way that LCDs work they have a native resolution (usualy 1280x1024 on 17" displays, 1024x768 on 15" displays) that they default to, but like any monitor you can change the resolution if you want. You won't be able to get a higher resolution that the LCD's native resolution, but you can set it lower and the LCD will do some interpolation to create the lower resolution image. This is nothing new, even older laptop computers had this capability.

Also, if you are running Windows you can change the font size to larger fonts. I've found that helps some with users who have problems reading text at higher resolutions.

We have over 350 workstations at my company, all of them using the same 17" LCD and we have had zero complaints about the screen resolution. Some of our users run at 800x600, some at 1024x768, and some at 1280x1024. We had one user who needed extra help because she is visually impaired, so we had to set up lower resolution/larger fonts/higher contrast schemes for her, but that's it.

So your former coworker has a couple of options for making his users happy with the LCDs. It just sounds like they don't know what they're doing.

 

[ceh4702]

I dont think LCD's are that great. I cant justify for myself buying a 19" LCD Monitor to replace my 19" CRT. The newer monitors have excellent quality in the CRT's and many have options to soften the picture or brighten it as the need requires. I saw a major improvement just buying a new monitor.

Sometimes the LCD is too soft and games with scenes that are in low light dont show up well. LCD's also sometimes have or develop bad spots on them that dont light correctly i.e. bad pixels. Some manufacturers will not replace an LCD unless you have 8 bad pixels.

LCD's have some advantages like using less power, and taking up less space, and being a lot lighter.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[ceh4702]

I think for the office where they are used and kepe on most of the time you might actually save money due to the power consumption. A monitor burns up a lot of power and creates a lot of heat. The main disadvantage is the High up-front cost. However, a nice LCD Monitor may present an image of class and excellence, and higher quality standards.

Look for low Refresh Rates and high quality brands like Samsung or Sony. Some models are cheaper without speakers and have a more lean and asture look.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[kmcferrin]

I personally love them. We've used LCDs exclusively at my company since we opened a couple years ago, and they just keep getting better and cheaper. End users like that they have more desktop space, and they also feel a little more hip with a nice LCD than a big fat CRT. If you compare a 17" LCD with a good 19" CRT (because the viewable image size is roughly equivalent) then the price difference is almost negligable.

 

[norty303]

The thing that prevents me from moving from CRT is that i like to run 1600x1200 resolutions on my desktop and there aren't many (any?) in my price bracket (cheap!) that'll go above 1280x1024

 

[Bozz]

I got a LaCie photon20vision recently, 20.1", 1600x1200 and it's fantastic. Unfortunately it's not cheap, but it is worth it.

Ian Boys
DTE Systems Ltd

 

[Sympology]

One thing with TFT's is to check out the warranty on them and out what point do they class it as a bad monitor i.e how many pixels does it need to lose before it becomes duff.

Stu..

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004