LCD or LED?

[a nameless entity]

Once again I am looking for a new monitor for my PC. This old 20" Dell CRT monitor has been warning me and warning me that it is old and tired. The display goes soft and it is hard to read anything. Right now it is barely usable. Sometimes the display goes so soft that the monitor is completely unusable. I've put off the purchase because sometimes the monitor will go sharp again for a while or even a few days.

I've seen a few 2ms 24" flat screen monitors out there for $200. I'm looking at a 24" ASUS model VW246HL at Best Buy. It's an LCD monitor. There was a 24" Samsung LED type on sale for 200 bucks as well. But it is sold out.

What's the difference? And is one better than the other for gaming?

LED or LCD? Hmmmm................

[Hermskii]

You are killing me. I just threw away several monitors I have around here for years. The biggest was a 24" flat screen CRT by HP. It weighed a ton. I got rid of about 15 other ones too. All sizes. All worked. It was hard to give them away.

If I recall, the LCD is old school and LED in newer and better. Google some LCD vs LED wars and see what you learn there. I have 2 of the 19' Acer AL1916 monitors on my main box right now. They do just fine. A lot more space now that I got rid of the 1 giant CRT monitor. Good luck on your decision. I'm cheap so I'll stick with what I have until a 24" LED monitor comes around here for about $125. I'll jump then.

[a nameless entity]

You are killing me. I just threw away several monitors I have around here for years. The biggest was a 24" flat screen CRT by HP. It weighed a ton. I got rid of about 15 other ones too. All sizes. All worked. It was hard to give them away.

If I recall, the LCD is old school and LED in newer and better. Google some LCD vs LED wars and see what you learn there. I have 2 of the 19' Acer AL1916 monitors on my main box right now. They do just fine. A lot more space now that I got rid of the 1 giant CRT monitor. Good luck on your decision. I'm cheap so I'll stick with what I have until a 24" LED monitor comes around here for about $125. I'll jump then.

How am I killing you? I've been wanting a flat panel monitor for quite some time. Now I have an excuse to get one.

Last night I had another look on the internet and found some "LED back lit" LCD monitors in my price range of around $200.

Samsung monitors are supposed to be of very high quality (remember when Samsung was the inexpensive brand of not quite as nice electronic products?) but I couldn't find any in my price range that weren't already sold out.

But I did find two Asus monitors of the LED back lit LCD variety. One is the 24" Asus VE248Q. But this model has no user reviews yet, and its dimensions seem to be the same as the 23.6" Asus VE247H. I'm wondering if the 24" model is a later version of the slightly smaller unit. The 23.6" model is highly recommended by users, and around $44 cheaper at the moment.

One more question: Is DVI the latest technology? Some monitors have this, and some don't. All seem to have HDMI. I don't think my old ATI 1650 video card supports DVI, but it does support HDMI, I believe.

I'd rather not have to go to VGA, what's the point of a flat screen if you must use that?

[Hermskii]

HDMI is the only way to go. Period. You were killing me because i would have gladly sent you a few of these had I know you needed a better monitor. I offered too didn't I? I just happy that you're happy Sir Nameless. LOL Sir Nameless. I like it!

[a nameless entity]

Well thanks again, Herm. You have offered to send me old hardware in the past indeed. I appreciate the offer, but I would never want you to go to the expense of sending me one of your old PC's or monitors. I've imposed upon you enough over the years by asking you for this and that tweak on the game servers, not to mention playing on them for over 10 years. Your hospitality in that and providing this forum for us all to communicate in is way over the top as it is.

I bow to you Sir Hermskii.


******
I think I'll go down to the library and browse a bit more for monitors on one of their PC's. This thing is snapping into focus and then going soft so often it's annoying. And my eyes strain when everything is in soft focus. I must place my order for a replacement soon.

[Hook]

LOL - on my old computer the monitor was going in and out also.
Being a real old comp, I just hooked up a cheapo 19" Hi-res flat screen TV that we bought for our son and he never used.
Works pretty darn good.

But, I sure do love our new computer's 1080p Hi-Def 20" flat - great!

[a nameless entity]

I have decided upon an Asus VS247H-P available at Staples for just over $200 after fees and taxes. This is a 2ms unit good for gaming as well as all other uses.
There's also supposedly a $20 rebate offer from Asus that is good until the end of November. Every little bit helps!

In the end it came down to price and availability. I can have just about anything I want if I order it online and am willing to wait 3-10 days for it to get here.
-OR I can go buy the most practical and best priced unit (which just happens to be in stock at my local Staples store) tomorrow, and end the misery of this ultra soft display that is really hurting my eyes as I compose this post, A.S.A.P.

************
Ended!

It's a bloody long walk from my place to Staples. It's at least 2 kilometres each way, maybe as much as 3. So I got my exercise for the day. It took about 2 hours of moving junk around and cleaning the desk before I could even begin to set up. While I was at it, I decided that since I'm on lower bandwidth again, I could use my router again and have a hardware firewall once more. The monitor fits underneath the hutch on my desk, and it is amazing to have it so far away from me, instead of in my face like I did with my old CRT monitors.

Plug and play works nicely TG, so all was well from the start. I of course found that with the new super wide screen that 1024x768 resolution is way too low. So I pumped it up to the max 1920x1080 and verified that the default refresh rate was operating. It's going to take a while to understand what all of the built in menu functions of the monitor are for and how best to use them. But everything is working nicely. No dead pixels that I can see. The brightness and contrast might have to be played with.
Also I'm not sure how big a deal this Asus "Splendid video intelligence technology" is going to turn out to be. The different viewing modes just seem to alter the brightness and contrast.

One question:
My video card supports "dual DVI". But the plug that came with the monitor has some pins missing from the middle, so I assume it is "single DVI". I think I recall that there is a difference, but I'm not sure if it is a practical one. Would I get richer colours or some other improvement if I bought the DVI cable with the extra pins?

[Hermskii]

Those missing pins don't matter.

[a nameless entity]

Quite so, Herm. Those extra pins are for 30 inch monitors and TV's and larger.

I just reviewed this stuff via a video made by a Canadian chain of electronics stores called NCIX. They have a few store fronts in the USA. I'm thinking of buying my next PC from them. If they had a store here in Oakville, or if I still had a car, I'd have bought from them. NOT that I didn't get excellent service from Staples today. The young fellow that served me gets 10 out of 10.

Here's the video. I think it's rather handy coverage of such a mundane but good to know topic:

[Christopher]

I can tell that,DVI and HDMI is pretty much the same, except of that DVI is used for computers and HDMI for TV but it seems more as a standard to have HDMI for PC too these days.
And these "missing pins" are probably just because,on some graphics card (most newer) the DVI can carry sound if you are using a DVI/HDMI adapter for your TV instead of having to use many other audio adapters and you will get Dolby and DTS too.So the pins are nothing to worry about.